[Jack Land]

Thin gruel.
Precious little.
Endless exegesis.
I sat in wonderment.
The first Nixon shock.
Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
A secret high-level meeting.
The Twenty-fifth amendment.
journalists and supernumeraries
The paranoid cult of the tough guy.
The Strategic Arms Limitations Talks.
It had the added advantage of being true.
A red carpet stretched past an honor guard.
I found myself in a truly extraordinary position.
Tawdry revelation was matched with a vile animus.
We would soon face a monumental crisis of institutions.
An out-of-control president beating his fists upon the carpet.
Egregious minions had conducted a childish private enterprise.
To everyone’s surprise and Nixon’s immediate and intense relief.
The stunned letheragy of a man whose nightmares had come true.
I calculated the distance separating me from the Presidential person.
The television lights were hot, and the atmosphere was highly charged.
Whatever would have to be done ultimately should be done immediately.
Those who had been brought up by skeptics, relativists, and psychiatrists.
Haldeman and Ehrlichen were at Camp David to reflect on their predicament.
Now that our domestic divisions had brought the hitherto-unthinkable into view.