Anyone old enough to have a Nixon story?

[captain queeg]

I was a kid, I think 9th grade. It was the run up to the 1972 election and Nixon was coming through NE Ohio with a motorcade. He was coming thru my small town. I went down with a friend of mine. I had a McGovern sign and he had a sign that said “Dick Nixon before he dicks you”. Some cop on a horseback came over and said “you know how much that sign scares me, boy?” And tried to run us over. I shoved my sign into the horse’s face and we ran. Big man, using a horse to intimidate a kid. Anyway I think things are every bit as devisive now as back then.

We circled around and got to stand by the road when the motorcade went by (after being hassled by the HS football team). Was close enough I could have spit on him. He was at the height of his popularity at that time. Let’s hope history kind of repeats itself and the current sad excuse gets run out of office, but even Nixon was morally superior to the orange abomination.

[Wounded Bear]

1. I was a young Marine...

it wasn't all because of Nixon, but between a pay raise that he and Congress passed and my getting a promotion concurrently, I got one of the biggest raises of my life (percentage-wise) in 1971. I voted for him in 1972.

He was the last Repub I voted for in a Presidential election. I don't think I've voted for a Repub in other seats since, but if I did, it wasn't very often.

[lagomorph777]

93. Despicable as Nixon was, he actually did some positive things, and would be considered

left of most of our recent Dems on many policy positions.

I was too young to vote, and certainly would not have voted for him, but today, I'd take him over Donald Turd or Mike Penis.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

105. Some time back I saw a documentary about

Nixon's first term. It is astounding. Watergate has cast a backward shadow on Nixon. We forget that he was responsible for the EPA, among other things.

Trust me, I'm not a fan of Nixon, but we ought somehow to balance what he did with what he was.

In 1968 I was only 20. Couldn't vote. In 1972 I was too young and stupid to vote, although if I'd done so, I'd have voted for McGovern.

My first vote was in 1976 for Carter, and I've voted in every single Presidential election since, and pretty much every single mid-term election and city council election and so on ever since.

[Nitram]

110. All Nixon did was consolidate existing environmental protection agencies into one agency.

Congress wrote and passed all the bills giving the EPA authority and purpose, including the Clean Water Act, and Congress retained oversight and control of the EPA. Nixon did not give a shit about the environment, although he took credit because there were enough votes in Congress to override a veto.

[Nitram]

108. Which of Nixon's policy positions would be to the left of which current candidates? I don't buy

that. And don't mention the Clean Water Act. Congress had the votes to override a veto, so Nixon decided to claim credit.

[lagomorph777]

111. Not sure which we'd agree on as "left of recent Dems", but here is some stuff:

(Note, I didn't say "left of current candidates" because the Party has begun to catch up with voters since the 2016 debacle)

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/06/13/did-any-good-come-of-watergate/nixon-had-some-successes-before-his-disgrace

[Marcuse]

109. I graduated into a recession. Nixon's CETA program changed my life.

“…One response to high unemployment in the 1970s was a return to government job creation. The largest of these programs, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Administration (CETA), made it possible to extend the services of state public agencies as well as nonprofit social services, but CETA was much smaller in relation to total unemployment than the WPA (Ginsburg, 1983; Rose, 2009). The Ronald Reagan administration (1981–1989) repealed CETA in 1982, even though unemployment was nearly 10 percent https://njfac.org/index.php/comprehensive-employment-and-training-act-ceta/|

[Dan]

102. Agreed

As I recall, as a young enlisted man, we went from something like $134 a month, to almost $300 a month. Of course as soon as the raise went into effect, the rents and everything else increased. But Nixon was my man...

[samnsara]

2. mostly i remember the impeachment trial on tv and staring at...

....Mo Deans bun as she sat behind her husband. Her hair was nearly platinum. She was so beautiful!

[Sneederbunk]

27. There was no impeachment trial for Nixon.

[radical noodle]

58. I imagine she means the hearings

I remember John Dean's wife from the hearings. She maintained her dignity so well.

[Ohiogal]

3. You weren't by any chance

in Warren, Ohio, were you? I was at that same place to see the motorcade. I was a young teenager and just went down there with some of my friends for something to do. I remember him standing up through the top of the black car.

[captain queeg]

5. Close. Garrettsville, OH. I think about 12 miles, probably the same motorcade.

[Ohiogal]

7. Ah, yes, I know Garretsville.

Yes probably the same motorcade!

[captain queeg]

9. I think I remember you

I posted something a year or so ago about Kent State and I think it was you who replied you had fond memories of going there.

[marybourg]

4. Yes. Worked in the same (Federal) building

as he did after his resignation. It was considered an insult to him to gave him an office in a plebeian federal building. Many of us federal workers thought that attitude was an insult to US.

But anyway, we used the same bank of elevators. One day I jumped into an elevator just as the doors were closing. Nixon and his secret service escort of 2 men were already in the otherwise empty elevator. The 2 men tried to chase me out. Nixon said something like: No, she can stay. So I went up with them. He always smiled and said hello to me after that . I always replied Hello Mr. President, out of respect for the office.

[dawg day]

6. I remember we chanted in '72

"Don't change dicks in the middle of a screw, vote Nixon in 72.'

[Hassler]

16. +1

I remember it well!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. LOL, I remember that one too!

[rsdsharp]

84. As Imus said at the time:

"If Nixon was the one in '68, he'll be a bigger one in '72."

[MineralMan]

8. I have one.

In February, 1969, I was a USAF E-4, working in the NSA building at Ft. George Meade in Maryland. After days of preparation, I was working in a room there during an exercise. I was sitting in front of a machine, doing something I can't talk about, when a group of people came up behind me. I turned to look, and one of them was Nixon.

He was there getting a tour of the NSA during the exercise. I stood up, paid said, "Good morning, Mr. President," as I had been instructed to do, and then described my job briefly. Then, they left.

And that was that. It was weird.

[Aristus]

10. I was only six when Nixon resigned.

The hearings on TV went on and on and on, pre-empting a lot of the programming that my younger brother and I enjoyed.

One day, my brother asked my mother: "Mommy, what's a 'Kissinger'?"

[Dave Starsky]

73. That was the summer without Gomer Pyle and Hogan's Heroes.

I.e., the Dark Times.

[Kurt V.]

11. i was 12. it was summer. i had other things going on. then i happen

to catch it on the news . Nixon had resigned. i looked over at my dad, and it was the saddest face i'd ever seen him have. i thought to myself, something important just happened

[UTUSN]

12. On a Greyhound from university in the period that the scope of crimes was clear

Somehow an elderly lady and I started talking & she somehow didn't know the stories. I recited a few of the common news. She was dumbfounded and just shut down saying, "I don't BELIEVE President NIXON would do things like that!" Chat over.

Also wrote a letter to wonderful McGOVERN before the nomination was sealed, saying I admired him but the #1thing was to *BEAT NIXON* and that he should step aside in favor of whoever had the best chance. I got a letter (lost it!) thanking me, saying he thought he had a good chance, and hoped to have my support.

Other than that, glued to the hearings.

[uponit7771]

49. Sounds like there are Nixon cultist then like there are MAGA Cultist now, history rhymes

[BigmanPigman]

13. I felt sorry for him when he cried on TV.

My parents told me, "You would feel sorry for Hitler". I was only 12 and my Summer soaps were ruined by the hearings. When he resigned my family was out at a restaurant and everyone left their meals right on the tables to listen to him resign on their car radios. I still have the newspaper from Aug 1974 and the font is about 4 inches tall, "Nixon Resigns; Ford Succeeds".

[shanny]

31. I remember it well: the annoucement came on my birthday (official noon next day)

[BigmanPigman]

41. That was a real birthday gift.

Do you think your birthday magic will work again and maybe this fucking moron will resign on this year's birthday? 4+ months to go until you get your birthday gift from this fake prez. I hope you get your gift THIS year. It will be a gift for you, the country and the world's environment.

[shanny]

43. That would be something...

I'm working on it.

[customerserviceguy]

56. Yeah, when that went down

I was in the process of getting ready to pledge a frat house at the University of Washington. After the news was out, we all chipped in a buck or two and bought a keg to celebrate!

[targetpractice]

14. My parents made me record his resignation...

...on my audio cassette recorder. I was in 3rd grade, and the nerd A/V kid in the household.

My mother told me it was history happening, and my tape would be "valuable" someday. I made everyone be really quiet while I held the microphone up to the family room TV speaker... The dog started barking at something, and my recording session was ruined by everyone trying to get the dog to stop.

Oh, and my parents always called Nixon "Tricky Dick".

[gratuitous]

20. I was a scorekeeper for city league slow pitch softball

Someone had a radio on to listen to some program the night before he resigned. Several adults (I was 15) were glued to the account, when one of the guys said, "That's it, he's gonna resign." I don't know if it was the next day or a couple of days later, but Nixon's time was up. Even in my conservative-leaning little town, people had had enough of Nixon.

[shanny]

33. My dad called him a rat bastard.

Must have been a common sentiment: I remember Hunter S Thompson writing in one of his books, as the hearings proceeded and evidence was coming out, that he wanted to drive down to the White House and "throw a bag of live rats over the fence."

[lostnfound]

15. On family vacation, age 10, saw resignation on hotel TV en route

Old enough to be happy about it

[CentralMass]

17. We covered the Impeachment as it unfolded in my 6th grade citizenship class.

We were paired. My partner in class and i were the only two to predict that he would resign. Part of an exercise where we bas to pick the outcome of the process from a list of possible outcomes.
Our fathers were both political so we watched a lot of coverage.

[spinbaby]

18. I have a relative who named their kid Nixon

Distant relative I don’t really know, but I was bowled over when I got the baby announcement and learned they named their boy Nixon. Kinda glad they live 2000 miles away. Poor kid.

[rgbecker]

19. I voted in 1968 for Nixon absentee from Germany while serving in the Army.

It was my first time voting and my last time voting for a Republican. I saw the light in discussions about whether Nixon could be trusted in light of the Watergate break-in. McGovern got my vote in '72. I was raised by Goldwater Republicans who loved Nixon. They thought he was the real deal, a middle class hard working guy.

[Iterate]

21. Threw snowballs at him once.

It must have been in '73 or '74 that there was a minor national protest effort to show up anytime he left DC and greet him with a loud, rowdy and non-violent protest. Then he planned a statehouse event nearby.

Once he was inside, there were plenty of people out front, but a few of us were sure he wouldn't risk the photo-op and would try to duck out the back.

So we went around to that entrance and waited and waited. There was plenty of snow on the ground, so what else to do but stockpile them. Then the limousines rolled around, he quickly came out, and we unloaded. Most missed badly, some hit the car, and the SS blocked others. Then we went home.

Back in DC, the press asked him about it and he called us amateurs. Ok, I guess that was meant as an insult. None of us were pros.

[Silver Swan]

22. I still have a copy of the newspaper with the headline, "Nixon Quits !"

It was the Chicago Sun-Times. It survives because it was kept in my desk at work until I retired, at which time I packed it up and took it home. I was a career Federal employee.

[wasupaloopa]

23. He had a rally in Dayton OH that I attended.

I hated his ass.

He asked the crowd to raise their hand if the were under 30.

I raised my hand. He said see how many young people we have on our side.

Damn I was dicked by Dick Nixon

[True Blue American]

80. I lived in Dayton then

Would never go to a Nixon rally. But I was a huge JFK fan.

3 days of grief staring at the little black and white.

[mnmoderatedem]

24. a really funny one

myself and the rest of the neighbor kids were too young to really appreciate the gravity of the situation when he resigned. We were at a neighbor friend's house when he was getting ready to give his TV resignation. His mom, a really nice lady, insisted on complete silence during his resignation, as she was recording it on a cassette recorder. Really adamant on complete quiet, she was.

However, she made the mistake of leaving her wig on the end table. So being the bored boys we were, (president resigning in disgrace - meh let's have some fun). So we took turns trying on her wig and snickering at each other. Yeah, we tried to keep quiet but seeing each other in a woman's wig when we were all of eight years old, was just too much. Oh if looks could kill, as she glared at each of us in turn. If she knew one day there would be Youtube, she probably would not have been so pissed. Anyway, we got smart and got out of dodge before the speech was over.

[diva77]

65. sounds like THE perfect way to celebrate Tricky Dick's resignation!!!

[tinrobot]

25. Got a handwritten note from him when I was a kid.

When he has phlebitis, my sister and I sent him a get well card. He sent us a thank you note.

[calguy]

28. I have lots of bad memories of Nixon

I'd rather forget them. He was president when I served in the Army. It was bad enough having to see his picture on the wall every day in our barracks. I gotta stop writing before I get angry and break something.

[CanonRay]

29. I voted against him in 72, my first vote.

Always hated the prick. Compared to how I feel about Trump, I practically loved the guy.

[El Supremo]

32. It was my first vote too.

But, unfortunately, I didn't vote for McGovern. I did NOT vote for Nixon-Agnew.

I did see him in person in 1968 at a rally at SMU.

[shanny]

35. My first vote too.

Voting for McGovern was probably the happiest one I ever cast.

[llmart]

48. Same here.

My first vote. Voted for McGovern. I've never voted for a Republican in my life.

[mia]

86. My first vote was for McGovern, too.

Even though I was a registered Independent until 2003, I've always voted for Democrats.

[Ohiogal]

30. I was watching a play with my mother and my sister

And during the intermission, someone got on the PA and announced that he had resigned, and the whole auditorium broke out in cheers and applause.

[bobbieinok]

34. Was in Tower of London B4 resignation. Guard pointed out Traitor's Gate

Said he wanted to point out the gate 'for our American guests'

[shanny]

36. heh--otherwise known at the Water Gate

sharp dude

[moondust]

37. Rode 3 miles to an Agnew speech.

Out of curiosity. Nothing memorable. I think we left before he was done yapping.

[k8conant]

66. Did he mention the "nattering nabobs of negativism"?

[jpak]

38. On a family road trip to visit Southern Relatives, we saw a billboard in Elizabeth NJ

Featuring the image of a very pregnant black woman with the text....

NIXON'S THE ONE!

[GP6971]

39. I saw him in 68 when I was 18

his motorcade came through town and he shook by father's hand from his car.

[beachbum bob]

40. the division today is way different than back then....it was a huge combination of

anti-war and the american people fed up with it, civil rights/integration, feminism.

today is just plain old fashion racism and hate

[Onyrleft]

42. I was a six year old Nixon bro.

Every thing was going fine for me before I turned five. Then in August 1970 I had to start school. Every stinkin' morning I had to get up and go to school; then one day I didn't. For the first time I had gotten a snow day. I asked my older sister why we didn't have to go and she explained that because of the snow the buses couldn't run, and if the buses couldn't run they had to close the school that day. Later that year the president came on the television and I don't know what else he said, but one thing jumped right out and grabbed me.

He Said "I am against busing".

I couldn't let on that I knew what would happen if this came true. I didn't want the adults to figure it out.
Nixon and I never got what we wanted, and in time I got over the failed plot.
Then in 1980 Satan's Ward Cleaver costume got elected thereby destroying any chance that I would ever trust a Republican ever again.

The events of this story are true, one of the characters names has been changed to a Groucho avatar 'cuz hey it's fuckin' Groucho.

[grantcart]

44. During the Watergate hearings I had Mono and had to stay in bed. Watched every minute

Still remember the universal reaction when Butterfield announced to a stunned nation that there were tapes.

I was one of the organizers of the last public demonstration against Nixon in April 1974 when he came to open the Worlds Fair in Spokane.

We had a good crowd and were kept across the street. I still remember him facing the demonstrators and giving a happy victory salute as we all yelled "fuck you" at him. I had to give him props for his stagecraft, he just smiled like he was the toast of the town.

I had organized our college to rent rooms out during the summer for the World's Fair and in August we rolled TVs out into the lobby so the guests could watch Nixon leave the WH as they checked in.

Around 1981 or 1982 I was in Bangkok in the IOM office and was surprised to see Agnew walk by. He entered the all day massage parlor a few doors down. In RM "the Bagman" podcast it was revealed that the reason that Agnew needed the payoffs was that he had a predilection for call girls and prostitutes.

[MountCleaners]

45. No, but my dad worked at a fancy hotel restaurant as a waiter in 1960s Chicago

He met FIVE presidents - Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Eisenhower.

He said that Nixon was the biggest asshole of all of them.

He really liked Eisenhower, and Kennedy was the most gracious. He said he had a lot of class and consideration.

[mopinko]

46. i was just barely too young to vote against him, but he did

board that helicopter and fly away on my b-day.
have yet to get a better present.

[TruckFump]

47. I was a teenager in HS and this happened at a restaurant in Newport Beach, CA

The Crab Cooker was a place that EVERYONE went back in the 1960s.

Newport Beach is in Orange County which in the 1960s was not only really, really Repuke red, but the home of the John Birtchers.

Here's a link to the restaurant's history with mention of the Nixon Story snipped below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crab_Cooker

"Originally located at 28th Street and Marina, the restaurant got its start when owner Bob Roubian was offered the opportunity to take over a local fish market in August 1951.[4][5] Roubian, a carpenter by trade, had helped remodel the market three years earlier and had an interest in fishing.[5]

The outside of the restaurant is painted in bright red. Inside the restaurant, the decoration is a pastiche of unique items ranging from paintings by famous artists, theater chandeliers, pots and pans, a wrought-iron gate, nautical equipment – and a giant shark.[5] The restaurant is known for its casual atmosphere.[6] While a favorite local haunt, tourists[5] from around the world visit to sample the cuisine and send one of their post cards,[7] eat off of paper plates, and see the iconic fish sign.[1] It is not uncommon to see patrons waiting in lines snaking down the street.[3] These lines once elevated The Crab Cooker to national headlines when advance staff for then President Richard Nixon once asked Mr. Roubian to allow the president to be seated for dinner, and Mr. Roubian informed them that the president would have to wait along with rest of the folks (he says any president would have gotten the same treatment).[8]"

[uponit7771]

50. Sounds like if there was a FAUX News back then Nixon would've never resigned.

[aikoaiko]

51. In the 1980s, Nixon moved into the suburban town next to my hometown.

It was a hideous looking house, but he mostly kept to himself on his property.

I read that is was torn down in the mid-2000s because it was left empty too long.

Found a picture.
?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

[LuckyCharms]

52. I had a campaign button. "They Can't Lick Our Dick".

I was 11 years old.

[Wounded Bear]

57. We had a campaign slogan...

"Don't change dicks in the middle of a screw, vote for Nixon in '72."

[Quemado]

53. I was 16 in 1972

I was at the house of a high school friend whose father was a Republican voter. I told my friend's father that I thought Nixon was a crook. He said "they're (politicians) all crooks."

[Jarqui]

54. I've probably told my story about streaking protests here a couple of times

but the pardon still burns me.

I was pretty disillusioned by it. I stopped having anything to do with politics for a long time after that.

This time around, I fear worse - that the GOP will prevent Trump from being held accountable.

At least Nixon felt humiliation and the sting of scorn for being a crook. Trump is incapable of those feelings.

[LakeArenal]

55. Just this bumper sticker..

FIRE THE COX SACKER

[TygrBright]

59. How about a second-hand Spiro Agnew story?

I was in Washington for a Close Up school trip in March of 1973. Our group was staying at the old Sheraton hotel in DC, which at the time was a mash-up of a very old hotel and a newer addition. The newer part was very swanky and where the regular guests stayed; the old part was old-fashioned, overdue for a renovation, so it was not used as much and was cheap, which was probably why we were there.

With one exception:

The Vice President of the United States had a whole floor in the old part of the hotel. (This was before the Naval Observatory residence became the official VP home.)

Traveling with our group of (I think) about 15-20 9th graders, were six faculty chaperones.

We kids suspected that the chaperones made sure we were in our rooms by 9 pm, and then went out to sample the dubious fleshpots of the Nation's Capital.

And it was confirmed one morning when a pair of the "cooler" chaperones (longish hair, one even had a beard!) shared a story with us about having been ::ahem:: "out to dinner a little late" the previous night, and "sleepy" when they got back to the hotel (read: well-marinated).

They got into one of the elevators that served the old part of the hotel and pressed what they thought was the button for our floor.

When the doors opened, they were "grabbed like lightning, dragged out of the elevator and slammed up against the wall and called 'dirty hippies'" by the Veeper's Secret Service detail. After some discussion they managed to convince the gents of their bona fides as school group chaperones and guests, and were "escorted" back to their rooms.

We all thought it was hilarious at the time. We bought Nixon Countdown calendars and posters and "Majority for a Silent Spiro" buttons from street vendors. We met with Hubert Humphrey and had all kinds of memorable experiences including seeing "Godspell" at Ford's Theater and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Supreme Court building.

That fall, my 10th grade sociology teacher turned out to be one of the chaperones from that trip. When the announcement of Agnew's resignation came, in October, he was overjoyed and I remember him saying "That's one for the dirty hippies!"

reminiscently,
Bright

[Dem2theMax]

60. Someone broke into our house,

and stole my Spiro Agnew watch from the Tricky Dicky Time Company. I am still pissed about that, and it happened in the 70s!

[RussellCattle]

61. During the recession Nixon instituted a bunch of things to cut government spending...

...and ostensibly save money. He flew from DC to the "Western White House" in San Clemente, California on a commercial flight.
All of this done with great fanfare and lots of press coverage. Then it was reported that Air Force One had followed along and was used for his return trip, thereby saving exactly nothing.

[Meowmee]

62. I have various memories

The one that stands out is watching him fly away in a helicopter. We watched that in a hotel the day before we flew overseas for a year. I was relieved it was over and I’ll be more than relieved if this is ever over.

[NBachers]

63. I was visiting a girl in Syracuse for a few days when Agnew was driven out of office. We wanted to

do something to mark the occasion, so I said, "What about a big sign with a picture of Nixon that says, "Nixon Next!"

She had great artistic skills, so we took a sheet and she painted a caricature of Nixon, and the words Nixon Next on it. We attached it to a broomstick or something, hung it out her window, and hooked up a lamp to illuminate it. All evening, people were going past shouting and honking in approval.

In Miami, I was working on a big custom-built home in the Kendall- South Miami area. Bunny, the woman who drove the roach coach, drove up for her daily visit, and said that Nixon was going to resign the next day. We'd all been following the news, and hoped against hope that she was right. And I got to watch it happen the next day, just like she said.

[mia]

64. Lived on Key Biscayne where Nixon had his "Winter White House".

We lived a block and a half away from him, back in the day before Key Biscayne became expensive. The secret service agents were easy to identify as they were the only men who wore hawaiian shirts with walky-talkies tucked into their shirt pockets.

I never saw President Nixon when I lived there, but saw Julie Nixon a few times in the drug store. Bebe Rebozo was the president of the only bank on the island. He was always sitting at his desk just inside the door when you walked in.

Here's a video from those days.

[NBachers]

71. We rebuilt a burnt-down house on Harbor Drive in those days; built another big home on Mashta Island

The owner was a friend of Rebozo. Our paychecks were issued on Reboso's bank, so it wasn't unusual to see him around when we went in to cash them. We drove past the Nixon place on the way to work and the way home every day. It had a chopper landing slab out in back.

[mia]

82. Small world.

We traveled the same paths. Driving to and from the island is still a beautiful ride.

[diva77]

67. slightly OT, but by 1 degree of separation

On an old Johnny Carson rerun: one of the guests was a man who had saved a hamburger from which Nixon had taken a bite at a picnic; at the end of the interview, a fresh hamburger was brought out and Johnny took a bite and gave the burger to the guest for his collection.

[k8conant]

68. My dad went out to see him in 1960: even patted him on the back.

I'm glad to say that by 1964 my dad was a Democrat. He told me that's when he realized he wasn't rich enough to be a Republican. I don't think he ever voted for a Republican again (He died in 2004).

1972 was my first time voting (for McGovern even though Eagleton got kicked off the ticket).


Would you buy a used car from that man (Tricky Dick)?

[DFW]

70. Nixon was always uncomfortable in social situations. My dad knew him well.

My dad was with him on his 1959 Russia trip covering it for his one-horse-town newspaper in upstate New York.

Nixon's gang obviously never really liked the coverage he got from my dad, but the paper was in a Republican area, and he got more favorable coverage from the editorial board.

Fast forward almost ten years. My dad and the rest of the family took their first vacation in Mexico in a place I have never been called Cancún. He noticed lying next to him at the pool was Pierre Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. He went up to Trudeau, said he was a reporter from Washington, that he had recognized who he was, and that he would not bother him once since he was obviously on vacation. Trudeau was VERY grateful.

A few months later, there was some event on the St, Lawrence Seaway where all three of them had to be. Nixon saw my dad, and wanted to play the great host, and said, "Hey, have you met the Prime Minister of Canada?" Obviously he expected a negative answer, and wanted to play the great host. What he did NOT expect is that when Trudeau and my dad saw each other, they smiled, laughed, and said, sure we've met before. Embarrassed, Nixon said, "oh," and slunk off to be the great host to someone else. My dad and Trudeau had a big laugh about that, too.

[nitpicker]

72. The only direct vision of him

Was in 1969 (I think) when some schoolkids from a Capitol Hill Catholic school were taken to the White House lawn and given US and Irish flags to wave as flag-bearing limos rolled up to the South Portico.

Other than that, it was all on TV, all the way from "Nixon's the One" at the convention to the helicopter ride.

[Vinca]

74. I have a rare, nice story. In the 1980's, long after he had left office, he appeared

in a small Vermont town to visit the dying former Vermont Senator George Aiken who is notable for his remark re Vietnam: "declare victory and get out." There was a story in the local paper, but he didn't seek publicity for himself in any way. Just arrived, paid his respects and left.

[Tipperary]

75. Cool story.

[KatyMan]

76. Family lore says

my mom voted for Nixon in 72 and my dad didn't speak to her for a week.

Edit to add, I was only 6 at the time so have no idea if it's true!

[DBoon]

77. I was in high school, working at a fast food place

A fellow employee was on break, came to the front and said something like, "that asshole Nixon resigned"

[Turbineguy]

78. I think it was Pat Paulson who challenged Nixon to a debate

"And just to make it fair, I won't shave!"

[Socal31]

79. Well... kinda.

Growing up in his birthplace resulted in multiple field-trips to his library.

And boy did they gloss-over the historically relevant parts of his presidency.

[randr]

81. Check out "Tricky Dick and the Man in Black"

Hour long doc on Netflix. Helps explain the Nixon years through Johnny Cash's experience.

[Dr Vegas]

83. Nixon Now

was one of the campaign slogans in 1972. A buddy and I went into the local headquarters and swiped a bunch of Bumper Stickers.
We cut off the "w" in the word "Now", and went to the local church and put the "Nixon No" Bumper stickers on several cars.

[LongtimeAZDem]

85. We were camped at Jackson Lake in the Tetons, listening to it on a Zenith Trans Oceanic radio

My dad kept saying, "Cry, you son of a bitch".

[joanbarnes]

87. 1960 election: First grade teacher ask who is for Kennedy?

I enthusiastically raise my hand, my parents were devoted Democrats, teaching me right even at that young age. NO ONE else answers and the TEACHER booed me! This in a blue-collar Chicago suburb. I NEVER liked that teacher and thankfully got transferred out of her class. Of course, we never liked Nixon. We just thought at that point we didn't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more!

[mia]

88. Nixon's bad debate experience

Recently-released White House tapes show President Nixon talking about debates with his top advisers and indicate a lingering regret from his bad debate experience with then Sen. John Kennedy.

[louis-t]

89. I have a Humphrey story.

We went to see him during the '68 campaign. I was barely 12. He broke from his route and started walking through the crowd shaking hands. He walked right by me and shook my hand. Somehow i got jostled around and ended up in front of him again as he walked back toward his route and he shook my hand again! It was filmed and was on the news that night. I will never forget the looks on SS guys faces when he walked through the crowd.

[MicaelS]

90. Comes election of '72, I was in HS.

We had very active Democratic / Republican student groups. I was a hard-core Republican back then.

I thought Nixon would win, but not in a landslide. Day after the election, all the Democratic students were literally crying in the hallways. And we Republican students were cheering "4 more years."

When Watergate hit, I was defending Nixon to my parents, whom I later found out to be Democrats.

What an enormous dumbass I was back then.

[robersl]

91. Turkey Day

In 1956 (I was 4) Vice President Nixon made a campaign stop in Worthington, MN, on Turkey Day. This was the annual event in which thousands of turkeys were paraded down the main street to the slaughterhouse, accompanied by various bands, floats, etc.

When Nixon ascended the platform to address the gathered crowd, he was presented with a live turkey. My father says he will never forget the sight of Nixon struggling to control the frightened bird while attempting to thank the locals over the microphone for the gift.

[Brother Buzz]

92. I'm old enough to have been a dumb draftee in basic training when.....

Nixon announced no more draftees would be sent to Vietnam.

I'm not sure what the story is, or even if I can talk about it, but my short illustrious military career sure did a one-eighty; adios Southeast Asia, hello COSMIC NATO.


Boy howdy, that was a strange chapter in my life

[Auggie]

94. Mine: the night Nixon resigned

I was working late janitorial hours, and always had the Cleveland Indians games on radio. Announcer Joe Tait said they were breaking away from the game for a "Special News Bulletin." Then Nixon began to speak. I put down my mop, found a comfy chair, and listened to history being made.

Oh ... Cleveland lost to Detroit, 4-3. Tigers scored three runs in 9th. Blown save.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

95. I seem to be about your age so I have a few-- 1. I had this poster on my bedroom wall:

My uberconservative grandmother was coming for a visit so my mom made me take it down (in addition to several other adjustments).
2.I have very distinct memory of watching his resignation speech while on vacation-- the only TV in the resort was tuned to it.
It was a very interesting time to be young and impressionable. There were a lot of political forces vying for your allegiance.

[louis c]

96. I was so close to Nixon in 1968, I could have touched him...

...my father was an Administrative Assistant to US Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). During the early part of the 1968 General Election was when I was within an arm length of Nixon. I was 15 years old and my dad brought me to a hall in Boston and we had aisle seats. Nixon stopped by us as he was walking down the aisle to the podium and shook my dad's hand.

It was only one year later that I became so politicly aware that I hated Nixon and the Vietnam War. My house became uncomfortable for the next few years, until Senator Brooke broke with Nixon on the war and then my dad and I found ourselves on the same side.

[Nitram]

97. My only Nixon story is some graffiti I saw on a college bathroom wall in 1971.

"Don't pull your dick out in the middle of a screw,
Vote for Nixon in '72"

[captain queeg]

98. Reading thru responses seems to be some common threads for Nixon and '72

Dick, lick, screw, 72.

[argyl]

99. Yeah. In 1970 Nixon came to Market Hall in Dallas.

He was there just before the midterms for a rally. I was no fan, to say the least. I'd hitchhiked there, a scruffy longhair.

There were a lot of kids there, pretty unruly, yelling
"Fuck you" and similar terms of endearment. I didn't join in on that. Another night and I might have, but not that night.

And I'm in the crowd looking at him on the stage and I'm close enough that I can see his perennial five 'o clock shadow and the perspiration glistening on his face, particularly his upper lip.

I could have probably gotten close enough to touch him. I was surprised that only seven years after the assassination of JFK anyone could have waltzed in with a pistol and taken a shot.

[Stuart G]

100. Right now, today..,I have a newspaper headlined, "I AM NOT A CROOK"

I Saved a whole bunch of them. I wonder if it is worth anything?

"Who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men" The Shadow Knows...

[walkingman]

101. Those were the days my friend. I was 22 and it seemed everyone was of the same mindset at that time.

End the war, best music ever, a lid was $10, Tricky Dicky was on his way out and we were going to change the world.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED??

[DonaldsRump]

103. I've followed Nixon for years, both informally and as a student

He was truly a remarkable person. Flawed, but remarkable. Compared to the current occupant of the White House, there is absolutely no comparison between this awful creature and Nixon.

Nixon was far smarter and far more experienced. He also loved the US, which Trump does not. He was friends with Russia's head (Brezhnev), but his great care was the US and was never a foreign leader's puppet unlike Trump.Nixon had some weird psychology (maybe all of us do), but there is absolutely no comparison with someone like Richard Nixon vis-a-vis Donald Trump. See the video below about Nixon's heartfelt eloquence on the day he resigned the Presidency. Would Trump ever say anything like this? Would he even know what Richard Nixon was saying? I am a raging Dem, but these are words that I play for my family about bouncing back from adversity, great or small.

That being said, does anyone on this thread remember the timeframe from March 1, 1974 (the date that the key Watergate indictments were handed down, including Tricky Dick being named us an unindicted co-conspirator) until July/August 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings really kicked and then Nixon resigned? If you remember, does it feel today like it did back then? In early 1974, did people really think Tricky Dick would no longer be President within the year?

I was too young, but it really seems to me, as I've posted on another thread, that Mueller will probably have the grand jury name Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator. When this happened to Nixon on March 1, 1974, the public (and even Nixon himself) did not know about it until months later. My point is that many more months could go by and we not know things that can be devastating to this awful thing called Trump.

[link:

|

[JDC]

104. I remember him crying on tv. We were on vacation at a lake in TX

I was 5.

I went back and watched a while ago. It was his farewell to his staff.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

106. Not a personal story,

but I was working at Washington National Airport (DCA) at that time.

For months our TV in the break room behind the ticket counter was tuned to the Watergate hearings.

The night Nixon made his resignation speech the entire airport shut completely down. Not only did planes not push away from the gate, but they didn't even board as EVERYONE watched that speech. All of us counter agents went into the break room to watch, and every so often someone stuck his head out to see if a passenger had shown up. Nope. No activity at all. I cannot describe adequately how completely deserted the terminal (that old, wonderful main terminal) was for that period of time. Every single person was glued to a TV screen, either in the gate areas, behind the various ticket counters, or in the bars. No one moved, nothing happened.

To this day, when I see that speech again, when he says, "I have never been a quitter" I keep on expecting him to say, "And therefore I will never quit. I will fight this to the end." And I'm relieved when he goes on to announce he is resigning effective the next day. Whew.

At the airport there was something of a huge sigh of relief as Nixon finished his speech. Planes resume boarding, and then left. Other planes arrived. But it's hard to convey the complete shut down of the airport during his speech.

Semi related. In the airline world the news of crashes travel with a speed that it's as if the agents are psychic, and know immediately when a plane has crashed. I witnessed this more than once, most memorably an Eastern Airlines crash at JFK in 1975. That afternoon the ticket counter supervisor came to us and quietly told us there'd been a crash of EAL at JFK, although he didn't have any specifics. I have no idea how he found out, and I swear he must have told us before the plane was done barreling down the runway.

On September 11, 2001, I was long since out of the biz, but still had friends in it, and as soon as the second plane hit I knew that by that time every airline employee on duty around the country would know exactly which airlines were involved and if any other flights were still missing in any way. As it turned out, my phone number for my old airline at DCA was no longer good, and another friend had just left for a doctor's appointment, but when I talked to them a couple of days later they said, yes. They knew by that point the airlines and the flights involved.

Over the years I was on duty when more than one plane went down, and again, I cannot stress how quickly and accurately the news travels within the industry.

[CCExile]

107. I saw Nixon drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's, ...

his hair was perfect.