Tuesday, September 01, 2020

Not much named for Nixon

I have been thinking about Gerald Ford, because next month I'm flying into Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids. In retrospect, I appreciate Gerald Ford way more than I did in real time. I was furious about The Pardon in 1974, but I know now he was right. No American President should end up behind bars -- no matter how much I would personally enjoy seeing this one in a jumpsuit that matches his spray tan -- because that's not who we are as a country. After an ugly chapter, we should move on and and seek healing, not retribution.

Anyway, as my mind ping ponged from Ford to Nixon, I wondered if there was a Nixon Airport. There is not. There is a Nixon Freeway in California, and two elementary schools (one in Iowa, one in New Jersey). It's pretty amazing, when you look at the enormity of his electoral victory in 1972. You would think that after such a landslide, you could take a Nixon highway to a Nixon Airport to a town called Nixon where there would be a Nixon University. Yet clearly, he appealed to a massive segment of our population, and then those very people seemed to want to forget him.
Stolen from Wikipedia

After Donald Trump leaves the White House, I wonder how his current supporters will treat him. After all, Trump didn't come near Nixon's vote totals in 2016. He didn't even win the popular vote. Will MAGA hats still be worn proudly? Or will parents and grandparents be like my own mother, who explained voting for Nixon in 1972 this way: "I went to vote for Ogilvie and Percy,* and Nixon was so far ahead in the polls, I just voted straight party Republican." She always sounded apologetic and embarrassed.


*IL's incumbents were Gov. Richard Ogilvie and Sen. Charles Percy.

3 comments:

  1. There is the Nixon library that is about 20 miles from me. I was there for the first day issue of the Nixon stamp. https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/

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    1. Susan, that's his presidential library. I've been there, and it's fascinating. But presidential libraries come with the territory, so to speak. Modern Presidents receive funding from the National Archives to preserve/present their papers. It isn't like a community getting together and saying, "Let's name this school/road/airport after him."

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