Truman, Key Of C# Minor; Nixon, G

September 17, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under Music, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Presidents | 1 Comment 

Roger Williams has performed for nine Presidents, two of them pianists — Harry S Truman and Richard Nixon. Truman requested an hour of Chopin and Liszt and then offered to return the favor by playing something for Williams. “I expected something like ‘The Missouri Waltz’,” Williams told 300 gathered today for a luncheon in his honor in the Nixon Library’s White House East Room. “Instead, he played Chopin’s Polonaise in C# minor. I told him, ‘Mr. President, if you’d kept at it you’d have been quite a pianist.’ He answered, ‘Roger, there are a lot of people who wish I had kept at it’.”

During a 30-minute program that included “Autumn Leaves” and “The Impossible Dream,” Williams found time to reflect on Ronald Reagan’s optimism and courage and RN’s personal graciousness and kindness — though as far as his pianism was concerned, Williams mainly remembers hearing renditions of “God Bless America,” no doubt in Mr. Nixon’s preferred key of G.

While at the White House performing for President and Mrs. Kennedy, Williams had been pleased to learn they had a complete catalog of his recordings. They took some along on their Texas trip in November 1963. On the morning of Nov. 22, before leaving their hotel in Ft. Worth for the flight to Dallas, Kennedy had been listening to his recording of “Yellow Bird.” Williams said with a sad smile, “I understand it was the last music he heard.”

After his performance, Williams received “The Pianist to the Presidents” award from the event chair, Jo Ellen Allen, on behalf of luncheon hosts KOCE-TV, the Orange County Forum, and the Nixon Foundation.

When music for piano is featured in the Nixon Library’s longrunning free Sunday concerts, faithfully organized each week by pianist Ann Patrick Green, the instrument in question is the Steinway concert grand on which Mr. Williams recorded his 1955 No. 1 hit, “Autumn Leaves,” a gift from the pianist in memory of the Nixons.

Sorry, Texas, But BBQ Won’t Cure All Ills

September 16, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Economic issues, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library | Leave a Comment 

Covering Sino-U.S. trade talks at the Nixon Library, the AP’s Gillian Flaccus:

[U.S. Commerce Secretary] Gutierrez said the U.S. delegation would press China on three issues Tuesday: market access, intellectual property rights protections and more transparency for American companies doing business in China.

After the morning session, Gutierrez said that another concern for U.S. farmers—convincing China to allow imports of U.S. beef—would not be resolved. That was despite an opening barbecue Monday in which the Americans served the Chinese delegation U.S. beef, chicken and pork as a bluegrass band played in the background.

China closed its markets to U.S. beef in 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States.

Awaiting Great Things (Not To Mention Lunch!)

September 16, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Economic issues, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library events | 1 Comment 

At 10:30 this morning, U.S. and Chinese officials were 90 minutes into their private talks in the Nixon Foundation Board Room. Meanwhile 30 reporters and photographers, including legendary AP lensman Nick Ut (right), awaited the start of the plenary session:

Every detail has been attended to in the Library’s East Room:

Members of the Library’s elite corps of volunteer Docents, including Dianne Sickles, were standing by to make this elite event go smoothly:

 

Fellowship (And Beef) Tonight; Hard Work Tomorrow

September 15, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library | Leave a Comment 

The Nixon Foundation hosted a dinner tonight for U.S. and Chinese trade conferees, who will meet tomorrow in the White House East Room at the Nixon Library, marking the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. U.S. beef exports to China are one of the items on tomorrow’s agenda, which may be why the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Susan C. Schwab, suggested we might host a BBQ under the stars with plenty of chicken, pork…and U.S. beef.

In his opening toast, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan made clear that he knows the American side will want to talk about China’s progress in protecting intellectual property rights. He also made clear that the Chinese would express their concerns about upheavals in U.S. financial markets. Here he listens to Ambassador Schwab over dinner.

Wang will be negotiating tomorrow with Schwab, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, and (right) Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez, a native of Havana, Cuba who served as the youngest CEO in Kellogg’s history before joining the Bush Administration in 2005. At left is Kris Elftmann, Nixon Foundation chairman.

A high point of the evening was the unveiling before dinner of a plaque honoring 20 years of ongoing service to the Nixon Foundation of former Chairman Don Bendetti, who was assisted in his good work by six of his and Dorothy’s nine grandchildren.

U.S. View On Nixon Library Trade Talks

August 20, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library | Leave a Comment 

More on Sino-U.S. trade talks coming up at the Nixon Library:

U.S. trade officials plan to push their Chinese counterparts on market access, intellectual property rights and transparency when they hold high-level bilateral talks next month, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

In an interview on the sidelines of a conference on competitiveness in the Americas, Gutierrez said the two sides will also likely continue negotiations launched in June towards a bilateral investment treaty.

Gutierrez will host the 19th session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, or JCCT, along with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Secretary of Agriculture Edward Schafer. Vice Premier Wang Qishan will lead the Chinese delegation for the first time. The two-day talks will be held at the Nixon Library, starting Sept. 15.

He said the specific agenda still has to be worked out, and that the Chinese officials will counter with their own list of priorities.

Trade Talks In Yorba Linda

August 19, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library | 1 Comment 

Top-level trade talks slated for the Library’s White House East Room next month:

Among those in attendance will be U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. Qishan served as president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympics.

They’ll discuss nuances in Sino-American trade relations at the conference Sept. 15 and 16. According to federal statistics, the United States has purchased $154 billion in Chinese goods and shipped $36 billion in merchandise across the Pacific just in the first half of this year.

Following The Little White Ball Of Peace

August 5, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library events | 1 Comment 

Here’s a summary of media coverage of June’s “Ping Pong Diplomacy: The Rematch,” co-sponsored at the Nixon Library by the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship With Foreign Countries, and USA Table Tennis.

“The Strong Man” Visits Yorba Linda

July 3, 2008 by James Rosen | Filed Under Foundation News, National Archives, News media, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Nixon family, Presidential libraries, Richard Nixon, Watergate | 6 Comments 

Greetings once again, supporters and students of Richard Nixon! Just a note to report on my visit to the Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda this past June 17, and to thank all the folks there who made it a special and unforgettable experience for me.

John H. Taylor and Sandy Quinn of the Nixon Foundation, and Tim Naftali and Paul Musgrave of the National Archives, and their respective associates, were unfailingly gracious as they led me through the museum and archival areas, and various meals, explaining the storied past and bright future of the institution.

Exceptionally powerful and moving was the personal tour I received from Olivia Anastasiadis, the Library Curator, of the small frame house where President Nixon was born. The smell of history literally overcomes you as you step inside and see firsthand the modest but proud home where the young Nixon grew up, buffeted by illness, financial anxiety, and family tragedy. You commune, trance-like, with the era just before the Great War, represented in the period antiques, piano and sheet music, and other artifacts furnishing the home, many the original possessions of the Nixon family. It was a real challenge to contain my emotions as I stepped foot into the small bedroom where Richard Nixon was born; there I pondered the incongruous enormity of the life he led — the global stakes of his atomic-age presidency, with its virtuoso masterstrokes and sad ending — and the humbleness of its origins. That the house is just a few steps away from the simple, spare headstones and burial places of the former president and Mrs. Nixon inevitably adds to the emotional impact. I can’t imagine anyone, Nixon supporter or detractor, or the previously disinterested citizen, coming away from the experience unmoved, and I strongly recommend it to all Americans.

As a former college intern, in the summers of 1987 and ‘88, at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, the branch of the National Archives that (for now) controls the presidential papers and tapes, it was a pleasure to meet the many students donating their time to the archives this summer. “See what you can become?” Tim Naftali said jokingly to the interns, as we posed for a photograph together. Whether I make a fitting model toward which any young person should aspire I am reluctant to say, but I am unhesitating in stating here my admiration for these students’ passion for history and their earnest dedication to government service.

The discipline of “Nixon Studies” is, of course, in its infancy, and the plans for the institution’s expansion, including the construction of a 15,000-square foot facility to accomodate the presidential materials and the researchers who will examine them, are exciting, indeed. No regime in human history has ever been, or likely ever will be, as well and richly documented as the Nixon administration; as a result, students and scholars will have a grand time of it over the next century and beyond, poring over all the papers and tapes and enjoying the window they offer, uniquely, into policymaking at the highest levels of the postwar American government. The decisions taken now by those helming the Foundation and Library will shape this emerging discipline for decades to come, and one hopes the Nixon family will also remain actively engaged in these decisions.

That evening, in the Library’s auditorium — soon to be demolished and remodeled — John Taylor introduced Tim Naftali, who then introduced me for a brief lecture before a generous audience. Tim then served as moderator during a robust question-and-answer session. First, however, the audience was treated to a long-lost clip from NBC News’ coverage of the federal indictments, issued on May 10, 1973, of John Mitchell and Maurice Stans, in connection with the so-called Vesco case — charges on which both men were eventually tried and fully acquitted. The clip, led off by anchor John Chancellor, neatly conveyed the immediacy of broadcast news in the saturation-coverage era of Watergate, and, too, the camera-crew frenzy that surrounded those, like Mitchell and Stans, caught in the middle of the maelstrom.

After my impromptu remarks, the audience poured forth with questions submitted to the moderator on index cards which I saved after the event, and whose contents I reproduce below. We didn’t get to all of the questions reproduced below, but we covered a lot of them; I reprint them as evidence of what was on the audience’s mind.

Lastly, there was a book-signing in the well-stocked gift shop. There I happily purchased two shot glasses adorned with the embossed seal of the Library, and was pleased to make the acquaintance of the volunteer staff, an irrepressible gang of the kindest, loveliest ladies you’ll ever meet, each and all attractively attired in red, white, and blue uniforms that bespoke their patriotism and unmistakable inner goodness.

Thanks again to all those in Yorba Linda who made my trip such an informative and enlightening visit, with especial thanks to Jonathan Movroydis, my Sherpa, chauffeur, hard-nosed interrogator, and master of this blog.

Yours gratefully,

James Rosen

Author, “The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate” (Doubleday)

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED AT MY LECTURE:

1. How has [sic] the media changed since Watergate?

2. Why is it that all inquiries about John Dean’s Watergate role seem to end up in the hands of judges rather than historians?

3. What did the break-in at Watergate actually give to the people who ordered it?

4. Please comment on MacGruder’s [sic; Jeb Magruder's] statement [IN 2003] that he heard President Nixon approve [the] Watergate break-in.

5. Should John Mitchell have turned down the Atty. Genl. job?

6. On Joint Chiefs [spying against Nixon and Kissinger] — elaborate please.

7. What do you consider to be John Mitchell’s greatest accomplishment?

8. You received an award in 2003 for being the funniest journalist [sic; celebrity!] in D.C. What earned you this honor, and, can you tell us a joke?

9. How do you view Mitchell’s 1987 recorded opinion that the CIA was behind the whole [Watergate] thing? [brackets in original]

10. You developed an early interest in Richard Nixon. In what ways did you “reach out”?

11. So what are we to believe out of Congress?

12. What sparked your interest in writing this book? And what will your next book be about?

13. How involved was H. [Hillary] Clinton in changing the testimony of witnesses between the executive sessions and the public sessions[?] Who was involved in the changing of the testimonies[sic]? [sic; the questioner confused my discussion about the variations in testimony between the executive vs. public sessions of the Senate Watergate committee with the hearings of the House Judiciary Committee during its impeachment deliberations, on which Senator Clinton worked as a young attorney, and which I did not discuss at all]

14. You seem to dismiss Martha Mitchell as a ridiculous + inconsequential figure. Was her role totally w/o importance in the history of the Nixon administration?

More On The Little White Ball

June 29, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library | Leave a Comment 

For Sunday evening’s “NBC Nightly News” coverage of our ping pong diplomacy rematch, visit the program’s web site and scroll down. We’ll embed the story if it ever makes it to YouTube.

“The Strong Man”: Mitchell and Secrets of Watergate

June 15, 2008 by James Rosen | Filed Under History, National Archives, News media, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Presidential libraries, Richard Nixon, Vietnam, Watergate | 3 Comments 

Greetings, supporters and students of Richard Nixon! Just a note to thank you in advance for welcoming me to the Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda this coming Tuesday, June 17, at 7 pm, when I’ll be reading from, taking questions about, and signing copies of my new book, The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate (Doubleday).

June 17, of course, marks the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fateful arrests inside Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex, the catalyst for the amazing and improbable sets of events that climaxed, more than two years later, in President Nixon’s resignation from office. What was the true purpose of the Watergate break-in and surveillance operation? Who ordered it? And what was the role of the Central Intelligence Agency in the operation? These were always, and remain today, the central mysteries of the Nixon era, far more important and consequential than, say, the identity (or identities) of Deep Throat; yet no court of law ever addressed these questions, and none of the major investigative bodies, trials, or books that followed ever produced satisfactory answers, either. Drawing on more than 250 original interviews and an exhaustive review of all the preceding literature and literally hundreds of thousands of previously unpublished documents and tapes, many newly declassified pursuant to my own Freedom of Information Act requests, my book, The Strong Man, uses the extraordinary life of John Mitchell to reexamine these and related questions, and I look forward to addressing them with you on Tuesday. But be prepared for surprises: The scandal presented in The Strong Man is not your father’s Watergate.

Until now, no book has ever been written by, or about, John Mitchell — yet here was the man who ran Richard Nixon’s two winning campaigns for the presidency; who served as attorney general of the United States, the nation’s top law enforcement offcer, during a uniquely turbulent and scary time in American history, one that saw the killings at Kent State, the rise of subversive radical groups like the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers, and unprecedented controversies and crises like the publication of the Pentagon Papers and the discovery that the Joint Chiefs of Staff were spying on the commander-in-chief in wartime; and who, by virtue of his involvement in the Watergate cover-up, became the highest-ranking government official in American history ever to be convicted on criminal charges and to serve a prison sentence. Even prior to all that, before his association with Richard Nixon, Mitchell had led a fascinating life as a child of the Depression; a Navy officer in the South Pacific during World War II; a “master of the universe” on Wall Street, where he pioneered the use of “moral obligation” municipal bonds; an intimate of Nelson Rockefeller and scores of other politicians and officials across the country; and, of course, the husband of the inimitable and tragic Martha Mitchell. What explained John Mitchell’s unparalelled fall from power and prestige? How, in the space of ten years, did so brilliant and accomplished a man go from the very pinnacle of the legal profession to nationwide vilification and incarceration in federal prison? Is not John Mitchell’s — in a country that considers itself a “nation of laws” — the ultimate cautionary tale? These questions, too, I look forward to addressing with you at the Nixon Library and Birthplace.

I may even be amenable to taking a question or two about Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Brit Hume, or Megyn Kelly, my colleagues at Fox News, where I have served as a Washington correspondent for the past decade, covering the White House, the State Department, and the current presidential campaign! So please come on Tuesday, bring two books for me to sign — one for yourself and one for a lucky friend or relative — and come prepared to learn about some amazing characters and times in our country’s recent history. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Up The Filled Tree

June 13, 2008 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Entertainment, Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

Robert Novak’s column today catches one’s attention:

Even for the feckless Senate, last week was extraordinary. When Republicans contended that Reid broke his pledge to confirm three of President Bush’s appeals court nominees by Memorial Day, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell retaliated by requiring the entire climate-change bill to be read into the record (consuming more than 10 hours). A half-century ago, when I covered the Senate under Lyndon B. Johnson, such an event would have been headline news. Last week, it was barely noticed.

Majority Leader Reid has purposely ground the upper chamber to a partisan half by using the arcane procedural device known as “filling the tree”:

The device was used last week when Reid called up the bill responding to global warming, producing the state of futility that has haunted his year and a half as majority leader. Characteristically, Reid neither found the support needed to pass the bill nor attempted a compromise with opponents.

Debating an energy tax as gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon defied political logic. But Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, insisted. Reid bowed to her.

To prevent his Democratic colleagues from having to face difficult votes, Reid “filled the tree” with interlocking amendments staving off all other proposed changes. The procedure has been used by majority leaders of both parties since 1985, but it’s never been invoked as often as it has by Reid. This marked the 12th time he has resorted to the device.

The veteran columnist has no respect for Senator Reid’s stewardship:

Reid’s conduct is defended with the argument that he is hampered by a one-vote majority and will be less restricted once this year’s elections add to the number of Democrats on hand. But LBJ operated with a one-vote margin during the four years that made his reputation as, in biographer Robert Caro’s words, “master of the Senate.” Johnson relied on maneuver and negotiation.

In contrast, Reid uses arcane parliamentary tactics to transform the Senate into another House of Representatives, where the majority can dictate what amendments its members have to vote on. A bigger Democratic majority next January in itself may not reverse this institutional decline.

Paddle Heroes

June 9, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Culture, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library | Leave a Comment 

           

            Associated Press

From Gillian Flaccus’s report on our ping pong diplomacy rematch this week in Yorba Linda:

[In April 1971 in Beijing the] Americans…quickly realized that the far superior Chinese were letting them win. [George] Braithwaite, for example, said he won two of three matches against Liang Geliang in a gym crowded with 18,000 spectators — even though Liang was one of the top three players in the world. “They were like No. 1, we were like No. 28 in the world,” said Tim Boggan, who traveled with the team as editor of U.S. Table Tennis magazine. “Nobody expected anything other than that they’d make the matches close.” Braithwaite and Liang will replay their match Thursday and Boggan, now 77, will also play one game.

More details here. Pictured above is Judy Hoarfrost of Portland, Oregon, who as Judy Bochenski was the youngest member of the 1971 U.S. ping pong team. Judy was photographed at her company, Paddle Palace. We just got word that she’ll be with us in Yorba Linda this week, along with Messrs. Liang, Boggan, and Braithwaite. Against the Chinese champions, we’ll need all the help we can get!

Mr. Conservative At Nixonland

June 5, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under American Politics, Book Review, Nixon Foundation, Presidents | Leave a Comment 

Publisher of 22 New York Times bestsellers in his years running Regnery Publishing, Al Regnery visited the Nixon Library today to discuss his own new book, Upstream: The Ascendance Of American Conservatism. The genial intellectual, now publisher of “The American Spectator,” reviewed the history of postwar conservatism by touching on the contributions and insights of eight lions of the movement, all now gone: William F. Buckley, Jr. (whose God And Man At Yale Al’s late father Henry published in 1951), political theorist James Burnham, anti-communist and journalist Whittaker Chambers, economist Milton Friedman, Barry Goldwater, philosopher Russell Kirk (also a Regnery author), Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

As for the titans of the conservative future, Regnery puts considerable stock in the bright young writers at the newly revitalized “Spectator,” which he took over from George Gilder several years ago. Neither in his speech nor over lunch afterwards would Regnery venture a prediction for November 2008 other than to say it will probably be a landslide either way. He said conservatives often ask him whether they should sit out ‘08 in the hope that an ineffective President Obama (playing the part of President Carter in 1977-81) will pave the way for the next Reagan (whoever he or she is). Regnery firmly puts down the suggestion, if only because of the number of high court appointments the next President may make in his first term.

A more intriguing analogy in Regnery’s talk was his reference to Goldwater’s grassroots support during his 1964 run, which attracted a record three million financial contributors and five million volunteers. Sen. Obama must of course hope that his own impressive contributor base and organization will lead him elsewhere than historical status as the next Goldwater, who lost by a landslide to President Johnson.

As for us, we’re always on the lookout for the next Nixon. Given the ambivalence many conservatives felt toward the militantly pragmatic old one, our visitor was gracious to include him among his conservative titans, crediting him especially with anti-communist credentials won during the Alger Hiss case. Speaking of Presidents, Regnery gave his audience a glimpse at an alternative Mount Rushmore, saying that no one in history has probably had a life and career that correlated simultaneously with a quartet of future POTUS in quite the same way as Helen Gahagan Douglas, whom RN defeated in their 1950 U.S. Senate race. Here’s how Regnery tells the story in Upstream:

While Ronald Reagan campaigned for her against Richard Nixon in 1950 she was in the midst of an affair with Texas Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson. After Jack Kennedy, dispatched by his father to deliver a sizable contribution to Richard Nixon, was criticized for doing so, he apologized to Douglas, saying it was one of the stupidest things he had ever done.

Introducing Mr. Regnery, in the interests of simple decency I felt called to denounce “The American Spectator” for its politically-motivated reporting about Bill Clinton, including lurid tales of his personal life based on anonymous sources– Oops! Sorry. That was “Vanity Fair,” this month.

Memorial Day In Yorba Linda

May 26, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

Nearly 100 young musicians from Palatine High School, near Chicago, raised $45,000 for their Memorial Day trip to California, which ended today with a free concert for 600 visitors in the White House East Room at the Nixon Library. Director of the award-winning band program at Palatine for nearly 30 years, Raeleen Horn led her ensemble through an hour-long concert of patriotic favorites and Americana, including “A Sousa Portrait” and an Armed Forces Salute during which veterans were invited to stand as their service song was played. President Nixon’s brother Edward, attending with his wife, Gay Lynne, stood with his fellow Air Force vets.

Later Mr. Nixon introduced historian and veteran GOP speechwriter James Humes, who sounded a bipartisan note with a talk about his new book The Wit And Wisdom Of FDR. “We in America do not build monuments to war,” President Roosevelt said (p. 19). “We do not build monuments to conquest. We build monuments to commemorate the spirit of sacrifice in war — reminders of our desire for peace.” We thank God today for his abundant love for those who have died for freedom, justice, and righteousness, sometimes affirming the decisions of the statesmen who sent them, sometimes not, but always representing the best part of America.

Edward and Gay Lynne Nixon

Dennis Prager Live from the Nixon Library

April 3, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under News media, Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

Click here to listen live.

You Guys Gonna Take That?

March 31, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

Preparing for The Rematch, our June 2008 exhibition ping pong match here in Yorba Linda between veterans of 1971-72’s ping pong diplomacy, we’re finding Margaret Macmillan’s Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World an invaluable resource. Even before Henry Kissinger’s dramatic secret visit to Beijing in the summer of 1971, a U.S. table tennis team was permitted to visit Beijing (thanks to a courageous State Department official who correctly read RN and HAK’s pro-China signals). Macmillan writes,

In China all the matches were broadcast live on television and radio. [Prime Minister] Chou ordered the Chinese players to let the Americans win some of them.

Just Because It’s Easter

March 20, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

This is Noah, son of some friends of ours here at the Nixon Foundation.