How did Nixon supporters react when he resigned? Did they not believe

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

such a thing could or would ever happen?

Were they in severe denial up until the last second?

Did any of them have any introspection, any reflection on their support of a power-mad criminal gang?

Or did they just continue to deny and blame Democrats for everything, and for deposing their hero? :shrug:

Do the ones still alive still maintain he was a great president who was witchhunted out of office?

[mike_c]

1. nixon supporters?

:rofl:

Granted, I didn't move in circles that were likely to support Nixon anyway, and I was just beginning to pay attention to politics outside the context of the war, but by the time Nixon resigned I don't think he had many supporters left.

[marylanddem]

26. I seem to recall that you're correct...

His Republican brethren had realized what a liability he was.

[blogslut]

2. I'll tell what my mother said

She liked Nixon. She said he was a sacrificial scapegoat for the sins of the country.

[rusty_parts2001]

15. The quality of our politicians has changed in the past 32 years

If you watched the Senate judiciary committee hearings on censure, you get the idea. 32 years ago every democratic senator would have supported impeachment for this illegal invasion of privacy and disregard of our constitution. There would have been articles of impeachment issued by the House and a conviction in the Senate so fast that your head would spin over an illegal war we were lied into. Evidence mounts daily (The BS about aluminum tubes being the latest example) that Bush consciously and deliberately lied about intelligence to provoke a war.

Look at the Senate today--bloviators like Biden and Liebermann are worthless. On the other side you have shills like Cornyn, Specter, Graham, Hatch, and Sessions (the one who didn't get a judicial job, and now he's got an axe to grind), who are empty suits and Bush lackeys, interested only in retaining their Senate seat and nothing more. The disgust I feel for this worthless Senate is indescribable.

[tsuki]

3. My observation:

They just continue to deny and blame Democrats for everything, and for deposing their hero.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Many of them were too embarrassed to admit they supported him

The way I remember it is they quickly disappeared from the public eye. I honestly don't remember anyone coming forward saying he was a great pres and shouldn't have resigned.

[The Wielding Truth]

6. My mother's cousin was in denial. She wondered" why everyone was

picking on such a nice guy".She felt so sorry for him.

[Blue Belle]

31. You mean anyone besides Ben Stein?

He still talks about what a great President and "lovely" man Nixon was (of course he says the same thing about Bush). :eyes:

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Was he famous then?

I don't remember becoming aware of him until 15 - 20 years ago. I am sure I didn't know about him in the 70s.

And he is such an ass, I would have ignored whatever he said anyway. LOL

[Blue Belle]

34. He worked on Nixon's staff...

as a speech writer I believe.

He is an Ass... :eyes:

[maveric]

5. The line was: "All presidents do that. He just got caught" .

That was all they had.

[sheelz]

21. "All presidents do that. He just got caught"

My mother-in-law still repeats it. :grr:

[Paladin]

27. Wish I Had A $20 Bill For Every Time I've Heard That.......

....from Nixon supporters over the years. My retirement account would be in a lot better shape.

And yet---if it's a contest between Nixon and Dubya, I'd pick Nixon without hesitation. Why the hell not? For all his glaring faults, Nixon was five times as smart, and only half as conservative, as GWB.

[Individualist]

23. I've heard that many times over a period of many years

The cultists still remain in denial.

[ChristianLibrul]

7. Nixonians

They'll tell you to this day that the "Eastern librul press," as was the epithet back then, "hounded that good man out of office." Also, "He didn't do nothing all the others didn't do."

Gerald Ford still has to answer for pardoning Nixon.

[walldude]

10. Ford actually said he was going to hell for pardoning Nixon... n/t

[TomInTib]

8. I recall hearing, "Hasn't the poor man suffered enough without..."

That was usually the reaction I would get.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

9. Did you know...

that Al Franken has a framed copy of Nixon's resignation letter. It's on the wall of his bathroom.

If we ever get to that point with Shrub, I'll do the same.

[NoPasaran]

32. I have a framed copy of the El Paso Herald-Post

Extra edition with the banner headline NIXON TO RESIGN above my desk. It is my most prized possession.

[Hamlette]

11. myt Dad supported him until 2 days before he resigned

I was visiting them in Scotland, that day the paper had a story (can't remember the details, I'm guessing proving he knew about the breakin) and I said "now do you think he should resign" and he finally agreed.

He stayed with the party until Reagan. I know what triggered his leaving the party (Reagan talking about limited nuclear war which he thought was nuts, he worked on the design of the nuclear subs so he knew about nuclear "stuff") but I wish I'd asked him more about his thought process in leaving the party he'd been loyal to all his life.

[Beelzebud]

12. I imagine about like Ben Stein and Pat Buchanon reacted...

when Deep Throat was revealed last year.

It was amusing watching them. You could tell they had not reconsiled anything from those bad old days. Still trying to shill for Nixon, almost 40 years later.

[Kingshakabobo]

13. My freeper co-worker sent me some link to a website .....

describing how Clinton's administration was a bigger criminal enterprise than Nixon's. Of course, they had to include "moving violations" and "people associated with the campaign" versus Nixon's Nixon's actual administration.

it was a new one on me. I guess we chock this up to another lie you have to believe to be a neo-con

[benddem]

14. The Repugs I'm aware of

(don't spend any time with them) are still in deep denial over Nixon's guilt. Doesn't anyone else remember that Henry Hyde said that impeaching Clinton was payback for Nixon.
I was at work when the announcement was made and one of my coworkers and I did this great dance. We were stopped by an older guy who said that Nixon was a great man and we should be ashamed. We laughed all the way to our offices.

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. The Clinton impeachment

is widely believed to be pay back

[senseandsensibility]

17. My parents(especially my mother) were Nixon supporters

and I can remember to this day how she reacted, although I was in elementary school. She clammed up and wouldn't talk about it, except to say that "they all did it."

[EST]

18. I was a Nixon supporter, I suppose.

When Nixon was elected, I supported him because he promised to end the war and get us out of VietNam. He lied. In 1972, he was re-elected in a landslide because he promised to end the war and get us out of VietNam. He lied.
I was a total political neophyte, still believing he meant well, and I was offended by the practice of the news pundits: that of coming on after every speech he made and telling all of us what he said and what he really meant to say. They continually ripped on him and, being the inveterate champion of the underdog that I was, I defended him, leading many of my more knowledgeable associates to brand me a nut.
Not wishing to be always regarded as weak-minded, I undertook a self re-education. It took a while, but I finally figured it all out.
It took a bit less to convince me, at least in part, that Carter was a charlatan, but, for a while it succeeded--at least until I, again, became politically conscious and figured out Carter was the real deal, too late.
Now, the only person who still insists that Nixon was an honorable man is that known nitwit and certifiably insane loudmouth, Pat Buchanan. There are, no doubt, many in the congenitally disfunctional ranks of republican reprobates who entertain such notions, but they are, generally, pretty quiet about it.

I must cut myself a little slack. I came of age as LBJ was lying his ass off about the war, the draft board was breathing down my neck, and I hated and distrusted everything about government.

[bbinacan]

28. I admire your

honesty in this comment. It takes guts to admit having supported Nixon. I guess we all make mistakes in our youth.

[pretzel4gore]

19. too bad bob dole's persona was able to disappear

to think dole ran for the presidency! in 1974, he was outfront defending the nixon administration: the guy was roy cohn w/out any of cohn's oily charm. Dole actually snarled sometimes during interviews; his hate was visible in his demeanor. How on earth a country, especially one so blessed with technology like tape recorders and tv's etc could forget bob dole- well in that disjuncture you can see how cia agency heavy geebush #1 could ride into whitehouse on a ronald regan, and then geebush #zero! I love the good ole USA, but ...but.....but
fox is guarding the henhouse
gopig is guarding fort knox
blackwater is guarding new porleans....

[MarianJack]

20. Supposedly,...

...bob dole once saw (I Think) reagan, bush sr & nixon together and said to a companion, "There are see no evil, hear no evil and EVIL"!

[MrTriumph]

22. Many pundits foolishly predicted the end of the GOP.

x

[NNN0LHI]

24. My Republican parents swear Nixon was innocent to this day n/t

[ObaMania]

25. They were indifferent, IMO..

.. back then, we were more a cohesive nation and went with the flow. They didn't wig out like I'd expect the brownshirts to do today.

They've waited a long time for this and any little thing that disrupts their occupation of the country would flip 'em out.

[Ronnie]

29. I'll never forget what my father said,

when he heard about the tapes. "Well, I guess he really is a crook." He was so sad. My brothers, on the other hand, still say he was framed.

[Jim__]

30. I think the die-hards believed that he resigned because ...

he had phlebitis - which is the reason Nixon gave for resigning.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

35. His resignation speech makes no mention of phlebitis (linked below).

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/richardnixonresignationspeech.html

Good evening:

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of this nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest. In all the decisions I have made in my public life I have always tried to do what was best for the nation.

Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere -- to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion; that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process, and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future. But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served. And there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged.

I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interests of the nation must always come before any personal considerations. From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the nation will require.

I have never been a quitter.

...

[SheilaT]

36. Nixon supporters -- and there were more of them

than you young'uns realize -- were absolutely convinced he was railroaded by a biased liberal press.

How well I remember the resignation speech. I was working at National Airport (DCA) as an airline ticket agent at the time, and in my ten years there I NEVER saw it so quiet. Everyone was watching the speech. I even seem to think airplanes due to push back from the gate at that time stayed to watch/listen to the speech.

All the way through, despite solid rumors all day that he was definitely resigning, I feared he wouldn't and when he said, "I've never been a quitter" I thought, uh,oh. He's staying. Even now, every time I hear that speech, I'm afraid all over again he won't resign.

[RoyGBiv]

37. Ben Stein cried ...

And I have what probably isn't news for you. They're in denial to this day.

[niyad]

38. one of my friends, whose family has been heavily involved in democratic

party politics for forever, told me that, until she was about 12, she thought nixon's first name was "thatgoddamned"

[MarianJack]

39. From My Dad,...

...I thought his first name was "That Son of a BITCH BASTARD..."!