An Order Better Not Followed

According to notes kept by his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, on July 3, 1971 President Nixon let his suspicions about Jews and liberals in the civil service get the better of him. He believed they were purposely manipulating economic data to hurt his administration. Historian Maarja Krusten offers reflections on the politics of scapegoating (which comes from Torah, ironically enough -- Lev. 16:8,10):

The segment [of notes] covered Nixon’s directive to Haldeman to have [White House operative Fred] Malek [shown below] check “sensitive areas,” uncover “Jewish cells,” and to put a “non-Jew in charge of each.” Haldeman, who occasionally dragged his feet on orders from Nixon, didn’t blink an eye. And so the Nixon White House sent Fred Malek off to count Jewish civil servants.

Nixon may have been uncomfortable about some of the things recorded on his tapes or recorded in White House documents. I sympathize with that to some degree. His records were seized and the rules changed on him. But trying to take out the people at NARA who worked and still work with those materials only demonstrates the same acculturation that led Nixon and Haldeman to send Malek off to count Jews at BLS. Nixon didn’t like the way the bureau was handling the release of unemployment figures. Instead of directing James Hodgson, Secretary of Labor, to work through the timing issues, he went nuclear. And sent Malek off to do some things Malek and Haldeman should have resisted, in my view. This set up a situation where Malek later had to confront, or not, what he had done.

It was a classic example of not liking an outcome and personalizing the issue based on assumptions, rather than working out a rational and fact-based solution. Just like assuming Fred Graboske and his staff were biased against Nixon and trashing their reputations (“incompetent clerical level archivists.”). Or calling for Tim Naftali to find an Alger Hiss library to head, when he sought to put up an historically sound exhibit about “abuses of governmental power.” There couldn’t be a clearer demonstration of the management culture within the Nixon White House that resulted in those abuses than observing what NARA has faced since the 1980s.

First Historic Second

Now that the Nixon library has opened its new Watergate gallery, the archivist of the U.S., David Ferriero, says more changes are in store:

Although Watergate captivates our attention, it is only one chapter in the complicated legacy of our 37th President. Other galleries in the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum show the significant changes he made in the nation’s social, political, and economic structure, along with historic breakthroughs in foreign affairs — with the Chinese, the Soviets, and in the Mideast. Over the next few years, we plan to update many of these galleries to reflect changes in museum technology and the release of new information.

Hat tip to Maarja Krusten

Eagles Already Used "'Hell Freezes Over' Tour"

Bob Woodward and Ben Bradlee sell out the Nixon library.

Youse Control The Media

James Fallows does his best arguing that the collapse of the traditional financial model for elite news reporting isn't a disaster for democracy and Western civilization. He hung out at "Gawker" and learned the virtues of people getting (new school) the news they want (“How Good Is Charlie Sheen for a Porn Star’s Career?”) instead of the (old school) news they need (coverage of the Supreme Court, succession crises in Moscow and Beijing, government and financial corruption at every level, economic, military, diplomatic, educational, social, nutritional, scientific, medical, and cultural issues -- you know, everything that actually matters but you almost always have to pay reporters to cover because it's complicated sometimes).

In his long "Atlantic" cover story, Fallows offers a one-sentence plan for making sure those things don't fall through the cracks:

Rather than worry about a general collapse of the press, perhaps we should watch carefully for specific failures of local, statehouse, or investigative coverage, and start experimenting now with ways to correct them—through nonprofit coverage or other means that new technologies make possible.

But who's "we," and how will they know when the failures have actually occurred? City officials had been stealing for years in Bell, California before the old-school LA Times, though bloodied by massive editorial staff layoffs, finally broke the story. In the "Gawker" era, I guess allegedly corrupt city managers will be safe unless they do something reckless, like go on "Dancing With The Stars."

This Old River Keeps On Rolling, Though

Great to hear Mick Jagger's full-throated voice again on this great cover of Bob Dylan's "Watching The River Flow." The cut, from an album honoring the late Stones co-founder Ian Stewart, features former Stone Bill Wyman on bass.
Hat tip to the good people at Paste

Donald's Doofus Days

When a prominent politician acts like a doofus, someone usually gets around to writing a column saying, pace Otter in "Animal House," "Well, let me tell you about another so-called doofus. His name was Ronald Reagan."

Here's the latest of the genre: Joe Scarbourgh on Donald Trump.

Two flaws in the former congressman's argument. Usually a doofus is just a doofus and not another Reagan. Second, Reagan wasn't a doofus, whereas the usually artful New York tycoon is acting like one by insisting that the president of the U.S. is a liar and usurper.

It's one thing to get yourself a little birther cred, which may be the price of admission for the GOP nomination in 2012 (though getting a birther elected is another matter). But Trump seems to be making it the centerpiece of his campaign. Is he being opportunistic, perhaps on the advice of his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, or does he really believe it? If the latter, I hope it wasn't because someone showed him this.

As for Trump's running second in GOP polls, I bet that's mostly name recognition. Read Stone's own perspective here.

Nixon Goes To Obama

The Nixon Center drops "Nixon" and, just a month later, its talented China scholar is hired by the Obama administration. Coincidence? Well, yes. Congratulations, Drew.

Three Great Lincolns

On display at the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, the "bubble top" limousine used by FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower and briefly by Kennedy

The car in which President Kennedy lost his life; also used by Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter

President Reagan was about to step into this car at the moment of the 1981 attempt on his life, when a bullet struck him after ricocheting off the armor plating on the side; previously used by Ford and Carter

The Great Debate

William McGurn says liberals have won the arguments about whether less advantaged people deserve help. The remaining debate with conservatives, and it's a big one, is how it's done. The GOP's proposed Medicare reforms are an example:

[Rep. Paul] Ryan proposes a simple but dramatic shift: helping people afford private coverage. Under this reformed system, seniors would have their private premiums subsidized, and the poorest would get the largest subsidies. The hope is that over time it would have the opposite effect of the present system. Instead of increasing the dependence of the middle class, it would help make all seniors consumers.

Same with Richard Nixon's health care proposals in the 1970s, which would have enabled virtually all workers to purchase private health insurance. They were torpedoed by Ted Kennedy, who held out all his life for for a single-payer system.
Hat tip to Buddy Lang

"He Don't Live Here No More," Robbie Robertson

The guitarist and songwriter for the Band appearing on the Letterman show with his Americana offspring Dawes, which is helping him launch his new album, "How To Become Clairvoyant." His lead playing's a little rusty. But since he's as great a songwriter as Stephen Foster, we'll just go ahead and cut him some slack.
Hat tip to the good people at Paste