Oh, Nixon— you destroyed the reputation of the most powerful office in the world. You defiled the very character of the United States, and you roasted your legacy in a broiler. This is why you remain the most influential American who has ever lived. Your policies shaped Kaiser Permanente.
You privatized every facet of the American economy, and you lived in mortal fear of those around you.
There was a time when Ted Kennedy met with individuals from the Nixon administration to hash out there disagreements on health care in the basement of a D.C. church. There were many, but Ted conceded for reasons of trying to create a platform in which every American would get health care. Ultimately the Nixon administration won the battle, and on one fateful night in 1972, just prior to being caught up in that whole “I am not a crook” thing we have never ever heard about.
What is interesting to note, however, and the point of this post— is that Nixon was spying on Ted.
Richard Nixon considered Ted Kennedy such a threat that he tried to catch him cheating on his wife, even ordering aides to plant secret service bodyguards to spy on the senator’s behaviour.
What an insane, maniacal jackass, right? WRONG. He had his own agenda to protect, and Kennedy was possibly going to fuck it all up. So why not follow the poor bastard all over town and try desperately to catch him doing what pretty much every politician in history has done?
Storm clouds loomed over Nixon from the very beginning. He couldn’t shake it. This led to extreme paranoia.
“Does he do anything?” Nixon asked in a September 1971 meeting. “No, no, he’s very clean,” Ehrlichman replied. “He was in Hawaii on his own. He was staying in some guy’s villa. He was just as nice as could be the whole time.”
Nixon shot back: “The thing to do is watch him.”
Like a possessive significant other, it was almost as if Nixon had a deep, deep love for Kennedy that he would never let go of. Except for statements like this (on that wonderful oval office recorder of his):
Nixon made clear that the secret service protection afforded Kennedy before the 1972 election would be rescinded after. Then, said the president, “if he gets shot, it’s too damn bad”. His aides disdainfully referred to Kennedy supporters as “super-swinger jet-set types”.
How did such a loon become the leader of the free world? It wasn’t like he was completely evil. He did jaunts to China, enabled albeit Conservative, but useful social platforms… what went wrong with Nixon? OH, IT WAS THAT HE WAS TOTALLY EVIL.
“You understand what the problem is,” Nixon told Haldeman and Ehrlichman on 7 September 1972. “If the [son of a bitch] gets shot they’ll say we didn’t furnish it [protection]. So you just buy his insurance.
First JFK, then RFK, then Ted? Do you know what you would have with a shot Ted? A HAT TRICK.
Richard Nixon was a despicable human being. Huzzah.
If only we had a president advocating for liberal policies these days. A guy like Dick Nixon, maybe. The most liberal president we’ve had in the last 40 years.