tread lightly, right across into Buffalo...

Perusing some paragraphs about former President Richard Nixon, I came across an article which displayed a photograph of Nixon's family -- Mrs. Nixon and Tricia on the right-hand side of the frame, Julie on the left-hand side, and in the middle a headless dad -- the president's suit, sitting there, and the head had been removed from the photograph.

(Asked self, "Is this really necessary?")

And it was not a silly or weird-looking website, it was some sort of -- I don't know, legitimate journalism, or at least I thought so when I went to it.

And someplace a writer referred to Nixon's "banal venality."
Yikes, forty-years-on, may we lighten up?

Don't pile on.
Tread lightly.
Be nice; don't kill people.

Banal venality.
(Would you care for some banal venality?
No thanks -- we're all stocked up.)

================
online dictionary:  banal -- devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite.  origin:  1745 - 55, French; Old French.
commonplace, trivial, old-hat, shopworn
lacking force or originality

venality -- the condition or quality of being venal; openness to bribery or corruption
origin -- 1605 - 15, Late Latin  (venalitas)

1. easily bribed or corrupted; mercenary
2. characterized by corruption
3. open to purchase, esp by bribery

from L.L. venalitatem (nom. venalitas) "capable of being bought"
==========================

Reading these definitions, the idea suggests itself to me that venality is not even the right word -- in the movie Nixon -- (and the film follows pretty closely what we know of him, from reading, media, listening to his speeches and seeing the news stories when we were children), I don't see him being bribed at all, or considering a bribe -- I see him working for world peace, to neutralize any China-Russia "togetherness" which would have put the U.S. at a disadvantage, with too big of a communist "block" ("bloc"?) to face....His flaw, was getting carried away with -- not with power, but with concern, and -- for want of a better word -- "uptight-ness" about current events and how to manage them.

"The kids, the protesters, the Black Panthers, they're all out to bring me down!"

Some critics called Nixon "paranoid."  But he was not the only leader adversely affected by the tumultuous times:  heck, Lyndon Johnson quit -- well, not during his term, but he quit in the sense that he didn't run for a second
term -- that was a shocking decision, in 1968.

--------------------- Every human being, to survive and thrive and do their job, looks at --

the world
his surroundings
and
his challenges
and creates strategies to deal with them. 

The way I see it, that's what Nixon was doing. 

Some of Pres. Nixon's strategies were a little far-out...ill-advised...etc., etc.
Main Lesson:

Don't encourage shady characters to commit burglary on your behalf. 

Twice.

So -- his strategies were imperfect.  But -- who among us would be perfect enough to cast the first stone?

The writer who referred to the 37th president's "banal venality" was off-the-mark, I think.  (Showcasing the French and Latin-based words in his vocabulary, perhaps -- or maybe he just thought it was an insult....)
Rather than "banal venality" I think Pres. Nixon's fatal flaw, or immobilizing flaw, was misplaced pugnacity -- his father taught him life was a battle, a struggle, a fight.  I think RN looked at things from that point of view too much....

At the time President Nixon resigned, there were some voices calling for a trial and decrying Pres. Ford's pardon of Nixon -- I didn't agree with that.  Even though I was jaw-droppingly, absolutely wide-eyed fascinated by the whole unfolding story and process, I also wanted it to -- stop, and to be -- OK.

("Leave him alone, for God's sake!  He resigned the most awesomely powerful and honorable job in the world, which he really really wanted, and went home to San Clemente, because the House of Representatives was going to vote in favor of impeachment; he understood that, absorbed that repudiation, and we all understood that.  I don't want to see a former Pres. of U.S. put on trial for a bunch of reel-to-reel tapes, two midnight burglaries, whatever.  Just stop it -- leave 'im alone!!"

We have a president.  His name is President Ford.  Now we all have to go on with our lives.)

After Pres. Nixon resigned and made a speech, in August 1973, he got on a helicopter to fly out to CA.  He turned around, in the helicopter doorway, and saluted and smiled -- smiling to acknowledge all the people who were there to say good-bye, and also for everyone watching on TV.  He couldn't have been smiling because he felt good.

He smiled, in order to be civilized and encouraging and pleasant -- to us, the American people.)

I thought, at that time, that they should -- leave 'im alone already...
And finding a family photo on the internet with Nixon's head torn off, now, seven Washington administrations later, seems like -- gratuitous meanness.  (Of course, some people think that's what being political means, but it isn't.)

---------------------------------
One day when it was quiet, I was looking up the lyrics to "Rip This Joint," a song on the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street album -- was shocked / surprised / totally amused to find that two of the lines hollered out at break-neck pace by Mick Jagger were --
"Dick and Pat in old D.C.,
Well they're gonna hold some shit for me."
L.
OL.

(You know, I totally admire and am inspired by both the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, with all the wonderful Lennon-McCartney lyrics...but -- it takes Jagger and Richards to write, "Dick and Pat in old D.C., they're gonna..."
To write it, and sing it!   L.)

As if President and Mrs. Nixon would be "holding" anything of a -- recreational -- nature, for the likes of the Stones.  But I thought that day, when I discovered those words, Oh! I wish someone had played him that song, back then, because I think he could have really used a good laugh!  He over-worked himself -- as did LBJ, as president.  So much pressure, and they both just made it worse with over-work and personal isolation, probably an occupational hazard.

And if anyone argued with me that Nixon wouldn't like the song, or wouldn't "get" the joke, nope, I'm not buyin' that -- because the presidential candidate who went on "Laugh-In" in 1968 and said, "Sock it to meee?" would -- Get It.

So -- some may want to say that American politician Richard Nixon had "banal venality" -- (how about Venal Banality??...) and some may want to cut his head out of a family photo and place it on the internet for all to be unimpressed by, but --

I

only want to

play him this song!  Mama says yes, Papa says no,
Make up you mind 'cause I gotta go.
I'm gonna raise hell at the Union Hall,
Drive myself right over the wall.

Rip this joint, gonna save your soul,
Round and round and round we go.
Roll this joint, gonna get down low,
Start my starter, gonna stop the show.
Oh, yeah!

Mister President, Mister Immigration Man,
Let me in, sweetie, to your fair land.
I'm Tampa bound and Memphis too,
Short Fat Fanny is on the loose.
Dig that sound on the radio,
then slip it right across into Buffalo.

Dick and Pat in old D.C.,
Well they're gonna hold some shit for me.

Ying yang, you're my thing,
Oh, now, baby, won't you hear me sing.
Flip Flop, fit to drop,
Come on baby, won't you let it rock?

Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!
From San José down to Santa Fe,
Kiss me quick baby, won'tcha make my day.
Down to New Orleans with the Dixie Dean,
'Cross to Dallas, Texas with the Butter Queen.

Rip this joint, gonna rip yours too,
Some brand new steps and some weight to lose.
gonna roll this joint, gonna get down low,
Round and round and round we'll go.
Wham, Bham, Birmingham, Alabam' don't give a damn.
Little Rock fit to drop.
Ah - h - hhhhhhhh -- let it rock!
[take it away, screaming saxophone, r & r, You bet your sweet bippy]

-30-