News
How Should We Judge Re-Election Campaigns?
The upcoming presidential election between President Obama and Governor Romney is shaping up to be one of the closest since President Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey in 1968. That election came down to a margin of only 511,944 votes nationwide; a number of votes that...
Convention Speeches of Political Spouses
Ann Romney is scheduled to address the Republican National Convention tonight, and her speech is expected to make big headlines. Interestingly, the tradition of political spouses -- or, in some cases, the First Ladies -- speaking at party conventions was begun by Pat...
8.23.1972 – The 1972 Florida Convention
On this day in 1972, RN triumphantly accepted the presidential nomination coming off a year of successes. The GOP Convention was held in Miami, as it was in 1968, and is the last time that the GOP convention was held in Florida -- that is, of course, until next week...
8.21.1960 – RN on Communism
RN wrote the little known The Meaning of Communism to Americans on August 21, 1960, flatly contending that Americans needed to better understand the socialist and communist philosophies in order to overcome them ideologically. At the time the Cold War was raging and...
8.20.1970 – RN Visits Mexico
Forty-two years ago today, RN visited Mexico for an official state visit. Arriving in Puerto Vallarta, it was his first state visit to a Latin American country and he noted the occasion in a personal way: Mr. President, as I'm sure you know, it is for Mrs. Nixon and...
When the President Met the King
Today marks the 35th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. One of the most popular musical icons of the 20th century, Elvis transformed popular music and had an unprecedented effect on popular culture. His meeting with RN in 1970 produced some of the most iconic...
Unintended Consequences; the Real Problem with Leaks
A Presidential Kill List, the use of cyber-attacks to stall foreign nuclear development, and attacking enemies by using the most advanced military tactics and instruments in the world may sound like the description of a blockbuster action film. It isn’t. In reality,...
8.13.1969 – Honoring the Astronauts
On August 13, 1969, President and Mrs. Nixon hosted a huge state dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles to honor the Apollo 11 astronauts on their safe return to Earth. Over 50 members of Congress and representatives from 83 foreign nations attended the...
Paul McCracken, 1915-2012
On August 3, Paul W. McCracken died at the age of 96 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, his home since he began working as a professor of economics at the University of Michigan from the end of the 1940s until his retirement in 1986. His impressive career there was accompanied...
The Biological Weapons Convention: Yet Another Nixon Legacy
Yet another often-forgotten Nixon Legacy -- and an important moral one, at that -- is the elimination of the use of biological weapons that began as a result of his directive in November 1969. Unilaterally, the U.S. discontinued its biological weapons program,...