Bob Woodward’s notes of his discussions with “Deep Throat” during the Watergate crisis are now posted online.
Wilson
Out this week: Wilson by A. Scott Berg.
“One hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson–the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President.”
David Frost is Dead
The longtime broadcaster David Frost, who won fame for his interview with the former President Richard M. Nixon, has died at age 74, the New York Times reports.
Republicans Go Back to the Future
Charlie Cook: “With all of the talk among some Republicans in Congress about impeachment and shutting down the government to stop Obamacare or force entitlement-spending cuts, you’d think that they were living in another reality back in the 1990s. Republicans were pursuing similar missions then, and things didn’t work out so well for the GOP. For those in need of a quick history lesson, all you need to know is that Republicans managed to lose House seats in the midterm elections of 1998. It was the only time since World War II that the party in the White House (Democrats) gained seats in a second-term, midterm election. Talk about seizing defeat from the jaws of victory!”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“We don’t face beatings, lynchings and shootings for our political beliefs anymore. Martin Luther King did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock.”
— Bill Clinton, quoted by the Washington Post, on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
MLK’s March on Washington Still Inspires
Jon Favreau: “We can make excuses. We can say that we are too busy or tired; too cynical or fed up. But 50 years ago, hundreds of thousands of Americans made a different decision. Most had fewer rights than we do. Most had fewer means than we do. Some had been humiliated and discriminated against and beaten within an inch of their lives by people whose job it was to protect them.”
“They came to Washington anyway. They drove, hitchhiked, and even walked–some for hundreds of miles over multiple days. They came from Boston and Los Angeles, Cleveland and Houston, Milwaukee and Mobile. And when the March on Washington was met with anxiety and skepticism by the Washington establishment, they kept on. As one account said, they kept on because ‘it was never about ‘me now,’ it was always about ‘someone someday.’ It could not have worked otherwise.'”
Ford Testimony Released on Assassination Attempt
A federal judge allowed the released of video testimony by President Gerald Ford on the assassination attempt by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme in 1975.
Sacramento Bee: “The 20 minutes of testimony, which Ford gave in room 345 of the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House on Nov. 1, 1975, was conducted at the request of Sacramento defense attorney John Virga and played for jurors during Fromme’s trial. The tape, which includes several minutes of audio discussion among lawyers and the judge before and after Ford’s testimony, was later sealed and has been largely forgotten and removed from public view in the years since.”
A History of Presidential Facial Hair
The Week notes it’s been a long time since a president had a beard or mustache.
Flashback Quote of the Day
“Each of us is a different religion. But, God damn it Ron, we have got to build peace in the world. And that’s what I’m working on.”
— Richard Nixon, on White House tapes released today, talking to Ronald Reagan on April 30, 1973 after delivering a speech on the Watergate scandal.
Last Nixon Tapes to be Released
“The final installment of secretly recorded phone calls and meetings from President Richard Nixon’s White House will be released Wednesday, marking a final chapter in a campaign for public access that continues as memories of Watergate fade,” the AP reports.
“The final installment covers the tumultuous three months when Watergate was closing in on the 37th president. Still, he forged ahead with Soviet peace talks, worked to cement Chinese relations and welcomed home Vietnam prisoners of war.”
They’ll be posted here later this morning.
The Political Price of the Presidency
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball argues that if Sen. John McCain had won the presidential election in 2008, Democrats “would probably still control the House, and they’d certainly still control the Senate.”
“That’s because the president’s party almost invariably pays a price for holding the White House, a price that can be measured in the loss of House representatives, senators, governors and state legislators.”
Of the 12 presidents who served after World War II, most “left office with their parties having smaller House and Senate caucuses than when they arrived, and also fewer governors and state legislative chambers — often dramatically fewer.”
First Air Force One Now Sits Abandoned
The first plane to be designated as Air Force One — first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on cross-country voyages — “now sits in a southern Arizona field decaying under the relentless glare of the sun,” the AP reports.
Said airport manager Steve Miller: “I think it’s one of these big secrets that, really, few people know that it’s out there. It’s sad that it’s just sitting out there, considering its history over the past 70 years.”
Video Shows FDR in a Wheelchair
A college professor “says he has found film footage showing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt being pushed in his wheelchair, depicting a secret that was hidden from the public until after his death,” the AP reports.
The Copycat Rule
First Read: “But if we learned one thing after the Bork judicial fight in the 1980s, it’s that political parties copycat each other. And if Republicans are trying to stop Democratic laws from being implemented or preventing executive-branch appointees from being confirmed, then you can bet that Democrats will return the favor the next time there’s a GOP president. This is a slippery slope fraught with unintended consequences. In fact, we already saw Democrats in the minority on the state level trying to thwart laws that were being passed and signed into law by Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures. This “any means necessary” style of politicizing legislating and governing is only helping to add to the public’s distrust and cynicism toward government — on all levels.”
Last Words of the Presidents
Mental Floss has an interesting look at the last words and final moments of 38 presidents.
Roosevelt’s Second Act
Coming soon: Roosevelt’s Second Act: The Election of 1940 and the Politics of War by Richard Moe.
Koch’s Tombstone Engraved With Wrong Birth Date
The tombstone for former New York Mayor Ed Koch, “who died in February after meticulously planning the details of his burial for years, was mistakenly engraved with the wrong birth date,” NBC 4 New York reports.
“The marker, which stands more than 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide, lists Koch’s birth date as Dec. 12, 1942, instead of 1924. The birth date on the headstone would have made him a child during World War II, even though the inscription notes he served in the armed forces during the war.”
Our Nixon
This looks like a great documentary: Our Nixon.
“Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Young, idealistic and dedicated, they had no idea that a few years later they’d all be in prison.”
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