Here is Richard Nixon’s first inaugural address from January 20, 1969 — forty yars ago tomorrow. Nixon inherited a deeply divided nation, and his speech reflects that. So Nixon took the divided nation and made it….more divided.
Until he resigned due to the events and ordeal involving the Watergate scandal.
And then there was unity, as most Americans, who didn’t even agree with each other on issues or partisan preferences, breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.