Did Richard Nixon really grab Ron Ziegler by the collar and shove him back in 1974?

Ron Ziegler was the Press Secretary for Richard Nixon. He is the equivalent of Sean Spicer today. It is entirely up to you whether you want to care or not but I happen to care very deeply about this because certain people are stating that he was shoved by Nixon and I’d like to see the video so that I can determine if he was shoved maliciously or if it was just a playful kind of shove - which men do to each other quite often (and without malice).

Very good info by various people on this thread. I'm thinking around August of 1973 was when Nixon realized that his presidency was doomed. His only hope was running out the clock so that he could at least finish his term and try to redeem himself through his actions (as president).

I remember the days of Watergate. I was just a boy then but I remember how determined the media was to get him. If only Nixon had come clean after the June 1972 burglary and let the chips fall where they may for those responsible. He would still have won re-election and all that would have been behind him. I am convinced that Nixon was not aware and did not authorize the break-in at the DNC (which was such stupidity). However, virtually from the beginning, he played an active role in keeping a lid on it and that's when he sealed his doom.

At the time, Woodward and Bernstein were heroes to me. I read "All The President's Men" and saw the movie too. But I always thought Nixon was a decent president - he just had some serious flaws with regard to his paranoia and insecurity. Anybody who has read serious biographies of Nixon would understand why he was that way. His entire life, he was always made to feel inferior and he was never accepted in certain social circles. The man was a fighter though. No matter how many times he got kicked down, he got right back up and ultimately achieved the presidency.

It is entirely up to you whether you want to care or not but I happen to care very deeply about this because certain people are stating that he was shoved by Nixon and I’d like to see the video so that I can determine if he was shoved maliciously or if it was just a playful kind of shove - which men do to each other quite often (and without malice).

I think it was neither playful nor malicious, at least as I understand the word "malicious."

I think Nixon was under a great deal of strain, and lost his temper with Ziegler, whom I believe Nixon actually liked. He was at the time only 29 years old, the youngest press secretary in history IIRC.

Also, contrary to the image painted of him by the MSM over the years, Nixon was not an ogre, not a mean man, not a hateful man.

I think the "shove" of Ron Ziegler was simply an emotional outburst by a man under tremendous pressure.

What Nixon did was very bad, and he shouldn't have done it. He should have fired the Watergate people and allowed the legal system to punish them, although with the MSM being what it is that very well could have ended his Presidency anyway, IMHO.

But the Democrats basically wanted to conduct a show trial against him, as was demonstrated by Hillary Clinton, who wanted to deprive Nixon of his right to council.

If they could have, some Democrats would have liked to see Nixon executed by hanging in the Rotunda.

The hippies who were worming their way into the lower echelons of the Democrat party at the time would have loved that. They hated Nixon with a passion, but the older Democrats were a bit more sober.

Difference is that today, the entire Democrat party — from most junior to most senior — hates DJT with a murderous intensity. Some have even said so publicly.

Your last sentence is why President Trump needs to be extremely careful. I know that Trump has all the right intentions and and truly wants to put America back on the right path but the Democrats are salivating to catch him doing one thing unethical so that they can destroy him with it. I think this is why Trump did not directly challenge the court orders to stay his executive orders on immigration vetting and why he so quickly ditched Manafort (during the campaign) and later Gen. Flynn. I'm hoping that Trump has learned from Nixon's mistake and will not allow his presidency to be destroyed in order to protect underling who may have done something unethical (or even the strong appearance thereof).

Trump has pretty much everybody in the media and establishment against him, hoping that he fails so that they can say they told us so and go back to business as usual.

For that reason, I'm giving Trump every benefit of the doubt and I'm not joining some of my fellow Freepers in condemning him because he is trying to get things done by working with this pond scum that we have in Washington (i.e. Ryan). With respect to Congress, Trump needs to play the hand he was dealt and it's up to the people to change the composition of the House and Senate come 2018 to make things easier for Trump to get his agenda through.

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