There’s a whiff of 1974 in the air — July 1974, to be precise. That’s when the National Citizens’ Committee for Fairness to the Presidency held a star- studded fund-raiser in defense of the beleaguered Richard Nixon.
You don’t remember the Fairness to the Presidency Committee? Rabbi Baruch Korff, a Nixon confidant, was the group’s founder. Presiding at the fundraiser, he exhorted the faithful to open their wallets and defend the honor of their commander in chief. In attendance was a host of reliables: Earl Butz, the secretary of agriculture who later would go one joke over the line; a pre-Group John McLaughlin, S.J.; Anne Armstrong, the future ambassador to Great Britain; future failed politicians Pat Buchanan and Bruce Herschensohn; and Bill Baroody, head of the only Republican think tank that counted in those days of late Nixonism, the American Enterprise Institute. A Baptist minister prayed for deliverance from a “malicious press corps.” Lionel Hampton, still a Republican then, played his vibes. He even had a new number: “We Need Nixon.” About three weeks later, Nixon was winging it back to San Clemente.
Now it is 1996, and another such committee is being formed, this time to carry water for a beleaguered Bill Clinton. The only apparent difference is that instead of a rabbi, a political hack will head the effort. Yes, in between performing in American Express ads, James Carville is launching a group that will, he announced on Meet the Press, “raise a lot of money” to counter “the right-wing agenda” of independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
No word yet on whether Barbra Streisand is preparing a new song, “People Who Need Clinton.” And details are scant in other respects as well. That’s where you can help.
We invite Scrapbook readers to give Carville an assist in his efforts to revive the lost spirit of 1974. Specifically, we think Carville could use an interfaith board of directors for his committee. We welcome your nominations for rabbis, priests, ministers, and, in a nod to 1996, Buddhist monks to serve on this board. Carville’s committee, it further strikes us, could use a catchy name. Your suggestions are encouraged. Finally, nominations of musician and theme song appropriate for future fund-raisers are solicited. Please mail your best efforts to Help James Bring Back 1974, at THE WEEKLY STANDARD, 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505, Washington, DC 20036.
