Remembering Richard Nixon: Nixon Now! & Mike Curb's Connection to Richard Petty

April 24th marked the 19th year since the passing for President Richard Nixon in 1994. The controversial president had done much in his later years to meet the needs of the role of elder statesman and by late 80s found himself back in the White House, back doing more foreign trips for the Reagan and Bush administrations. Nixon was back. By the early 90s he was even getting along with Democrat Bill Clinton.



President Clinton, like Nixon before him, suffered from a scandal that engulfed his second term and like Nixon before him made a comeback of his own. In a New York Times article from 1994, it is suggested what both men had to gain from associating with each other.

As is so often the case in politics, each of the men had something the other one wanted: Mr. Clinton, the foreign-policy neophyte, gained credibility through his association with Mr. Nixon, the elder statesman, and he mentioned it often. Mr. Nixon, determined to do all he could to edge closer to the center of power as a final step in his self-rehabilitation campaign, had a better chance with Mr. Clinton than with his Republican predecessors, who were wary of association with a Republican who had sullied the party's name.

 Perhaps by learning from Nixon, Clinton was able to make his comeback in the polls quicker, and bigger. Granted the two faced very different scandals that people judge very differently, but still the lesson holds that you can find redemption through thoughtful and meaningful service. Nixon and Clinton are perhaps more popular today than they ever were when they were president.

Nixon Now. So, how many Nixon Now pins do you have in your collection?

I must have somewhere between 50-100 in all sorts of conditions. They made millions of them. Columbia Advertising made a tough little lithographic pin. Every time I buy a lot of pins on ebay, they always seem to have a Nixon Now. Let us know how many you have?

The above video was produced by the Nixon campaign, and the choir singing the campaign theme was the Mike Curb Congregation. California collectors might recognize Curb as a Republican elected Lt. Governor under Jerry Brown and a candidate for Governor himself in 1982. He would lose the Republican nomination to George Deukmejian.

You might be more familiar with the Mike Curb Congregation through their work on the song Burning Bridges, the theme to the Clint Eastwood film Kelly's Heroes. His group also did Ronald Reagan's 1980 theme, A New Beginning.

From Old Politicals Auction

Curb was also interested in racing and owned Richard Petty's famous #43 car. Petty would eventually become the 1996 Republican nominee for North Carolina Secretary of State.

What an interesting end to an article about Richard Nixon.