The LuLac Edition #4,665, January 11th, 2022

MAYBE I’M AMAZED 

Our “Maybe I’m Amazed” logo.

Richard Nixon Edition

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sunday would have been Richard Nixon’s 109^th birthday. Here are some MIA’s on our 37^th President.

 MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that Richard Nixon was in Dallas, Texas the morning that John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22^nd, 1963. He was meeting with the Chairman of the Pepsi Cola Company on legal matters. Naturally conspiracy theorists have had a field day with this nugget.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that Richard Nixon and Franklin Roosevelt are the only two people to appear on a national presidential ticket five times. Nixon won election in four of the five races, as did FDR. Nixon was the winning vice-presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956, and he won the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections. Roosevelt won four presidential elections and lost as a vice presidential candidate in 1920.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that when Nixon first met Patricia Ryan she was dating someone else. Nixon actually drove her to her dates until he convinced her to marry him. Ya gotta respect that work ethic when it came to pursuing the woman you want.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……Nixon had a chance to attend Harvard but had to decline. As a student, Richard Nixon was third in his class and was offered a tuition grant to Harvard, but he was needed at home by his family.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…….Nixon almost became an FBI agent in the 1930s. Nixon applied to the agency but never heard back about his application. He had been accepted but then budget cuts eliminated his position.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…… Nixon was only 39 years old when he ran for vice president in 1952. Presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower didn’t have a preference for a running mate, and party leaders favored Nixon for his anti-Communist stance and his strength in California. The runner up to Nixon was Earl Warren the California Governor at the time. Warren was later appointed by Eisenhower to be Chief Justice, an appointment Ike described later as “a big mistake” on his part.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..Nixon used the comedy show “Laugh-In” to get elected. At least, that is what Nixon reportedly said after he did a cameo appearance on the show just weeks before the 1968 election. Hubert Humphrey refused to do a similar appearance on the show.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…… The Checkers speech was partially intended as an inside joke about FDR. The national TV speech that saved Nixon’s career in 1952 was a masterful political move, but the reference to Checkers the dog was meant as a jab at FDR’s famous Fala speech that Republicans would get. Years later, Nixon was still upset that it was called the Checkers speech and people mostly remembered the reference to his pet dog.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…that Nixon write more than 15 books in his lifetime. Many after his Presidency ended in 1974.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that Nixon’s favorite foods were in order, Cottage Cheese (with Ketchup), Meatloaf, Spicy Pepperoni Salad, Ice Cream Sundaes and  Baked Grapefruit.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that people are amazed that my favorite Nixon quote is "The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire."

(LuLac archives, Food & Wine.com, Constitution Daily).