June 17, 2007
Imperial Presidencies IV Posted by Joshua Zeitz at 12:55 AM EST I’m glad Mr. Gordon mentioned the flap over Richard Nixon’s introduction of new uniforms for the White House police, as this was indeed one of the stranger but more entertaining moments in his already bizarre Presidency. The New York Times noted that the “head gear vividly resembles that worn by American drum majors and West German traffic policemen.” When he learned that various newspapers, including the Times and the Chicago Daily News, had mocked the pomposity of the new uniforms, Nixon scribbled out instructions to his chief-of-staff: “I want our staff to take RN’s position on this regardless of their own independent views. . . . Have [Communications Director Herbert] Klein take the offensive on the slovenly W.H. police we found.” These ruminations were not unusual for Nixon, who spent an inordinate amount of time attending to minutiae. He wrote memos to staff members about the “pretty uncomfortable” chairs in the Cabinet Room, rearranged seating charts for state dinners, and drafted job assessments of the butlers, gardeners, and sommeliers. He also issued a memorandum specifying the placement of a trash can in the Oval Office bathroom and took time out of his day to specify, “I don’t want salad served as a separate course at a state dinner of eighty people or less.” Tragically, in his last six months in office Nixon also spent hours upon hours reviewing the Watergate tapes and plotting his legal and political strategy to remain in office. No matter what one thinks of his politics, there is little arguing that he wasted away too many precious hours of his Presidency on matters that should never have concerned him.
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