3.16.10

March 16, 2010 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under First Ladies, History, Nixon family, Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon, U.S. History | 1 Comment 

Pat Nixon was born ninety-eight years ago today, on 16 March 1912.

My mother was born near midnight on March 16^th, 1912, in a miner’s shack high in the mountains of eastern Nevada.  Although it was almost spring the nights in the copper boom town of Ely were frosty, and one of her brothers, Bill Ryan, remembers being awakened by cold air seeping into the cabin.  When he got out of bed, two-and-a-half-year-old Bill saw his father standing at the front door with a stranger.  The man pocketed five dollars and then he was gone.  Bill was round-eyed with questions.  “You have a little sister now,” his father, Will Ryan, explained.  “That money was to pay the doctor.”

At her mother’ s insistence the baby was called Thelma Catherine.  But thoroughly Irish Will Ryan, whose parents came from County Mayo, circumvented the Thelma.  His daughter was always “Babe” to him.  He decided too that they would observe her birthday on March 17^th, the birthday of Ireland’s patron saint.  When Bill once asked why his sister’s birthday was celebrated a day late, his father answered, “Well, she was there in the morning, my St. Patrick’s Babe in the morning.”

From:  Pat Nixon: The Untold Story by Julie Nixon Eisenhower

RN, in RN, describes how he prevailed on Duke Ellington to play something on the piano at the conclusion of the star-studded 70th birthday celebration the Nixons hosted for him in the East Room in April 1969:

The room was hushed as he sat quietly for a moment.  Then he said he would improvise a melody.  “I shall pick a name — gentle, graceful — something like Patricia,” he said.

And when he started to play it was lyrical, delicate, and beautiful — like Pat.

A quilt square of the Pat Nixon Rose, bred in 1972 by Marie-Louise Meilland.

The Little Church In The East Room

December 18, 2009 by David R. Stokes | Filed Under Faith, First Ladies, History, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Pat Nixon, Presidents, Religion, Richard Nixon, Supreme Court, U.S. History, Vietnam, White House | 6 Comments 

As the first streaks of dawn quietly announced the arrival of morning on Sunday, November 16, 1969, a 35-year old preacher from Ohio named Harold Rawlings had already been awake for a while after a fitful night of what-could-barely-be-called sleep in a room at Washington, D.C.’s storied Mayflower Hotel. He would in a few hours face a crowd punctuated by the most powerful men and women in America, assembled in the most unusual of venues for any clergyman – the East Room of the White House.

These days, most Americans have moved on from wondering about Barack Obama’s church attendance habits now nearly a year into his presidency. Some of this inattention is due, no doubt, to the swirl of events, but a measure of it is likely because Mr. Obama is demonstrating a kind of ambivalence to church attendance that has become par for the presidential course over the years (though with some exception, e.g., Jimmy Carter).

Most presidents have likely never read Theodore Roosevelt’s “Nine Reasons A Man Should Go To Church.” Among the things TR said was this gem: “Yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the Creator in a grove of trees, or by a running brook, or in a man’s own house as well as in church. But I also know, as a matter of cold fact, that the average man does not thus worship.”

Richard Nixon decided in the first days of his presidency to reconcile the ethic of church attendance with the realities of security and logistics during his time in the White House, by having regular Sunday services in the East Room. Of course, he was criticized for it. Some saw it as political grandstanding and others (many in the clergy) feared Nixon might be setting a trend for “stay at home” worship. Billy Graham noted, though, that in the early days of Christianity churches met almost exclusively in houses. So, on Nixon’s first Sunday in the White House, Graham shared a sermon, beginning a long run of non-sectarian religious services at 11 o’clock most Sunday mornings.

Rev. Rawlings had received an invitation, via the recommendation of his congressman, Donald “Buzz” Lukens, to bring the message during one of those services. But the preacher had to pay his own expenses to the nation’s capital, something gladly accomplished by his church, Landmark Baptist in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the lanky clergyman shared pastoral duties with his father, the senior minister of the church.

The preacher also had no idea when he accepted the White House invitation that he would be performing his prelatic duties against the backdrop of a city in turmoil.

Pastor Rawlings and his wife Sylvia made their way to Washington, D.C., on Saturday, November 15, while 250,000 protestors were in virtual control of the city’s streets and parks. The Washington Post headline the next day said, “Largest Rally in Washington History Demands End to Vietnam War.” There was a lingering hint of tear gas in the air and the remnants of torn and burned flags littering the ground. Other flags were prominent and not burned, but they bore only one star and just two stripes – the banner of the Viet Cong (National Liberation Front or “NLF”). The night before, 76 nearby buildings had been damaged, and nearly that many more would experience the same fate that day.

The swarm on Washington had been organized by an outfit called the New Mobilization Committee. This group was the successor to the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which had been part of the infamous Chicago riots at the Democratic Convention in 1968. Basically, it was a leftist mosaic made up of people from Students For A Democratic Society (“SDS”), the Youth International Party (“Yippies”), and assorted fellow travelers.

And though the “festivities” had ended late Saturday night, thousands remained in the streets overnight continuing to shout things like, “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, NLF is Going to Win!” This made sleep that much more difficult for Rev. and Mrs. Rawlings.

The couple enjoyed breakfast in the Mayflower’s restaurant, their waitress discreetly pointing out the famous “psychic”, Jeanne Dixon, who was sitting across the room near the booth where J. Edgar Hoover regularly ate lunch. This brush with celebrity would be nothing compared to the experience awaiting Harold and Sylvia when they arrived at the White House.

They climbed a stairway to the second floor and were immediately met by the First Lady, Mrs. Pat Nixon, who invited them into the beautiful Yellow Oval Room, where they sat in Louis XVI style chairs. Tricia Nixon soon joined them, followed a few minutes later by President Nixon, who took Pastor Rawlings on a personal tour of the adjacent rooms, sharing details about their history. Nixon was in a great mood, no doubt bolstered some by the latest Gallup Poll showing that around 70% of Americans gave him high marks, this in the wake of his already famous “Silent Majority” speech a few days earlier.

They then made their way to the East Room, with Sylvia taking her seat next to Mrs. Nixon and Tricia. President Nixon, as was the custom, opened the service, “After a very awesome display yesterday,” pausing briefly for effect, knowing that some would think he was referring to the demonstrations, he continued, “of football, we thought it would be proper to have someone here from Ohio.” Ever the football fan, he was referring to the Buckeyes’ 42-14 win over Purdue.

Pastor Rawlings had been asked to suggest two hymns for the service and did so several weeks in advance, only to be called back by the White House and told, “President Nixon doesn’t know those – could you choose two others?” He did, and the service that day included the majestic strains of “All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name,” a song Nixon knew well. A choir from New York Avenue Presbyterian Church sang.

The President then introduced Rawlings, who chose as his theme that day, “The World’s Most Amazing Book.” Many notables were in the crowd of about 350, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Treasury Secretary David M. Kennedy, Labor Secretary George P. Schultz, and United States Senators Claiborne Pell, Mark Hatfield, John Sherman Cooper, Gale McGee, John Williams, and Charles Percy. And the service was broadcast live across the country via the Mutual Broadcasting System.

“If men and women would spend more time in the serious study of the word of God,” said Rev. Rawlings, “earth’s questions would seem far less significant and heaven’s questions far more real.” He then quoted former President Eisenhower, among others. The great man had died eight months earlier and his life and career had intersected with Nixon’s so significantly.

Rawlings affirmed that, “The Bible is not only good for the soul, but also for the body.” He illustrated this point with a moving story about a soldier in Vietnam, Army Private Roger Boe, who after being ambushed found an enemy bullet “lodged in his Bible, just short of the ammunition clip.” The preacher, describing America as “a haven for freedom and peace,” urged prayer, “to make us morally worthy of protection against outward aggression.” He also issued a reminder about praying for the men of Apollo12, at that moment racing through space, “our three astronauts that they might be blessed with safety and good health on their voyage to the moon.”

During a recent conversation with Harold Rawlings, who is a long-time friend, he told me that following the service Chief Justice Burger told him that his sermon was “the kind of message America needed to hear.”

A reception followed, with President and Mrs. Nixon personally introducing Rev. and Mrs. Rawlings to those filing by. Nixon, though, was at least a little bit in a hurry. He was going out to Robert F. Kennedy stadium that afternoon to see the Redskins play the Cowboys. In fact, this would itself be historic – the first time a sitting President of the United States attended a National Football League game. He was pulling for the home team, but conceded to a reporter that the Cowboys would come out on top, “I think they’ll win because of their running attack.”

But it turned out that the Redskins lost because Sonny Jurgenson threw 4 interceptions – three of them in the fourth quarter. The one bright spot of the game for Nixon was the play of Ricky Harris, who returned a punt 83-yards for a touchdown – only to have it called back because of a penalty. Harris then intercepted a pass at a crucial moment – only to have Jurgensen then quickly proceed to throw his own interception (Harris these days sits every Sunday on the front row of the church I pastor.)

Possibly, the fate of the Redskins that day was a harbinger of things to come that week for Mr. Nixon. The very next day, American newspapers first mentioned something about a massacre in Vietnam at a place called My Lai. And later that week, the President’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Clement Furman Haynsworth, was rejected by the Senate, 55-45.

This just reinforces something else Teddy Roosevelt said about why people should go to church: “In this actual world, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid down grade.”

Pardon Me, Did He Really Ask For Grey Poupon?

May 7, 2009 by David R. Stokes | Filed Under American Politics, Barack Obama, Cool Commercials, First Ladies, History, Humor, Pat Nixon, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History | 3 Comments 

It wasn’t as big of a deal as, say, an Air Force One fly over, but it was the talk of the town – and the rest of the universe, apparently – the other day when Barack Obama and Joe Biden ventured beyond the walls of the White House on a quest for ground red meat. And, in just about the biggest scoop since the whole Bill Clinton “boxers or briefs” inquiry, information was skillfully gleaned by the media in abundant attendance indicating that POTUS and VPOTUS fundamentally disagree on a matter of concern to all Americans.

Joe likes ketchup on his burger. Barack likes mustard. And not just plain old yellow mustard. No sir, he likes the good stuff – brown and spicy. In fact, as he ordered his “regular” bacon cheeseburger at Ray’s Hell-Burger in an Arlington, Virginia strip-mall, he asked for it “medium well” and with mustard. In fact, he asked for Grey Poupon.

Part of the Dijon family of mustards (that’s French, for any conspiracy theorists out there), and made with a brown Canadian-born seed, with just a splash of white wine, Grey Poupon became a household name in the 1980s via the success of its television commercial. The spot featured one Rolls Royce pulling up alongside another, and then the famous question: “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon.”

The question quickly went viral across America as something of a cute, pompous, somewhat pretentious, and very snooty tag line. Now, if George W. or his Daddy had asked for it – that would have been the big story at Ray’s Hell-Burger. But alas, the idea of the two big guys hanging out with regular folks at a burger joint was too cool to complicate with anything that didn’t fit the desired picture.

And that burger “joint” – well, it’s not exactly a glorified White Castle or Steak and Shake – or even a Five Guys, it’s a spot where you can drop up to $17.50 on a burger. You can get yours with foie gras, bordalaise sauce, and even white truffle oil.

Just like Mickey D’s, right?

It turns out that maybe the cool “let’s-show-them-we-are-just-like-them” adventure was at least a little flawed, but you’d never know it by the news coverage. The New York Times featured it, the Washington Post, CNN, NBC, and other usual suspects, as well. The story even got a lot of play internationally.

Richard Nixon once walked on the beach in his street shoes and he was brutally lampooned by the nattering nabobs of negativism in the press, ever after. George H. W. Bush’s fascination with the cool product code reader at a super market checkout counter in 1992 was evidence that he was out of touch.

But when Mr. Obama asks for Grey Poupon while trying to act like an everyday schnook ordering an artery clogging burger, it apparently happens with media impunity.

Of course, the migratory eating patterns of presidents in and around town have always been of mild interest. Certainly our presidents are entitled to scramble out of the pocket on occasion to mingle with the masses, even in this security-hyped age. Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed Chinese take-out from Sun Chop Suey Restaurant on Columbia Road in the district long before he became our 34th president. And he hated that every employee had to undergo a rigorous FBI check before he could have his first order sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1953. But he and Mamie wanted Chinese food on their T.V. trays and that was that.

A lot of presidents have eaten at Billy Martin’s Tavern Restaurant in Georgetown over the years, most of them first enjoying the place as congressmen or senators. Reportedly, Jack romanced Jackie in their favorite booth, while Lyndon Johnson talked shop with Sam Rayburn over cuts of prime rib. Harry Truman liked the place, always having a glass or two or three of his favorite I. W. Harper Bourbon (he even kept a stash in his personal White House bathroom and Bess never knew) with his steak.

Speaking of drinks, Richard Nixon was known in later years to prefer Tanqueray martinis, not the scotch his character drinks in Oliver Stone’s clumsy and just-plain-hideous cinematic caricature. But he also loved the mai tai’s at his favorite Washington, D.C. eatery – Trader Vic’s. The drink was actually invented by “Trader” Vic Bergeron, though he is seldom credited with creating the concoction. Mr. Nixon took Pat there for Valentine’s Day in 1973, and he enjoyed a few of Vic’s specialties, while she stuck with Jack Daniels.

Bill Clinton had more than one favorite Washington, D. C. area restaurant. Go figure. He liked Mark Miller’s Red Sage and the Italian restaurant Galileo, on 21st St. NW. His predecessor, the first President Bush, favored a Chinese spot in Falls Church called Peking Gourmet. And I can verify that they serve the best Peking duck you’ll ever savor.

Of course, all of these guys had to eat everything put before them while on the campaign trail seeking the office. Seeing them smile in photographs over the years, munching on this colloquial delicacy or that, you can every once in awhile almost see a glimmer of the kind of face Lucy Ricardo made while taking the first few spoonfuls of vitameatavegamen.

When politicians ultimately get to the White House, their days of having to partake of things they’d rather not become more rare – at least, until time for reelection comes around. Then it’s out with the French mustard and in with the French’s.

We will all know when the moment comes – if indeed it ever does – that the media either gets bored with Barack, or in some sense turns on him. How? Well, there will be this photo-op thing, where the president drops by some really-regular-people-friendly breakfast place. And the commander-in-chief will order some eggs, bacon, and grits, with white toast.

He will then turn to the table next to him and say, loud enough for the cameras to pick up, “Would ya please pass the jelly?”

The Hug Felt Round The World

April 3, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under Barack Obama, First Ladies, History, International Affairs, Michelle Obama, News media, Presidents, UK Politics | 1 Comment 

On Wednesday, President Obama and the First Lady visited Queen Elizabeth, who has now met every Chief Executive since Harry S. Truman (except for Lyndon Johnson, since she did not visit the United States during his term and he made only one brief visit to Europe during that time).

The highlight of this meeting came during a reception afterwards, when Her Majesty was seen talking to Michelle Obama and then putting her arm around her. The First Lady responded by putting her own arm on the Queen’s back and resting her hand on the monarch’s shoulder. Photographs, of course, were immediately taken, and within hours Britain and the rest of the world were abuzz about the royal “hug.”

Traditionally, visitors to Buckingham Palace and the other royal residences are advised not to touch the Queen – unless, of course, she elects to touch one first.

Variations from this rule have been few and far between. One notable example came in 1991 when HM visited Washington. After learning about a program to enable low-income households to buy houses, she ventured into that city’s Southeast section to meet one such householder, Alice Frazier. The 67-year-old cook, upon opening her door to find Elizabeth II, gave her the bearhug that, she said, all her visitors got. The Queen handled this variation on the usual decorum with aplomb, and the British press chuckled at this latest example of the unpredictable ways of Yanks.

But the next year when Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating put his around around HM, Fleet Street, along with the rest of Britain, was appalled, and the offending statesman was promptly dubbed “The Lizard Of Oz,” a nickname that followed him through the rest of his career.

And then, of course, there was the time in 1977 when Jimmy Carter visited London and kissed HM’s mother, the Queen Consort Elizabeth, on the lips. Though an article in London’s Daily Mail this week claimed that HM was tickled by this familiarity, the Queen Mum definitely was not, telling friends later that no one since her late husband George VI (who died in 1952) had ever done what Carter ventured to do.

The Daily Mail article (and one in the Daily Mirror) offers some interesting stories about meetings between the Queen and the Presidents over the years.

A Day To Remember

January 24, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Congress, Election 2008, First Ladies, George W. Bush, News media, Obama administration, Obama family, Presidents, TV News Personalities, U.S. History, White House | 2 Comments 

I have lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, since November 1997, and so have been within a twenty-minute subway ride to downtown Washington for the last three Presidential inaugurations. But I didn’t go downtown for either the 2001 or 2005 swearing-in. I was not quite up to braving the crowds, and since I was not invited to witness the event from indoors, I also was not keen on dealing with winter weather for hours.

But this year was different. Thanks to my wife Rene, we were invited to attend the inauguration as guests of a Treasury Department employee, and so, at 6 am, we awoke, met our host and some other guests, proceeded to Silver Spring’s Metro station (already phenomenally crowded at 7 am) and managed to catch a train to downtown.

We emerged at Metro Center, got breakfast, then walked to the Treasury Department’s annex, east of Lafayette Square. After going down an underground corridor, we emerged in the oldest part of the Treasury Building, constructed in the 1830s.

We then went to the Andrew Johnson Suite, got some coffee, sat down, and watched the televised proceedings for a while. This group of rooms is where the seventeenth President conducted the business of the nation from the hour that Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865, until Mary Todd Lincoln moved out of the White House six weeks later.

It was here that Johnson met with his Cabinet, oversaw the concluding stages of the Civil War (such as Johnston’s surrender to Sherman), and read and listened to reports about the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and the capture of his fellow conspirators. (I thought about this on Wednesday night when I watched a History Channel show on the search for Booth.  These shows are so much more exciting to watch when you’ve been in one or another of the locations being described and depicted.)

After a while, one of the other guests called me to the window, and I watched the limousine carrying the 43rd and 44th Presidents come down the street between Treasury and the White House’s East Wing on its way to the Capitol. That was a powerful moment.

But not quite as powerful as witnessing the swearing-in ceremony itself, with the stirring music of Aretha Franklin and John Williams (as performed by a quartet including Itzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma), and President Obama taking the oath of office — even a somewhat botched version that enabled my fellow Indiana native, Chief Justice John Roberts, to become the first man in history to swear in a President twice for the same term.

I watched the swearing-in on a big-screen TV set up in a hallway where nearly every President from Martin Van Buren to the present has walked sometime during his time in office. The sense of history in the making was palpable.

After another hour or so in the Treasury Building, our host told us we were to come outside and sit in the bleachers at the south end of Lafayette Square, almost directly across from the White House. So we braved the cold and proceeded to those seats. In front of us, Al Roker spoke to NBC viewers. A voice came on over the PA speakers set up on Pennsylvania Avenue. It was Charlie Brotman, who has provided commentary to the spectators at every inaugural parade since Eisenhower’s second term began in 1957.

After a wait that wasn’t especially long but seemed an eternity thanks to the cold and my decision not to wear jeans, the police motorcycles came down the street, followed by bands representing the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard, and, finally, President and Mrs. Obama and Vice President and Mrs. Biden. We all reached for our cameras. It was as thrilling a moment as I can remember having. Then we went back to the land of crabcakes and orioles and watched the rest of the parade in the comfortable warmth of the Tastee Diner.

I was going to call this “A Week To Remember” and cover some of the other events since Sunday, but the one that comes to mind just now – Caroline Kennedy’s bizarre withdrawal from consideration for the U.S. Senate seat formerly occupied by Secretary of State Clinton – seems a bit anticlimactic after the moments I just recounted. I’ll just note that Time’s “Swampland” blog put up a very interesting timeline of how the Kennedy withdrawal went down. It clearly came as a shock to much of her family and several of them seem to have attempted to get her to change her mind at the last moment, with no luck. And then there was the embarrassing attempt by her “people” to spin the withdrawal as having happened because of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s health, which evidently annoyed him considerably.  This definitely has not been one of Camelot’s more shining moments, though perhaps it was just brief enough to be overlooked when the time comes for another Kennedy to seek office.

Pen to Paper (or Finger to Keyboard)

November 19, 2008 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Bush Administration, Election 2008, First Ladies, Media, Presidents, Sarah Palin, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

Ted Stevens conceded defeat in his bid for re-election to the Senate today, strengthening the Democratic hand in the upper chamber but at least saving the GOP elders some embarrassment.  This eliminates the prospect, at least immediately, that Gov. Sarah Palin, as speculated by some earlier this month, might appoint herself to the seat (if Stevens had won and then resigned to avoid expulsion), leave the statehouse in Juneau, and bring Todd and the young’uns down to teach Georgetowners about the virtues of moose chili.

But her other options, as the days go by until 2012, remain plentiful.  The book business, according to a Yahoo News article, is thoroughly agog about the idea of a Palin-penned book.  The article quotes several agents and editors as suggesting that the bidding might go up to $7 million and beyond – just a million less than Sen. Hillary Clinton received for her autobiography Living HIstory, which was merely about spending eight years as First Lady.  ($7 million might seem like a lot, but Tina Fey just got $6 million for agreeing to write a book which, very likely, will partly be about impersonating Sarah Palin, so why shouldn’t the real McCoy cost a tad more?)

The article also discusses the prospects for the post-White House memoirs of President and Mrs. Bush.  One book-biz veteran states that the President, given his present unpopularity, should wait for a while to seek a deal for his memoirs, on the assumption that publishers now would assume the book wouldn’t sell and would offer a smaller advance.  It’s hard to say if that line of reasoning holds water.  Jimmy Carter left office in 1981 with a popularity rating not much higher than Dubya’s and immediately managed to score a very sizable advance from Bantam for his memoirs Keeping Faith. But then again, he was a Democrat, as are most book editors.  But the sources quoted in the article believe that Laura Bush’s autobiography would attract offers comparable to what Hillary received in 2001.  That often is the case with First Ladies; Lady Bird Johnson’s A White House Diary sold considerably better than her husband’s The Vantage Point, and Nancy Reagan’s My Turn left her spouse’s An American Life completely in the dust at the cash registers.

The article doesn’t discuss how other figures in the Bush White House will fare on the literary scene. My guess is that Condoleeza Rice and Henry Paulson’s memoirs will be the ones most in demand.

Prayers For A First Lady

October 15, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under First Ladies | Leave a Comment 

Mrs. Reagan is in the hospital.