Grandma and President Nixon's Resignation

When you're 12, the last thing on your mind is the President of the United States. At least that was the case with me. I do remember the year clearly, however. It was 1975, and President Nixon had a big impact on my Grandma and on my summer vacation.

You see, Grandma was a diehard Republican, and now that I have an interest in politics, I would love to ask her why. I would love to hear her describe her positions about the party and the country. She was a relatively young woman when FDR was President through the Great Depression and WWII. FDR had a great friendship with George VI, father to the current Queen Elizabeth. Grandma adored the English royalty, since her mother and father grew up there. Republican, though, was her stance in her later years and perhaps all her life.

Grandma just loved President Nixon and made sure she watched him whenever he was on television. She listened intently to his speeches, much to my boredom when visiting her house. No one could change that channel or her opinion.

We were at Grandma's house in Pt. Pleasant, NJ, in July. What I remember clearly was my mother and Grandma arguing intently, until I heard my mother say, "He's a crook!" Now that got my attention, and my mother was talking about President Nixon. I didn't care who she was talking about--the discussion had just gotten interesting. Grandma defended him vehemently with arguments I no longer remember, probably because I didn't understand the discussion details in general.

Later that day President Nixon was on TV. At 12 years old I was old enough to know that somehow it was a big deal that the President of the United States was resigning from his job before his time in office was up. He didn't want his problems to be a distraction to the country and apologized to the country. Grandma sat there and cried; my mother did not.

As an adult, I think I understand how both their views represented the country in general; and I think I now understand why Grandma must have cried. She knew, just from living as long as she had by then, that it was a pivotal point in our nation's ability to believe in itself and its government. My mother was young enough to have an appreciation for the change or discovery of the dishonesties that lead to his resignation. And I was too young to understand any of it well at all.

Grandma and Mom's reactions--so opposite--left a deep impression on me, however, and especially how they handled it with each other. Not because they disagreed with each other, but because they accepted that they disagreed with each other. A great lesson for me.