“Stay Free”

May 10, 2010 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under In Memoriam, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures | Leave a Comment 

Alaska Lt. Governor candidate and Chair of the U.S. Arctic Commission Mead Treadwell on Walter Hickel:

Gov. Wally Hickel, who invited me in to his world when I was a high school grad visiting Alaska in 1974, and in the 36 years I worked with him, here in Alaska and around the world, helped me learn a million things — about Alaska, the world, business, ethics, and staying free –passed away 90 minutes ago.

“Stay Free.” I don’t know if it will be his epitaph, but he said many times that’s what it should be, and that’s what we should live by.

Historians will take many slices of Wally, but my take is this: Tonight Alaskans lost a leader who, again and again, showed us how to stand up for our potential and how to achieve it. He was most proud that he helped delay Alaska Statehood, unt il Congress guaranteed the 103 million acre land grant to the State (of Alaska’s 375 million acres) that came with our star on the flag. For Alaska, that made all the difference. We are a whole state instead of one split in half as the Eisenhower Administration suggested with a partition to make Arctic Alaska a defense reserve. The North Slope oil fields helped all of us build an economy, and our people live in one Alaska, not a state and a territory which would have disenfranchised Alaska’s North Slope residents.

In my last conversation with him of length, at breakfast in the Pantry of the Hotel Captain Cook, with Malcolm Roberts and Carole Chambers, he encouraged me to run for Lt. Governor this year. He could not have been more bullish about Alaska’s opportunities, and, speaking of them, told Malcolm in a later phone call, “Get the job done!” At breakfast that day, he had that totally amused smile on his face as he asked us to repeat back to him stories he’d told us over the years.

In the room with him at the hospital last weekend, I was reminded of something he did with his kids, and those of us on his staff from time to time, when things got tough. We’d grab both hands, hold them for a few seconds and say “battery chargers” to each other, eye to eye. His spark could start a lot of cold engines, and stir a lot of hearts.

Godspeed, Wally Hickel, and love to your family. He often asked that he be buried standing up — so he won’t have to get up to fight! And he often joked he hoped St. Peter would send him back, because there are just so many good things left to do.

Hickel Was One Of A Kind

May 8, 2010 by Ronald H. Walker | Filed Under In Memoriam | Leave a Comment 

Wally Hickel was one of a kind. When President Nixon appointed him Secretary of the Interior, he asked me to help Wally get his office organized. Secretary Hickel became my first boss in the Nixon Administration and my life long friend.

When Frank Sinatra sings, “I did it my way,” he is talking about Wally Hickel.

People will remember that President Nixon fired him when a letter he wrote, expressing concern for his five sons and opposition to the Viet Nam war, was leaked to the Washington Star. Years later, at the Hickel’s home in Anchorage, I was able to bring the two of them together and they re-connected with mutual respect and friendship.

Together, Wally and I saved the historic Ford’s Theater from becoming a morbid museum to a martyred President. Today it is a vibrant, thriving, living theater and together we received the Lincoln medal from Frankie Hewitt and a grateful Ford’s Theater Society.

Anne and I send our love and deepest sympathy to his wife, Ermalee and their family.

Ron Walker
President, Richard Nixon Foundation

New York Times Obituary of Walter Hickel

May 8, 2010 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Environmental issues, In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures | Leave a Comment 

The New York Times has just put up a lengthy obituary of Walter J. Hickel, two-time Alaskan Governor and President Nixon’s first Secretary of the Interior who died last night in Anchorage.

With Governor Hickel’s passing, George P. Shultz (Secretary of Labor, 1969-1970) and Melvin R. Laird (Secretary of Defense, 1969-1973) are now the last living members of the Cabinet that entered office with RN.

Walter J. Hickel   1919-2010

May 8, 2010 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Environmental issues, In Memoriam, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

“The conservationists cheered me when we fought against pollution or when we preserved park lands; they attacked me when we advanced the Alaska Pipeline and the North America energy grid. My friends and associates in business were equally perplexed. I was not their guy. I was not anyone’s guy.”

RN’s Conservationist

May 8, 2010 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Environmental issues, In Memoriam | Leave a Comment 

December 11, 1968: RN announces his appointment of Alaska Governor Walter Hickel as Secretary of the Interior.

Former Alaska Governor and RN Interior Secretary Walter Hickel died today. He was 90.

Hickel was a trail blazer for President Nixon’s environmental agenda early on, leading the cleanup after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil rig explosion and conservation efforts for the Florida everglades . He was also a proponent for the first Earth Day, celebrated 40 years later at the Nixon Library this past April.

The AP has more:

An “Alaska boomer” with complex views on environmentalism and developing the state’s oil-rich resources, Hickel railed against “locking up” the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and used settlement money from the Exxon Valdez oil spill lawsuit to help repair Prince William Sound.

He frequently described Alaska as an “owner state” and advocated that the state’s wild frontier should be developed responsibly to preserve its value.

Hickel’s political career started in the early 1950s as a crusader for Alaska statehood, both at home and in Washington. He was also involved in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which helped pave the way for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

Hickel’s was a quintessential Alaska rags-to-riches story. Born in Kansas, he arrived nearly penniless in the small city of Anchorage in 1940, taking advantage of the city’s rapid growth following World War II to build a multimillion-dollar construction and real-estate fortune.

“I used to think about all the great countries of the world where I might want to go, because there was no room or opportunity in Kansas for me to do the things I wanted to do,” he wrote in his 1971 book, “Who Owns America.”

Through the years, Hickel never lost the “can-do” attitude that made him a rich man, nor did he stop thinking about ways Alaska could further develop its natural wealth.

Dorothy Height    1912 – 2010

April 29, 2010 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Civil rights, In Memoriam, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

RN    9 January 1913 – 22 April 1994

April 22, 2010 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under History, In Memoriam, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Sonia’s Dress

April 17, 2010 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under In Memoriam, Presidents, Richard Nixon, White House | Leave a Comment 

On April 2, Lady Sonia McMahon, widow of Sir William McMahon who was Australia’s prime minister during most of President Nixon’s first term, died at the age of 77. Her passing received little notice in this country but the obituaries in Australia, and the United Kingdom, were extensive. And the aspect of her life that got the most ink in them was her appearance in Washington one evening in November 1971 – or, more specifically, the way she appeared, coming down the White House staircase with her husband, the President, and the First Lady.

In the critical weeks leading up to India’s involvement in Pakistan’s civil war from which the nation of Bangladesh emerged, Nixon decided to arrange a quick meeting with McMahon to confer about developments in the subcontinent. This led to plans for a state dinner for the Prime Minister and his wife, which were put together so rapidly that Sonia McMahon, who had already worn some outfits remarkable even by 1970s standards, had little time to select a suitable dress. One day she spotted one in a window, designed by a fellow Australian, Victoria Cascajo, that seemed distinctive enough for the occasion. It was black, but she opted to have it done in white.

And the dress was, indeed, distinctive. It was slit on both sides nearly up to the waist, and from just above the waist, nearly to the shoulder, was vented again, as were the sides of the sleeves. The sides of the vents were connected at intervals by rhinestone-studded straps, between which was a sheer pantyhose-type fabric. If a guest at one of President Obama’s state dinners were to wear it now, in a Washington far less formal and sedate than the one of 1971, gossip sites like Gawker.com would have enough material for at least a fortnight.

“You’ll be in every paper in the country tomorrow,” said the President as Mrs. McMahon walked with him down the staircase. That proved to be true. Luckily, Dr. Henry Kissinger was on hand to demonstrate his diplomatic skills at their most sublime when he remarked: “Mrs McMahon was beautiful enough to change any dull old routine into something special.”

While the dress raised quite a few eyebrows in America, the Australian media happily emblazoned it on front pages from Brisbane to Perth, and the original is now proudly displayed in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. In 2005, when Lady McMahon’s son Julian received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Christian Troy on the Nip/Tuck series, Australian journalists expressed the hope he would take his mother for the awards, and that she would once more wear the dress. He did bring her to the Globes and she did wear a replica of it – and, as the photos attest, wore it quite well.

He Will Be Missed

April 10, 2010 by Jimmy Byron | Filed Under In Memoriam, International Affairs | Leave a Comment 

An official portrait of President Kaczyński. Kaczyński was killed in a plane crash Saturday morning in route to Russia.

Jimmy Byron is a 16-year-old high school student and a Nixon Foundation intern.

Early this morning, the world was shaken with the news that Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria were killed when their plane crashed while attempting to land amid thick fog in Western Russia. Ninety-seven people were killed in the crash, including several very high ranking Polish government officials. The President and First Lady were traveling to Russia to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the massacre of Polish military personnel by the Soviet Secret Police in the Katyn Forest.

The sadness and mourning surrounding Kaczyński’s death is rather personal for me. In July 2007, I met President Kaczyński at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Kaczyński traveled from meetings with President Bush in Washington, D.C. out to California to present the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish distinction, posthumously to President Reagan. Mrs. Reagan was on hand to accept the award, and George Shultz, former Labor Secretary and later Treasury Secretary to President Nixon and Secretary of State to President Reagan, delivered remarks. From my experience with President Kaczyński that day, I remember him as a calm leader with a sense of humor, deeply committed to his beliefs.

Kaczyński’s service to his country was a very prominent part of his life. In the 1970s, he joined several anti-Communist, pro-democracy organizations, including the Workers Defence Committee and the Independent Trade Union movement. He was active in both throughout the decade.

President Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit Poland in 1972 as a part of his and Mrs. Nixon’s tour of Europe and parts of Asia. There he spoke of a new birth of freedom around the globe, saying, “I can assure you that the major purpose of my visit here, and to the other countries that I have visited over the years that I have served in my present office, is to build a new structure of peace in the world. Poland has suffered too much from war and Poland, along with other peoples in the world, wants peace, and that is our goal: to achieve a world of peace for all nations. I am confident that [our discussions] will contribute to our common goal of friendship between the American people and the Polish people and of peace for all the world. Niech zyje Polska (Long live Poland).”

In the 1980s, Poland would become a symbol of Communist oppression as the Solidarity movement increased in popularity. Kaczyński joined Solidarity and was imprisoned for a short time as an “anti-socialist element” of the country. He later became an active advisor of Lech Wałęsa and went on to serve in a variety of government positions before being elected as President in 2005.

Kaczyński was the embodiment of RN’s dream of increasing “friendship between the American people and the Polish people and of peace for all the world.” He was most definitely a friend of the United States. As more details of the plane crash became apparent, President Obama released a statement reading in part: “Today’s loss is devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the world.  President Kaczyński was a distinguished statesman who played a key role in the Solidarity movement, and he was widely admired in the United States as a leader dedicated to advancing freedom and human dignity… We join all the people of Poland in mourning their passing. Today, there are heavy hearts across America.  The United States cherishes its deep and abiding bonds with the people of Poland.  Those bonds are represented in the strength of our alliance, the friendships among our people, and the extraordinary contributions of Polish-Americans who have helped to shape our nation.”

By all accounts, President Kaczyński was a true patriot, and an ardent believer in the cause of freedom. He and his First Lady will be missed by millions around the world. Our hearts go out to their daughter, Marta, and their two grandchildren.


President and Mrs. Kaczyński pose with former First Lady Nancy Reagan, former Nixon Administration Labor Secretary and Treasury Secretary and Reagan Administration Secretary of State George Shultz, and Mrs. Shultz, July 17, 2007.

Clifford Hardin, R.I.P.

April 6, 2010 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under In Memoriam | Leave a Comment 

Secretary Hardin right with RN and agronomist Norman Borlaug. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for the creation of a disease resistant wheat that helped increase the food supply of developing countries.

The AP reports:

Former U.S. agriculture secretary and University of Nebraska chancellor Clifford Hardin has died.

The university confirmed Hardin passed away Sunday. He was 94.

Hardin became chancellor in 1954 and then president when the University of Nebraska system was established in 1968. He left Nebraska in 1969 to serve as agriculture secretary under President Richard Nixon, a position he held until 1971.

The New York Times takes an in-depth look at how Secretary Hardin brought Nebraska to the top of college football:

Mr. Hardin attended Purdue on a 4-H scholarship, earning undergraduate, master’s and Ph.D. degrees there. He taught at Purdue, the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State College (now Michigan State University). In 1954, at age 39, he became chancellor at Nebraska, where he helped quadruple enrollment and persuaded the state’s Legislature to raise professors’ salaries.

In 1962, Mr. Hardin set the stage for Nebraska to become a major collegiate football power when he hired Bob Devaney as coach. Mr. Devaney had been an assistant coach at Michigan State and had known Mr. Hardin there. The Cornhuskers under Mr. Devaney won two national championships, then three more under Tom Osborne, his successor.

In an interview with The New York Times in 1983, Mr. Hardin explained his effort for national football prominence this way: “The people came through the Depression. They came through the drought years. I felt the state needed something to rally around. If we could pull this off, it could be the difference. I think in retrospect, it probably helped us get more money to build the university.”

Jerald F. terHorst and Eugene Allen, RIP

April 2, 2010 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, In Memoriam, News media, Nixon Administration, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, White House | Leave a Comment 

Wednesday marked the passing of two men who, in their respective ways, were part of memorable moments in White House history. In Takoma Park, Maryland, Eugene Allen died at age 90. He joined the White House pantry staff in the last months of the Truman presidency, and rose through the ranks for the next 34 years, retiring in 1986 after five years as the White House maitre d’.

Allen traveled with President Nixon on the historic visit to Romania in 1969, the first time a President had visited the Communist world in peacetime, and shortly before his retirement he, along with his wife, had the honor of attending a state dinner for German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s guests. After two decades of quiet retirement, Allen gained national prominence in November 2008 when he was the subject of a fascinating and moving article in the Washington Post by Wil Haygood.

And, in North Carolina, Jerald F. terHorst died at age 87. He was the head of the Detroit News’ Washington bureau in the 1960s and early 1970s, and in that capacity was a member of the media delegation accompanying President Nixon to China in 1972. But he came to national notice just after Nixon’s resignation, when he was President Ford’s first major appointee as press secretary.

Thirty days later, he became the only major figure in the Ford Administration to leave office over the 38th President’s decision to grant a pardon to his predecessor. Several years later, terHorst co-authored The Flying White House: The Story of Air Force One with longtime AF1 pilot Ralph J. Albertazzie, which contains a lengthy opening chapter describing RN’s flight on the plane from the White House to San Clemente on August 9, 1974. It’s a fascinating account of that trip and the rest of the book is just as worthwhile.

A Warrior And A Statesman Laid To Rest

March 4, 2010 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under In Memoriam, Military, Nixon Administration figures, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

On Tuesday morning at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, on the campus of Catholic University in Washington, about 800 mourners attended a funeral Mass for Gen. Alexander Haig. Among the priests conducting the liturgy was his brother, Father Francis Haig. The mourners included two of Gen. Haig’s fellow former Secretaries of State, Dr. Henry A. Kissinger and Gen. Colin Powell; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Sen. Joseph Lieberman; former National Security Advisor Robert “Bud” McFarlane; former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton; former HEW Secretary Joseph Califano; comedian Mort Sahl; and many who have served or are serving in America’s armed forces.

During the Mass, Dr. Kissinger (as reported by Richard Szczepanowski of Catholic News Service) spoke about the service Gen. Haig rendered to the nation in helping to arrange the transition from one Presidency to another at a time of national tumult:

“He served as chief of staff in a diseased presidency,” Kissinger said. “He did not want the job, but he did not turn it down out of the reverence he had for the institution of the presidency.”

“At the end, Al was essential in helping this country through its greatest crisis since the Civil War,” Kissinger said. “Americans will remember Al with a special gratitude.”

Following the Mass, Gen. Haig was interred at Arlington National Cemetary, where his brother gave a blessing as his remains were lowered into the soil where so many fellow patriots and heroes rest. Here is a short article about the burial, accompanied by a two-minute video of the burial service. The American Spectator’s Quin Hillyer has written this account of the Basilica service. And here is the U.S. Army News Service’s press release about the burial.

Dr. Kissinger’s Tribute to General Haig

February 25, 2010 by admin | Filed Under In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures, U.S. History, Vietnam | 2 Comments 

At Time’s site today, Dr. Henry A. Kissinger writes about Gen. Alexander Haig’s passing:

Societies become rich through ingenuity and hard work. But they become great because they produce men and women who lift them beyond the moment. Alexander Haig, who served his country during turbulent times, was such a person. I recruited him for the National Security Council staff as my deputy. One of his principal tasks was to help end a war that President Richard Nixon had inherited and in which Al had fought. It proved a heartrending journey, especially for a soldier. But with typical skill and dedication, Al carried out the many vital missions entrusted to him, including the dual tasks of extricating America from war while preserving the nation’s honor.

President Obama, Secretary Clinton Praise Gen. Haig

February 20, 2010 by admin | Filed Under In Memoriam | 1 Comment 

President Obama issued a Statement from the White House on the death of General Haig:

Today we mourn the loss of Alexander Haig, a great American who served our country with distinction.  General Haig exemplified our finest warrior-diplomat tradition of those who dedicate their lives to public service.  He enjoyed a remarkable and decorated career, rising to become a four-star general and serving as Supreme Allied Commander of Europe before also serving as Secretary of State.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

At Foggy Bottom, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued this statement:

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Secretary of State Alexander Haig. He served his country in many capacities for many years, earning honor on the battlefield, the confidence of Presidents and Prime Ministers, and the thanks of a grateful nation. On behalf of the men and women of the State Department, I extend my sincerest condolences to Secretary Haig’s family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of them today.

HAK: “He Lived For His Country”

February 20, 2010 by admin | Filed Under History, In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures, Presidents, U.S. History | 7 Comments 

The following are excerpts of an interview by CBS Radio correspondent Abby Regier of former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about Alexander Haig, who passed away this morning at the age of 85:

“We worked together for many years, for eight years in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and he remained a good friend for the rest of his life.

“When I was made National Security Advisor, the Vietnam War was still going on, and I believed that I needed on my staff an officer who had had combat experience, and who could help me understand the military and strategic problems. So Alexander Haig, who at that time was an instructor at West Point and who had had distinguished and decorated service in Vietnam, was brought to my attention.

“I hired him first as a military adviser and then he became my deputy. He performed extraordinary services for our country, in helping steer the country through the Vietnam War and the Watergate crisis, and for many decades after that as a devoted citizen.

“Al Haig believed in this country, and he believed that this country had a central role to play in the defense of freedom. And service to his country was the motive of his life. I’m proud of him as an American, and grateful to him for the service that he had rendered.”

On Watergate, Kissinger said, “He was my chief of staff in an extremely difficult period, and the international position of America does not end because it has a domestic crisis. And it was a delicate period of holding things together and advising a president. He, Alexander Haig, carried that out with distinction, with tact, and the country owes him a great deal.”

Kissinger also described Haig as “a great family man, extremely devoted to his family, very close to his family. He was a man of very emphatic convictions, personally intelligent . . . But he was a man of a service; he lived for his country.”

When asked about the occasion of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, where he said “I’m in charge here,” Kissinger said, “First of all, when you are in a crisis situation you cannot ask your public relations adviser ‘What is the best form of language [to use]?’ The situation as I understand it was as follows: President Reagan had been shot, Vice President Bush was on an airplane coming back [to Washington]. There was confusion as to who was responsible in the White House when the President was in the operating room and the Vice President was in the air.

“So he wanted to convey that somebody, that there was not a breakdown of the command structure, but that there was somebody in charge. It was something that was meant to be conveyed for the one-hour gap until Vice President Bush could land and be briefed.

“Was it the ideal statement to have made? Would you have done it differently with public relations advice? Probably. It was intended to serve that purpose, and it was totally distorted.

“He wasn’t referring to the Vice President; He was trying to say that there was a chain of command in place. I think the technical line of command, of succession would have been to the Speaker of the House, but for the management of the crisis he was the highest-ranking person in the White House at that point.”

When asked if the fallout from his remarks caused him personal embarrassment or hurt him, Kissinger said, “I have never heard him complain. I guess he thought it like was a wound of war. . . . He thought he was doing his duty. I don’t know what anyone else would have done in that situation when the president’s on the operating table and the Vice President is flying and you need to convey that government is functioning until the Vice President gets here. That’s all he was trying to do.

“The thing to remember is that he was a great American performing great services for several administrations. And he was a natural resource on which the president could always call.”

He added, “He was a good friend, and both Nancy and I miss him.”

The Third Paragraph

February 20, 2010 by admin | Filed Under Barack Obama, In Memoriam, Military, News media, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, Watergate | Leave a Comment 

In 2003, Gerald S. Strober and Deborah Hart Strober published an oral history of the Ronald Reagan presidency, the third in a series of such books. (The others concerned the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and the reign of Elizabeth II.) One section of the book concerned John Hinckley’s attempted assassination of the fortieth President in 1981, and the press briefing held shortly after it in which Gen. Alexander M. Haig, the Secretary of State, said: “I am in control here at the White House, pending the return of the vice-president.”

Referring to Gen. Haig’s briefing, veteran Republican strategist Lyn Nofziger told the Strobers: “That will be the third paragraph of his obituary.”

Nofziger died in 2006, so this morning, when Gen. Haig passed away, he was not around to see his prediction be fulfilled on a number of websites. The New York Times was first – or tried to be first. The initial version of Tim Weiner’s obituary there mentioned Nofziger’s statement and said he had predicted the third graf (to use the old-time newspaper lingo) “would detail” the briefing – which he doesn’t say, at least in the Strober book. The obit’s third paragraph then mentioned the briefing, and the fourth described it in detail. Some wag at the paper pointed out this discrepancy and within an hour or so the article was reformatted so that the details were given in the third paragraph.

During the rest of the day, one obit after another told the story of the 1981 briefing in the third paragraph. Some of these, like the obits at Politics Daily, the BBC website and the Associated Press, didn’t refer to Nofziger’s prediction. Others, such as the one in the Times of London, did.

But several newspapers bucked the trend. The London Telegraph devoted the third paragraph of its obit to Gen. Haig’s effort to mediate the dispute between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands – probably a lesser chapter of his career, but obviously of interest to British readers.

And James Hohmann’s obit at the Washington Post also did not get on the briefing bandwagon. Instead, the third paragraph in the first online version discussed Gen. Haig’s efforts to keep the Nixon Administration on an even keel in the darkest days of Watergate. And, happily, this was replaced by what I think Gen. Haig would truly have been delighted to read as the third paragraph of his obituary:

In a statement, President Obama said Gen. Haig “exemplified our finest warrior-diplomat tradition of those who dedicate their lives to public service.”

That said, the General had a prodigious sense of humor – it was no accident that he counted iconoclastic comedian Mort Sahl among his friends – so he probably would have been amused at the striving of so many media outlets to fulfil Nofziger’s prophecy.

(Another article worth reading is the AP’s account of reactions to Gen. Haig’s death, including a quote from the Post’s Bob Woodward in which he points out that the General was almost the only individual whom he made a point of ruling out as being “Deep Throat” before he identified Mark Felt as DT in 2005.)

Alexander M. Haig, Jr.   1924 – 2010

February 20, 2010 by admin | Filed Under History, In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures, U.S. History | 2 Comments 

Salinger The Hero

February 6, 2010 by admin | Filed Under Culture, In Memoriam, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

It’s now been just over a week since word came of the death at age ninety-one of J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher In The Rye and Franny And Zooey. A lot has been written since then, much of it focusing on the comparative seclusion in which he spent fifty-eigh of his seventy – yes, seventy – years as a professional writer, and on the question of just what he was writing during the forty-five years since the appearance of his last published story.

Last year I wrote about an article which appeared in 1985 in the last print issue of Saturday Review, edited by TNN’s Frank Gannon, that discussed whether two very curious writings which appeared in the long-defunct little magazine The Phoenix in 1971 under the name “Giles Weaver” could have been Salinger’s work. The fact is (and this, for any Salinger fans out there, really is a little-known fact that isn’t in any of the many books about the writer) that the very last previously unpublished words that Salinger permitted in print under his own name appeared during the Nixon Administration. They are in the biography George M. Cohan: The Man Who Invented Broadway by the late John McCabe, which was published by Doubleday in 1973, and are two quotations from letters Salinger wrote to McCabe. In one, he reminisces about seeing Cohan in Eugene O’Neill’s only comedy, Ah Wilderness! in 1933. (Eight years later, Salinger would romance O’Neill’s daughter Oona for several months, until she went off to Hollywood and married Charlie Chaplin.) In the other, he compares Cohan’s acting style to that of Noel Coward.

One of the more perceptive articles about Salinger since his death is this one by F.X. Feeney of LA Weekly. It stresses something often forgotten about Salinger – that although his fiction almost never deals with World War II or the Holocaust (except for the famous story “For Esme – With Love And Squalor” and the less well-known “A Girl I Knew”) and even then rather indirectly, these events formed his life and writing profoundly. He was drafted into the Army soon after Pearl Harbor – as a 1-B, to his disgust, since he was a graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy – and, after serving in several units in several bases, ultimately was transferred to the Counter-Intelligence Corps, thanks to his knowledge of German. (He had worked in his father’s meat and cheese importing business in Vienna for several months just before the Anschluss, and then in Bydgoscz, Poland, not long before the Blitzkrieg.)

On June 6, 1944, his unit landed at Utah Beach. (In a sad indication of the current state of American journalism, the first version of his obituary put up on the New York Times’s site noted this fact but got the date wrong.) His unit fought its way across Normandy to Paris, where it paused just long enough for Salinger to enjoy what would be a huge thrill for any writer of his generation – an evening drinking with Ernest Hemingway, who had read and admired his stories in magazines.

Then Salinger’s unit fought on, through the Bulge, through Hurtgen Forest, and he did his duty, mainly interrogating captured German soldiers, trying to determine the next danger awaiting himself and his comrades. To borrow the title of the novel about this campaign by Richard Matheson, who fought in it, it was a group of “beardless warriors,” soldiers barely out of their teens or still in them, who were doing most of the fighting, since much of America’s older, better-trained servicemen were being kept in reserve for the much more daunting job of invading Japan. (At the time the atom bomb was top secret, and those who did know about it could not know if it could be finished before that invasion.) Salinger was one of the oldest soldiers in his unit and he saw most of the men in it killed or wounded by the time V-E Day came. His last days in combat were spent helping to liberate at least one death camp. Then he had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for a time, which inspired “Esme,” maybe his single most powerful and moving work published to date.

And, as I mentioned above, even before that, in Vienna, he saw a whole vibrant Jewish community that, in a few years, would be almost completely wiped out. Indeed, the family with which he stayed in his months there was killed – this is what “A Girl I Knew” is about. And later, in Bydgoscz, he saw many, many Jews who, just over a year later, would be made the test subjects of one of the earliest Nazi experiments in mass deportation.

This sets Salinger apart in a substantial way from other Jewish American writers of his generation – forget, for the moment, that his mother was a gentile of Irish or Scottish descent (the accounts vary). Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Joseph Heller, and nearly all the others were products of the Depression, growing up too poor to visit Europe, and almost none of these writers had relatives rich enough to visit America before the war. It would have been a rare thing for them to have met anyone who later died in the camps.

But Salinger had been over there, had seen firsthand “the vanished world,” as Roman Vishniac called it in his books of photographs made in Poland before 1939. And later, he gave his utmost to stop those who made it vanish. Like nearly all who were in that Greatest Generation he was reluctant to talk about what had happened after the war – or to write about it, so far we know. In the coming months, or years, or decades, maybe we will find out whether he had anything to say beyond what has so far been published. But what matters now is that a hero, as well as a gifted and important writer, is gone.

Robert Mosbacher 1927 – 2010

January 27, 2010 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures, Republican Party | Leave a Comment 

Robert Mosbacher  spearheaded the North American Free Trade Agreement as President George H.W.  Bush’s first Commerce Secretary.

Former Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher died on Sunday. He was 83.

After growing up and attending college in the Northeast, he joined his father in the energy business in Texas, later diversifying his family’s fortune in ranching, real estate and banking.

While in Texas, he met the elder President Bush and helped finance his successful Congressional bid in 1966.

In 1976, he rose to become Finance Chair for Gerald Ford’s campaign and was considered a Vice Presidential candidate for Ronald Reagan in 1980. He would eventually reach the post of Commerce Secretary for President Bush in 1989 spearheading the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

He most recently served as the General Chairman of Sen. John McCain’s run for the Oval Office in 2008.

Mosbacher was also an avid yatchsman, winning gold medals in world championship competitions throughout the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. In 1959, he landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated with his brother Bus, who served as Chief of Protocol for the State Department during the Nixon Administration.

Our thoughts and prayers are with wife Michele and his family.

Robert Mosbacher (left) and his brother Bus (right), Chief of Protocol for the State Department during the Nixon Administration, landed on the cover of Sport Illustrated as the Kings of Class Boat Sailors.

Remembering Rose Woods

January 22, 2010 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon family, Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

Rose Mary Woods died five years ago today, on 22 January 2005.

“Those who didn’t know her might think her life was all about a gap on a tape.  How wrong they would be.”  Rose Mary Woods at her desk in her office in the West Wing in 1974.  She was born in Sebring, Ohio, on the day before Christmas in 1917 and died five years ago today in 2005.

Back in the days before everyone was an assistant, when being a secretary was a serious and important vocation, Rose Woods was the epitome —the ne plus ultra— of the executive secretary.  Her resume may have highlighted  her phenomenal typing and dictation speeds, but that was only the technical basis for the pivotal role she came to play in RN’s life and career.  The keenness of her intelligence was matched by the acuity of her insight — into people and events and issues.  And the fierceness of her loyalty was matched by an innate integrity that was anchored by the depth of her Catholic faith.

Rose was an intensely private person — and the life of every party.  She had a lively sense of personal style and a sly sense of humor.  And there is no question that she would have knocked out all the competition if she had appeared on So You Think You Can Dance.

Rose Mary Woods with Senator Nixon in 1952 and in the late 1960s.

Rose first met RN in 1947 when she was working for the Herter Committee of congressmen that went to Europe to examine post-war conditions; their recommendations played a large part in shaping the Marshall Plan.  Tasked with preparing all the members’ expenses, she was impressed by the young newcomer from California’s 12th District because he was the only one who submitted meticulously kept records with all the relevant receipts and documents already attached.  The impression she made on him was equally strong, and when he was elected to the Senate in 1950, he asked her to join his staff as his private secretary.  Thus began an association and a friendship that lasted for the next five decades.

RN’s early staffs — in the House and Senate and then in the Vice President’s office — were blessed with talented and dedicated secretaries.  Dottie Cox Donnelley started with him in the House in ‘47.  On the Senate staff, Rose was joined, in May ‘51, by Marje Acker, who became her secretary, and, in July, by Loie Gaunt.  Others followed, including P J Everts, Gladys Hook, Betty McVey McCarthy, Rita and Jane Dannenhauer, and Doris Jones Forward.  Today Loie Gaunt is the Assistant Secretary Treasurer of the Nixon Foundation’s Board.  She and Marje Acker are long-time members of the Foundation’s President’s Council.  Loie and Marje, along with the Dannenhauer sisters and Doris Forward have plans to attend the Library’s 20th Anniversary celebrations in July.

At Rose’s Memorial Service, held at the Nixon Library, one of the eulogists was her friend and secretary, Marje Acker.  (Imagine how good you have to be to be the secretary to one of the world’s great secretaries.)

REMEMBERING ROSE

by Marje Acker

Marje Acker and Rose Mary Woods in Rose’s West Wing office.

The most important day of my life turned out to be May 1, 1951.

Two and a half months earlier, I had left my home in Portland, Oregon to take a GS-3 clerk-typist job at the State Department.  When I heard about a secretarial opening on the staff of the junior Senator from California, I summoned all my courage, applied for the job, and was hired.

My first morning on the job, I was shown to my desk right across the aisle from Richard Nixon’s secretary, Rose Mary Woods.

I will never forget her welcoming smile and her high-heeled, ankle-strap shoes.  Almost immediately we developed a strong, enduring friendship.  Soon I was lucky enough to become her secretary, a post I held during all my years on Richard Nixon’s staff.

Rose was a bright, politically savvy, red-headed Irish Catholic from Ohio, with a wonderful sense of humor, great empathy for people, and impeccable integrity.  In reading articles about her recent death, those who didn’t know her might think her life was all about a gap on a tape.  How wrong they would be.

To colleagues, friends and family, she was the very best friend you could ever have.  She always had time to listen and offer advice if you had a problem.  She made you feel you were the most important person in the world to her.

She was a role model and mentor for all of us.

We had such a close working relationship — we both were fast typists, could work under pressure, thrive on little sleep, read each other’s shorthand, confide in and trust each other, laugh and cry together.

The hours were long as we raced against the clock to get speeches finished on time, respond to tons of correspondence, make innumerable lists for events, gifts, and thank-you letters, field and place phone calls, and manage schedules.  And yet as I look back on my association with Rose, I’m amazed we were able to fit in just as many good times and laughs.

In 1957, shortly before Phil Acker and I married, he had to go to Washington on San Diego city business.  I asked him to be sure to meet Rose and take her to dinner, which he did.  Phil knew that I valued Rose’s opinion so much that he later speculated —not entirely without foundation— that if Rose had not approved of him, I might not have married him.

So Rose was much more than a secretary to Richard Nixon.  She also was a dear friend of the family and was cited in articles as “the fifth Nixon.”  After the 1968 election, she was the first person the President named to his White House staff.

Rose was also close to her own family.  I don’t think a week passed that she didn’t find time to call her parents…..

The epitome of thoughtfulness, Rose also made sure the Boss had his bases covered.

When the Nixons and the staff were in Key Biscayne one year, the President and the First Lady invited us for dinner just prior to returning to Washington.  Afterward, Rose took the President aside and told him it was my birthday.

Soon after Air Force One was aloft, I was told the President wanted to see me in his cabin.  Waiting with him was Pat and the whole staff, complete with a birthday cake.  I never did figure out how they had found a cake late on a Sunday evening at a moment’s notice!

Inspired by Rose, we had such fun planning a 25^th wedding anniversary party for Bette and Don Hughes, as well as surprise parties for the promotions of General Hughes, one of RN’s military aides, and the President’s doctor, General Walter Tkach.

I can remember just one time we were able to surprise her — a party to mark her 20^th anniversary as the President’s secretary.  During the weeks of planning we had to talk in code lest she find out.  That day we all wore big campaign buttons saying “Rose Woods for President” — a job she might well have been able to handle.

Of course there were sad times as well.

On election night in 1962, when RN ran for California governor, all of us, including Rose, were up all night.  I will never forget the Boss coming into the staff room the next morning and individually thanking each of us for our help and saying how sorry he was he had let us down.

During the dark, ugly days of Watergate, Rose and I tried to find little things to relieve the pressure.  We had signs on our desk reading Illegetimi non carborundum — “don’t let the bastards get you down!”

So many memories..…in California on a beautiful summer day, driving in her convertible with the top down to Malibu for a couple of hours walking on the beach…..our walks to the Tidal Basin on a spring day in Washington to see the pansy garden…..walking around Camp David between speech drafts…..being together for campaigns, elections, and inaugurations, was well as the dedication of the Nixon Library and the funerals of Mrs. Nixon and the President.

Rose Mary Woods will always be cherished and loved and remembered by her family and the innumerable friends and colleagues who had the privilege of knowing her.

Rose Mary Woods with Vice President Nixon in the Senate Lobby in 1953, and with PN aboard the campaign plane during the 1968 presidential campaign.   (1953 photo by Arthur Schatz, 1968 photo by Hank Walker, both for LIFE magazine.)

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