A passage from William Safire's Before the Fall, which when I first read it (in the late 1970s), almost turned me into a Republican:
...The motorcade rolled into San Jose with the advance car of photographers shooting back at the President's limousine.... I was in the next to last bus, and could hardly believe what I saw.
Obscene signs were nothing new, and the chant of "One, two, three, four, we don't want your fuckin' war" had long since lost its shock value; demonstrators had plagued both parties since the late 1960s.... Ordinarily, they worked their disruptive schtick in groups of 20 or 30, popping up in an otherwise friendly crowd, but that night in San Jose was different.
Slowing down as we approached the civic auditorium, we were teated to the screams, howls, and roars of the representatives of the outer fringes of the counterculture. A screamer would look in our windows, lock onto one person's gaze, yell an oath, and make a gesture with arm or middle finger. Hundreds upon hundreds of them, faces contorted, worked up into a froth of hatred, doing everything a body can do with voice and gesture to express loathing and disgust. This was a lynch mob, no cause or ideology involved, only an orgy of generalized hate....
Their plan was to throw only epithets on our way in; a more serious onslaught was reserved for later. Inside the hall, five thousand tense and worried supporters made up the auditorium "rally"; Senator George Murphy and Governor Ronald Reagan spoke to warm them up, but even before the President came on, the sound of a battering ram was heard. The hall was actually, not figuratively, besieged; the demonstrators outside envisioned it as a drum to beat upon; the staff, after a few nervous self-assurances that this kind of thing only helped our cause, began to worry about getting out safely with the President. The people in that hall, ourselves included, were at once defiant and fearful, a state which is at the least a tribute to the success of the mob's attempted intimidation. The Secret Servicemen, who always had seemed too numerous and too officious before, now seemed to us like a too-small band of too-mortal men.
Let the President describe the scene, from the reading copy of the speech he gave on the subject a few days later....Thursday night in San Jose, I spoke to a crowd of 5,000 fine Americans. They were exercising their right to assemble peaceably, to listen to political speakers, to weigh the issues in the campaign of 1970.
Outside the hall, a mob of about a thousand haters gathered. We could see the hate in their faces as we drove into the hall, and in the obscene signs they waved. We could hear the hate in their voices as they chanted their obscenities. Inside the hall, we could hear them pounding on the doors as if they could not bear the thought of people listening respectfully to the Governor of the State of California, the Senior Senator from California, and the President of the United States.
Along the campaign trail we have seen and heard demonstrators. But never before in this campaign was there such an atmosphere of hatred. As we came out of the hall and entered the motorcade, the haters surged past the barricades and began throwing rocks. Not small stones--large rocks, heavy enough to smash windows. And not just directed at me, though some hit the Presidential car--most of the rocks hit the buses carrying the Press and my staff, as well as the police vehicles....
Some say that the violent dissent is caused by the war in Vietnam. It is about time we branded this line of thinking--this alibi for violence, for what it is--pure nonsense. There is no greater hypocrisy than a man carrying a banner that says "peace" in one hand while hurling a rock or a bomb with the other hand....The San Jose police had driven the demonstrators away from the doors of the auditorium and out of the official parking place. The motorcade was parked in a circle, much like that of a wagon train under siege, with the inside of the circle secured by motorcycle cavalry and the outside left to the savages.... The President came out and did his usual thing--climbed atop the car and wiggled the V sign to his cheering supporters and the cameras behind them.
The Nixon people ringing the car... were not the only ones who hollered at his signal. A reaction of fury and spleen was heard from outside the ring of buses in the parking lot. One reporter, Martin Schram of Newsday, said he heard the candidate "in a low, angry voice to a nearby confidant" say, "That's what they hate to see." This murmured remark, overheard by one reporter and by no other reporter or aide there at the time, amid shouts and jeering and cheering, became the basis of a point of view of many of those covering the event: that the President taunted the demonstrators into violence. The reponsibility for the attack, under this theory, was not so much the antiwar militants', but that of the President, who led them into rock-throwing in order to cast himself in a sympathetic role, and to focus public anger on the youthful dissidents.
The motorcade moved out of the parking lot and ran a guantlet of cursing demonstrators. As Time reported: "The eggs began to fly even before the motorcade moved out... Dozens of rocks were thrown, some the size of a potato. They bounced off the President's well-armored car, and they smashed windows in the press and staff buses tailing behind..." I was in the staff bus with Rose Woods, the President's secretary, when the rocks began to hit the steel sides. She said, "Just like Caracas"--she had previous experience along these lines when Nixon, then Vice President, was stoned in Venezuela--and she hit the deck in the aisle, shouting to the rest of us to do the same. I, like a jerk, kept looking out the window. When a rock slammed into the window on the opposite side of the bus, I was showered with glass splinters, but with my face turned away, I was unhurt and hastened to join my colleagues on the floor. In a minute, it was over and the buses were roaring toward the airport...
Notice Safire's attack on the biased liberal press? His claim that "...this murmured remark, overheard by one reporter and by no other reporter or aide there at the time, amid shouts and jeering and cheering, became the basis of a point of view of many of those covering the event: that the President taunted the demonstrators into violence..."? Well, it turns out that the press was correct. For example, take a look at Nixon Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman's diary:
Thursday, October 29, 1970
The rough one [campaign trip]--Chicago, Rockford, Rochester, Omaha, and San Jose, with an added speech at his [President Nixon's] initiative in Chicago for the Junior League at breakfast.
San Jose turned into the real blockbuster. Very tough demonstrators shouting "1-2-3-4-etc." on the way into auditorium. Tried to storm the doors after we were in, and then really hit the motorcade on the way out. We wanted some confrontation and there were no hecklers in the hall, so we stalled departure a little so they could zero in outside, and they sure did. Before getting in car, P[resident Nixon] stood up and gave the V signs, which made them mad. They threw rocks, flags, candles, etc. as we drove out, after a terrifying flying wedge of cops opened up the road. Rock hit my car, driver hit brakes, car stalled, car behind hit us, rather scary as rocks were flying, etc., but we caught up and all got out. Bus windows smashed, etc. Made a huge incident and we worked hard to crank it up, should make really major story and might be effective.
After arrival in San Clemente, P[resident Nixon] went home, then kept calling with ideas about how to push the line...
Question: Was Safire really as dumb and out-of-the-loop as he appears? Did he really not know that while he was feeling "defiant and fearful... the success of the mob's attempted intimidation. The Secret Servicemen... seemed to us... a too-small band of too-mortal men," Nixon and Haldeman were upset because there were not enough demonstrators outside? And were purposefully delaying the departure so that when the motorcade left there would be more demonstrators?
Ever since I read Haldeman's diary, Safire has been on my "Don't trust--verify--and even then don't trust, for it's unlikely to really be the way he spins it.
Posted by DeLong at December 15, 2002 08:56 AM | TrackbackYes, but who in major political life would this not be true of, anymore?
I can't think of anybody with Safire's background: Kissinger, Bill Moyers, Pat Buchanan, George Stephanoulos, etc. who doesn't regularly spin their case shamelessly in the direction they want it to go.
Of course Safire's not to be trusted, but neither is Bill Moyers or anybody else hanging out at the incestuous intersection of politics and punditry.
Besides, what's a blogosphere for?
Posted by: Anarchus on December 15, 2002 09:50 AMI try not to read Safire, but as I remember he uses anonymous insider sources more than anybody else. We're supposed to believe that we're getting the real scoop from him, whereas what we're getting is very high-level spin. (I don't doubt that he has insider sources, I just believe that, whenever asked, he's a willing conduit for high-level lies.
The knee-jerk moral parity Anarchus sees between Moyers and Safire is unsurprising. The boy's gotta show that he's a bold, independent thinker.
Sure glad I got here before Mr. Thompson stunk up the place.
Posted by: zizka on December 15, 2002 10:48 AMHere's something about Safire that I found amusing:
Posted by: David A on December 15, 2002 12:23 PMHere's something about Safire that I found amusing:
Posted by: David A on December 15, 2002 12:41 PMIncidentally, here's a quote from the above link, just to perk your interest:
"Safire called me soon after the article and after announcing who he was (as if I didn’t know) He said 'You know that we could destroy you. You are getting shrill.' I replied 'Bill would you like to hear yourself on tape'"
Posted by: David A on December 15, 2002 12:44 PMSafire's also been pushing that Mohammed Atta in Prague with Iraqi agents story, in spite of the complete lack of evidence.
Posted by: Jason McCullough on December 15, 2002 02:46 PMI DO believe that Safire was out-of-the-loop with the Nixon crowd. I always see Safire as trying too hard to project himself as "a real insider", and spinning like crazy to make himself look important. He's like that nerdy kid in high school who hung around the jocks and was tolerated because he could help with the science homework.
Posted by: Emma on December 15, 2002 05:42 PMRecall Safire's background: he was the flac for the refrigerator co, who got to stand by and watch the kitchen debate between N and Kruschev in 1959. His job at the White House was to follow RMN with a steno pad and to write down humanizing anecdotes that he would then leak to the press.
Posted by: jda on December 16, 2002 08:44 AMI hope Professor DeLong is impressed by having his musings validated by citations to Pierre Rinfret, among whose accomplishments (he modestly says) are:
<<----------quote-------------
In 1981 I predicted that the prime rate would rise to 21 percent in 1982 from the then current level of 9 percent. Everybody laughed and I was wrong. It rose to 21.5 percent
My wife and I have traveled to and visited on many an occasion more than 40 countries in this world including some certified hell holes. We were in Saigon on the last day American forces were there and left on the last French flight out.
I predicted the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979 many months before it happened and suffered enormous denigration for the prediction.
I predicted the fall of the Soviet Union from internal revolution in 1982 and put it in print in one form or another from then until it happened .
I foresaw the Yom Kippur war and predicted the date when it would happen as well as the outcome.
To prove I haven't lost my touch even though retired: I predicted the decision and the amount of time (3 hours) for the Jury decision of the OJ Simpson criminal trial and then predicted the amount of time and the awards the Jury would assess against OJ in the civil law case.
-------endquote------->>
And no stranger to the corridors of power (he says):
<<------quote--------
I was an unofficial economic and financial consultant to three Presidents, namely to Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. I refused cabinet offers from President Nixon who, in supporting me during the 1990 gubernatorial race said (in Print) that " As President I had hoped he would join my Administration as a member of the Council of Economic advisors or later as a member of the cabinet".
I was the Principal Economic Spokesman for Presidential candidate Richard Nixon in the 1972 campaign and traveled the United states on his behalf and at my expense.
In 1969 I was offered the position of a member of the Council of Economic Advisors by the Nixon administration. I was offered the position of Secretary of Commerce by President Nixon right after the November, 1972 elections. Leonard Garment, on behalf of President Nixon, asked me to accept the position of U.S. representative to the Soviet Trade Fair in 1973. Ronald Reagan wanted me to join his campaign staff in 1980.
I turned down Ronald Reagan and had political offers from numerous other Presidential candidates including Senator Muskie of Maine and Alan Shriver of the Kennedy family.
In 1990 I ran for Governor of New York against democrat Mario Cuomo and the biggest headache I had was the Republican party. Mario Cuomo told my son a few weeks ago that "Your father was a great deal more perceptive than I was".
--------endquote--------->>
He also seems to be one of the world's most famous economists:
<<-------quote-----------
I knew Dr. Milton Friedman for about 25 years. Each and every contact with him was a flight into fantasy land. I was on the economic advisory committee for Richard Nixon along with Milton Friedman; I debated him about a dozen time over the years from 1960 to 1980 and I had contact with him more than once at the White House.
He and many like him claim he is a "Nobel Laureate in Economics." except there is no such thing as a Nobel Laureate in Economics! This is one of those mythologies perpetuated by a profession, in this case the economists!
[snip]
There was no such thing as Nobel Prize in Economics for the very simple reason that it was not invented by Alfred Nobel but by the Bank of Sweden and only years ago, at that! The truth of this prize does not stop Milton Friedman (and economists like him) from claiming and representing he won a Nobel Prize! There is no question that he won the Bank of Sweden Memorial Prize in honor of Alfred Nobel but by no stretch of the imagination did he win a Nobel prize and to claim so (as he does) is to lie but, then again, he lies frequently about most things!
[snip]
Milton Friedman told President Nixon in 1971 at a White House meeting (I was there) that, in elections, "unemployment doesn't count" and worse than that "The unemployment rate doesn't matter"!
When I used to debate him he would rebut almost everything I said on which we might disagree with statistics that he quoted. One day I realized that he was faking his information and his statistics were as phoney as a 3 dollar bill! I whipped him from then on by bringing source books on the statistical evolution of the American economy to each and every debate! He didn't know the most fundamental facts about the evolution of the U.S.A.!
--------endquote---------->>
Not to mention that Rinfret himself was a decorated combat veteran (again, he says):
<<------quote---------
I was a forward scout carrying a Browning Automatic Rifle known as a BARman.The function of a forward scout is to find the enemy which is done most frequently by the enemy trying to kill the forward scout! By trying to kill the forward scout the enemy reveals his position. I was the second and senior scout. The first scout is not in charge, the second scout is in charge. I must have lost (killed or wounded) a half dozen first scouts in all the time I did in combat. I was wounded twice, got the Purple Heart twice, was honored with 2 Bronze Stars and awarded the Combat Infantry Badge (plus many other accruements to combat and military service)..
--------endquote-------->>
So, I'm sure everything he says about William Safire is gospel.
World renowned economist Pierre Rinfret takes on liberal Democrats with equal respect:
http://www.parida.com/ar.html
<<--------quote----------
The Republic National Bank of New York used to engage me to do an annual series of debates with different economists each and every year for about ten years. [snip]
In 1972 or thereabouts I was told by the Republic National Bank that my opponent in the annual economic debate would be Alice Rivlin.
She was most courteous, polite and respectful before the debate began. She was introduced to the audience by the Chairman of the Bank and lead off the debate. you have to realize that in 1972 I was close to Richard Nixon and that in 1971 he had announced the stimulus program for his reelection (reelection program). It was also known by the professionals that I had a major hand in that program.
Alice Rivlin immediately on obtaining the podium lit into me and attacked me and the Republican party most viciously. She had nothing good to say about any of us, she hated Richard Nixon and she hated anyone [including me] that supported him! She pulled no punches and she was actually at all times bordering on being vile and repugnant. She tore me to pieces and left no skin on my back.
My turn came to talk and being that I believe that we are all of us responsible adults and equal I took her on. I gave her as good as she gave me. I pulled no punches and went after her for supporting Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam war (she had forgotten that I had been an advisor to LBJ during that time). I left no stone unturned in my attack on her and was giving her equal treatment when I heard a sob!
I stopped and looked around and then I realized that Alice Rivlin was crying her eyes out. She was the one that was sobbing. Tears were pouring down her face and she was constantly wiping her eyes between sobs.
I stopped the attack, concluded my remarks and left the podium in disgust.
Alice Rivlin was a typical emotional liberal: she could dish it out but she couldn't take it!
It was OK for her to tke the skin off my back but it was not OK for me to counter!
--------endquote----------->>
Oh boy, Rinfret has a few words about "Harry" Haldeman too:
http://www.parida.com/e%26h.html
<<-----------quote-------------
I have to start with a confession: they (the Bobbsy twins [Ehrlichman and Haldeman])couldn't stomach me, in any way, size, shape or form!
I always thought of them as the Bobbsy twins because they welded the hatchet as needed and always together. They were the supposed gate keepers; the ticket takers, the maitre d's, the stewards of the ship!
They knew that I had a direct line to Richard Nixon and that any time I wanted I could talk to him on the phone or go down to Washington to see him. That infuriated them since they could not control, censor, what the President saw, heard or was told by me (when the President left the White House he told Gerald Ford "If you want the truth ask Pierre Rinfret, he has no axe to grind", or at least that is what Ford told me he was told by Nixon. Later Nixon told me he told Ford that. )!
I had about half a dozen dealings with Ehrlichman and about a dozen with Haldeman. They were both obnoxious, drunk with their power, conservative to the extent that Attilla the Hun was a flaming conservative (to them).
They were both vile; they had a superiority complex beyond belief, were absolutely convinced they knew everything. Ehrlichman was an amateur at what he was supposed to do; domestic advisor. He had about as much in the way of credentials as a dummy who has not graduated from kindergarten.
In my dealings with him it was more than apparent that he knew next to nothing about economics, finance or anything that mattered. He was as shallow as a saucer, which had more depth! I do not know of one single thing he did when it came to domestic policy or anything else for that matter.
To me they were the hatchet men of the Nixon administration, the killers, the psychopaths in residence.
The funniest incident I had with Ehrlichman was when I told him that inflation was running at about 13 percent in the United States. He instructed me to stop screwing up the figures and not to send him any more silly figures like that!
The pitiful thing, of course, was that it was running at 13 percent but the White House and, more importantly, the President did not know it! Crazy, yes, but that is how the White House works!
The funniest incident with Haldeman was that I was walking out of the Oval office after a meeting in private with Richard Nixon and Haldeman came by. When he saw me closing the Oval office door he almost went ape! He demanded to know what I was doing there and I zinged him; I told him the President wanted it kept to himself and myself (true). Haldeman almost lost it!
THEY BOTH ENDED UP IN JAIL. Easy jail, but jail nevertheless! Justice does triumph.
Haldeman is now dead; sic transit gloria.
---------endquote-------->>
I really have other things I should be doing right now but...
It's because of things like the above (not to mention his dreadful prose and the things said about him during his gubernatorial run a few years back) that I'm a bit hesitant to cite Rinfret's site. Not having done any serious checking (i.e. digging through 35-year-old microfiches in the library) but having looked over the site, and all those scans of authentic-looking documents and so forth, I feel like I know the guy, and he seems honest to me. Maybe I'm wrong.
Posted by: David on December 16, 2002 09:55 AMps I did find documentation that he was an advisor to Nixon along with Friedman, although I don't feel like repeating the search; you can find it if you want.
Now: life beckons, such as it is...
Posted by: on December 16, 2002 10:03 AMlast comment I swear. Here's a nice little explanation of that weird-sounding comment about nobels (again from a source whose authority I suppose is open to attack, but what the hell):
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-chinobel.htm
I recall from the Watergate hearings that the Nixon campaign was PAYING demonstrators to throw rocks at his motorcades, etc.
Posted by: IssuesGuy on December 16, 2002 12:47 PMWe attended a rally at the Lincoln Memorial during the War in Cambodia. Everyone assembled peaceably in their tie-dyes and bell bottoms to listen to the politicos and chant against that illegal invasion.
(If you saw Forrest Gump, it was visual like that)
Then Billy Graham began to speak, and raised his arms to heaven, shouting, (words to the effect), "Bomb the Gooks for Jesus!" The crowd surged into the wading pool as the DC police on horses stormed in with their batons. The boored news media picked up their pens. But that wasn't enough. Suddenly a Huey helicopter roared over and disgorged a cloud of multi-color weapons ... tiny American flags on parachutes. Then the DC police really hit their stride, pepper gas and tear gas popped from every corner. The scene instantly went from Sunday Peace Park to Chicago Convention. Now the media reporters were in a frenzy! Graham and his ilk were spirited away, agent provocateurs turned over a few police cars, and the plaza erupted in flames and riot all that night. Stroking the gullible hippies for red ink to make Nixon look like a super hero.