endecker
05-25-2006, 08:02 PM
Just started reading "The Final Days" by Woodward and Bernstein, chronicling the last 100 days of the Nixon administration.
Jesus, was that guy ever a douchebag! I mean, serious, serious personal problems...
It doesn't just talk about the Watergate thing, but his paranoia, pissy attitude, irrationality, bizarre sense of humour, and discloses his (presumably Watergate-inspired) suicidal insistence on lack of protection as he rode in an open-top car in front of hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East, at the same time as he had a blood-clot that could have detached and worked its way into his heart, lungs or brain, any of which would have killed him in seconds.
Check it out...
...The President often confused the names of close aides and even Cabinet members. He had once addressed Secretary of Agriculture Butz as 'Wally' instead of 'Earl'. Wally Butz had been head football coach at the University of Georgia.
...Bull remembered the occasion when the President was working a large crowd at an airport. A little girl had waved to him vigorously, shouting "How is Smokey the Bear?" (Smokey resided at the Washington Zoo.) The President smiled to her and turned away, but she kept waving and inquiring. Unable to make out what she was saying Nixon turned to Bull, who whispered "Smokey the Bear, Washington National Zoo." The President walked over, took her hand and said "How do you do, Miss Bear?"
...The man couldn't take it much longer, Cox said. The Pesident had been acting irrationally.
Griffin interrupted to say that he had been to meetings with the President recently, and Nixon had been rational.
That was the problem, Cox said. The President went up and down. He came from meetings and was not rational, although he had been fine at the meeting.
"The President," Cox began. His voice rose temporarily. "The President was up walking the halls last night, talking to pictures of former presidents - giving speeches and talking to the pictures on the wall."
...Nixon spent most of the day by himself. At 6:30 pm he boarded the presidential yacht Sequoia for a trip down the Potomac. He sent his strip steak back to the galley because there was fat on it. A steward cut the fat off and returned it to the President, who sat alone at the dining table, gazing out at the shoreline.
...It was dusk. The four men walked to the bow of the Sequoia for a ceremony prescribed by Navy regulation. As they stood in the wind, the boat's bells tolled eight time at five-second intervals. Taps was played. A recording of the national anthem was broadcast.
The President turned to St. Clair and said "They pay you nickels and dimes, but this is what makes it worth it."
His voice carried very clearly. Haig, and the lawyers, and members of the crew looked away in embarrassed silence.
...Early in 1970 the President returned an NSC briefing paper on the visit to China of Laotian Premier Phouma and other Southeast Asian leaders. The President's margin notation was clearly written. "Bomb them," it said. On another occasion, Nixon was presented a serious NSC option paper on Korea that contained a series of mutually exclusive alternatives, and he had checked all of them.
Jesus, was that guy ever a douchebag! I mean, serious, serious personal problems...
It doesn't just talk about the Watergate thing, but his paranoia, pissy attitude, irrationality, bizarre sense of humour, and discloses his (presumably Watergate-inspired) suicidal insistence on lack of protection as he rode in an open-top car in front of hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East, at the same time as he had a blood-clot that could have detached and worked its way into his heart, lungs or brain, any of which would have killed him in seconds.
Check it out...
...The President often confused the names of close aides and even Cabinet members. He had once addressed Secretary of Agriculture Butz as 'Wally' instead of 'Earl'. Wally Butz had been head football coach at the University of Georgia.
...Bull remembered the occasion when the President was working a large crowd at an airport. A little girl had waved to him vigorously, shouting "How is Smokey the Bear?" (Smokey resided at the Washington Zoo.) The President smiled to her and turned away, but she kept waving and inquiring. Unable to make out what she was saying Nixon turned to Bull, who whispered "Smokey the Bear, Washington National Zoo." The President walked over, took her hand and said "How do you do, Miss Bear?"
...The man couldn't take it much longer, Cox said. The Pesident had been acting irrationally.
Griffin interrupted to say that he had been to meetings with the President recently, and Nixon had been rational.
That was the problem, Cox said. The President went up and down. He came from meetings and was not rational, although he had been fine at the meeting.
"The President," Cox began. His voice rose temporarily. "The President was up walking the halls last night, talking to pictures of former presidents - giving speeches and talking to the pictures on the wall."
...Nixon spent most of the day by himself. At 6:30 pm he boarded the presidential yacht Sequoia for a trip down the Potomac. He sent his strip steak back to the galley because there was fat on it. A steward cut the fat off and returned it to the President, who sat alone at the dining table, gazing out at the shoreline.
...It was dusk. The four men walked to the bow of the Sequoia for a ceremony prescribed by Navy regulation. As they stood in the wind, the boat's bells tolled eight time at five-second intervals. Taps was played. A recording of the national anthem was broadcast.
The President turned to St. Clair and said "They pay you nickels and dimes, but this is what makes it worth it."
His voice carried very clearly. Haig, and the lawyers, and members of the crew looked away in embarrassed silence.
...Early in 1970 the President returned an NSC briefing paper on the visit to China of Laotian Premier Phouma and other Southeast Asian leaders. The President's margin notation was clearly written. "Bomb them," it said. On another occasion, Nixon was presented a serious NSC option paper on Korea that contained a series of mutually exclusive alternatives, and he had checked all of them.