at 12, I bought my own subscription to Newsweek, I had a map of Vietnam tacked to my wall, so I could track the battles. I knew America was the best country in the world, I assumed our President was the best person in America. I watched the war expand, and trusted LBJ.
When Ngô Đình Diệm, the president of South Vietnam, was assassinated by the CIA I couldn't believe it, I wouldn't believe it. 1968 stands out to me as a most horrible year,.. the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia,.. the assassination of Martin Luthor King,.. Lieutenant Calley and the Mỹ Lai Massacre,.. the riots at the Democratic National Convention,.. the assassination of Robert Kennedy,.. I didn't see the world through little kid eyes anymore.
Nixon took over, I lived in California and I knew of him, disliked him,.. but he was my President, I watched and eventually admired a lot of what I saw, a lot of what I saw,.. but Nixon was a stinker too, it was obvious. Daniel Ellesburg, the Pentagon papers, I didn't trust the government anymore.
Then came Watergate, bit by bit the pieces came together, Nixon was good at being President, but he had a black soul, an un-American heart. He needed to go, but he was so deeply entrenched, so powerful, he seemed bullet proof,.. but the Constitution worked,.. and we fired the shit heard 'round the world,.. I have never been so proud of this country.
Nixon deserved what he got and more,.. but I'll give him credit, as he left he still retained some dignity, he took his beating like a man and just went home. Like I said, Nixon deserved what he got and more,.. but I'm glad Ford pardoned him,.. the country needed healing not revenge. It was good to see in his later years, that Nixon was accepted as a elder statesman, and nice that the Nation's feelings for him had warmed some.
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