Nixon News & Notes
Victory Speech 1968 - Richard Nixon Foundation
November 6, 1968: President Nixon gives his 1968 election victory speech.
The Once & Future Nixon
The Watergate hotel is old. Its cement is faded, and the only retail in sight is an old gas station on an awkward corner. The mid-century modernism, once thought glamorous, feels as aged and isolated as the neighborhood itself. Pull into the small circle in front of the luxury hotel, however, and a valet will rush to your door, asking if you’re checking in or just stopping by.
In June 1972, the neighborhood was newly revitalized and prestigious. The Kennedy Center next door had held its first performance just nine months earlier, and the hotel was a hangout for artists, politicians, and celebrities.
In June 2016, after sitting vacant for nearly a decade, the hotel reopened and was finally restored to the glory it held in its eponymous era. Now, the furniture is high-fashion mid-century, the staff wear uniforms created by the costume designer for Mad Men, you can stay in the “Scandal Suite” for a night, and the $22 martini, served “just the way you like it,” is called “The Agent’s Choice.”
You’d have to order yours with gin, only soaking the olives in vermouth, to achieve the dryness of President Richard Nixon’s personal recipe, but as his most famous supporter, Elvis Presley, croons “Suspicious Minds” softly in the background, you can’t help but feel like the “the Old Man” himself is still just a mile down the road.
Why Richard Nixon Has Suddenly Gone Viral
The 37th president’s foundation has posted a slew of slickly edited videos aiming to make the late disgraced POTUS seem cool. It appears to be working.