[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]
The Book of the Week is “The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon, The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady” by Heath Hardage Lee, published in 2024.
The future first lady Pat Nixon was born in March 1912 in Nevada. She was orphaned as a teenager. She faced numerous other hardships, so she was forced to play well with others; making her a skilled diplomat. In the second half of 1959, when her husband Richard (“Dick”) was running for president, she got her own campaign in order to attract female voters. There were buttons, banners, songs, and speaking engagements at social events such as teas and gatherings at women’s clubs.
Pat usually refrained from publicly expressing her opinions on her husband’s political activities, but she felt most strongly about gender equality. When he was finally elected president in 1968, she campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment, and urged Dick to nominate female U.S. Supreme Court justices when two vacancies arose.
However, he hid behind the sexist American Bar Association’s assessment that the whole list of female nominees was unqualified for one reason or another, when he had to finalize his choices.
During Dick’s time as president, both individually and with Dick, Pat traveled extensively internationally to maintain friendly relationships with America’s then-allies. She still kept her personal life as private as possible, but complained she felt underappreciated in her diplomatic role.
People offered to help her write a book about her world-peace making. Yet, in her mind, publicizing her political activities was akin to her usage as a prop to promote her husband. But– isn’t that what politics is– managing the image of the big boss?
Beginning in the summer of 1973, the media covered nothing but the Watergate investigation. The special counsel who prosecuted the bad actors in the Nixon administration judged that the president “had entered a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice.” This, pursuant to the “smoking gun” consisting of a conversation between Dick and his aide Bob Haldeman, recorded on tape in June 1972.
John Dean, the president’s former attorney, participated in the cover-up by urging the labeling of the break-in as a matter of “national security.” Therefore, the FBI and CIA shouldn’t interview two key witnesses in the case. When Dean was charged with crimes, he provided damning testimony saying that Nixon was aware of all the wrongdoing all along.
In May 1976, Woodward and Bernstein, the two investigative journalists who broke the Watergate stories, revealed the whole incident-crowded affair in a book. According to Heath Hardage Lee, some of its contents were tabloidy. The book made the claim that Pat became a drunk loner in the last several months of her husband’s presidency. The TV comedy-sketch show Saturday Night Live (“SNL”) portrayed her thusly, too. But Lee pointed out that Pat’s image had been conflated with that of Betty Ford.
Another reason why Pat was smeared in this way, might be that it was actually the president who had become the drunk loner when his crimes were coming to light. This assertion has been recounted in various primary sources that described the president’s behavior in the presence of Kissinger, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman.
It is likely that the SNL writers were reluctant to mock the former president, as they might still have been subject to lawsuits and political retaliation. Anyway, read the book to learn much more about the public life Pat chose to have, and her struggles in trying to stay private.
ENDNOTE: Speaking of privacy, lawsuits and political retaliation– along with the issues of free speech, exploitation and the public’s right to know about how much of what their government is doing– modern communications technologies have muddied the waters. Even so, Donald Trump’s extreme litigiousness is his legacy.
Trump can dish it but he can’t take it. That’s why he’s suing everyone all the time. It’s a way to trot out the “victim card” to elicit sympathy from his base, and harass anyone who displeases him. Here’s what he’s singing now.
I WANT TO FORCE YOUR HAND
sung to the tune of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” with apologies to members of the Beatles, their estates, and whomever else the rights may concern.
I SUE, to tell you something: You’re under my command.
When I, sue-over everything, I want to force your hand.
I want your criticism ba-anned.
For your excuses, I won’t stand.
You must, cave in to me.
I’m a defamed man.
Oh jeez, you’ve pained me.
I’m in conTROL of this land.
You’re thwarting my best-laid plans.
You’re hurting THE Trump brand.
And when I crush you, I’m still not, satisfied.
It’s such a feeling that your abuse, I can’t abide.
You hurt my pride.
You all lied.
I SUE, to tell you something: You’re under my command.
When I, sue-over everything, I want to force your hand.
I want your criticism ba-anned.
For your excuses, I won’t stand.
And when I crush you, I’m still not, satisfied.
It’s such a feeling that your abuse, I can’t abide.
You hurt my pride.
You all lied.
I SUE, to tell you something: You’re under my command.
When I, sue-over everything, I want to force your hand.
I want to force your hand.
I want to force your hand.
I want to force your hand.