Remembering my first bumper sticker
It was 1968 and I was a sophomore in high school. On the day after the election, I got sick and stayed home to hear the final results that didn’t come in until mid-morning. And Nixon was the one, or something, who made my parents happy. My parents were Cubans then and they couldn’t vote yet, but Nixon was their favorite.
We remember Richard Nixon who was born on Jan. 9, 1913 in California and died on April 22, 1994, in New York, thirty years ago today.
I can still recall hearing of President Nixon’s death.
It was a Friday night and our family was driving to the ball game. Suddenly, the pre-game show on the radio was interrupted with the flash that President Nixon had passed away in a New York hospital. He had suffered a stroke a few days before and was seriously ill.
Mrs. Nixon died the year before, or 1993. How can you think of President Nixon without thinking of the wonderful Pat Nixon? She is still one of my favorite first ladies!
Between his resignation in 1974, and death in 1994, Richard Nixon became a great author and important voice on national security issues.
As a public man, he always seemed to believe the greatest sin was remaining passive in the face of challenges. And he never stopped living by that creed. He gave of himself with intelligence and energy and devotion to duty. And his entire country owes him a debt of gratitude for that service. Oh yes, he knew great controversy amid defeat as well as victory. He made mistakes, and they, like his accomplishments, are part of his life and record.
But the enduring lesson of Richard Nixon is that he never gave up being part of the action and passion of his times. He said many times that unless a person has a goal, a new mountain to climb, his spirit will die. Well, based on our last phone conversation and the letter he wrote me just a month ago, I can say that his spirit was very much alive to the very end. That is a great tribute to him, to his wonderful wife, Pat, to his children, and to his grandchildren whose love he so depended on and whose love he returned in full measure.
Today is a day for his family, his friends, and his nation to remember President Nixon’s life in totality. To them, let us say, may the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close. May we heed his call to maintain the will and the wisdom to build on America’s greatest gift, its freedom, to lead a world full of difficulty to the just and lasting peace he dreamed of.
It was a nice tribute. Over the years, and after reading all of those books that he wrote after the presidency, I’ve come to appreciate him. He was a lot better prepared than Barack Obama and far more honest than the current incumbent.
I lost that Nixon-Agnew number sticker from 1968 but i still have memories of knocking on doors as a volunteer.
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