burglars

 June 1971 - the Pentagon Papers, copied and shared by government employee Daniel Ellsberg, were published in the New York Times and Washington Post.  

September 1971 - The office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist was broken into by burglars who worked for the President of the United States of America. 

June 1972 - The Democrat Party's national headquarters was broken into by members of that same - band? - of burglars.

        If you made this up and wrote it as a novel, or a movie, your editor would say it's too crazy, no one would believe it - you have to make your fiction more believable.

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[from White House taped conversations]

Pres. Nixon:  That piece in the Times is a massive security leak from the Pentagon, you know.

[caption in "Tricky Dick" film]:  "The Pentagon Papers reveal the actions of four successive presidents to mislead the public about the Vietnam War."

[A newscaster calls it "leaked" information.]

Nixon:  Unconscionable damn thing for them to do.  Unconscionable on the part of the people that leaked it.  My point is are any of the people there, who participated in leaking it?  This is treasonable action on the part of the bastards who put it out!  

____________________________________

On You Tube, go to the video titled:

Up On Cripple Creek (Remastered 2000)

uploader / channel:  The Band

        ...Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me

           If I spring a leak, she mends me...

E. Howard Hunt

G. Gordon Liddy

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inside of the frozen traffic

 Listening to the documentary "Tricky Dick" (silly title, but good film) I came to the part where they say the anti-war protests at the Democrats' nominating convention helped Nixon's support with voters.

       Now, why was that?

        It's weird.

        One tries to see how one phenomenon caused the other, and where the puzzle pieces fit together.

The Democrats couldn't be blamed for the (peaceful) demonstrations outside the convention hall.  The candidates and organizers of the event did not invite people to come and protest the war.  Those (mostly young) people did that on their own.

If I were walking by, at the time, and I saw people protesting America's involvement in the Vietnam War, I wouldn't say, "Oh, there are people protesting; guess I have to vote against whomever is in that convention hall."

        Like - what?

But it's kind of like what Nixon did with the Checkers speech in 1952 - he changed the narrative - it went from slush fund to the family dog, and it appears there was no follow-up on the big-money group that had allegedly been giving money to then-Senator Nixon.

        When Nixon visited Chicago the week after the convention and the protests outside, he starts speaking heatedly about "law and order" and - like with the dog speech - he changes the narrative.

He says "a picture" of Chicago and its people went "out across this nation" and it was an ugly picture, and it wasn't a true picture.

        (Well, not really - no one said or thought that protesters were Chicago citizens, the news reports said they were people who came in to visit the convention and express their anti-war sentiments where the Democratic candidates would hear them.

        But Nixon made it sound like the people of Chicago were somehow being maligned.  Sometimes telling people they're being victimized, in some way, gets their attention and brings their support.)

"They want a change in America, and they're gonna get it...!"

Like - what kind of change?  No more protesting?

The right to protest is in the Constitution (First Amendment).

        To me, it seems like what Nixon was doing in that speech was departing from factual narrative of events of the previous week, and instead, in a subtle way he's hinting at, and appealing to, people who recoil at the sight of large groups demonstrating, even though it's peaceful.

"A change in America" - but he doesn't say what change.

His address leaves it up to every individual's imagination to fill in the blank as to what the change will be.

It seems like an appeal to people who don't like -

protests

protesters

"hippies"

kids

college students

big crowds

Democrats

politicians in general

---------- and you-name-it.

It's generalized language, delivered with dramatic emphasis; it encourages in the audience - enthusiasm, even if they don't know for what, specifically. ...

I think a lot of politicians have used this tactic.

Some commentators call it a "dog-whistle."  

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lawn order

 1968.  The Democratic Convention held in Chicago

Anti-war demonstrators were expected to show up; police and some people from the National Guard were supposed to patrol, and keep the peace.

Instead, police went crazy and started attacking the crowd of people outside the convention hall.

A news announcer referred to the protesters as "the noisy but non-violent crowd."  He said the police "charged, suddenly, in all directions."

Walter Cronkite said this move by the police was "unprovoked."

       

Some people chanted, "The whole world is watching!"

        A judge later called the incident a "police riot."

The week after the convention, Richard Nixon visited Chicago and gave a speech.  He described his audience as "the real Chicago."  He said, "A record number of Chicagoans came out... they had taken to the streets, because they want a change in America, and they're gonna get it, by their votes, this November!" 

        I had just turned 10 years old, before that election.  I remember the oft-repeated phrase, "law-and-order" - sometimes it sounded like "lawn order"....

Hubert Humphrey (Vice President under Lyndon Johnson) - the Democrats' nominee for president in 1968; 

Edmund Muskie, the vice presidential nominee

Humphrey was born in South Dakota; his father owned a drugstore in Huron, S.D.

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"you don't know how lucky you are"

 Typing yesterday about the Nixon - Khrushchev "kitchen debate," I thought of the Beatles song, "Back In The USSR."

..."And Georgia's always on my - my my my my my my my my mind..."

That's a play on words from an American song, "Georgia On My Mind."

       The American song is about the state of Georgia, where the city of Atlanta is.

But in Russia, or the U.S.S.R., there is an area called Georgia.

So they're referring to that, I guess.

And as of 1990, there was no more USSR.

It went back to being Russia.

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the kitchen debate

 

The next item on our "Nixon list" is the Kitchen Debate.

time:  1959

place:  the American Exhibition in Moscow

who:  Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon

Khrushchev's position:  Communism is better

Nixon's position:  Capitalism is better

Khrushchev insisted that in five-to-seven years the Soviet Union would catch up to the United States in standard of living.

        He said when we catch up to you, "we will greet you amiably!" (waving his hand).

        (He speaks in Russian, so you've got the translator going along, talking at the same time....)

Nixon says, "This increasing communication will teach us some things, and it will teach you some things, too, because after all, you don't know everything!"

Khrushchev answers:

        "If I don't know everything, then I would say that you know absolutely nothing about communism, nothing except fear of it."

Then they promise each other that the whole conversation will be broadcast in their countries in their native language - Russian in the Soviet Union, and English in the U.S.

        Nixon says, "That's a fair bargain."

        And Khrushchev lifts his right hand abruptly up in the air and brings in down swiftly to slap Nixon's hand and shake it.  (It looks like the word "bargain" brought that on....)

The two leaders end the encounter smiling at the cameras.

An excellent video on this topic is titled

Khrushchev vs. Nixon:  Kitchen Debate - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

uploader / channel:  The Cold War

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the Checkers speech

 The "Checkers speech" is on You Tube, if you want to listen to it.

1952:

Dwight Eisenhower is running for president of the United States with Senator Richard Nixon as his vice-presidential candidate.

        Two months into the campaign, a New York Post headline says, "Secret Rich Men's Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary."

There's some enthusiasm for dumping Nixon from the ticket - Nixon goes on television (a new medium, at the time) and gives what became known as the Checkers Speech.

        He talks about his finances, says how much he gets and from where; he details some investments, and then does what is called "changing the narrative" - he says his wife doesn't have a mink coat, but she does have a "respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she'd look good in anything."

        He appeals to sentiment, triggering emotions.

        Then he goes on and says that his family did receive a gift:  a supporter sent them a cocker spaniel; his six-year-old daughter named the dog Checkers.  He says his two daughters "love the dog, as all kids do," and whatever his critics say, "We're going to keep him."

In his televised address, Senator Nixon kind of makes the dog a "red herring" - no one was trying to tell him he should give the dog back to the person who sent it to them.  But he makes it sound like someone was trying to make them give their dog back!  (lol) - saying, very firmly and with gentle humor around the edges, "We're going to keep him."

  

Then he invites the audience to write in with telegrams and say if they want him to quit the ticket or stay on, and he says he will "abide by" the decision of the people.

They send in telegrams saying, Please stay on the ticket.

And Eisenhower does not dump him.

        Nixon is Vice President, under President Eisenhower, from 1952 to 1960 - two terms.

        What Senator Nixon did there was create what we now call "engagement" - social media platforms are financially rewarded for engagement - if people comment, either positive or negative, the interaction, the engagement, is positive for their channels.

Back in the early 1950s we didn't have social media, of course, but right there, when Nixon invited people to write in - that was engagement.  And it worked.

Checkers (the dog) and Richard Nixon in the 1950s

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"everybody likes my rocket 88"

 Richard Nixon's "Checkers speech" was an answer to charges that he had accepted a lot of money from a group of wealthy businessmen, in 1952.

1952:  Dwight Eisenhower (World War II general) was running for president of the U.S., with Richard Nixon as his vice-presidential candidate.

        (I tried to find a song that would have come out at the same time as this:  I discovered "Rocket 88" by Ike Turner and Jackie Brentson.)

The song came out in 1951.

Nixon was running as vice presidential candidate with Eisenhower, in 1952.  So - same era.

On You Tube,

Rocket 88 (Original Version) - Ike Turner / Jackie Brenston

play and enjoy

       

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now more than ever

 One of Richard Nixon's presidential campaigns used the phrase "Nixon Now" as the campaign slogan.

        In a later campaign, it said, "Now more than ever."

The Tricky Dick documentary on HBO Max has basically seven highlights of Nixon's public service career:

-  the Checkers speech

-  the kitchen debate

-  1960 campaign for president, running against John Kennedy [Kennedy won]

-  1962 campaign for governor of California against Pat Brown (father of Jerry Brown), [Brown won]

-  1968:  running for president and winning

-  1972:  won re-election

-  Watergate - and resigning from the presidency in 1974

-------------------------------------------------------------

In 1962, after conceding the gubernatorial election in California to Pat Brown, Nixon appeared at a gathering of newspaper reporters and told them he was leaving public life; he said, "you've had a lot of fun" but "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore"....

"meeting the press" in California, 1962

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don't forget Daniel Ellsberg

 Listening to the 4-part series "Tricky Dick" on HBO Max (linked with Amazon Prime), I was thinking they forgot the Pentagon Papers episode, but I went back to Part 3 where they're in the time-frame that includes 1971, and the Pentagon Papers is touched upon.

        (I must have gone to sleep before that part.)

The Pentagon Papers incident was in 1971:  Daniel Ellsberg, a government employee with access to files, took a bunch of the info relating to the winnability of the Vietnam War, from 1945 on up to the 1960s, photocopied it, and gave it to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The records showed military experts saying the war was un-winnable, but this perspective was kept from the American people so that we could get into the war.

        Mr. Ellsberg's idea was that if the American people had this information, they would demand an end to the war.

        When  these records started getting published in the two leading newspapers, President Nixon did not like this, and he sent people who worked for him in, to burglarize the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, and try to find information that would make Mr. Ellsberg - "look bad."

Daniel Ellsberg in 1971

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the exquisite agony

 On HBO Max is a four-part series about Richard Nixon.

It's so interesting! - Although, some people might watch it and conclude that I'm playing fast-and-loose with the word "interesting." 

        I like it.

The title of it is "Tricky Dick."

Critics of Nixon gave him that nickname, back in the day.

        I would have put a different title on this series.  Maybe - "Richard Nixon:  An American Life," or something like that.

        (HBO keeps forgetting to call me and consult on these decisions....)

At the end of the 1960 presidential campaign (Richard Nixon vs. John Kennedy) Nixon said he hoped to write a book about campaigning, and the title would be "The Exquisite Agony."

It says on the screen, at the beginning of Part 2:

"This film is made entirely with footage recorded during Richard Nixon's life.

Some of it has never before been broadcast."

        Then it shows Nixon's speech conceding the election to Kennedy.

        Not a "sore loser."

        Unlike 2020.

Vice President Richard Nixon, in 1953

President Richard Nixon, in 1973

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the seduction of Joe Tynan

 

I saw the feature film The Seduction Of Joe Tynan when it came out.  Late '70s, early '80s, Meryl Streep was a new young actress and she started knocking out movies boom-boom-boom.

Manhattan

Kramer Vs. Kramer

The Seduction Of Joe Tynan

The French Lieutenant's Woman

        1978, 79, 80, 81...

I was still in college, in Boston - I took the train across the Charles River to Cambridge, where Tynan was playing.

I went alone, because I didn't know anyone who wanted to see it.  

I remember there were a lot of people in the theater.

Meryl Streep; Alan Alda; the word "seduction" in the title (haha) - these components helped draw in the audience, I think.

        I wanted to see it because it was in a political setting.

        It could have been a lot better - but the film has good aspects to it.  

        Getting a film to be great is like catching "lightning in a bottle" as the saying goes.  It doesn't always happen.

        But I was happy to stream The Seduction Of Joe Tynan on Netflix yesterday, just to experience it again and recall what I thought when I first saw it, and compare that to what I think now.

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summer of music

 

on You Tube, video titled:

Tell Me

uploader / channel:  The Rolling Stones

...Play and Enjoy

        An online Comment said this song is like a bridge between 1950s-style music and 1960s.

Another Comment on this video said:

- "Has been my favorite Stones song since I was 8.  Amazing summer of music...1964

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1963 - 1968

 Medgar Evers

assassinated June 12, 1963

Jackson, Mississippi

John F. Kennedy

assassinated November 22, 1963

Dallas, Texas

Malcolm X

assassinated February 21, 1965

New York, New York

Martin Luther King, Jr.

assassinated April 4, 1968

Memphis Tennessee

Robert Kennedy

assassinated June 6, 1968

Los Angeles California

        Earlier this week, we were discussing the 1960s - assassinations, civil rights, and music.

These situations, conditions, and efforts overlapped each other:  civil rights overlapped music when Bob Dylan wrote his song, "Only A Pawn In Their Game"; assassinations overlapped civil rights, with the leaders of the civil rights movement  being murdered on the regular; music overlapped assassinations and civil rights, with the "Pawn" song as well as others - "Blowing In The Wind," etc.

When black Americans had the March On Washington in August of 1963, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez sang for the huge crowd.

President John Kennedy saw coverage of the peaceful demonstration, on TV, and told a White House employee, "I wish I could be out there with them."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

on You Tube, video titled:

Let It Bleed (Remastered 2019)

uploader / channel:  The Rolling Stones

(not the album - the song, 5:28)

        - Play -

Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee

April 4, 1968

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a magic distance

 

"He who learns must suffer.  And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom by the awful grace of God."

~ Aeschylus (a playwright in ancient Greece)

        

        1968 presidential candidate Robert Kennedy used this quote when he addressed an audience in Indianapolis the night Martin Luther King was killed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

         ----------------------- Working as a lobbyist at the state level, in the '90s, there was a lawyer who was at the legislature every year - he, also, was a lobbyist - although I don't know who his clients were.... we talked a few times - he was knowledgeable, and soft spoken.  Very calm.

        Somehow we got onto a topic of conversation one day - well, I know why, it was because the movie JFK came out and we discussed that a little bit - he revealed that in the early 1960s he had worked in the FBI.

        I was very impressed by that, and I was eager to hear stories and descriptions.  But he wasn't much of a story-teller.  He did mention that he had a role in the arrest of the guy who murdered Medgar Evers.  (I wasn't an expert on Mr. Evers, by any means, but I knew the name.)

        He also mentioned he was there, "on the ground" at the Mississippi college where James Meredith wanted to register and attend - (they wanted to keep Mr. Meredith out because he was black - there was an angry mob, and a journalist from the U.K. was killed).

I was fascinated.

It's kind of like - someone was quoted as saying that when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis entered a room "history walked in with her."

        I felt like history had walked in with my fellow lobbyist, and I really wanted to hear more.

I asked him, at the riot outside the college in Mississippi, "What was it like?" 

He hesitated; I tried to help him by adding, "Like - how did you feel?"

"Scared!" he replied.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob Dylan wrote and recorded a song about the Medgar Evers murder, called, "Only A Pawn In Their Game."  You can find it on You Tube.

Under one of the videos, I noted these two comments:

^^    "For our fight is not against flesh and blood but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

~ Ephesians 6:12

^^    He sings and plays with passion and empathy as well as intelligence and magic distance.

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