The anecdote about Nixon visiting the anti-war protesters

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Last edited Sun Mar 26, 2017, 12:08 PM - Edit history (1)

The anecdote about Nixon visiting the anti-war protesters :

We know what happened in the spring of 1972: Five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, were caught and arrested, and triggered the slow-dripping scandal that became known as Watergate.

But a full understanding of President Richard Nixon wouldn’t be possible without the events that came before Watergate, when the stress of the presidency—the anti-Vietnam demonstrations, the secret bombing and invasion of Cambodia, the deaths of four student protesters at Kent State, became too much. He was agitated, drinking, paranoid about the press—and in one memorable pre-dawn excursion, exited the White House without his aides, driven by a mix of memory and pain, to try and connect with demonstrators on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. When his frantic staff at last caught up with him, he treated them to breakfast at the Mayflower Hotel.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/john-farrell-nixon-book-excerpt-214954

I could see Dubya doing that. I couldn't see Trump doing that in a million years.

[Sgent]

1. I could see that about many of our presidents really

Obama, Clinton, Bush 43, Reagan, maybe 41. They all loved people and were there to serve the people, abet in ways that were despicable to many. Trump is just a nihilist.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Poor Nixon tried to talk to them about football.

[WinkyDink]

8. "were there to serve the people, abet in ways that were despicable to many" is a contradiction.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I believe he is saying there is a difference between being misguided and fundamentally evil.

It's akin to the line that I am not questioning your character. I am questioning your judgment.


Please don't put me in the position of defending Republicans. I do think Trump is sui generis, and not in a good way.

[RKP5637]

2. Trump wouldn't do that unless at his hotel and they all paid exorbitant prices ... but even then,

NO! Trump, would never do it.

[Siwsan]

4. I could see trump* sending out the drones

I don't think I've ever seen someone so completely void of sympathy and empathy, and so packed to the gills with self-pity and prevaricating blame projecting.

[Kath2]

5. Isn't that the truth!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I have read several books about Nixon. I have read one about Trump.

Nixon was a good family man and was in a quest for continuous self improvement. He was done in by his demons; insecurity, resentment, and a desire for revenge, but he had redeeming qualities. And unlike Trump he was a bright man.

My favorite Nixon anecdote is Eisenhower trying to teach him how to play golf. He wasn't very good. Ike told him c'mon, you're a big strong boy. You can do this.

[JHB]

13. Machines, too, not just Spicey and Omarosa.

[Turbineguy]

7. Nixon in his better days...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. LOL

Streaks of rose above the Capitol signaled the approach of day. As he returned to his limousine, Nixon ran across Bob Moustakas, a tall and portly bearded longhair from Detroit who, by self-admission, was not looking his best after a long drive to Washington, in which mood-altering substances were consumed. Moustakas had a camera, and Nixon called on Tkach to take their picture. The mood was not hostile, Moustakas later recalled, but it was stilted—like that of a high school party, in which the host’s parents came down to the basement rec room to make small talk. As they posed and chatted, Nixon assessed Moustakas, and told him how, in China, the children were culled at an early age and sent off on different tracks, toward professional, academic or manual labors. The system was flawed, Nixon said, for it missed “late bloomers.” Then he patted Moustakas on the back, as if to say, there is hope for you yet.

[former9thward]

11. A minor correction to your headline.

He did not take the demonstrators to breakfast. He took his staff.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. Thank you. I fixed it.

I wonder if the scene of Nixon asking the African American wait staff in the basement of the White House to vote for him which was depicted in The Butler was real or dramatized. He comes of as fairly well intentioned but ham handed.