Netflix YouTube screengrab Richard M. Nixon and Roger Stone
Longtime conservative political operative known for his unorthodox and gasconade style was indicted by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller for lying, obstruction and witness tampering as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Stone is a fanatical Richard Milhouse Nixon enthusiast. His name, or the pseudonym he used at the time, appeared as part of the Congressional record on Watergate, the scandal that led the 37th president to resign.
Stone, an adviser to then-candidate Trump, has such an affinity for Nixon he had his face inked on his body. After leaving court Friday, he flashed Nixon’s victory sign.
He’s a Nixon nut. But the Nixon Foundation is not nuts about Stone. In fact, it disowned Stone in a series of tweets Friday.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Nixon Foundation Distanced Itself From Roger Stone Shortly After His Arrest Friday by Federal Agents
“This morning’s widely-circulated characterization of Roger Stone as a Nixon campaign aide or adviser is a gross misstatement. Mr. Stone was 16 years old during the Nixon presidential campaign of 1968 and 20 years old during the reelection campaign of 1972.”
This morning’s widely-circulated characterization of Roger Stone as a Nixon campaign aide or adviser is a gross misstatement. Mr. Stone was 16 years old during the Nixon presidential campaign of 1968 and 20 years old during the reelection campaign of 1972. 1/2
Doubling down, the Foundation says Stone’s nowhere to be found in Nixon’s dairies.
“Mr. Stone, during his time as a student at George Washington University, was a junior scheduler on the Nixon reelection committee. Mr. Stone was not a campaign aide or adviser. Nowhere in the Presidential Daily Diaries from 1972 to 1974 does the name ‘Roger Stone’ appear.”
@NOMOPAIN4ME @nixonfoundation @GlennKesslerWP Nope. There’s video footage of them together many times. Watch “Get Me Roger Stone”
Stone was named as a Nixon adviser by myriad news outlets Friday which led to the Foundation’s tweets.
2. Stone is Historically Connected to Nixon & Was Involved in CREP, the Committee to Re-Elect Nixon
Stone told columnist Jeffrey Toubin that Nixon gave him martini advice. “The key to a good Martini is you have to marinate the olives in vermouth first …Nixon gave me the recipe. He said he got it from Winston Churchill.”
From the same 2008 New Yorker piece:
“Stone moved to Washington to attend George Washington University, but he became so engrossed in Republican politics that he never graduated. He was just nineteen when he played a bit part in the Watergate scandals. He adopted the pseudonym Jason Rainier and made contributions in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance to the campaign of Pete McCloskey, who was challenging Nixon for the Republican nomination in 1972. Stone then sent a receipt to the Manchester Union Leader, to “prove” that Nixon’s adversary was a left-wing stooge. Stone hired another Republican operative, who was given the pseudonym Sedan Chair II, to infiltrate the McGovern campaign. Stone’s Watergate high jinks were revealed during congressional hearings in 1973, and the news cost Stone his job on the staff of Senator Robert Dole.”
@nixonfoundation Well, it does however appear in the FBI files. So I mean, there is that…
Stone is the dirty trickster, by his own design and admission.
3. The Foundation May Not be Fond of Stone, But He’s Still a Huge Nixon Aficionado With a Back Tattoo as Evidence
Roger Stone at his apartment in Harlem a few months back
“Rough day when your tattoo’s Foundation is like we don’t know that guy lol.”
@nixonfoundation Rough day when your
Tattoo’s Foundation
is like we dont know that guy lol
And when Stone left the court, he did the Nixon victory pose.
The crowd chanted “lock him up” as longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone left the courthouse in Florida following his arrest in the Russia probe. Stone, who said he was being “persecuted” and “falsely accused,” flashed Nixon’s famed V for victory sign. t.co/ZOvPiBiYAd
4. Recent Criticism Was Levelled After Monica Crowley’s Nixon’s Legacy Video
The Nixon foundation uploaded Monica Crowly’s Nixon speech to its YouTube channel. And while the video doesn’t have a whopping number of views, it was criticized by some for getting key facts wrong.
Crowley was Nixon’s foreign policy assistant for the former president from 1990 to 1994, spending “thousands of hours with Nixon near the end of his life. She said he was the most “profoundly consequential” of presidents, a “true visionary and rare American leader who could see what the country and the world would look like in the future.
Crowley said Nixon “ended the Vietnam War with peace and honor.” Nixon announced the end of the war in January of 1973. But as was pointed out by a commenter, “Uh, Nixon didn’t end the Vietnam War. Nixon only ended America’s involvement with the South Vietnamese. The Vietnam War continued after America backed out and lost the war. The Vietnam War officially ended on April 30th 1975.”
Crowley, the former Fox News contributor who was tapped by Trump to be a deputy national security advisor, withdrew after numerous plagiarism allegations were leveled against her, including in her book about Nixon.
5. The Foundation’s Museum & Library Are a TripAdvisor Top Destination, of the 8 Tourist Spots Found in Yorba Linda, California
Yorba Linda is not a top 10 tourist destination apparently given it has just eight destinations listed on the reliable TripAdvisor. But of the eight in that community, including a park, a historic cemetery, and a massage spa, the Nixon Foundation’s Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is the top of the eight choices for tourists.
“With a visit to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, guests can tour the most modern presidential museum in the country to learn about Richard Nixon the man, his life, and his presidency. The twenty-eight-year-old presidential museum went through a complete renovation less than two years ago. The all-new museum features nearly 70 new major exhibits, 30 unique multi-media experiences, 11 original films, 12 custom digital interactives, 10 curated archival film sequences, more than 600 photographs, 8,000 square feet of wall murals and more than 300 artifacts. There is so much history in itself at the Nixon Library. Enjoy tours of Richard Nixon’s original birthplace and boyhood home, walk through the presidential helicopter that flew four Presidents, take in the splendor of the White House East Room and pay respects at the final resting places of President and Mrs. Nixon,” is how TripAdvisor describes the Nixon library and museum.
Book Excerpt: ‘Nixon’s Secrets’ By Roger Stone http://t.co/Yc0SnHly3D http://t.co/jUxSUqFYbV
It’s not clear if any of Roger Stone’s books on Nixon might be found in the Nixon library. Nixon, dubbed ‘Tricky Dick,’ shares a similar moniker with Stone who calls himself the dirty trickster, a definitive homage to Nixon.
The Foundation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Nixon swearing in with this image on Instagram.