In July 1974, the Supreme Court effectively cleared the way for the ouster of a sitting President—in a ruling that may have ultimately *bolstered* the presidency as an institution
I especially like that photo of CJ Warren's funeral because of Justice Stewart's strange expression behind CJ Burger's shoulder. I imagine him scheming The Brethren at the funeral.
As a 12 year-old political junkie at the time of the NIXON decision, i was pleased with its consequence of the President’s eventual resignation. Over the next four decades, I have come to appreciate Nixon’s complexity as a man and his accomplishments as President. Tom Wicker’s biography provided great assistance in my pathway.
All that context granted, as well as my support of President Ford’s pardon in September, however, does not excuse President Nixon’s damage to Americans accelerating mistrust in our institutions from the immediate post-1945 era. Since the NIXON decision and resignation, that mistrust has become, in my view, an increasing assumption of ineptitude, banality, and self-serving indifference from these institutions to those they once were perceived to be serving. The Vietnam escalation and its foundational lies, especially after our escalation in 1965, did enough damage, but even as President Ford spoke that “our Constitution works,” he said so in the aftermath of “our long national nightmare,” which is not “over,” but rather was unleashed on our politics, culture, and national sense of self. Thank you for your article, and I look forward to reading more from your publication.
In the Getty image linked, 10 Justices are pictured. Was William Douglas still active on the Court then?
OK, Douglas was still on the Court when the picture was taken. Arthur Goldberg, also pictured, was retired at that time.
I especially like that photo of CJ Warren's funeral because of Justice Stewart's strange expression behind CJ Burger's shoulder. I imagine him scheming The Brethren at the funeral.
As a 12 year-old political junkie at the time of the NIXON decision, i was pleased with its consequence of the President’s eventual resignation. Over the next four decades, I have come to appreciate Nixon’s complexity as a man and his accomplishments as President. Tom Wicker’s biography provided great assistance in my pathway.
All that context granted, as well as my support of President Ford’s pardon in September, however, does not excuse President Nixon’s damage to Americans accelerating mistrust in our institutions from the immediate post-1945 era. Since the NIXON decision and resignation, that mistrust has become, in my view, an increasing assumption of ineptitude, banality, and self-serving indifference from these institutions to those they once were perceived to be serving. The Vietnam escalation and its foundational lies, especially after our escalation in 1965, did enough damage, but even as President Ford spoke that “our Constitution works,” he said so in the aftermath of “our long national nightmare,” which is not “over,” but rather was unleashed on our politics, culture, and national sense of self. Thank you for your article, and I look forward to reading more from your publication.