He’s a Washington institution and a prolific writer and commentator on the presidency, but that doesn’t mean that the Brookings Institution’s Stephen Hess’ rich mental library of great stories is close to being tapped out.
His latest offering is one of his best, a 172-page hardback about his days early in the Nixon administration helping Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The Professor and the President debuts this week and is chock full of stories about the duo and how the Republican relied on the Democrat’s advice on everything from domestic policy to the best biographies.
But it’s his story about Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s foreign policy czar, that jumped out. Hess recalls debating Kissinger during the 1968 presidential campaign. Hess backed Nixon, Kissinger backed Nelson Rockefeller.
A year later, as they both stood inside the White House basement at side-by-side urinals, Kissinger confessed to Hess, “Steve, you were right. This is the right man for this moment in history.”
Nixon’s reward from Henry K? He dedicates his book, White House Years, to “the memory of Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller,” Nixon’s archenemy, and doesn’t dedicate any of his next 11 books to the man who made him secretary of state and gave him a place in history.
The book, from Brookings Institution Press and what is sure to be a popular Christmas gift for newsies and historians alike, offers an amazing collection of revealing stories about the early days of the Nixon administration as seen from insider Hess, now considered THE Washington expert on the presidency and the press.
Some examples:
• Known as an internationalist, Nixon was also focused on urban affairs, thanks in part to Moynihan. In fact, Nixon created the Council for Urban Affairs with an executive order. Hess recalls that he had to find a box of pens for the president to sign his name, then give away the pens. He found a box of used pens, but they had White House stamped on them, so he handed them to Nixon. “The president starts signing, the pens start leaking; by the time he reaches the final N his hands are covered with ink.”
• Donald Rumsfeld got his break with Nixon as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Hess said that Rumsfeld was part of Moynihan’s “liberal bloc.”
• It was Moynihan who first suggested dropping how the government classifies citizens, as “white” and “nonwhite.” In five months, Nixon’s administration changes the terminology to “negro,” used until 2013 in favor of “black” and “African-American.”
• Nixon was a well known reader, but he turned to Moynihan for a list of the best biographies to read including those of John Adams, Hitler, Teddy Roosevelt, Disraeli and Zapata. “I do quite a bit of evening reading, and I want to be sure that I am reading the best,” he told Moynihan.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
