50 Years Ago: Nixon At The Lincoln Memorial

Above, President Nixon chats with Kent State killings and Cambodian incursion protesters at the Lincoln Memorial.

Years ago, former presidential speechwriter William Safire wrote a book, Before The Fall, on the presidency of Richard Nixon.

One of the most interesting chapters was on President Nixon's early morning visit to the Lincoln Memorial where hundreds of protesters gathered.

The Nixon Foundation notes that this happened 50 years ago today:

President Nixon’s Historic Visit
to the Lincoln Memorial

Fifty years ago today, in the early hours of May 9, 1970, as many as 100,000 protesters gathered in Washington for a demonstration against the Kent State killings and the Cambodian incursion. President Nixon was early and working in the Lincoln Sitting Room.

Looking out the window, he noticed the activity on the ground of the Washington Monument.

When his personal aide, Manolo Sanchez, said that he had never been to the Lincoln Memorial, the President decided to make a spontaneous visit to share what he considered the most beautiful spot in Washington — the Lincoln Memorial by night.

Visit the Nixon Foundation website to learn more about the historic meeting and to hear President Nixon's own recollections of the event.

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William Safire Dead At 79

The New York Times reported that former speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon, columnist, op-ed writer and author William Safire has died:

William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote novels, books on politics and a Malaprop’s treasury of articles on language, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md. on Sunday. He was 79.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Martin Tolchin, a friend of the family.

There may be many sides in a genteel debate, but in the Safire world of politics and journalism it was simpler: there was his own unambiguous wit and wisdom on one hand and, on the other, the blubber of fools he called “nattering nabobs of negativism” and “hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.”

To read the full article, go here.