Nixon the Friend

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 8-22-1987
Event Description: American Red Cross volunteers in Kolka, Latvia welcome Nixon. The professor is informed that since the Eastern European Relief Organization was begun, charitable donations to the organization have been up 40%. “I knew that the government didn’t need to break the bank on this project,” Nixon tells the volunteers, “Because the American people will always come through when it comes to giving.”

Event Date: 9-01-1987
Event Description: Arriving in Moscow, Nixon is given a hero’s welcome. With his work during the coup still fresh on the people’s minds, now President Boris Yeltsin awards the professor with the White Lotus Order, the highest civilian award in Russia. “It is quite an honor to stand side by side with President Yeltsin,” Nixon tells the press, “Especially when it’s not in a tank.”

Event Date: 9-11-1987
Event Description: The Nixon’s arrive back in Los Angeles on their 49th wedding anniversary. “I seem to always be arriving home on this date,” Nixon tells his wife. “Yes,” Pat says, “As opposed to other husbands, who leave their homes on their anniversaries.”

Event Date: 9-15-1987
Event Description: Governor George H.W. Bush (Republican of Texas), who was reelected by a ten-point margin, announced he will once again run for president in 1988. Senator Pete Wilson (Republican of California) stands by Bush’s side during his announcement. “I guess old Pete doesn’t want the White House yet,” Nixon tells a political science student at Whittier College, “Well; he’ll get there one day.”

Event Date: 10-14-1987
Event Description: “View from the Tank” by Richard Nixon is released, discussing his work in freeing Mikhail Gorbachev during the November Coup in 1986. The book discusses the rushed flight to Moscow, the high pressure meeting with a coup leader and the final deal to free Gorbachev. Unlike all of Nixon’s other books, this one is extremely popular and read by more than just political and foreign policy wonks.

Event Date: 10-30-1987
Event Description: Nixon goes on the Lat Show with Johnny Carson to promote his book. Nixon is played as a straight man by Carson, who even gives the Quaker professor a tin of water, rather than the usual porcelain cup used for guests. Nixon, however, leaves even Carson laughing when he tells the audience: “The biggest problem with freeing Gorbachev was that the whole time I had to use the bathroom, but there isn’t one damn bathroom in the whole Russian White House.”

Event Date: 11-23-1987
Event Description: Professor Nixon writes a letter to the Republican National Chair Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., urging him to publicly endorse the Eastern European Relief Organization and make sure that sustaining it is written into the 1988 Republican National Platform. The chair writes back, telling Nixon, “Our delegates will make the final decision, and they will probably side with you.”

Event Date: 12-31-1987
Event Description: Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is overthrown in a coup organized by the CIA and Kurdish leaders. Without the support of the United States, Hussein’s grasp of power completely came undone, and his own Baa’th Party turned on him for more competent leadership. Hussein kills himself, as well as his two sons and his daughter, as he flees Baghdad.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-11-1988
Event Description: Vice-President Ernest Hollings and CBS anchor Dan Rather clash on the CBS Nightly News over the disagreements Hollings has had with President Carey. The major clash happens over the Carey Administration’s reliance on foreign policy advice from Richard Nixon. “You don’t really like Nixon, do you?” Rather asks Hollings. “I have no opinion on the man,” Hollings responds, “All I have to say is that I wish a guy who is not a member of the administration, or even a member of our party for that matter, would stay out government affairs.” This comment makes Hollings, who was known for bipartisanship in the Senate, look like a partisan attack dog, and this is exploited by Senator Dale Bumpers (Democrat of Arkansas), Holling’s chief rival for the nomination, who reminds voters that he actually introduced the Eastern European Relief Act, “Working with Nixon, a man Fritz claims is too Republican to help people.”

Event Date: 1-28-1988
Event Description: With a letter of recommendation from Richard Nixon, community organizer Barack Obama applies to Harvard Law School. With the Nixon, the second of the great Quaker humanitarians (after Herbert Hoover of course) supporting him, Obama is accepted to the university with flying colors and even give the freshman opening address in August.

Event Date: 2-02-1988
Event Description: Former Congressman Leon Panetta (Democrat of California) is appointed as the new Ambassador to Iraq. The appointment of Congressman Panetta was requested by Professor Nixon, who has worked with him when he, Nixon, was leading the fight to end the Cambodian War.

Event Date: 2-16-1988
Event Description: Governor Bush wins the crucial New Hampshire Primary, defeating former Senator Laxalt by a 42-40% margin. Laxalt was harmed by the presence of Senator Bob Dole (Republican of Kansas), televangelist Pat Robertson (Republican of Virginia) and former Governor James Rhodes (Republican of Ohio), as they sapped conservative votes from him. This victory establishes Governor Bush as the frontrunner in the GOP Primary. On the Democratic side, Governor Michael Dukakis (Democrat of Massachusetts) defeats both Senator Bumpers and Vice-President Hollings in the Granite State Primary. This is seen as a major upset by the media, though Dukakis did have a far more of a “home region advantage” than the two southerners.   

Event Date: 2-19-1988
Event Description: Richard Nixon and William F. Buckley, the conservative editor of the National Review, have the famous “Buckley/Nixon Debate” over the future of the Republican Party. Held at Colombia University, the two men show their depth of knowledge and famous wits to a delighted audience. “Under your definition of the Republican Party,” Buckley tells Nixon, “The Republican becomes the party of big spending, as opposed to the Democrats, who are the party of opulent spending.” “Well at least the Democrats want to spend money on people, and not weapons,” Nixon shoots back, “I for the life of me can not remember the last time an AK-47 went hungry in the streets of Chicago.” On foreign affairs, the two find a common ground in a human rights based trade policy. “The Chinese Communists kill thousands every day,” Buckley comments, “Maybe we can get involved in transporting their bodies in exchange for cheap plastic toys.” “So we agree that human rights must play the most important role in trade?” Nixon asks Buckley. “Yes,” Buckley concedes, “That is until skulls become the world currency.” The two nearly come to blows, however, when the legacy of President Reagan is debated. “Ronald Reagan bankrupted out country in goods, and in some ways, in morals,” Nixon states, “He spent billions in armaments to give them to dictators in Laos and Cambodia, while borrowing from dictators in Chile and Pakistan. After borrowing and supplying all these tyrants, Reagan has the gall to say he did all of it for ‘freedom.’” “Well if you had it your way, Nixon,” Buckley retorts, “The Khmer Rouge and the communists in Laos and Vietnam would have killed millions and anything resembling freedom would have been torn down.” “Heck, your type of Republicans would have liked those regimes,” Nixon states, “After all; you like to do business with murdering dictatorships.” “You watch that big mouth, Nixon,” Buckley comments, “Or I’ll show you that my type of Republican can attack a loud moth Quaker as well as a loud mouth Communist.” The debate ends with roars of cheers and deafening applause.

Event Date: 3-08-1988
Event Description: President Carey. Secretary Muskie and Professor Nixon travel to Baghdad to meet with the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. With the new democratic government of Iraq in its earliest stages, President Carey believes that wisdom from, “America foremost foreign policy experts will prove useful.” Nixon, having been called a ‘foremost expert’ tells the Whittier Post-Gazette, “Gee, I just dabble in foreign policy.”

Event Date: 3-15-1988
Event Description: Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari meets with Preside Carey, Secretary Muskie and Professor Nixon. The prime minister explains that he is having trouble keeping the Kurds, who want to secede from the nation, loyal to the government. “Why not just let them go?” President Carey asks his experts. “That would cause war with Turkey,” Muskie explains, “As a Kurdistan would take several rich oil fields from Turkey.” “Also,” Nixon opines, “Religious differences in Kurdistan as compared with the rest of the region could also lead to a Kurdish genocide.” “As is with most things in the Middle East,” President Carey concludes, “Doing one thing will offend 50% while doing the other will offend 50%!” In the end, the men decide that appeasing some Kurdish autonomy demands would be for the best. “Dealing with the Middle East is like overseeing a Sunday School of ten year olds,” Nixon, who taught Sunday School, tells the president, “If you give one kid something, everyone will want it. Once they get it, it won’t be enough.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 4-06-1988
Event Description: In a speech at a rally in Cleveland, Ohio, Senator Laxalt attacks Governor Bush for, “Openly inviting a radical like Richard Nixon to campaign for him across the nation.” This is an open vie for reactionary votes, but with conservative Southern Primaries approaching, the attacks on Nixon may well help Laxalt pull ahead in the primary.

Event Date: 4-08-1988
Event Description: Governor Bush on Meet the Press tells Tim Russert, “I’m not openly inviting Richard Nixon to support my campaign, he’d doing it all by himself. I’m not going to tell a man that he can’t like me, and Senator Laxalt shouldn’t do it either.” Bush reminds Russert that controversial televangelist Jerry Falwell has endorsed Laxalt, “But he doesn’t seem to think that Falwell is as controversial as Richard Nixon is.”

Event Date: 4-22-1988
Event Description: At a special ceremony, Governor George Deukmejian (Republican of California) awards Professor Nixon with the California Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor of the state. “When I was a boy I wrote in my high school yearbook that I wanted to be, I wish to be an honest man who is trusted by honest people,’” Nixon states in his acceptance address, “I now have realized that childhood dream.”

Event Date: 5-03-1988
Event Description: “Beginning the Race” by Richard Nixon is released. This is the first of Professor Nixon’s motivational books meant to inspire readers to achieve. The book describes Nixon’s early life with his difficult father, the deaths of his mother as well as his older and younger brother and, finally, the difficulties he experienced in public life in the 1940s and 1950s. “Throughout these trials I had many opportunities to quit,” Nixon writes, “I could have dropped out of law school, gone into severe depression and despair, withdraw from society or leave public life. I chose to keep going, to begin the race strong so I may end it the same way.” This book begins a new career for Mr. Nixon: a motivational speaker.

Event Date: 5-19-1988
Event Description: Moscow University invites Professor Nixon to speak to them on May 31st, 1988, graduation day at the university. “I would be honored to address the university,” Nixon responds.

Event Date: 5-30-1988
Event Description: The Nixon’s arrive in Moscow for the second time in less than a year. The first place they go is not to Moscow University or their hotel, but to a low income apartment in the industrial area of the city. There they visit the apartment of Varlam and Yulia Rodion, two Christians who wrote to Professor Nixon in 1978 telling him of the plight of religious people in the Communist Soviet Union. While Nixon could not help them, he did tell them to, “Keep the faith, let not even the gates of evil stop you.” The two couples visit and have dinner, with Nixon telling the press as he leaves, “No matter what Mr. Buckley might tell you, not all Soviets were evil.”

Event Date: 5-31-1988
Event Description: Professor Nixon addresses the graduating class of Moscow University. As one of few non-Russians who can speak their language fluidly, Nixon can speak directly to the students with nothing being lost in translation. “Your country has experienced a new birth of freedom,” Nixon states, “You, the new generation of Russians, can mold that freedom into anything. I advise you to embrace freedom of expression, thought, speech and ideas. Embrace critical thinking and question your government leaders, government laws and socially established norms. It is only through this type of thinking that bigotry, injustice, racism and tyranny can ever be overcome.” Nixon receives a standing ovation at the end of his address. As the professor leaves the building, a young graduate approaches him, telling Nixon, “I have just graduated university, but I have no idea what to do with my life.” “Agitate,” Nixon advises, “Agitate, agitate, agitate.”

Event Date: 6-16-1988
Event Description: President Carey and Chinese President Lee Teng-hui meet in Beijing, China, to discuss trade relations. This visit makes President Carey the first U.S. President to personally visit the world’s most populous nation.

Event Date: 6-23-1988
Event Description: A second U.S.-China Tariff Treaty is worked out in Beijing, once again lowering U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. However, this bill requires the Chinese to free religious prisoners, something that President Teng-hui reluctantly agrees to. “This treaty should be confirmed,” Nixon tells the Washington Post, “It requires enough concessions from the Chinese to make human rights based trade a reality.”

Event Date: 7-05-1988
Event Description: Governor George Bush wraps up the Republican Primaries when Senator Laxalt drops out of the race. Bush’s wins in the California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota Primaries all but assured his nomination, keeping the GOP in the fold of the center-right for another election season. On the Democratic side, Governor Dukakis has a narrow lead over Senator Bumpers and Vice-President Ernest Hollings in delegates, but none of the three have enough sway to win the nomination on the first ballot.

Event Date: 7-14-1988
Event Description: Professor Nixon and the Nixonites arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the Republican National Convention. “We have come to make sure the platform endorses Eastern European relief, support for schools, opposition to the death penalty and social justice,” Nixon tells the press, “Obviously I’m a believer in lost causes.”

Event Date: 7-18-1988
Event Description: The Republican National Platform of 1988 obliges Professor Nixon by endorsing the Eastern European Relief Organization and calling for, “A needed expansion of its work in Eastern Europe to poverty in Saharan Africa.” “That was more than just getting a bone thrown to me,” Nixon tells the convention, “That was a true and lasting statement I will always remember.”

Event Date: 7-20-1988
Event Description: Governor George Herbert Walker Bush of Texas is nominated for the second time for the office of President of the United States. Governor Bush selects Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire for Vice-President. “Once again,” conservative activist Pat Buchanan tells Meet the Press, “Bush has selected a non-conservative running-mate. Rudman is actually more liberal than most Democrats! This can only hurt him in the general.”

Event Date: 7-27-1988
Event Description: “I am pleased with the Republican ticket and platform,” Professor Nixon tells the Los Angeles Times, “I feel it shows that the party is swinging towards the center once again.” This is not welcomed by conservatives in the party, however, though their only potential third-party candidate, Senator Helms, has already announced he will not run as an independent.

Event Date: 8-01-1988
Event Description: Former President Ronald Reagan appears at a Bush for President Rally in Sacramento, California. This sign of unity is meant to appease conservatives and unify the party around the Bush-Rudman Ticket. Professor Nixon attends the rally, but is not allowed to speak.

Event Date: 8-18-1988
Event Description: The Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, nominates Vice-President Ernest “Fritz” Hollings of South Carolina for President and Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island for Vice-President. The seventy year old Senator Pell is nominated to appease liberal Northern delegates for Governor Dukakis, and he himself tells the New York Times, “I have no interest in being president, but being vice-president has a noble heir to it.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 9-02-1988
Event Description: The United States Congress passes the Eastern European Relief Extension Act. This bill allows the Eastern European Relief Organization to be funded until 1999, a full seven years longer than established by the previous law. The results of the organization have been extremely far reaching. In the frozen lands of Siberia many residents are given their first tastes of electricity as power plants are constructed with EER money.

Event Date: 9-27-1988
Event Description: Professor Nixon addresses the ACLU Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. His speech is not the usual hot button issues speech, but one that asks the ACLU to, “Examine our mission and aim to regain it.” Nixon chastises the group for, “Extreme partisanship.” He critiques them for spending time and money, “Targeting conservative Republicans, while ignoring progressive minded politicians and pundits who attack the Constitution and threaten its very existence.” As a prime example, and with the person sitting in the audience, Nixon attacks the Reverend Jesse Jackson for supporting censorship to protect minorities from “offensive speech.” “This assumes that the Constitution, African-Americans, Latino-Americans, homosexuals and women are too weak to protect themselves,” Nixon states, “This idea is unconstitutional and ridiculous. Yet the man who introduces the idea sits here in a place of honor? Is that only because he is a liberal Democrat?” As would be expected, Nixon’s address is received by a chorus of boos, but some scattered applause from his faithful. “I’m a seventy-five year old man,” Nixon tells the press as he leaves the convention, “I can offend whoever I want.”

Event Date: 10-01-1988
Event Description: The United States Senate ratifies the U.S.-China Tariff Treaty, complete with Chinese concessions on human rights. “Today is a monumental day,” President Carey tells the nation in an address from the Oval Office, “Today is the day that China reenters the world of trade.”

Event Date: 10-13-1988
Event Description: Governor Bush patches up many problems he has had with conservatives in the second presidential debate by declaring that as president, “I will appoint only strict constructionist judges, support a Balanced Budget Amendment, oppose global trade unions and never, and I mean never, support a tax increase.” “This is sickening,” Nixon tells his wife while watching the debate, “George Bush, a brilliant man, reduced to talking points. What a man won’t do to win high office.”

Event Date: 11-08-1988
Event Description: In his second bid for the White House, Governor George Bush defeats Vice-President Ernest Hollings by a wide margin. Hollings was only able to find strong support in the South and parts of the East Coast.

George H.W. Bush/Warren Rudman (R): 337 EV; 53.8% of the PV
Ernest Hollings/Claiborne Pell (D): 201 EV; 45.7% of the PV
Others (Libertarian, Populist, etc.): 0 EV; 0.5% of the PV

In California, Senator Pete Wilson is reelected by a six-point margin over Democratic Lieutenant Governor Leo T. McCarthy. “Today is a day for rejoicing,” Professor Nixon writes in his journal, “Today the Republican Party has come home to common sense.”

Event Date: 11-09-1988
Event Description: As was the case in 1972, loyal Nixonites begin lobbying President-elect Bush to appoint Nixon to a government post, most notably the position of Attorney General. Nixon refuses any job, stating, “The president doesn’t need a cranky old man like me around the White House.”

Event Date: 11-15-1988
Event Description: In light of his speech on September 27th, the California ACLU disbars Professor Nixon, who has been an ACLU attorney since the 1940s. The national ACLU reprimands the California Chapter and offers Nixon his membership back, but Nixon declines: “The California branch is now too radical, even for me, the old radical professor.”

Event Date: 12-22-1988
Event Description: The World Food Prize awards Richard Nixon and Charles Mathias with their Hoover-Wallace Award in Hunger Management. Nixon and the senator are honored for their work in passing and managing the Eastern European Relief Organization. 

[Captain Chaos]

bumping to page 1

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-05-1989
Event Description: In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nixon explains that he will show no favoritism to President-elect Bush. “He’ s a politician,” Nixon explains, “Even though I support President-elect Bush it does not mean I won’t hold him to as high a standard as President Carey. In fact, I gave him my trust, so I’ll hold him to a higher standard.”

Event Date: 1-20-1989
Event Description: For the first time since 1973, Professor Nixon attends the inauguration of a president. President George Bush’s inaugural address, however, does not impress Nixon. “He gave it a noble effort,” Nixon tells his wife, “But Mr. Bush spends most of the time speaking in circles trying to find an idea.”

Event Date: 2-02-1989
Event Description: Professor Nixon meets with the Dalai Lama in Manila, the Philippines. The battle for a free Tibet was a mission Nixon had not yet taken up, but after discussing the issue with the spiritual leader of the nation, Nixon joins the crusade to Free Tibet.

Event Date: 2-14-1989
Event Description: Professor Nixon begins his final crusade, traveling to Bangkok, Thailand, to begin work with the Free Tibet Organization. “I swore to give up politics,” Nixon tells his wife, “I never swore to give up striving for justice.” Mrs. Nixon, having lived with the socially minded intellectual for more than five decades, goes along on the trip, telling him “If I didn’t come you’d never wash your shirt.”   

Event Date: 3-01-1989
Event Description: Nixon and a group of 5,000 likeminded protesters march outside of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. The reason they march is because Chinese Premier Li Peng has a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama at the embassy. Twenty-five protesters, including Nixon, are arrested by the oppressive Tokyo Police Force. They are charged with public indecency, though no one believes that the seventy-six years old Nixon is even capable of public indecency.  Under the control of the corrupt Liberal Democratic Party, the police of Japan have become increasingly violent and anti-civil rights.

Event Date: 3-09-1989
Event Description: A group of American businessman, led by Warren Buffett, bail out Professor Nixon and his associates from prison. As the elderly Nixon leaves the prison in Tokyo, news cameras can not help but show the bruises on his face.

Event Date: 3-12-1989
Event Description: President Bush calls on the Japanese Government to reform their police and prison system. “It is unacceptable that a man of honor and decency like Richard Nixon was arrested on faux charges,” President Bush tells the nation, “And then beaten in a prison all for legally protesting in the streets.”

Event Date: 3-29-1989
Event Description: Despite the crisis in Tokyo, Professor Nixon carries on to Sri Lanka, where he calls on the government to, “Stop the occupation of the northern tip of this island.” This comment enrages conservatives around the world, as the Tamil Tigers, the group fighting for independence in Northern Sri Lanka, are Marxists. “Above all,” William F. Buckley writes, “These terrorists commit murders using car bombs and even stripping TNT to babies. Are these the people who Richard Nixon now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with?”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 4-15-1989
Event Description: Pro-democracy protesters take to the streets in Beijing, primarily on the famous Tiananmen Square. Even members of the Chinese Communist Party, most notable General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, express support for the protesters. Professor Nixon himself travels to Beijing, using his old status as a diplomat to gain access to a city placed under Martial Law. Over the next several days, Nixon will march with pro-democracy protesters and demand a free Tibet.
 
Event Date: 4-22-1989
Event Description: The American Envoy to Mainland China, James R. Lilley, is asked by the Chinese government if he supports Professor Nixon’s presence in Beijing and his activism with the pro-democracy protesters. “Anything that harms economic and trade relations between the United States and China can be looked upon as unfavorable from the embassy,” Ambassador Lilley states in a memo, “However, Mr. Nixon’s activities are not harming our relations in any way, so he should continue at them, and I know he’ll accept the outcome.”

Event Date: 4-25-1989
Event Description: At a meeting of the Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Party Premier Yu Kuo-hwa claims that the United States “Stands with our republic in opposition to the rabble rousers and troublemakers in the streets.” The premier quotes Ambassador Lilley, “Anything that harms economic and trade relations between the United States and China can be looked upon as unfavorable from the embassy,” but emits the rest of the quote. “As I can plainly see,” the premier concludes, “Men like that radical Quaker professor and his followers are a danger to a peaceful coexistence between the United States and the People’s Republic.”

Event Date: 4-26-1989
Event Description: President Bush and Ambassador Lilley immediately respond to the statements of Premier Yu Kuo-hwa. “I want to make it perfectly clear that we in the United States support the protesters in Beijing,” President Bush tells the world, “We want a more open and democratic government in China. If China was to accept democracy, free elections and human rights, it could enter the world stage fully and enjoy the blessings of free nations.” This strong response shocks the Chinese, but delights Professor Nixon who states, “Finally, a man in the White House with a backbone.”

Event Date: 5-01-1989
Event Description: On May Day pro-democracy protesters erect the Chinese Statue of Liberty, called the “Goddess of Freedom”, in front of the massive portrait of Mao Zedong. Professor Nixon, who has become the spiritual leader of the movement, declares in front of the statue, “Let the army come!” Despite cheers from the crowd, Mrs. Nixon demands that her husband stop saying such reckless things. Nixon, recognizing his overzealousness, relents and steps down from the statue. “I sometimes forget I’m not a young man anymore,” Nixon tells his wife.

Event Date: 5-04-1989
Event Description: Professor Nixon and Zhao Ziyang address the students in their most fiery speech yet. “The professor and I have come to the conclusion that our system of government has died,” Ziyang declares, “The communist system can no more live today than a dinosaur can. Both should be the same: EXTINCT.”    This comment enrages the Standing Committee of the Politburo, whose council of elders declares that Nixon and Ziyang are dangers to the nation and to the ruling party.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-05-1989
Event Description: Beijing police arrest Ziyang and Nixon, placing them under house arrest. Since Nixon is a foreign national and has no home, he and his wife are placed inside of a hotel room to await trial. “No trial will come,” Nixon assures his wife, “Once this protests ends we will be released. If not, the Chinese will have a major crisis on their hands with the United States.”

Event Date: 5-06-1989
Event Description: 20,000 student protesters rally outside of the hotel in which the Nixon’s are being held under house arrest. They sing the American patriotic song “America the Beautiful” to show their solidarity with their captured friend. While Nixon can not address them himself, he drops a letter to the students which is read. “I have seen great evil and great courage during my long life,” Nixon’s letter reads, “But I have never seen people like you, those who have the courage to stand up to the greatest of evils. God bless you all, and remember, while life may be short, the virtues of justice of live on.” “The Courage Note” is published in newspapers across the world, leading to a “Free Nixon” movement.

Event Date: 5-10-1989
Event Description: From Tokyo, Japan, to Paris, France, to Whittier, California, protesters join in to call for the release of Professor Nixon and General Secretary Ziyang, as well as for democracy in China and a free Tibet. In the White House, President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker begin contacting Chinese officials, requesting the release of Nixon, and American citizen.

Event Date: 5-12-1989
Event Description: Chinese soldiers execute General Secretary Ziyang for treason. His speech calling for the dismantling of the Communist government was citied as the reason for the executions. In the streets, the student hunger strike becomes a general strike involving industrial workers, college professors, retired soldiers, nurses, physicians and classroom teachers. Even many government bureaucrats join the general strike as Ziyang was a very popular technocrat. “The toothpaste is out of the tube,” Nixon writes in his journal, “It’s going to be very hard for the government to put it back in.”

Event Date: 5-14-1989
Event Description: The Standing Committee of the Politburo assures the nation that they will not execute Professor Nixon. “He is not the enemy,” the council of elders writes in their message, “He is simply another reactionary member of the petty bourgeoisie, just like those who march in the streets and perform this futile general strike.” The message assures the protesters that they will not be harmed if they stop the strike and return to work, but the message falls upon deaf ears. The protesters do not stand down, and the military is called in to police Tiananmen Square.

Event Date: 5-23-1989
Event Description: “What was once just a protest for government reform,” CBS Evening News Anchor Walter Cronkite begins his newscast, “Has become a call for the ending of the Communist government in Beijing.” This metamorphosis has spread through much of China, with Shanghai, Canton, and cities throughout the regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang openly joining the protesters in Beijing. In the colony of Hong Kong, western businessmen and their Chinese laborers join hand-in-hand in a general strike. “This is what Nixon has wrought,” President Bush states in a press conference, “Let’s just hope the world can control it.”

Event Date: 6-01-1989
Event Description: As the Nixon’s play a game of bridge in their prison hotel room late at night, three Chinese soldiers, all armed, break down the door and pull both of them out. “This may be the end for us,” Nixon warns his wife. The soldiers pull the two down the stairs and out of the hotel…and release them. “You now free,” one solider says in broken English. “I thank you very much,” Professor Nixon responds in Chinese, to which one of the soldiers responds, “You are very much welcomed. By the way, I read one of your books.”

Event Date: 6-02-1989
Event Description: The Standing Committee of the Politburo announces that Professor Richard Nixon and his wife have been released from house arrest. While the council of elders hopes that this will end the upheaval, it only increases it. “The problem now,” Secretary Baker explains to President Bush, “Is that the protesters now see that the government can relent, so their will demand even more.” “Let’s just keep the ball rolling,” President Bush tells Baker, “Maybe it will roll into our court.”

Event Date: 6-03-1989
Event Description: Rather than leave the country, Professor Nixon heads back to the protesters in Tiananmen Square. His return is met with celebration. As the Nixon’s ride back to the protest on a rickshaw, the surrounding protesters shower them with rose pedals and sing “America the Beautiful” once again. “I can now see,” Mrs. Nixon tells her husband with tears running down her cheeks, “Why you have always done things like this.”

Event Date: 6-05-1989
Event Description: The Chinese military is sent into Tiananmen Square to clean up the students protesters once and for all. The military arrests more than 25,000 protesters, injures 2,600 protesters and actually kills more than 600 people. Professor Nixon does not hide or stand down during the crisis. Instead, he and a student stand defiantly before three oncoming tanks. “The Tank Men” are not identified, but the picture by AP photographer Jeff Widener will win the Pulitzer Prize for Photojournalism.

Event Date: 6-09-1989
Event Description: The brutal crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protesters is responded to by the U.S. Senate. The Senate passes a resolution condemning the Chinese actions and supporting the protesters. In the China, Professor Nixon boards an airplane leaving the nation. “I do this not out of fear,” Nixon explains to a reporter on the plane, “I do this because I am no longer needed in China. The revolution has begun, and it can not be stopped no matter how many bullets are fired and people killed. The spirit of freedom is bulletproof, especially against the bullets of tyrants.”

Event Date: 6-11-1989
Event Description: The Nixon’s touch down in Toronto, Canada, where they are met by admirers and supporters of the Tiananmen Revolution, as the upheaval in China has been christened. “I don’t have much to say,” Professor Nixon tells the crowd, “Except stay true to the ideals of the revolution and one day freedom will exist in China.”

Event Date: 6-15-1989
Event Description: Nixon arrives in New York City and visits Chinatown. There, he meets with Chinese who fled the communist country to live in the freedom of the United States. One of the immigrants he meets, an old woman, gives him a single needle. She explains to Nixon that this was the needle she was sewed with in a Chinese sweatshop as young girl.

Event Date: 6-30-1989
Event Description: The world market takes a dive as the general strike in China spreads throughout the populous nation. From the South China Sea to the mountains of Manchuria, factories close and the Chinese economy comes to a standstill.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 7-04-1989
Event Description: On Independence Day the world once again rallies for the Tiananmen Revolution, with millions protesting worldwide and governments’ responding to the calls for support of the protesters. In Washington, D.C, President Bush and Professor Nixon address the country from the Oval Office. “The events of May 1989 have shown the world that the President Reagan was correct in calling for communism to be, ‘dispelled to the ash heap of history,’” President Bush states, “Professor Nixon has shown the world that China may well have democracy, but we will have to stand with the students to achieve it.”

Event Date: 7-12-1989
Event Description: The Chinese Government makes several concessions to the protesters. They free all political prisoners, declare they will offer more autonomy to Tibet and begin fair and free elections for the Politburo. These concessions are not enough for the revolutionaries, however, as they still cling to the general strike.

Event Date: 7-20-1989
Event Description: “The Day of Blood”. The Chinese military, at 12:01 China time, unleash their full rage on the protesters in Beijing, killing more than 5,000 people and injuring more than 250,000. Protesters respond to the killings by taking to the streets in riots. The next seven days in Beijing are a mess of fires, killings and mass looting.

Event Date: 7-28-1989
Event Description: The Chinese military mops up the last of the rioters in Beijing as the Day of Blood Riots come to an end. While the council of elders believes that this show of force will end the general strike. In the end, however, it only strengthens the resolve of the protesters. In Beijing, students take to the streets once again, in direct defiance of government orders.

Event Date: 8-03-1989
Event Description: Ambassador Thomas Pickering, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, introduces a Resolution Calling for the Resignation of the Leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. The reason citied for the resolution if the Day of Blood Massacre, as Ambassador Pickering states, “This incident shows the world that the current party leaders are unfit for their positions.” This resolution will be debated over the next several days, with relatively few nations coming to the defense for the Chinese.

Event Date: 8-13-1989
Event Description: By a wide margin, the United Nations General Assembly passes the Resolution Calling for the Resignation of the Leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. The People’s Republic of China, only recently allowed into the United Nations, lacks the clout to stop the passing of the resolution.

Event Date: 9-01-1989
Event Description: Professor Nixon and Ambassador Lilley meet at the Waldorf Towers in New York City to discuss the major effects of the approaching collapse of Chinese Communism. “Do we need another Marshall Plan for China?” Ambassador Lilley inquires of Nixon. “I would say that we would,” Nixon states, “The poor of China are just as impoverished and in need of basic necessities as those in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the Japanese Yakuza may well take advantage of the collapse of Maoism even more so than the Russian Mafia, for both will try to take advantage of the new China.”

Event Date: 9-11-1989
Event Description: New York City Mayor Ed Koch presents Professor Nixon with the Al Smith Service Award, a trophy usually only given to New York City residents. “But for the man who saved Europe from starvation,” Mayor Koch declares in his presentation address, “The Big Apple will take a few liberties.” “This is quite a trophy,” Nixon says, holding the massive fifty pound gold award, “But it’s nothing compared to the dinner my wife is cooking for our anniversary tonight.” Once again, Nixon and his wife are away from Whittier on their anniversary. “We’ve been married fifty-one years,” Nixon tells a friend, “And we’ve spent about ten of those anniversaries at home.”

Event Date: 9-29-1989
Event Description: Nixonites from around the country converge on Whittier College to show their appreciation for the sacrifices made by their leader and the students in Beijing. “Imagine a world,” actress Jane Fonda tells the crowd, “Where everyone was as brave as those students, and as good as Richard Nixon.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 10-05-1989
Event Description: The Council of Elders in the Chinese Politburo offers their formal resignations, and they are accepted by the new General Secretary of the Communist Party Rong Yiren. Yiren, though the same age as Professor Nixon (76), is a reform minded veteran of the party. Immediately, Yiren will push for openness in government, a free press and more accountability for the party. Furthermore, he declares in his first address to the Politburo, “The time has come for the tiger of the Republic to listen to the pleas of the lambs.” Acting on this principle, Yiren will strive for more autonomy for Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xingjian, all areas striving for more independence from Beijing.

Event Date: 10-12-1989
Event Description: General Secretary Yiren meets with Professor Nixon in Whittier, California. “You’re the biggest celebrity to visit Whittier since Clark Gable,” Nixon jokes as he meets the celebrated Chinese reformer. The two discuss the recent reforms in China, all being applauded by Nixon as, “Real great leaps forward.” “I see an end of our system on the horizon,” Yiren tells Nixon. “The end of the communist system,” Nixon states, “But not of China. Your nation will continue to grow long since after we have both been confined to the grave. It will continue to grow long after communism is laid in the grave.”

Event Date: 10-24-1989
Event Description: The Tiananmen Square protesters return to their homes having achieves all the reforms they protested for. The general strike, however, continues in many parts of China. In Xingjian, the heavily Muslim region of China, the general strike continues. The protesters demand independence for the region so that they may have a Muslim styled government like those in the Middle East. In Tibet, the decades of protests continue, but under new laws they are allowed to continue without violence. “This is quite a day,” Professor Nixon tells his students in World Politics 103, “Protesters demonstrate in Maoist China, and they don’t lose their heads.”

Event Date: 11-08-1989
Event Description: Senator Pete Wilson (Republican of California) announces his candidacy for Governor of California, with Professor Nixon standing by his side during the announcement. Nixon’s heroics (or antics) in China had made him a popular figure once again, with politicians around the country asking for audiences with the celebrated intellectual.

Event Date: 11-22-1989
Event Description: “What Nixon Wrought” by former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie is released. Using the famous President Bush quote for a title, the book goes in depth about the many foreign policy adventures of Professor Nixon. “From Russia to Belgium to Israel to China,” Muskie writes, “Nixon has seen more history unfold than most presidents.”

Event Date: 12-10-1989
Event Description: State media in China is outlawed by decree by a reforming Politburo, ending decades of suppressed freedoms of speech, press and expression in Communist China.

Event Date: 12-23-1989
Event Description: President Bush and General Secretary Yiren meet for the first time in the White House. “Why did you speak to Nixon first instead of me?” the president asks the Chinese leader, “After all, I am the president.” “It was nothing personal,” Yiren tells the president, “I just needed to talk old man to old man.” President Bush, who is sixty-one, is very flattered by the comment. “At least two people don’t consider me old,” President Bush says while laughing.           

[CCA]

In a word: Brilliant.

[Captain Chaos]

bumping to page 1 and looking forward to more entries

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-05-1990
Event Description: Senator Edward Kennedy (Democrat of Massachusetts) reintroduces the Freeze Resolution to the United States Senate. “Even though the Cold War is over,” Senator Kennedy tells his colleagues, “That does not mean that the threats of nuclear weapons are any less immediate.” The resolution is welcomed this second time around, with Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana) agreeing to co-author the resolution. 

Event Date: 1-21-1990
Event Description: The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party is stripped of many of its legislative powers by executive decree. In its place a national Chinese Legislature, elected in fair and free elections, will be established, thus slowly remaking China into a representative democracy.

Event Date: 2-02-1990
Event Description: The United Nations welcomes Professor Richard Nixon to address the General Assembly. The professor’s speech addresses the pressing issue of the genocide in Rwanda. “Throughout Central Europe we see the extermination camps of the Nazi Regime,” Nixon tells the assembly, “These camps stand as reminders of what inactivity and indifference during genocide results in.” Nixon calls on the African Union and the, “Powers of the world community,” to actively end the genocide in Rwanda.

Event Date: 2-14-1990
Event Description: Professor Nixon’s Rwanda Speech, the first given on the subject to a world audience, shows it’s power of persuasion as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and India send peacekeepers to defend the Tutsi people of Rwanda. The United Nations and the African Union will also follow suit.

Event Date: 3-01-1990
Event Description: “The Days in China” by Richard Nixon is released. The book discusses the professor’s time in the communist nation while marching for democracy and freedom in Tibet. “I came to see humanity in a new light,” Nixon writes, “Marching on the streets of Beijing. In America, we can do that without the slightest fear of death, that was not so in China. Yet, I saw in the eyes of the Chinese students the same commitment and lack of fear I see in protests in the United States.”

Event Date: 3-05-1990
Event Description: A new reform government takes power in Japan. After decades of corrupt (and at times inhumane) leadership under the laisez faire Liberal Democratic Party, the new Japanese Reform Coalition takes power. One of the reasons that the LDP was defeated in last August’s elections was because of the negative publicity following the arrest of Professor Nixon. “This event,” Foreign Affairs magazine opines, “Embarrassed the Japanese people enough to realize the brutality of the police under the LDP.”

Event Date: 3-19-1990
Event Description: Professor Nixon announces that at the end of the spring semester he will retire as a Professor at Whittier University. “I am reaching the age of eighty,” Professor Nixon tells the school in a special announcement, “I no longer can lecture a class as easily as I used to. Above all, there are younger men who can do my job, and I would hate to be that old tenured professor who never retires. Thus I must retire, but I am not retiring to become some old person.”

Event Date: 4-04-1990
Event Description: President Bush and Secretary Baker travel to Beijing to oversee the first day of democratic voting in Communist China. In Beijing, nearly 85% of all registered voters come out to vote in the first fair and free multiparty elections in Chinese history. “The Cold War is now over,” Secretary Baker tells Bush. “I reckon that’s so,” President Bush responds, “I just wonder how we can get that many people to vote this year!”

Event Date: 4-11-1990
Event Description: In an article in Newsweek Magazine entitled, “The New Road to Serfdom,” Professor Nixon warns of, “The tyranny of complacent apathy.” “Reform came to the corrupt Chinese Communist system because people cared enough to take to the streets and protest the unfair system. These protesters put their very lives on the line, and two weeks ago voted for reform in mass.” He wonders if America, a land free for so many decades, has grown too accustomed to freedom. “It is a cycle of tyranny,” Nixon writes, “People of free nations become to comfortable and begin to neglect their democratic responsibilities. They grow cynical as they have neutered their means of changing the government, and in desperation seek out a new government that ‘responds to our needs’ the pampered people may very well turn to a dictator.” While the theory is not a new one, the writing style and presentation of arguments wins the article a Pulitzer Prize.

Event Date: 4-23-1990
Event Description: Richard Nixon meets with Barack Obama, now a second year law student at Harvard University, in Boston, Massachusetts. Obama tells Nixon he has turned down a paid internship at the corporate law firm Hopkins & Sutter and will instead perform his second internship at the county courthouse working for pro bono lawyers. “I have also decided to follow that path,” Obama tells Nixon, “And give back to my country, which has given me so much.” “You, Barack, are a follower not of me,” Nixon tells the young law student, “But of Christ. To know you are giving your life to defending the defenseless, and turning down wealth for service, does not only make me happy, but it will make millions you have never met happy as well.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-03-1990
Event Description: Senator Pete Wilson’s bid for the Republican nomination for Governor of California becomes all the easier as Congressman Robert Dornan, a conservative, officially bows out of the Republican Primary for Governor to seek reelection to his conservative Orange County congressional seat.

Event Date: 5-16-1990
Event Description: Former President Ronald Reagan and Professor Nixon hold a fundraiser for the Red Cross’ efforts in Rwanda. The two former political rivals have become the face of a reconciled California GOP. “The civil war between conservatives and moderates in the California Republican Party is over,” Professor Nixon tells the press, “On June 4th, Senator Wilson will win the Republican Primary for governor, and though he is a moderate, conservatives like President Reagan will support him along with old lefties like me.”

Event Date: 5-25-1990
Event Description: The new Chinese Legislature is sworn-in, with the Communist Party as a minority behind the United Reform Movement, the majority party. Though a red flag still flies over Beijing, the era of “Red China” has all but ended. “Even though the government has embraced democratic reform,” Professor Nixon tells a meeting of Amnesty International in Los Angeles, “Their government still needs to free all political prisoners and institute major human rights reforms before they can be welcomed back to the community of nations.”

Event Date: 6-04-1990
Event Description: The Republican Primary for governor is won by Senator Pete Wilson in a walk. He takes 71% of the vote to negligible amounts for several minor candidates. The Democratic Primary between former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and State Senator John Garamendi end with a Bradley victory, but with only 35% of the vote to 34% for Feinstein and 31% for Garamendi. With popular Governor George Deukmejian in office, the Republicans of California believe they will be able to hold the office of governor.

Event Date: 6-13-1990
Event Description: Professor Nixon addresses the Chinese Legislature as an honored guest. “The people of China have embraced representative democracy, and that is to be applauded and appreciated by the world community,” Nixon tells the lawmakers, “But remembers, it is only a democracy if you can keep it. You must make sure to include the people in your laws and remember the creeds of yourself and your nation. Only through these can your legislative government be a success and last as long as the one I have been privileged to grow up in.”

Event Date: 6-26-1990
Event Description: President Bush signs the largest tax cut in American history, cutting the income taxes of more than eighty-percent of Americans. With the fiscally responsible Carey Administration before him, President Bush could approve of such tax cuts. The move delights the conservative movement, helping solidify a base that Bush had struggled with. Professor Nixon is not as happy, however. “I do not like paying taxes,” Nixon tells the Whittier Post-Gazette, “But I realize what they go to. I would be willing to pay my share of taxes if it meant a modern school or hospital for a poor person.”

Event Date: 7-08-1990
Event Description: In response to the Soccer Massacre in Somalia, the African Union and the United Nations begin economic sanctions of the nation. “I can not be sure if such sanctions actually work,” Nixon tells Senator Ed Zschau (Republican of California), “After all, they seem to not have gone anywhere in Cuba.”

Event Date: 7-12-1990
Event Description: The Kennedy-Lugar Freeze Resolution is passed in the Senate by a wide margin, with only Senators Strom Thurmond (Republican of South Carolina), Jesse Helms (Republican of North Carolina), Bob Smith (Republican of New Hampshire) and Wynche Fowler, Junior (Democrat of Georgia). While just a resolution, the passage of a nuclear weapon freeze resolution shows that the paranoia of the Cold War has subsided at long last.

Event Date: 7-24-1990
Event Description: Professor Nixon and former Secretary of State Muskie travel to Dublin, Ireland, to attend a symposium on peace between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the United Kingdom. “Peace can be found,” Nixon tells the press as he leaves for the trip, “If only we can find those who wish to search for it.”

Event Date: 7-30-1990
Event Description: While attending the peace symposium in Dublin, Nixon and Muskie receive news that M.P. Ian Gow, a staunch supporter of the UK in the fight in Northern Ireland, has been killed at his home in Sussex by an IRA car bomb. “This makes things look quite hopeless,” Muskie tells Nixon. “Things are never hopeless,” Nixon states, “Only sometimes we need to look for the hope a little deeper than usual.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 8-01-1990
Event Description: The Dublin Accord is released, written mostly by Professor Nixon. The accord demands that the IRA disarm, but also demands that the United Kingdom give a right of autonomy to Northern Ireland and withdraw all troops. “This is not a light treaty,” Nixon tells the press, “It is one that will achieve peace if both sides agree to it.” Unfortunately, neither side embraces the accord, but it is not forgotten.

Event Date: 8-02-1990
Event Description: The nation of Kuwait is untouched today by any bombs or tanks, as the nation of Iraq is a peaceful democracy under an elected government. In the White House, President Bush welcomes Professor emeritus Nixon and former Secretary Muskie back from Dublin.

Event Date: 9-01-1990
Event Description: Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Rong Yiren formally resigns as General Secretary and abolishes the post. With this move, the Communist Party of China as it once existed is officially ended.

Event Date: 9-05-1990
Event Description: A Gallup Poll shows the surprise results that Mayor Bradley leads Senator Wilson by a 51-47% margin, much wider than was expected. Some elitist pundits state that this is merely a “Bradley Effect” caused by people telling the pollsters they support the African-American Bradley because they do not want to appear racist. 

Event Date: 9-10-1990
Event Description: With the media discussing the “politics of race” in the Wilson vs. Bradley race for governor, Professor Nixon opines. “Race has nothing to do with this election,” Nixon tells the Los Angeles Times, “Mayor Bradley won the Democratic Primary because he ran the bets campaign. Mayor Bradley leads in the polls because he is running a great campaign based on issues. It has zero to do with race, and the media needs to shut their mouths about such a thing.” Nixon goes on to wonder, “If the elitist reporters who say such things have ever even met an African-American in their lives. I doubt they have but they probably find them ‘most interesting.’” That last line ends up getting the old professor in trouble, but he responds, “They wouldn’t be so angry if it didn’t ring true.”

Event Date: 9-11-1990
Event Description: “Another anniversary at home,” Nixon tells his wife, “I must really be getting old.” Today, the couple celebrates their fifty-second anniversary at their home in Whittier, California, an oddity for the globe trotting Nixon.

Event Date: 9-28-1990
Event Description: Professor Nixon is asked to speak at the rededication of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. “I haven’t led a church service in twenty-years,” Nixon responds, “But I can try.”

Event Date: 10-05-1990
Event Description: In one of the shortest speeches given in any public career, Professor Nixon addresses the crowd at the rededication of the National Cathedral, which has just undergone major renovations. “Buried here is the body of President Woodrow Wilson,” Nixon reminds the crowd, “Let us still try to make the world safe for democracy. Today, let us rededicate ourselves to God and serving his creatures, great and small, on Earth.” That is all the usually longwinded professor states, telling President Bush afterward, “I have learned to keep my church sermons short, it takes away the incentive to sleep through them.”   

Event Date: 10-15-1990
Event Description: Former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the crowd is Richard Nixon, the man who worked to free him from a communist coup.

Event Date: 10-18-1990
Event Description: In a California Governor Debate, Senator Wilson declares that he does not believe in a “Bradley Effect” in the race for the governor’s office. “Well I’m leading in the latest Gallup Poll,” Senator Wilson tells the audience, “So the idea that people are voting for Mayor Bradley because of his race seems preposterous.” The fact is coming out that many California voters do not want a 73-year old man as their governor, and that is the fact that is hurting Mayor Bradley.

Event Date: 10-29-1990
Event Description: “Richard: The Friend” by Barack Obama is released. The 29-year old Harvard Law Student writes a book about, “The man whom I have seen as a father like figure.” Obama writes about how Professor Nixon has inspired him to seek, “The fruits of selfless (and mostly reward less) public service.” He states that the first time he ever heard of Richard Nixon was when he read a book his mother had purchased, “The War for Peace”, by Richard Nixon. “She didn’t like it,” Obama writes, “It was too narrow an oath for her to follow, but I thought this was a counterculture movement I could join.” The book sells extremely well, but even as an accomplished author, Obama remains true to his goal to be a pro bono attorney.

Event Date: 11-04-1990
Event Description: The final Gallup Poll for the California Governor’s race puts Senator Pete Wilson at 53% and Mayor Tom Bradley at 45%. Despite their high hopes, odds are small that the Democrats will regain the California Governorship in 1990.

Event Date: 11-06-1990
Event Description: The Democratic Party wins a minor victory in the Midterm Elections, as is the case when the other party is in the White House. In California, however, Senator Pete Wilson continues the GOP tradition of holding the governor’s seat by defeating Mayor Tom Bradley by a 49-45% margin, actually a much smaller margin than the last Gallup Poll showed. “At least I can rest assure I lost this seat all by myself,” Bradley jokes in his concession speech.

Event Date: 11-11-1990
Event Description: Governor George Deukmejian offers Professor Nixon an appointment to the California Supreme Court. With a constitutional amendment requiring all California Supreme Court judges to be required to have had to serve a decade as a judge prior to their appointment taking effect in January, Deukmejian asks Nixon in advance to an expected retirement from the supreme bench. “Well, I can’t do that,” Nixon tells the governor, “If a new law would stop me, I couldn’t except breaking the law.”

Event Date: 11-25-1990
Event Description: While attending a farewell party for Senator Pete Wilson, who is becoming governor in January, in Los Angeles, Professor Nixon suffers a stroke. He is rushed to the UCLA Medical Hospital where he is revived. “The professor is resting and shows healthy signs,” Dr. Andre Kniemaker tells the press. Nixon and his wife will stay in the hospital for four days as he recovers from, “One of those hiccups in life we have to deal with.”

Event Date: 11-29-1990
Event Description: Professor Nixon leaves UCLA Medical Hospital walking on a cane. “The doctors are telling me I can’t get kidnapped anymore,” Nixon quips as he leaves enters the car for Whittier.

Event Date: 12-31-1990
Event Description: The People’s Republic of China officially ceases to exist as a nation when the Chinese Legislature officially votes to rename the nation the Republic of China and join with Taiwan for the first time since 1950. “Communism is now dead,” Professor Nixon writes in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, “I can hardly believe I lived to see it.”       

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Simply excellent.  This shows why you are the master of timelines.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Shame this variant of Richard Nixon was never elected President in this timeline, he would have made a superb President of the United States at that, far superior than Ronald Reagan that's for sure!

As always Paul, an excellent timeline. It should be interesting to see whether President Bush is re-elected in 1992, and how the Obama/Nixon relationship prospers in the years ahead. I wonder if Nixon will convince a young Obama to run for the Harvard Law Review? Hehe.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-05-1991
Event Description: Professor Nixon travels to Jerusalem, the sacred of the city of the Holy Land, to address a United Nations Peace Conference. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, there has been nothing but violence and terror in the holiest and most sacred areas on Earth. “Almost sixty years of violence is unacceptable,” Professor Nixon will tell the conference, “The new goal of the world should be peace in Israel and Palestine. That is the great crusade of the new age of the World.”

Event Date: 1-14-1991
Event Description: After a frustrating meeting in Jerusalem, Professor Nixon meets with Secretary of State James Baker in New York City. “The UN is more concerned with blaming Israel than finding peace in the region,” Nixon explains to Baker, “It is our responsibility to find peace in the region.” By “our” the learned professor meant the United States.

Event Date: 2-08-1991
Event Description: In an appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live, Professor Nixon once again states the importance of the United States leading the way in creating a lasting peace in Israel. “The Palestinians are willing to work with Israel, and vice versa,” Nixon explains to King, “The U.S. needs to use this fact to its advantage in finding peace in the Middle East.”

Event Date: 2-21-1991
Event Description: To the joy of Professor Nixon, IRA and British officials meet once again in Dublin to decide whether or not to accept the Dublin Accords. With John Major, a conservative but willing to negotiate with Northern Ireland, in power, there is more hope of an end to the violence.

Event Date: 3-04-1991
Event Description: Former California Governor George Deukmejian (Republican of California) is appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Bush. This decision was influenced by Professor Nixon, whom has become a close confidant of President Bush over the past several months.

Event Date: 4-14-1991
Event Description: The Dublin Agreement is made with both the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland agreeing to follow the Dublin Accords, as written by Professor Nixon and Secretary Muskie. “Anyone can accept peace,” Professor Nixon writes in a letter to Prime Minister Major, “I know that this monumental agreement will tell the world this.”

Event Date: 4-26-1991
Event Description: Former Vice-President Ernest Hollings (Democrat of South Carolina) announces he will not seek the presidency in 1992. This announcement removes the top competitor against President Bush. However, several strong Democrats have already entered the fray. Governor Mario Cuomo (Democrat of New York), Senator Sam Nunn (Democrat of Georgia), Senator Bill Bradley (Democrat of New Jersey), House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (Democrat of Missouri) and Governor John Kitzhaber (Democrat of Oregon) have all entered the race, and many pundits see most of them as even more formidable than the former vice-president.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-05-1991
Event Description: President Bush appoints former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie as his Special Diplomat to the Middle East. The seventy-seven year old Muskie accepts the job, but requests that Professor Nixon be made a member of his staff. “Well, I guess I can’t turn down Ed,” Nixon tells his wife, “After all, it’s never a good idea to argue with those who are smarter than you.”

Event Date: 5-10-1991
Event Description: Secretary Muskie and Professor Nixon appear before the press in the Rose Garden of the White House. “These men are the mew face of peace in Palestine,” President Bush tells the nation, and this comment draws some ire. The two elderly men are scoffed at by many in the press. “The president’s ‘new faces of peace’ in Palestine,” veteran reporter Sam Donaldson opines, “Are both closing in on their eightieth birthdays.”

Event Date: 5-23-1991
Event Description: The Nixon’s move to a small house in Alexandria, Virginia. “As much as I hate to leave Whittier,” Nixon tells the press when he arrives at his home, “I found it impossible to speak with the President on the Atlantic while sitting on my rocking chair at the Pacific.”

Event Date: 6-03-1991
Event Description: Secretary of State Baker briefs Muskie and Nixon on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The crisis is getting worse everyday,” Baker begins. He explains that the radical Palestinian Hezbollah Party has been amassing weapons and firing rockets into Israeli-held Gaza for months, and the Israeli Army is preparing an invasion. “I fear they are looking for a ‘final solution’ to the crisis in Gaza,” Baker states, but tells the two to keep that statement, “Off the record.” “Well,” Nixon states, showing no fear, “We’ve certainly got some work to do.”

Event Date: 6-11-1991
Event Description: At around 8:07 AM local time, Hezbollah launched diversionary rocket attacks toward Israeli military positions near the coast and near the Lebanese border village of Zar'it as well as on the Israeli town of Shlomi and other villages. This attack on a Lebanese city shocks the world, and causes the Israeli Army to launch a full scale incursion into Lebanon and Gaza, both actions to flush out Hezbollah radicals. President Bush urges, “All combatants to stand down,” but this request is ignored. The Lebanon War has begun.

Event Date: 6-14-1991
Event Description: Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami, known as a puppet for the Syrian Government, declares that Israel “Is ordered to withdraw from Lebanese soil or face a full scale assault from united Arab Armies.” This threat is enough for Professor Nixon to request a mediation hearing between combatants. Despite this appeal, neither side has any interest in ending the fighting. “These Middle Eastern nations remind me of two bullies I had in school,” Nixon tells his wife, “They would see each other everyday and toss an insult, but nothing would ever happen. Then one day, the two did fight and no teacher, principal or police officer could stop that fight.” “How was the fight ended?” Pat Nixon asks. “One of the bullies passed out from exhaustion and didn’t wake up for three days,” the professor responds.

Event Date: 6-19-1991
Event Description: Israeli forces occupy the city of Bint Jubayl, Lebanon; a city ran by anti-Israel military leaders who have given aid and comfort to Hezbollah raiders. The capture of the city throws much of the Islamic world into an uproar. “The blood of the Zionist dogs will run through the streets!” Syrian President Hafez al-Assad declares, giving a speech called for a renewed Jihad against Israel and, “Her bedfellows in the West.”

Event Date: 7-02-1991
Event Description: Despite protests from his family, Professor Nixon, along with Secretary Muskie, travels to Israel to petition the government to end the conflict in Lebanon. “I know this trip could be dangerous,” Nixon tells his wife, “But I’m an old man, so it hardly matters what happens to me anyway.”

Event Date: 7-08-1991
Event Description: “We have returned,” Nixon tells the press as he and Muskie get off their plane in Tel Aviv, Israel. The two men are greeted by Israel Foreign Minister David Levy, who tells them, “With the two great diplomats here I now know we can see peace in Lebanon.”

Event Date: 7-13-1991
Event Description: Protests for autonomy from Syria begin in Beirut, Lebanon. “The Cyprus Tree Revolution” has begun, and President Assad responds by crushing it with the Syrian National Police Force. “Just like in China,” Nixon predicts, “No tyrannical government can quiet the voices of freedom.” Nixon’s words prove true, as the protesters take to the streets the next day despite the show of Assad’s force.

Event Date: 7-28-1991
Event Description: President Bush tells the world that there will be no U.S. presence in Lebanon. “To send troops to Lebanon would only invite more violence and death,” President Bush declares, “We want peace in Lebanon, not more war.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 8-02-1991
Event Description: Israeli jet fighters bomb Faraya Mzaar Kfardebian, a road leading to the pro-Palestinian city of Hermel in Northern Lebanon. This attack sickens Professor Nixon who states in an interview with Al-Jazeera Television, “I do not see any reason for an assault on the city. I can not find a single military or civil reason for the attack.”

Event Date: 8-03-1991
Event Description: Radio Talk Show host Rush Limbaugh, a bombastic conservative and unapologetic supporter of Israel, calls on President Bush to remove Nixon as a special diplomat to the Middle East. “He is talking to the enemy on enemy television stations and attacking our allies while on those station,” Limbaugh declares, “Nixon has shown himself as more and more pro-terrorist and pro-Palestinian than President Assad is!”

Event Date: 8-04-1991
Event Description: President Bush admits in a press conference that he is, “Slightly embarrassed statements of Professor Nixon.” “I would have selected different words,” the president states, “One’s that did not insult our allies or accuse them of barbarism.” Bush, however, also states, “I will not ask for him to quit his job though.” These comments leave neither Nixon nor Limbaugh happy, giving credence to the old statement: a good compromise leaves everyone insulted.

Event Date: 8-05-1991
Event Description: After seeing President Bush’s press conference remarks, Professor Nixon resigns his position as Special Diplomat to the Middle East. “I can not serve a president who does not have full confidence in me,” Nixon states in his resignation address, “Thus I must take my leave.” President Bush will accept the resignation, to which Nixon will tell his wife, “He seemed almost too happy to accept it.”

Event Date: 8-06-1991
Event Description: Secretary Muskie, following his friend, resigns as Special Diplomat to the Middle East. President Bush will also accept this resignation.

Event Date: 8-14-1991
Event Description: The Nixon’s return to their home in Alexandria, Virginia, for the last time. There home is given to the new Assistant Chief of Staff for Senator Ed Zschau and they leave it behind forever. “I never liked Washington much,” Nixon tells his wife as they ride their train home to Whittier, “I now know I really hate its suburbs.”

Event Date: 8-30-1991
Event Description: The crisis in the Middle East builds even larger as the Israeli Army begins a massive “cleaning effort” in Gaza to sweep out all Hezbollah radicals. While many of its actions are justified (such as attacks on well known Hezbollah cells in Nezarim and Morag) others are brutal and hundreds of innocence Palestinians are injured and left homeless by the raid in Gaza.

Event Date: 9-01-1991
Event Description: Baghdad, Iraq, is racked by an explosion in an open air market. This attack is tracked to the radical Islamic group Al-Qaeda, a group revitalized by the recent troubles in Lebanon. “This shows,” Professor Nixon writes in an article for U.S. News and World Report, “That the ongoing crisis in Palestine is affecting every nation in the Middle East, and may well cause a crisis in the United States.”

Event Date: 9-11-1991
Event Description: The words of Professor Nixon ring true today, on his 53rd Wedding Anniversary, as terrorists detonate three massive ground bombs in the parking garages of the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. The blast kills 35 people and injures more than two hundred. President Bush, who close by at the time of the blast, immediately arrives on the scene, carrying with him a copy of Professor Nixon’s latest article.

Event Date: 9-13-1991
Event Description: The CIA Bombing is tracked back to Al-Qaeda, the same group responsible for the attack in Baghdad just ten days prior to the attack on the CIA office. “An international battle has begun,” President Bush tells the world, “And with the help of God and country, it will be won by the right.”

Event Date: 9-21-1991
Event Description: In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Professor Nixon scoffs at the idea of a “War on Terrorism.” “Such a war can not be won,” Nixon states, “There is no real enemy, just an idea to fight. Those types of wars are ones that will never be finished. The only way to stop radical Jihad is to produce a lasting peace in the Middle East, and that means a Palestinian homeland and respect for Lebanese autonomy.”

Event Date: 9-22-1991
Event Description: “Now he’s gone too far,” Rush Limbaugh declares on his radio program, “Just days after an attack on out soil, Professor Nixon is once again flying the flag of defeat and mocking our attempts to avenge the murder of innocent American civilians. He needs to apologize, stop writing books and retire to obscurity until, one day, he finally dies.” Around the country, many Americans share this opinion, but Nixon ignores them. “I was taught to say what the truth was,” Nixon tells a Los Angeles Times reporter asking for a retraction of the professor’s statements, “And I know for certain what I said yesterday was the truth.”

Event Date: 9-25-1991
Event Description: In a press conference, President Bush admonishes Professor Nixon for, “Making unneeded and demoralizing statements against a nation he has grown up in and one that has been attacked by true evil.” Conservatives across the country applaud the president, as Rush Limbaugh states, “Washing his hands of the radical Nixon.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 10-01-1991
Event Description: Professor Nixon changes his party registration from “Republican” to “Independent” for the second time in his life. “There is no party for me anymore,” Nixon explains to his wife, “I am a man who can not be pegged down.”

Event Date: 10-10-1991
Event Description: The Battle of Ayta ash-Sha is waged in Southern Lebanon, with U.S. weapons and some troops supporting the Israelis. The battle will prove to be a smashing victory for Israel and end the Hezbollah presence in Southern Lebanon.

Event Date: 10-23-1991
Event Description: Vice-President Warren Rudman announces he will not seek a second term as Vice-President of the United States. “This office has been a fine honor for me,” Vice-President Rudman tells the nation in an address from the Rose Garden, “But with the world moving closer and closer to global conflict, the president needs a younger and more capable second in command than I.” Professor Nixon immediately calls Governor Pete Wilson (Republican of California) and tells him, “You’ve got the number two spot, governor.”

Event Date: 11-09-1991
Event Description: The nation of Lebanon declares its complete autonomy from Syrian influence, and the free flag of Lebanon (that of a Cyprus Tree) flies over Beirut. Amongst those celebrating the victory is Professor Nixon, who had arrived in the nation two days ago to attend a seminar on archaeology in Cairo, Egypt. The most famous picture from this day is one of Professor Nixon being held up by several Lebanese men and holding the Cyprus Flag. “I never thought I’d ever be lifted up by the people again,” Nixon quips after seeing the photo.

Event Date: 11-17-1991
Event Description: President Bush’s approval ratings reach 91% in the latest Gallup Poll. The 9/11 attacks coupled with his economic strategies have made him the most popular president since John F. Kennedy. “This will never last,” Nixon writes his son in law, “But I would bet that in November 1992 we see a President Bush and a President-elecy Wilson.”

Event Date: 12-01-1991
Event Description: The Israelis and the Palestinians, after six months of conflict, sign the Baalbek Agreement, ending hostilities between the two warring powers. “This is not a lasting peace,” Secretary Baker tells Professor Nixon over the telephone, “But it will do until we can find something that works.”

Event Date: 12-15-1991
Event Description: “Four Wars” by Richard Nixon is released. The book discusses World War II, the Vietnam War, the Laotian War and the Lebanon War, all outlining how they began, why they were fought, if these reasons were met and how Professor Nixon interprets their lasting effects on the world. “Most wars have no effects on our lives,” Nixon writes, “But these ones truly did. They affected foreign affairs in such a way our very lives hung in the balance.”

Event Date: 12-30-1991
Event Description: Independent presidential candidate H. Ross Perot, a wealthy Texas computer giant, tells Larry King Live that he would be interested in having Professor Nixon as his running-mate in the 1992 presidential election. “He’s smart as a whip and knows how to fight,” Perot tells King, “He would bring a lot to the ticket and really stick it to the government fat cats in Washington.” Professor Nixon does not respond to the request, only telling his wife, “We shall see.”             

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Once again, an excellent update

[Psychic Octopus]

Very good

[Lief 🗽]

Perot/Nixon '92!

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-01-1992
Event Description: Secretary of State Baker pays a New Year’s Day visit to an Israeli Army Camp in Gaza, creating further crisis in the Islamic World.

Event Date: 1-07-1992
Event Description: The state of California is certifies H. Ross Perot on the ballot, giving the upstart independent a major state in his bid to get on the ballot in all fifty states. Perot’s running-mate in California surprises many: Professor Richard Milhous Nixon. “The Perot supporters in California are adamant that Nixon, a bookish intellectual with major foreign policy experience, be put on the ballot,” Perot Campaign official Dean Barkley tells the Washington Post, “And if Nixon isn’t arguing, than we aren’t either. Professor Nixon is flattered by the move, “Well, I can tell my dad in Heaven that his son was once a candidate for Vice-President, he’ll be so proud he’ll bust.”

Event Date: 1-13-1992
Event Description: President Bush appears on the Rush Limbaugh Radio Program, playing to conservative crowds. The interview is a strong one and the president makes several points about the War on Terror and the importance of keeping the homeland safe, all things that play to security voters in the upcoming election. Bush, however, will not take the bait on attacking Richard Nixon, telling Limbaugh, “I never discount anything he says as he is a man, despite being wrong sometimes, who always thinks out an argument.”

Event Date: 1-24-1992
Event Description: Professor Nixon is honored by the Chinese Legislature with the new Chinese Medal of Freedom, based off the American civilian award. The Chinese Medal of Freedom is rewarded to non Chinese citizens who, “Espouse the virtues of freedom, human rights and acceptance.”

Event Date: 2-05-1992
Event Description: Senator Bill Bradley (Democrat of New Jersey) upsets Governor Mario Cuomo (Democrat of New York) in the New Hampshire Primary. Winning by a 32-30% margin, Senator Bradley’s campaign is given a momentum boost that will surpass Governor Cuomo, the one time front-runner. 

Event Date: 2-09-1992
Event Description: President Bush declares through an Executive Order that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is a terrorist organization. In the Congress, the Republican dominated House of Representatives supports this order by passing the Resolution to Isolate Palestine, introduced by Congressman Robert Dornan (Republican of California).

Event Date: 2-12-1992
Event Description: “The president’s decision to isolate Palestine is the death knell for peace in the Middle East,” Professor Nixon declares in a speech before Amnesty International in Boston, Massachusetts, “Now the United States, the greatest moral force on the planet, will be unable to be a power broker in that vital region. This is an inhumane and unacceptable decision by a president who should know better.”

Event Date: 2-14-1992
Event Description: With a full twenty-four hour news cycle gone, response to Professor Nixon’s speech in Boston has set the political world aflame. “Nixon is selling out to terrorists again,” Rush Limbaugh declares, “That’s not a real surprise. I am only glad that the president is now ignoring the words of this clown.” H. Ross Perot, in an interview with Newsweek Magazine, applauds Nixon’s comments. “Nixon wants peace because he knows how expensive war is,” Perot says, “I only wish that President Bush could be as bright, but that would be expecting WAY too much.”

Event Date: 2-22-1992
Event Description: Professor Nixon meets with Vice-President Warren Rudman in Nashua, New Hampshire, where the two discuss the political problems of the last several days. “I am not happy with President Bush,” Professor Nixon tells the vice-president, “He is abandoning his liberal supporters and bowing to the far right on every issue. I am very tempted to accept Perot’s offer as his running-mate.” “I can’t blame you,” is Rudman’s surprising response, “Especially after you see who the president’s new running-mate is.”

Event Date: 3-01-1992
Event Description: President Bush announces that arch-conservative Senator Larry Pressler (Republican of South Dakota) will be his running-mate in 1992. The president overlooked more moderate choices like Governor Pete Wilson (Republican of California), General Colin Powell (Republican of New York), Governor Tommy Thompson (Republican of Wisconsin) and Senator Alan Simpson (Republican of Wyoming), enraging his liberal supporters. “Senator Pressler is not fit to serve in any national office,” Professor Nixon tells a Los Angeles radio program, “I can not believe the president would make such a dim decision.”

Event Date: 3-03-1992
Event Description: The ballots in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Rhode Island are all certified for Ross Perot for November. The man running opposite of Perot in these states: Professor Richard M. Nixon.

Event Date: 3-10-1992
Event Description: Professor Nixon and H. Ross Perot meet at Nixon’s home in Whittier, California. “I’ll be your running-mate, sir,” Nixon tells Perot, “I think that a third party option is all but required in our country today.” “That sure is fine news!” the folksy Perot shoots back, “Here’s a ticket: the American entrepreneur and the American intellectual! I don’t think we can lose!”

Event Date: 3-15-1992
Event Description: At a rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Perot-Nixon Ticket is unveiled for the first time. “I look at this modern Southern city,” Professor Nixon declares in his speech, “And I see a town of both great promise and great problems. The poor of this city are ignored by a corporate government in a far off capitol. The small businessman is trampled by corporate welfare. This city is thriving, though the powers that be would rather it wasn’t. I believe it is time we out a real businessman in the White House chair, a man who is from the people and will not forget them. We need a president who speaks for the great silent majority: and that man is Ross Perot!” The speech is very well received by the city, but not so much by the White House. “Professor Nixon is sore that he is no longer relevant,” Chief of Staff John Sununu tells the Washington Post, “There is nothing more to it.”

Event Date: 3-27-1992
Event Description: The Gallup Poll releases its first poll of the 1992 General Election pitting President Bush against Ross Perot and the presumptive Democratic nominee, Senator Bill Bradley. The poll shows the president with 45% of the vote, Perot with 32% and Bradley with just 23%. “Bradley is still an unknown to most Americans,” political commentator Morton Kondracke writes in the Chicago Tribune, “Also, Perot is sapping much liberal support from him, especially following his masterful selection of liberal icon Richard Nixon for Vice-President. If I was a gambling man, which I am not, I would put President Bush in the reelection column with Perot taking a strong second place finish.”