Free Republic

I have long believed that Richard Nixon was the most seriously under rated American president in my lifetime. When John Lennon sang: “No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of Tricky Dicky ....... ” I had no effective retort ...... to either the invective or Lennon’s proud assertion of the moral importance of having enough money to be able to participate in drug culture. Now I do. Historical website www.onthisday.com appears to present Nixon, POTUS 37, as the single most significant thespian ever to be born on the 9th of January, beating out Bob Denver in second spot and Nicola Peltz, whoever she...

Throughout this seemingly endless election season, analysts have thrown out a variety of historical analogies to help explain the current race. Some have suggested that this election is like 1948's (the one postwar example we have of a president winning re-election amid a sluggish economy), while others have looked to 1980, where a strong conservative defied the oddsmakers' bets and defeated an incumbent the country perceived as hyper-liberal. One year that has received scant attention is 1968. Michael Barone recently suggested this parallel -- in the context of the Occupy Wall Street protests -- during a panel discussion we both...