how did you feel when Nixon died ?

[JI7]

i was in high school and i thought it was sad when he died.and i think a teacher showed us some tape on nixon and his opening relations with china then. how did you all feel when he died ?

[happynewyear]

1. I could have cared less

after all, isn't it "who cares what you think" nowadays anyway.

Tricky Dick was a fraud, a liar, etc. etc. I had no remorse for him when he died sorry to say. Another one bit the dust alas! *whew*

[cjbuchanan]

2. my first reaction was

get him in the ground before he makes another comeback.

After that, I wasn't much moved in either way. He lived a long life and did just about everything he wanted to do. Although I am sadden by anyone's death, his death brought no great emotion to me. Since he died of natural causes, it didn't shock me in any way.

[Soup Bean]

3. Sad. The man was a living, breathing Greek tragedy.

He had so much potential, yet slipped into paranoia. You never know how ambition and power will affect a person. He spent his post-White House life trying to redeem himself, and finished as a broken man. I hope he finds his heart on the other side.

No one is ever totally evil, or totally good. People are made of many shades of gray.

[ronnykmarshall]

8. I agree with that.

I felt very sorry for him when Pat died. I saw a clip of him walking away from her funeral and he looked totally devestated.

You're very right that Nixon had so much potential.

[JI7]

10. what year did his wife die ?

i didn't know she died before him.

[ronnykmarshall]

16. I think two years before.

That poor lady suffered so much before she died.

[UrbScotty]

30. 1993 (nt)

[Gemini Cat]

18. I, too, felt bad for Nixon when Pat died.

That was the only time.

[Skittles]

36. ditto

nt

[peekaloo]

19. I felt bad for him too when Pat died.

He was crying uncontrollably at the graveside.......he truly loved her.....I no longer thought of him as some crazed, paranoid monster that day.

Don't remember his dying affecting me too much.

[mountainvue]

27. Couldn't

agree with you more. I was sad when he died.

[charlie]

4. Indifferent

Watching Bob Dole crumble into tears over that monster was a bizarrely fascinating moment, though.

[ronnykmarshall]

26. You have to say this about politics

Bob Dole broke down and cried over Nixon and now he and his wife are good friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Maybe they all know something we don't.

As passionate as I am over politics, I am very amazed when I see former rivals like Dole and Clinton be friends with each other. Same with Presidents Ford and Carter.

They've set examples that we should admire.

[mountainvue]

29. They have

a kind of been through the war kinship that nobody else can really understand from that perspective.

[JI7]

40. Bill Clinton makes it easy for people to like him

i remember steve largent sat in shame at an event with bill clinton because he had voted to impeach clinton. but clinton being the great guy he is didn't take it personally and only said good things about largent. what a huge contrast from the chimp that is. largent looked like an ass having voted to impeach such a nice guy like clinton.

[Vickers]

5. He did more to lower the respect for the presidency than anyone

His actions, which caused a scuttling of respect for the highest office in the land, indirectly led to, and allowed (a) the election of an unqualified actor to the office, (b) the impeachment of a President on shaky, partisan grounds, and (c) the election of a complete idiot.

[Fenris]

6. Too young to remember

I remember my parents were glad to see him go. Knowing what I know now about the man, I can't imagine what I would have felt.

[dogman]

7. Sad

knowing the RW media would start rewriting history and try to make him into a person of honor.

[terrya]

9. I wanted someone to drive a stake through his heart to make sure...

he was dead.

He was one of the most evil men in American politics. And the White House tapes only prove that.

[stevedeshazer]

11. You know, it was strange

I despised Nixon, who was president during my teen years. He was a crook, a drunk, a criminal, and a liar. He nearly sent me to war.

Yet when he died, I felt sad because a big part of my life was over.

I watched his funeral and saw all the former presidents + Clinton there.

In retrospect, at least Nixon had the decency to resign when the writing was on the wall. He became a very pathetic figure in later years, trying to rehabilitate his image unsuccessfully.

It was a mixture of sadness and pity and anger and frustration at what little progress America had made since he had been president.

[Marymarg]

12. Pretty much indifference

He was a tragic figure, a victim of his own weaknesses.

I was totally contemptuous of him when he was in public office, outraged over the Watergate fiasco and cover-up and his unbelieveable arrogance. But felt pity for him during the last years of his life.

[Padraig18]

13. I barely remember it.

I think I was 10, and I had no recollection of his presidency at all.

[Bryan]

32. Jeezis, Padraig

I was sixteen. This is odd to me, as I tend to think of you as older and more mature than I...

Anyway, I have very clear memories of watching Nixon's funeral with my mom and her mother, both lifelong Republicans. I was too young to have seen the Nixon presidency, but every history teacher I'd had had made damn sure that I understood Watergate and the issues around it, so I was unmoved and not a little offended by the spectacle*. Mom and Grandma, though, actually cried during the ceremony. No, really! It was bizarre to men then and remains so, even though I've grown to have some pity for Nixon.


*Speaking of which, Hunter S. Thompson wrote a brilliantly cutting obituary for old Dick that stands out sharply among his later work, and you can read it here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/graffiti/crook.htm

"If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles."

[SuffragetteSal]

14. sad yes...a page in history closed which is good but

I claim to be a compassionate person so I do feel sad when any living thing dies...

I was sad the day he died but hopeful that we would learn from the past and the future would be better...with Bush in office it has been a disappointing slap of reality. Things don't necessarily get better without focus and hard work on the part of us who truly are compassionate people.

Don't let yourself and us down...take the higher road.

[thebaghwan]

15. Another W.P.O.S. repug bites the dust

n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

17. Being a history buff...

...I was curious how his funeral would be handled (in comparison to the last presidential funeral - LBJ's - in 1973). Fortunately, it was tasteful (in its absence of pomp).

I certainly didn't feel sad, not even when Bob Dole started blubbering about how Nixon was a great patriot, yada, yada, yada...

The history buff in me is now peaked with curiosity about how they'll bury Reagan (which I suspect will be something along the line of JFK's, complete with muffled drums, horse-drawn caisson and riderless horse with boots reversed)...

[SuffragetteSal]

21. Keep it simple Nancy...but will she?

Ronald Reagan is the originator of the term 'welfare queens'. JFK was assasinated in the prime of his life. Reagan lived a long life albeit unaware of his own body functions...I would hope it would be a private quiet event.

[Speck Tater]

20. Oh, is he dead? When did that happen? (nt)

[bluedog]

22. didn't give a damn

n/t

[Hamlette]

23. I was watching the funeral and lightening struck the tree in front of my

house and split it right in two.

I had not feelings about it either way.

[leftofthedial]

24. kind of the same way you feel

after you take a good crap

[MarianJack]

25. I Felt Sorry for His Family...

...and I felt sorry for him when Pat died.

George McGovern put it perfectly in the late 70's or early 80's when he said that what happened to Nixon was a clear illustration that there are worse things than losing an election.

[yorgatron]

28. i was happy

knowing that sack of shit was going to burn in hell.

[in_cog_ni_to]

31. I couldn't have cared less. n/t

[EndElectoral]

33. I was glad.

I was fighting in Nam, and that bastard Nixon's making trade deals with China, the same damn country that's supplying the enemy with weapons to kill us. Screw him.

[JohnKleeb]

34. was this in late summer and early fall?

I think I was more upset baseball was on strike, hey now I was 7.

[Th1onein]

35. Uhhh, Nixon died? When?

eom

[FlaGranny]

37. I felt nothing!

I don't rejoice when anyone dies, but I certainly was not sad. It was a non-event in my life.

[Carolina]

38. I didn't care

I loathed Nixon and was glad to see him resign in 1974. His death did not affect me one way or another at the time. BUT sadly today we are all living with his legacy since many of the current bastards in power cut their teeth in repuke party dirty tricks under him and his ilk. Read Mark Crispin Miller's Bush Dyslexicon for the eye-opening details.

A man's legacy speaks volumes about him.

[NoPasaran]

39. I felt great

I called friends to make sure they'd heard the news, then I went out and celebrated.