38 years ago today...

She was relieved that the nightmare was over. I was just a little guy.

If she were alive today, she'd be amazed at how much more nightmarish we make our nightmares these days.

That's why that song was on the radio.
Shame that feeling didn't last very long.

Just 6 years later, the meat grinder started churning, awaiting the middle class.

"I should have died the day Nixon resigned." -- I often feel that way too.

My aunt, who just turned 90, still calls it one of the happiest days of her life.

beauty of the spot. If you happen to sit next to this guy



you can look over his shoulder and read the newspaper along with him.. It is date Aug 9, 1974 and you can read how RM Nixon resigned from office.

Four months earlier I helped organize the last public demonstration of RMN when he went to Spokane to open the 1974 World's Fair. The police let us set up across the street and a couple hundred of us yelled our throats out when he got out of the car. He turned and waved at us like we were his strongest supporters and I had to admire his practiced concentration. He never appeared in public as President after that.

I had turned the college I was attending into a large hotel for the World's Fair and as the news broke we wheeled out Televisions into the lobby and watched with stunned guests as he climbed aboard a helicopter and flew off.

My generation, the tail-end Boomers, missed out on the college protests as the war and the draft ended while we were in high school (a good thing!). By the time I got to Podunk State College it was like nothing ever happened.

His speech the night before stopped this country in its tracks.

I was working at Washington National Airport, and while he was speaking, no planes pulled away from the gates, I'm almost positive. Everyone, including the pilots and cabin crews, were inside watching. I can tell you that not a single person walked up to our ticket counter during that entire time. We were all in our little break room behind the counter, with the door open in case a passenger needed us. But nope, not a single one wanted our attention while Nixon was speaking.

Even now, when I see a tape of it, I keep on expecting him, after he says, "I'm not a quitter" to continue with, "And therefore I will complete out the remainder of my term as your President."

I swear to God, I hold my breath every single time for fear he's going to declare his intent to stay in office.

Also, because I worked in DC, I can tell you that the federal government all but came to a halt in terms of day-to-day business being carried on. Yeah, employees went to work, and I'm sure a good many of them did their jobs, but it was as if the entire metro area was in suspended animation, no matter what you did or who you were.

I was 27 and had been following Watergate quite closely. I hated Nixon because of Kent State, the war, his enemies lists. It seemed so surreal that he would step down, and I felt like a great weight had been lifted and that maybe there was some hope. Little did I know how bad things would get in these later years. For every victory, there are two more battles to be fought.

Just getting ready to ship overseas, to a divided Germany with The Wall still up. Man, that seems like a whole other life.

I worked all day, and stayed up until the wee hours watching the hearings on T.V. I worked for a library system then. Most of the people were repubbies, but things were different then. Even the repubbies had figured out that Nixon was a crook and bad for the country.

After he resigned, the next day, we rolled a TV in, and watched live while he left Washington with his family. I will never forget it.

I felt vindicated.

Things are worse now. We need to catch a few more crooks and send them home, too. At this point, sending them out of Washington is good enough for me. I don't even care if they go to jail.

Love the song though, I remember hearing that on an 8 track (whoa that makes me feel old though).

But I believe I remember it being announced over the intercom in kindergarten.