Nixon Foundation President Interviewed By Hugh Hewitt

March 11, 2010 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

On Thursday, New York Times bestselling author and syndicated radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt aired his show live from the Nixon Library. The program included Congressman Mike Pence, James Lileks and an in-studio appearance by Nixon Foundation President Ron Walker. Hewitt also signed copies of his new book GOP 5.0: Republican Renewal Under President Obama.

Afterward, Hewitt joined Bennett, and fellow conservative talk show host Mike Gallagher for America Unplugged, a special forum presented by KRLA 870 on President Obama’s first year in office.

Watch video of Hewitt’s interview with Walker below:

Managing The Nixon Oval Office

February 19, 2010 by admin | Filed Under Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Nixon family, Nixon in the News, Pat Nixon, Presidential libraries, Richard Nixon, Yorba Linda | 6 Comments 

On Presidents’ Day 2010, more than five thousand packed the Nixon Library and were welcomed with cherry pie and appearances by Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. Then at 1:30 pm, RN’s Oval Office Team presented the second Nixon Legacy Forum, The Effective Use Of the President’s Time, a look at RN Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, how the Office of the President operated and why it became the model for successive administrations.

Twenty-two members of the Haldeman family were in the audience including widow Jo Haldeman, their son Hank, daughters Anne and Susan, and their grandchildren. Dwight Chapin, former Deputy Assistant to President Nixon, moderated the panel of key staff including Larry Higby (Special Assistant to the President and Assistant White House Chief of Staff), Steve Bull (Special Assistant to the President) and Ron Walker (Special Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Presidential Advance). Chapin’s service to RN started as a young field man in the 1962 California gubernatorial race. After the former Vice President’s defeat, he went to work for Haldeman at the J. Walter Thompson advertising company. It was during this time that Haldeman – who served as Campaign Manager in 1962 and Director of Advance in the 1960 Presidential campaign – spearheaded the organization of RN’s comeback.

“These weren’t the wilderness years.” Chapin explained. “These were the strategic planning years.”

As an example, Chapin pointed to a memo that illustrated a new and innovative strategy for winning in 1968. Outlining the need for more effective time management, Haldeman told RN that he could reach more voters through the use of television in one or two key events with substantive messages, buying much needed time for him to rest, reflect and write.

This was a radical concept that totally changed the way campaigns went thereafter.” Larry Higby added. “It became the style for how we started to communicate as a White House.”

Higby, the youngest of the staff, also began his career working for Haldeman on the 1968 campaign while in graduate school at UCLA. At twenty-three years old, he became Assistant White House Chief of Staff.

“My first job was to find a book on how the presidency worked.” We had just ninety days to build a corporation from scratch.”

The Nixon organizational model would be groundbreaking. Previous White Houses implemented the cabinet form of government where decision-making was delegated to cabinet officials. John F. Kennedy, Higby explained, worked freestyle, forming coalitions and committees for the most important policy issues. While President Johnson managed like a legislator and focused heavily on his domestic agenda, a reflection on his over 20 years on Capitol Hill.

By contrast, RN managed like an executive.   “H.R. Haldeman was his Chief Operating Officer,” explained Steve Bull. “While Dr. Kissinger was the Vice President of International Affairs and John Erlichman was the President of Domestic Affairs.” It was the Cabinet officers’ job to ultimately execute the positions from the White House.

A retired Marine, Bull’s path to White House was trailed after returning from Vietnam in 1966. He hardly recognized his country as rising crime, social upheaval, and protests against the war were dividing the country. He saw RN as the leader who could bring the country together.

After working on the successful 1968 campaign, Bull joined the White House team as the President’s Special Assistant, managing his day-to-day schedule and moving officials in and out of meetings.

“I was not a confidant.” Bull said.  “It was a senior to subordinate position. My job was to run the Oval Office. I was kept around because I was trustworthy. Trust was important.”

Managing RN’s work environment was also important. Bull explained that RN was a private person. He didn’t like meeting with large groups or numerous advisers. He was a contemplative man whose best course was to rely on his own instincts. He needed time to shape his agenda and map out the long term.

He essentially “shaved two days into one,” Chapin said.  RN started his day early by reading the daily news summary and meeting with Kissinger, Haldeman, and other White House senior advisers and cabinet officials.  During the afternoon, RN would take a short 40 minute “power” nap, change and retreat to his private study in the Executive Office Building, where he would “write out long thoughts, shape his agenda, and constantly be looking ahead,” Higby explained.

As Director of the first Office of Presidential Advance, it was Ron Walker’s job to constantly look ahead. Now the President of the Richard Nixon Foundation, Walker prepared hundreds of foreign and domestic trips for RN including the historic trips to China and Russia in 1972.

After working as a volunteer advanceman during the 1968 Campaign, Walker worked on the transition and the first inaugural. Following inauguration, Chapin invited him to construct the first Office of Presidential Advance.

Not only did Walker create the office, but he also perfected the art first pioneered by Haldeman.

“We wanted to be the mantel of the Presidency,” Walker explained. “When I went into the White House to work for Dwight and Bob, the first thing I thought was important was that I write an advance manual.”

The manual took six months and amounted to 397 pages, constituting what Haldeman initially developed for political campaigns and refining it to advance the President of the United States.

The Nixon White House had “all of those elements necessary to move the President of the United States outside the White House,” Walker said. “We had advance men who knew how to run airport arrivals, how to put motorcades together, how to do press conferences, how to handle the press,” and who were able to effectively “work with Secret Service,” and “the White House Communications Agency.”

On the last day of the 1972 campaign, Walker advanced President Nixon to Greensboro and Spartanburg, South Carolina at midday, flew to a sunset rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico and landed in Ontario, California for a torch light parade of fifty thousand with appearances by John Wayne and the Carpenters.

The next morning at the White House, the President thanked the advance team for their hard work and told them if it not for what they had accomplished he wouldn’t have earned a second term.

To give a sense of their efficiency, RN later told Walker that his team could have took the beaches at Normandy.

Nearly forty years later at the President’s Library in Yorba Linda, the Oval Office Team also performed with masterful efficiency, finishing two minutes ahead of schedule. “The program was to run from 1:30 to 3:30, this program ended at 3:28,” Walker concluded, “that’s called a good advance.”

The Troops Rallied

February 14, 2010 by admin | Filed Under Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | 3 Comments 

WOW!

It is quite heartwarming and amazing to see what is happening here in Yorba Linda, California. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile may remember the one I wrote about our trip to “Rally the Troops.” That was back in September, 2009. Well, the troops rallied. Big Time. President’s Day will be the scene of the second Nixon Legacy Panels. A special panel will discuss the “Effective Use of the President’s Time.”

The panelists are Dwight Chapin, Steve Bull, Larry Higby and Ron Walker. In my mind it is really going to be the “Bob Haldeman Panel.” Bob was the genius behind the efficient way the Nixon White House operated on a daily basis. He believed the key word in his title was STAFF. Chief of STAFF to the President of the United States! You didn’t see him on the Sunday talk shows, because he didn’t consider TV appearances to be part of his job description. It is exciting that this part of history will be discussed by four men who worked for Bob Haldeman, and recorded by C-span. Because of this panel, future generations of presidential scholars will have more information with which to judge the Nixon Administration.

Some of you will be interested to read the names of those who heard the call to rally, and have made plans to be here on President’s Day. Most notable will be twenty-two members of the Haldeman family. Jo Haldeman will be leading the pack of children, grand children and Bob’s brother’s family. Ron and I will be hosting a dinner here at “Coyote Base” and as of this moment, it looks like it will be a reunion and a happening.

From the military: Jack Brennan, the Marine aide to President Nixon and Gene Boyer, the pilot of Marine One will both be here along with Carl Burhannan, the first black presidential helicopter pilot. It is because of Colonel Boyer’s hard work and persistence that the Library has the Presidential Helicopter on the grounds. It is a favorite exhibit of many of our visitors.

An old friend to many, Herb Kalmbach, will be here.

From the Domestic Council: Geoff Shepard, who did such a great job moderating the first Nixon Legacy panel, and panelist James Cavanaugh are coming. Also, John Brown, former Staff Secretary and his wife Noelle who worked for Gordon Strachan and later the Committee to Re-elect the President. (I refuse to refer to it as CREEP)

Special counselor, Frank Gannon will be on hand. Actually, we wish he could be here every day, but he’s got another life on the Eastern Shore, helping some of our old pals write their very important stories of what happened and why.

From the White House Advance Office: Jon Foust and Doug Blaser, along with volunteer advance men, John Pitchess, Peter Murphy, Larry Eastland and Wayne Whitehill.

From the Press Office: Bruce Whelihan, and Tim Elbourne’s, widow, Inge will be here. She recently married Bob Frohn and theirs is a wonderful story. The Elbourne’s and the Frohn’s were across-the-street neighbors for many years in Anaheim Hills, California. Both Inge and Bob suffered the loss of children, and then spouses. When Bob heard that Tim had died and Inge had moved to San Luis Opisbo, he decided to drive up and offer his condolences. It was no quick trip. It was a four hour drive. He arrived with a large bouquet of roses. They spent time together. They cried together. They comforted each other. Bob made the trip often, and always arrived with an armload of roses. A couple of weeks ago, they got married. Inge is getting ready to move into the house across the street from where she used to live. Those of you who know Inge will be smiling at this moment. Especially if you had not heard the news.

From the Television office: The late Bill Carruthers two sons will be here.

And from the Secretarial Support office: Terry Decker Goodsen

Ron and I are especially excited that his sister Kaye Walker Ingerson and brother-in-law Mike Ingerson will be with us, joining our daughters Marja Walker and Lisa Walker Hart and Marcia Howard Schoenbaum and her husband Steve. Long-time aide to Governor Pete Wilson, Bob White, will also be on hand.

Those of you who are interested, be watching for it on C-SPAN.

I plan on doing another blog about the President’s Day festivities, but I can’t sign off without singing the praises of our amazing and hard working folks here at the RN Foundation. First, there is the incredible Sandy Quinn, who knows everybody that is anybody in the State, and probably on Planet Earth. Sandy makes the library run, something he has done from the day the place opened. All of the “out in front” folks plus the people who move tables and chairs constantly as events happen and the people who make the Museum Store vibrate with excitement every single day are a great bunch of hard workers.

Keep in mind, that President’s Day will be a free day. “George Washington” will be on hand giving out cherry pies. All this excitement means the Museum Store will be a hot bed of constant activity. And as I’ve told you before, our Docents will be on hand and making the day extra special for all who come.

The Anaheim White House Restaurant will be doing our dinner here at Coyote Base. How could a Presidential Library ask for a caterer with a better name?. They are worthy of the title and great to work with. We’ll raise a toast, “To The President.” 

_______________________________________________________

Editor’s Note: On Presidents’ day, February 15, from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, the Nixon Library will hold its second Nixon Legacy Forum, “The Effective Use of the President’s Time.” Watch on Youtube starting February 16 as the Nixon Oval Office Team discusses how President Nixon was briefed, scheduled and moved through events and around the world.

The forum will also feature a Q&A. Submit your questions online on the Foundation’s Facebook page, via Twitter @nixonfoundation, or by email at jonathan@nixonfoundation.org.

Article On Ron Walker In Orange County Register

February 13, 2010 by admin | Filed Under American Politics, China, Foundation News, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Orange County, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, White House, Yorba Linda | 1 Comment 

During the Nixon Administration, Ron Walker headed the White House’s advance team, working on projects ranging in scale from the thirty-seventh President’s 1972 visit to the People’s Republic of China to his visits to Washington-area schools. The concepts developed by the team Ron headed form the basis for all the subsequent advance work of American presidencies.

Today, Ron Walker is president of the Richard Nixon Foundation, and the Orange County Register has just published an article about him by Jessica Terrell. who often covers Nixon-related personalities and events for the newspaper. It contains some remarkable facts: it turns out that Ron, at the time he joined the Nixon campaign in 1968, was a registered Democrat. He also describes his ambitious plans for the Foundation, which include doubling the size of its endowment, and organizing more events to make the public aware of the accomplishments of the Nixon era in both domestic and foreign affairs.

The Effective Use Of RN’s Time: How One Time Problem Was Solved

February 9, 2010 by admin | Filed Under Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Imagine the year is 1969 and it’s your lucky day when the telephone rings with a pollster from Gallup or Harris calling to get your opinion on just one critical question: How well informed on current events should the U.S. president be? Please choose one of the following:

(1) Well informed.

(2) As informed as the average American.

(3) No opinion.

It’s reasonable to speculate that nearly 100% of those surveyed would choose a “well informed” president. Surely an “average” level of awareness would not be good enough for the presidency, and having no opinion defies credulity – if not outright scary.

To be well informed, would they have had Richard Nixon to set aside 90 minutes every night to watch three networks’ news broadcasts? Or would just one network be enough? Which networks would be excluded? What about the weekly commentary on PBS?

To be well informed, would the public have wanted RN read just one or two newspapers? If just two, which major American cities would not be represented in the president’s newspaper stack? Would it be okay to exclude the newspapers from every city except, say, New York and Washington, D.C.? Which editorial perspective would be unnecessary? On the other hand, if the public deemed all of them “important,” how would the public react to a photo in their local newspaper of their president trying to work his way through a stack of 50-plus newspapers next to a bank of three television sets running the news broadcasts of Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor and Howard K. Smith?

The problem crystallizes quickly: the need to be well informed every day clashes with not having the time necessary to tackle the problem – one newspaper, one television news broadcast at time. And so the Daily News Summary was created to solve that dilemma for RN. It originated as a one-page look at the news just in time for the snowy New Hampshire primary of 1968. Former aide Patrick J. Buchanan edited the news summaries, which continued in the White House years under the editorship of the late Lyndon K. Allin. The Daily News Summary expanded well beyond the original brief document, with a resource of approximately 70 daily newspapers, 35 magazines and periodicals, plus each day’s network television news broadcasts. All of that was supplemented by special editions for major reviews of newspaper editorials.

Balancing our respect for the President’s time with his need to be well informed was a constant struggle.

_______________________________________________________

Editor’s Note: On Presidents’ day, February 15, from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, the Nixon Library will hold its second Nixon Legacy Forum, “The Effective Use of the President’s Time.” Watch on Youtube starting February 16 as the Nixon Oval Office Team discusses how President Nixon was briefed, scheduled and moved through events and around the world.

The forum will also feature a Q&A. Submit your questions online on the Foundation’s Facebook page, via Twitter @nixonfoundation, or by email at jonathan@nixonfoundation.org.

Presenting The Richard Nixon Legacy Forums

December 28, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Domestic issues, Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | 3 Comments 

The Nixon Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Newsletter

December 14, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | 5 Comments 

The Turkey Has Landed

November 26, 2009 by Anne Walker | Filed Under Nixon Foundation, Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon | 2 Comments 

On his first Thanksgiving in the White House, November 27, 1969, President Nixon told a group of senior citizens, “In our family we always had Thanksgiving as a family day. We have in the past, and we do now. Our parents cannot be here now, but we wanted people who have been with this Nation for so many years, who have lived good lives, to be here as our guests today. We feel that you are part of our family and we invite you here as part of our family, The White House family, the American family.”

“You have seen the menu. It is the usual, of course. Turkey and all the things that go with it, and pumpkin pie for dessert. Seeing turkey on the menu reminds me that when this country began, Benjamin Franklin argued that the National Bird should be a turkey rather than an eagle. Now, I think he was a very wise man, but the final decision to have the eagle was a better one. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, it would have sounded rather funny to say, ‘The turkey has landed.’ And today I think you will all agree you would not want to eat eagle.”

Would you like to have an authentic Nixon Family Thanksgiving Dinner? The Republican Cookbook, with Recipes for Political Success,” The Brownstone Press, Inc., 1969 lists the following:

Here are some of Mrs. Nixon’s recipes for you to try:

Today, we are just like those senior citizens in 1969, invited to share Thanksgiving traditions with the Nixon Legacy, represented here at the Richard Nixon Presidential Foundation. All of us here, and especially the Walker family, wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving.

We plan to spend the holiday counting our many blessings and enjoying a delicious turkey dinner. Our blessings include the many friendships and opportunities we enjoy because of the Nixon family, and the many doors they opened for us. May God continue to Bless America and give our leaders wisdom. . . . and may God Bless all of you.

Honoring The Veterans

November 12, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library events, Podcast | Leave a Comment 

The Golf Command, 4^th Marine Color Guard conducts the Presentation of the Colors in the Nixon Library’s East Room.

More than 2,000 people came to celebrate Veteran’s Day at the Richard Nixon Library on Wednesday, where there was also a program that honored America’s Armed Forces in the library’s replica of The White House East Room.

Introduced by Foundation Vice President Sandy Quinn, the first keynote speaker was Congressional Medal of Honor recipient John Baca.

Constrained by enemy fire during a night mission in Vietnam in February 1970, Army specialist Baca covered an enemy grenade with his steel helmet and sacrificed his own body to absorb the impact after it detonated, saving the lives of eight men in his platoon.

For his heroism, Baca received the Medal of Honor from President Nixon on July 15, 1971.

Baca’s speech was followed by remarks from U.S. Marine Major General Richard Mills, Congressman Gary Miller, former Nixon military aide Colonel Jack Brennan, Clay Baxter, Commander of the Richard Nixon American Legion Post 679, and Hal Short, Commander of the Yorba Linda and Placentia Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9030.

Introduced by Colonel Brennan, the Nixon Foundation presented its first ever Orange County Veteran of the Year Award to retired Marine Corps General Bill Quinn.

General Quinn served in the Marine Corps from 1942 to 1975, commanding one-third of the Armed Forces at the El Toro Marine Corps Base during RN’s presidency.

Colonel Brennan added that General Quinn should also be honored for his loyalty and service to the Nixon Family, a relationship that extended beyond the White House years.

General Quinn was the first to introduce RN to the awaiting crowd at El Toro following his resignation in 1974, and later invited the President to play golf there when he and the First Lady made their permanent home in San Clemente.

Providing the ceremonies with sentimental patriotic tunes were Celebration USA, the Villa Park High School Symphonic Ensemble, and the Orange High School Chamber Singers and Concert Choir.

Courtesy of Foundation friend David Stokes, a radio talk show host and pastor at Fair Oaks Church in Fairfax, Virginia, below is a podcast recording of Wednesday’s events in full:

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Lunch With Frank In Fairfax

November 11, 2009 by David R. Stokes | Filed Under Nixon Foundation | Leave a Comment 

During my visit to the Nixon Library in September, Sandy Quinn peppered our conversation with various expressions that all basically said the same thing: “You really need to talk to Frank Gannon.” Since then I have dialogued with Frank via email, punctuated by the occasional telephone chat.

But today I had the chance to spend a few hours with Frank, and all I can say is that Sandy Quinn was of course, very right. Frank made his way out to Fairfax today and I had the chance to show him around Fair Oaks Church. He was drawn to the bookshelves laden with, well, books – then he was off, from subject to subject, this to that, anecdote upon anecdote, and I couldn’t get enough.

It was a bright spot on a very rainy day here in Northern Virginia. We made our way to a local eatery and continued the conversation over wonderful crab cakes. Then, all too soon, it was back to work.

Thanks, Frank – and thanks to Sandy Quinn for the idea.

The New Nixon Podcast Is Up And Running

October 31, 2009 by David R. Stokes | Filed Under Advertising, Foundation News, Interviews, Media, New Media, Nixon Administration, Nixon Center, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Podcast, Popular Culture, Richard Nixon, Social Networking, Technology, The National Interest, The New Nixon | Leave a Comment 

During a recent visit to the Nixon Library, I had a discussion with several people about the potential for a podcast, something designed to highlight the events at the library, as well as the larger work of the Nixon Foundation.

We determined to use the recent visit of Sonny West and his talk about the day Elvis came to see President Nixon in the Oval Office for the premier production of the podcast.

This podcast is being registered with I-Tunes and will be available through them by the end of today. This, of course, makes the podcast portable. It can be downloaded to I-Pods and other such devices. In the meantime, here is a link to the first episode of what we hope will be a regular feature.

A couple of provisos: First, the theme music is from “VICTORY AT SEA” at the recommendation of Sandy Quinn. He told me how much Mr. Nixon enjoyed it – so it was an obvious choice. Second, some of the audio during Sonny’s remarks is a little difficult to hear and I suspect he pulled a Fran Tarkenton and scrambled out of the pocket, straying from the microphone, at times. These technical difficulties will be addressed and corrected for future events and podcasts.

But even with a few “glitches” – this podcast will be, I think, a welcome edition to the wonderful media expressions of the Nixon Foundation.

It is my privilege to host and produce this and I look forward to working on new editions about once a month – so, stay tuned! My special thanks to Philip Bassham, on my staff in Fairfax, for his vital help with this project.

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Download on iTunes

Sonny West: Still Taking Care Of Business

October 30, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Music, Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Elvis’s loyal friend and bodyguard, Sonny West, spoke at the Nixon Foundation earlier this week and signed copies of his new book Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business a memoir about his life with “one of the most revered figures of all time.”

Foundation Vice President Sandy Quinn conducted an interview with West, where they talked about  — among other things — the day that “the King” made a surprise trip to the White House to meet President Nixon:

Living The Nixon Legacy

October 22, 2009 by Jimmy Byron | Filed Under China, Nixon Foundation, Richard Nixon | 1 Comment 

(Photo credit, Gary Byron Photography): Murals of President and Mrs. Nixon’s landmark voyage of peace to the People’s Republic of China are on display at South Coast Plaza.

I had always assumed that ping-pong was a relatively easy game –the activity that one plays at a party, more or less. Usually reserved as the place my mom puts the chips and dip when we entertain my friends, our ping-pong table does not receive much use. Boy, did I have a lot to learn… Outside of North America, table tennis is a worldwide phenomenon, even largely regarded to be the national sport of the People’s Republic of China.

In my three years with the Nixon Foundation, I have been privileged and honored to have been involved in planning and setting up Foundation events. In August 2009, Foundation VP Sandy Quinn and Marketing Director Anthony Curtis took me to one of their working lunches with Werner Escher, Director of International Marketing at South Coast Plaza. The conversation’s light banter drifted around many subjects, though the purpose of the lunch was to discuss and plan Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Rematch, to be held at South Coast Plaza in October. I presented Werner with a few press items from our enormously successful Ping-Pong Diplomacy event last summer to use for reference.

(Photo credit, Gary Byron Photography): Chinese dancers perform traditional dances in which they used fans emblazoned with the American flag.

I arrived at South Coast Plaza the early morning of October 17. What I would witness and be a part of that day would change my opinion of ping-pong and only strengthen my respect for the South Coast Plaza management and, of course, our team at the Foundation.

In a representation of the cooperation and trust between the U.S. and China, ten murals chronicling President and Mrs. Nixon’s historic 1972 trip to the People’s Republic served as a dramatic bridge in the Bloomingdales wing of the complex. I spoke to a gentleman, a spectator, who told me about his admiration for President Nixon, brought about as a result of the President’s landmark foreign policy initiatives, most significantly the normalization in Sino-American relations; Sandy Quinn began his remarks by echoing that sentiment.

The day began with traditional Chinese dances in which the decorative fans the dancers quickly snapped shut were emblazoned with an American flag pattern. It was truly a significant, remarkable, and poignant display, one that symbolized well the bond between our two nations.

(Photo credit: Gary Byron Photography): Spectators watch as table tennis champions compete.

But perhaps that bond would not have been established were it not for the U.S. Table Tennis team. At the start of his administration, President Nixon began sending subtle overtures to China, seeking better relations between the two nations. As it so happened, the U.S. Table Tennis team was competing in Japan in April 1971, during which they received invitations to compete against the Chinese Table Tennis team in Communist China, an extremely rare outreach to Americans by the Chinese government. The President’s messages had been received and China reciprocated via ping-pong, thus the term “Ping Pong Diplomacy” was coined. With both sides having indicated a willingness to cooperate, the Nixon administration was able to further its diplomatic efforts.

The four table tennis champions introduced at South Coast Plaza had all competed in the Olympics, representing the United States and China. As they began warming up, I was genuinely shocked by their methods of play: their stances, their positions around the table, the way they held their paddles. I never knew that so much went into it! The play-by-play commentator, ping-pong champ Adam Bobrow, whose humorous personality and upbeat attitude was on display throughout the day (just check out this video as a sample of Adam’s persona), would routinely explain procedures and different techniques the athletes were using.

Nixon Foundation Vice President Sandy Quinn (left) and Director of Marketing Anthony Curtis (right) greet Werner Escher (middle), Director of Marketing at South Coast Plaza.

Shoppers began appearing at the sidelines, and more stopped to watch two and three levels above the arena. All were mesmerized by the captivating back-and-forth. Over 2,000 spectators came to watch the Olympians, collegiate athletes, and youth challengers. A few were even lucky enough to “challenge the champs;” young and old took the paddles and tried their luck. Of the thirty or so who participated, one gentleman even defeated a champion!

Youth champions compete in front of large crowds.

Visitors both young and old alike challenged the ping pong champions as a part of the “challenge the champ” feature in the program.

The experience shared between the players, and the continued goodwill between America and China is proof of President Nixon’s vision of bringing East and West together. Hundreds of shoppers wandered between the murals, studying famous images of the trip that started it all, “the week that changed the world.”

Shoppers read the murals of President and Mrs. Nixon’s 1972 trip to China.

I invite you to visit the Bloomingdale’s wing of South Coast Plaza to view the murals of the President and First Lady’s historic trip on display through the first week of November.

George McGovern Speaks At The Nixon Library

August 28, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Democratic Party, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Presidential libraries, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, Yorba Linda | 5 Comments 

On Wednesday night, a crowd of over 700 gathered in Yorba Linda to see former Senator George McGovern talk about his new book, a short biography of Abraham Lincoln. The event, co-sponsored by the Richard Nixon Library and Museum and the Richard Nixon Foundation (and held in the Library’s replica of the White House’s East Room) would have been remarkable enough for the appearance of President Nixon’s Democratic opponent in the 1972 election – but, in a surprise appearance, the Senator was introduced by none other than 83-year-old Gore Vidal, almost the last major American writer of the “Greatest Generation” still living, who has written about RN on many occasions (including the 1972 play An Evening With Richard Nixon). Both men received standing ovations.

Though Vidal has sometimes expressed a degree of admiration for the thirty-seventh President’s resilience and achievements in the field of foreign affairs, in recent years his remarks about Nixon have been much more negative, and he seems to blame RN for instigating the careers of former Vice President Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, both of whom worked in the Nixon Administration and have been the targets of Vidal’s angriest barbs in articles and interviews since 2000. The late Senator Edward Kennedy has also been the object of Vidal’s bile from time to time, unsurprisingly given the writer’s mercurial relationship with the Kennedy clan, and his preference for Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s brand of populist radicalism. But in his introduction in Yorba Linda, Vidal spoke instead of Lincoln, the subject of one of his best-known and most acclaimed novels.

Sen. McGovern then took the podium and discussed his biography. He stressed that Lincoln’s greatest achievement was preserving the Union, and spoke at length about the difficulties the sixteenth President had to overcome – his limited formal education, and his struggle with depression (which McGovern knows from experience, as he movingly describes in Terry, his book about his late daughter’s tragic battle with alcoholism and bipolar illness).

Though Ted Kennedy went unmentioned in the main part of McGovern’s talk, one of the questions asked after it referred to him, and the reply was:

“Ted was a great senator,” McGovern said. “He hardly missed a day [of work] . . . I admired him and, on a personal basis, if any senator suffered a loss like a child or a spouse, he was the first person who called. When our daughter Terry died, he came to see Eleanor and me. He was there at 9 a.m. the next morning with his wife. He was a person who respected tragedy because of his family. He was very thoughtful. I thought a lot of him.”

McGovern also spoke at Chapman University earlier in the day.

8.18.71

August 18, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under American Politics, Environmental issues, Nixon Administration, Nixon Foundation, Nixon family, Pat Nixon, Presidents, Richard Nixon | 1 Comment 

President Obama and his family enjoyed and praised the beauty of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon during their recent whirlwind western tour.  And Douglas Brinkley has written a doorstopper celebrating TR’s role in creating our National Parks.

But it was RN’s Legacy of Parks program —officially announced thirty-eight years ago tomorrow, that gave the Park Service its late 20th Century legs and pioneered the Nixonian concept of bringing parks to places —especially urban places— where all people could enjoy them.

As a result of RN’s program, between 1971 and 1976, more than 80,000 acres of government property were converted to recreational use in 642 new parks.

PN launched the Legacy of Parks thirty-eight years ago today —on 18 August 1971— at the end of a four-day swing through several western states that ended on the US-Mexican border south of San Diego.

PN launches the Legacy of Parks at Imperial Beach, California, on 18 August 1971.  She officiated at the turning over of a 370-acre former naval base as Border Field State Park.

Building on the foundation laid in the 37-point program that I submitted to Congress last year, I will propose a strong new set of initiatives to clean up our air and water, to combat noise, and to preserve and restore our surroundings.

I will propose programs to make better use of our land, to encourage a balanced national growth–growth that will revitalize our rural heartland and enhance the quality of life in America.

And not only to meet today’s needs but to anticipate those of tomorrow, I will put forward the most extensive program ever proposed by a President of the United States to expand the Nation’s parks, recreation areas, open spaces, in a way that truly brings parks to the people where the people are. For only if we leave a legacy of parks will the next generation have parks to enjoy.

On 8 February, in his Special Message to Congress Proposing the 1971 Environmental Program, RN put some appropriations flesh on those legislative words:

Merely acquiring land for open space and recreation is not enough. We must bring parks to where the people are so that everyone has access to nearby recreational areas. In my budget for 1972, I have proposed a new “Legacy of Parks” program which will help States and local government provide parks and recreation areas, not just for today’s Americans but for tomorrow’s as well. Only if we set aside and develop such recreation areas now can we ensure that they will be available for future generations.

As part of this legacy, I have requested a $200 million appropriation to begin a new program for the acquisition and development of additional park lands in urban areas. To be administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, this would include provision for facilities such as swimming pools to add to the use and enjoyment of these parks.

Also, I have recommended in my 1972 budget that the appropriation for the Land and Water Conservation Fund be increased to $380 million, permitting the continued acquisition of Federal parks and recreation areas as well as an expanded State grant program. However, because of the way in which these State grant funds were allocated over the past five years, a relatively small percentage has been used for the purchase and development of recreational facilities in and near urban areas. The allocation formula should be changed to ensure that more parks will be developed in and near our urban areas.

And on 19 August, at Grand Teton National Park, he issued a statement announcing the first fruits of his January proposal:

It has been estimated that some 75 percent of all outdoor recreation enjoyed by Americans takes place within a short distance of their homes. That is why I believe so strongly that we should be doing far more to bring our parks to the people. The Congress has thus far appropriated only $100 million for the HUD program.

Finally, I would point to my establishment of the Federal Property Review Board, which evaluates federally owned properties in order to determine whether they can be converted to park use. Close to 100 such properties have already been identified, and 24 of these, containing more than 5,000 acres, are now in the process of being conveyed by the Department of the Interior to local and State agencies. Mrs. Nixon has sought to encourage this important effort during her trip across the country this week.

Many of the properties which have been released under this program are within easy reach of our larger urban areas. To augment these efforts, we are also preparing a number of amendments to the Federal Income Tax Code which would facilitate charitable donations of property for conservation purposes. I hope to present these proposals to the Congress in the near future.

The combined effect of all these activities will be to provide that full range of outdoor experiences which our dynamic population requires. For some, this program will provide neighborhood parks in the city. For others, it will offer a pleasant setting for a weekend retreat, for an afternoon bike ride, or for a family vacation. For still others, it will provide the chance truly to escape into the wilderness.

I believe our Nation can afford to make these opportunities available. In fact, it is my view that we cannot afford not to provide them. For such a program can significantly enhance the quality of our Nation’s life and spirit–both now and for future generations.

It’s significant that the new President of the Nixon Foundation —Ron Walker— is the man RN chose to head the National Park Service in 1973.  The appointment of this valued staff member and long-time friend was an indication of the importance RN continued to place on his parks initiative.  (And it’s ironic that RN’s extensive biography on the National Park Service website doesn’t even mention the Legacy of Parks.)

When Seventies Phenomena Collide

June 17, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, John Dean At The Nixon Library, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Nixon in the News, Presidential libraries, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, Watergate, Yorba Linda | 1 Comment 

Tonight, former Nixon White House counsel Luke W. – I mean, John W. Dean III appeared at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda. Speaking before an audience of close to 300, according to Melody Chiu of the Orange County Register, he contended that the Richard Nixon Foundation, by criticizing his appearance, “is reviving the dark side of Richard Nixon,” and asserted that the controversy surrounding his remarks was “petty.”

Nixon Library director Timothy Naftali called the appearance “an important milestone,” adding: “All we care about is that [our speakers]are serious and that our community will learn from them. We want to create a forum for serious discussion, debate and education.”

Earlier in the day, Naftali told Rebecca Cathcart of the New York Times’s “The Caucus” blog that Dean’s appearance formed part of an “initiative” to “provide a nonpartisan presentation of the facts of Watergate,” adding that another element of this would be the renovated Watergate exhibit, to be unveiled at the museum in August.

John Dean At Yorba Linda, or Who’s Deep Throat Now?

June 16, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, John Dean At The Nixon Library, National Archives, News media, Nixon Administration, Nixon Administration figures, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon Library events, Nixon in the News, Orange County, Presidential libraries, Presidents, Richard Nixon, U.S. History, Watergate, Yorba Linda | 1 Comment 

Tomorrow, June 17, is the thirty-seventh anniversary of the Watergate break-in. At the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, it will be marked by a lecture and book-signing by John W. Dean III, counsel to the President from 1970 until 1973, convicted felon (for obstruction of justice, to which he pled guilty on November 30 of the latter year), and one of the central figures in the Watergate scandal.

Several months ago, when discussing a post Dean made on the site The Daily Beast in which he defended historian Stanley I. Kutler from criticism of the latter’s transcriptions of the Nixon tapes, I noted that in it he said he planned to reissue his first book Blind Ambition, his own account of Watergate, with new material. That book will be republished tomorrow, with a new afterword which, according to a press release promoting the reissue, “truly closes the case on Watergate.”

It would seem a sure bet that one or another of our major conglomerate publishing imprints would be keen to acquire Blind Ambition, given such a promise, but the book is not being reprinted by any of them – not even Simon & Schuster, which originally published it. Instead, the book, according to Al Kamen in the Washington Post, is being “privately published” by Polimedia, the author’s PR firm. The event at the Nixon Library is described as the reissue’s “launch” at the firm’s site.

Dean’s appearance in Yorba Linda is not being greeted with universal hosannas, as Michael Isikoff of Newsweek makes clear in this article. Robert Odle, who worked in the communications office of the Nixon White House (and was later administration director of the Committee to Re-Elect The President) says in it that inviting Dean to the Library is “like having Monica Lewinsky speak at the Clinton library on the anniversary of President Clinton’s impeachment.” (As it happens, Isikoff is the journalist who broke the Lewinsky story.)

And at the Washington Times, Susan Naulty, who was the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace’s archivist from the institution’s dedication in 1990 until 2003, explains why she believes Dean’s appearance is not appropriate. She says, in part:

[T]hanks to Mr. Nixon’s voluminous archives, scholars with a better understanding of the man and his career-long struggle to advance freedom over tyranny on the one hand, and with considerably more data regarding the congressional investigations directed against him on the other, may well begin to wonder who was the real Machiavelli in Watergate – the president or his accusers. If the latter, the lessons of that crisis have enormous relevance for us today – and for freedom-loving people everywhere and at all times.

One drawback of Ms. Naulty’s article is that it does not precisely explain how Dean will come to be in Yorba Linda tomorrow. He was invited to speak by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, which is part of the federal National Archives and Records Administration, and which now operates the museum facility in Yorba Linda and will be transferring the Nixon presidential documents to the library facility next year from Maryland. The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation (sponsor of TNN), which was in charge of the Library when it was a private institution, not part of the NARA presidential libraries system, from 1990 until 2007, was not consulted about Dean’s appearance and, as Isikoff points out, has expressed its disapproval of the invitation.

Ms. Naulty’s article has attracted several comments at the Times’s site. A rather interesting one, from “anonymous222,” refers to Dean’s involvement in the quest for the true identity of “Deep Throat,” the Watergate informant.

In 1975, Dean suggested DT was Earl Silbert, who was the prosecutor of the Watergate defendants in the early stages of the scandal. Then, in his 1982 book Lost Honor, Dean devoted a number of pages to arguing, rather unconvincingly, that Gen. Alexander Haig was DT.

Twenty years later, Dean wrote an e-book published by Salon.com, Unmasking Deep Throat. Several articles, before the book was published, claimed that Dean would identify Washington lawyer Jonathan Rose as DT, which reportedly prompted Rose to inform Salon that he would sue for defamation in such an event. But when the book finally came off the cyberpress (or whatever one would call it), Dean instead suggested DT was a composite of more than one of Bob Woodward’s sources. (After Mark Felt “confessed” to being DT in 2005, Dean told Keith Olbermann of MSNBC he still held to the composite theory.)

And then there are the still-murky events of 2003. In that year, a group of student journalists at the University of Illinois came to the much-publicized conclusion that Fred Fielding, White House counsel for two presidents (and Dean’s deputy in the Nixon years), was DT. At the time it was reported that Dean had gone to the trouble of personally contacting some of the students to explain to them why Fielding could not be DT.

But some questions remain. As Olbermann observed in 2005, according to All The President’s Men, DT talked to Woodward about the famous 18 1/2 minute gap in the tapes before it became public knowledge. Felt, who had left the FBI, would have been unlikely to know about the gap. Fielding, who was still White House deputy counsel at the time, would have known. (Rather intriguingly, Fielding’s Wikipedia entry incorrectly states that his work in the Nixon Administration ended in 1972.)

So, were I in Yorba Linda tomorrow, one question I’d like to pose to Dean would be: Why did you try to steer the Illini journalists-to-be from the conclusion Fielding was Deep Throat? There are some other questions that come to mind, and tomorrow I hope to discuss them here.

Brennan: Living History

May 9, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Military, Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, Nixon family, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

Retired Marine Colonel Jack Brennan — a former military assistant to President Nixon — goes on the record and makes an addendum to his earlier remarks about the history of the presidential helicopter program:

Colonel Brennan also discussed the history of how the Nixon Library re-acquired 37’s birthplace:

Bill Bennett Weighs In On GOP Woes, ‘Torture’ Debate

April 28, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixon Foundation, Nixon Library, TNN TV | 1 Comment 

The Hon. William J. Bennett was at the Nixon Library Sunday to sign his new book The American Patriot’s Almanac: Daily Readings on America. Bennett also spoke to a crowd of over 400 in the Library’s replica of the White House East Room.

Bennett began his remarks by recalling that President Nixon’s record on civil rights is a legacy worth remembering, capturing the endorsement of baseball legend Jackie Robinson and 30 percent of the African American vote in the 1960 election, the largest proportion a Republican candidate gained in the past 50 years.

In addition to losing key demographics, Bennett noted that though Republicans have ceded the center of gravity in Washington, giving up — by default — California’s 55 electoral votes has done greater damage. “California is the land of Nixon,” Bennett said. “But it’s also the land of Reagan.” Challenging the state to regain the “center of gravity” is important Bennett argues, because it’s where the rest of the country receives their “cultural queues.” While California has consecutively voted Democratic in the past 5 election cycles, its people have voted to keep property taxes “low,” mandated English as the language of instruction, and has kept “marriage between a man and a woman.”

Bennett also reminded the audience of the lessons of Ronald Reagan in what he believes is the divergent age of Obama, explaining that the responsibilities of government is first “security,” that we must acknowledge “that men are free,”  and that the “nanny state”  is not the answer to our economic woes. Bennett didn’t say this would come easy, acknowledging that conservatives have ceded ground in popular culture making it easier for the opposition to fill the political vaccuum. “A society has two important questions,” the philosophy phd recalled in Plato’s dialogues, “what will we teach the children, and who will do the teaching?”

After his speech, Bennett discussed President Obama’s recent release of the ’so called’ tortured memos and opined on the administration’s possible decision to prosecute Bush administration officials on this episode of TNN TV:

Correction: During my Q & A with The Hon. William Bennett, I referred to Robert Mueller as “former” FBI director. Mr. Mueller is the current director.

2.18.09

February 18, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Nixon Foundation, The New Nixon, U.S. History | Leave a Comment 

On 18 February 2008, the first edition of The New Nixon was uploaded.  The rest is history.

 

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