Didn't Cracked do this exact same article several weeks ago?

That Nixon speech writing is chilling, haunting, and a wonderful piece of prose. Statements that stand out to me as a writer knowing I'll never write anything that concise and awesome:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

I wonder how many months before the Kennedy assassination that LBJ wrote what he was going to say after he took the oath of office...

Jack Mackbell: Didn't Cracked do this exact same article several weeks ago?

If it was a moronic list comprised of 10 or more items that look like they were compiled by drunken junior high journalists, it probably was Cracked.

Nixon may have been a crook, but he had some damn fine speechwriters.

exatron: Nixon may have been a crook, but he had some damn fine speechwriters.

Some of the best, IMHO. They knew how to write exactly what was needed, both for the event, and to make the guy look good.

Ugh, every few months some moron just discovers that, surprise!, leaders often expect ambitious actions to fail. I'm sure in a few years, the text that Obama's writers drafted for a public failure of the OBL raid will come out.

/Guess what.
//No one cares.

Link (new window)

Having trouble posting images. This'll have to do...

Doktor_Zhivago: That Nixon speech was beautifully written. Too bad he was such a fake two-faced douchebag, those men would've deserved someone better to read something like that. I know I would want someone better.

As someone who wasn't alive when Nixon was president, I have to say that his legacy seems to look better every year. Sure, he was a crook, but he ended Vietnam, formed the EPA, passed the Clean Air Act, opened relations with China, signed SALT I...

Maybe it's just that the modern-day executive branch has gotten steadily worse since then, but I almost feel like I'd rather see Nixon up there than, say, Gingrich.

jake_lex: Nixon really could have been one of the great Presidents if his own crazy paranoia and insecurity hadn't led to him completely assraping the Constitution and illegally abusing the powers of the Presidency to get at his enemies. I mean, it's really crazy now, given the wharr machine that the GOP has become, to think that a Republican President created the EPA, imposed direct price freezes on the economy, and went against decades of Cold War thinking to open relations with the PRC, but he did.

But, yeah, his Presidency is like that old joke: "But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" Watergate was so heinous it ruins his legacy forever.


This, times eleventy. My revisionist ultraconservative father has a theory that he was so driven to end the Vietnam conflict, but knew he wouldn't have enough time in one term to do it, so he wanted to make DAMN sure he was around for that second term. Take that like I do, though -- with a few cans of salt. He also thinks that fossils are there to test our faith in the literal word of God, sooo...

Another stolen article from Cracked.

jake_lex: exatron: Nixon may have been a crook, but he had some damn fine speechwriters.

Nixon really could have been one of the great Presidents if his own crazy paranoia and insecurity hadn't led to him completely assraping the Constitution and illegally abusing the powers of the Presidency to get at his enemies. I mean, it's really crazy now, given the wharr machine that the GOP has become, to think that a Republican President created the EPA, imposed direct price freezes on the economy, and went against decades of Cold War thinking to open relations with the PRC, but he did.

But, yeah, his Presidency is like that old joke: "But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" Watergate was so heinous it ruins his legacy forever.

There was also his "secret plan" to get us out of Viet Nam.

Richard Nixon, by the way, is the only American president to resign from office. He did it on national television.

Both could have been much briefer:

"Heyyyyyy.... we farked up! So kill me already!!"

They would blame Obama?

Jake Havechek: Richard Nixon, by the way, is the only American president to resign from office. He did it on national television.

No you're thinking of Andrew Johnson. He resigned via a cartoon designed by Thomas Nast and published in all the major newspapers.

VRaptor117: Ugh, every few months some moron just discovers that, surprise!, leaders often expect ambitious actions to fail. I'm sure in a few years, the text that Obama's writers drafted for a public failure of the OBL raid will come out.

/Guess what.
//No one cares.

Except for everyone else in this thread...

jake_lex: Watergate was so heinous it ruins his legacy forever.

So wait a minute... a third-rate burglary pulled off by a bunch of amateurs is the new definition of "heinous"? Here I thought we reserved that word for the brutal murder of six million Jews, or "purging" of 20 million Russians.

If Nixon had a fault, it was in his hyper-loyalty. If he had just tossed his friends and advisors to the wolves like a true sociopath we wouldn't be having this conversation. Millions of other conversations on the same subject would never have happened, either. Show me people in your circle that would stick with you, even at the cost of their entire world, forever. I doubt you would find a single one. But somehow this unparalleled quality is something to be despised and spat upon?

What a world...

I remember seeing the moon speech at an exhibition at the New York public library a few years ago. It reminded me of Reagan's speech after the shuttle exploded. Maybe it was written by the same person.

1macgeek: jake_lex: Watergate was so heinous it ruins his legacy forever.

So wait a minute... a third-rate burglary pulled off by a bunch of amateurs is the new definition of "heinous"? Here I thought we reserved that word for the brutal murder of six million Jews, or "purging" of 20 million Russians.

If Nixon had a fault, it was in his hyper-loyalty. If he had just tossed his friends and advisors to the wolves like a true sociopath we wouldn't be having this conversation. Millions of other conversations on the same subject would never have happened, either. Show me people in your circle that would stick with you, even at the cost of their entire world, forever. I doubt you would find a single one. But somehow this unparalleled quality is something to be despised and spat upon?

What a world...

No, more like the cover up, the attempt to establish an empire by quashing dissent, and the mismanagement of Vietnam to the point it made Johnson look good.

I love william safire. He was the reason I'd get a sunday times (to read his language piece in the NYT magazine).

but, in addition to his wonderful language pieces, he's a pretty brilliant speech writer.

1macgeek: jake_lex: Watergate was so heinous it ruins his legacy forever.

So wait a minute... a third-rate burglary pulled off by a bunch of amateurs is the new definition of "heinous"? Here I thought we reserved that word for the brutal murder of six million Jews, or "purging" of 20 million Russians.

If Nixon had a fault, it was in his hyper-loyalty. If he had just tossed his friends and advisors to the wolves like a true sociopath we wouldn't be having this conversation. Millions of other conversations on the same subject would never have happened, either. Show me people in your circle that would stick with you, even at the cost of their entire world, forever. I doubt you would find a single one. But somehow this unparalleled quality is something to be despised and spat upon?

What a world...

Nixon, unlike JFK and Johnson, was stupid enough to get caught. For that his name deserves to live in infamy.

Of course, if you could truly prove what JFK did, it would make your head explode.

Oops? (DNRTFA)

It nice to see some of the more intelligent Farkers understanding the situation that Einshower and Nixon faced. If D-Day had failed, we would all be very likely living in a VERY different world. If the first moon landing had failed NASA more than likely would have been reduced to launching weather satelites.

I thought Reagans speech after the Challenger accident was very well done.

Yes I am old , lost 2 family members on Omaha Beach 06/06/1944 RIP

Doktor_Zhivago: That Nixon speech was beautifully written. Too bad he was such a fake two-faced douchebag, those men would've deserved someone better to read something like that. I know I would want someone better.

Indeed it was.

they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

...

Others will follow and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

Christ, I'm getting misty at a what if? scenario.

I thought Reagans speech after the Challenger accident was very well done.

I didn't, seeing how he pushed NASA like hell to launch when most people knew cold weather launches are dangerous.

I always loved Paul Fussell's comment on Eisenhower's planned speech (from his book Wartime, and also at http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/bookauth/battle/fussell.h tm ):

"As Mailer says, you use the word shiat so that you can use the word noble, and you refuse to ignore the stupidity and barbarism and ignobility and poltroonery and filth of the real war so that it is mine alone can flash out, a bright signal in a dark time."

The Nixon speech was chilling. Addressing the world that some guys are hopelessly stuck on the moon, and then the whole "after NASA cuts communications". It was some dark imagery being painted in my head. I'm glad I never read this speech before. Especially out of a history book.

Hugemeister: They would blame Obama?

Definitely. Because his time-travelling back to fake his birth certificate and birth announcement screwed up the fabric of time. It's also the real reason that JFK was shot.

Wettner: For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

Nice shout-out to the classics there...

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England

The Soldier, by Rupert Brooke

Mixolydian Master: The Nixon speech was chilling. Addressing the world that some guys are hopelessly stuck on the moon, and then the whole "after NASA cuts communications". It was some dark imagery being painted in my head. I'm glad I never read this speech before. Especially out of a history book.

Has anyone ever used the term "widows-to-be" before or since?

Voiceofreason01: to be fair Gingrich has the ethics, arrogance and paranoia of Nixon but without the competence or ability

I have never heard a better description of him. I think I will steal it. Bravo!

Voiceofreason01: jagec: Maybe it's just that the modern-day executive branch has gotten steadily worse since then, but I almost feel like I'd rather see Nixon up there than, say, Gingrich.

to be fair Gingrich has the ethics, arrogance and paranoia of Nixon but without the competence or ability

/since he left congress he's written the same book 5 times about how the US is going to hell(You guys won't have old Newt to kick around anymore?)

Or the charisma.

What did Nixon have against Michael Collins?

Do You Know What I Am Saying: What did Nixon have against Michael Collins?

The usual, Protestant Irish versus Catholic Irish...

Do You Know What I Am Saying: What did Nixon have against Michael Collins?

Well, the point of the speech was in case the LEM wasn't able to take off from the moon, stranding them there. Collins was still in orbit in the CSM, he still would have been able to make it home.

Also, did anyone else notice that the picture with Nixon is actually the Apollo 13 crew, not the Apollo 11 crew? (Haise, Lovell, and Swigert from left to right).

/nerd

jagec: As someone who wasn't alive when Nixon was president, I have to say that his legacy seems to look better every year. Sure, he was a crook, but he ended Vietnam, formed the EPA, passed the Clean Air Act, opened relations with China, signed SALT I...

He is also the best friend the American Indians ever had in the White House -- and they vote Democrat as solidly as blacks do.

Between Pat Buchannan, Bill Saphire, and Ben Stein, Nixon had perhaps the best team of writers of any president.

Why did Nixon hate America: