The Clothes Have No Emperor Part 10

--New Hamps.h.i.+re voter Sheila Brace explaining her support in the Democratic primary for Ohio Sen. John Glenn, who was neither a governor nor a visitor to the moon 2/26/84.

Questioned by Lesley Stahl about the confusion over his age, Gary Hart declares, "I was born in 1936." But why, then, do his official and campaign biographies say 1937? "I can't account for every piece of paper that's been written by my campaign or anyone else." So, it turns out it wasn't his fault at all.

Later, he takes part in an axe-hurling contest. Though he misses his target several times, the clip seen on the evening news validating his aura of momentum shows his single bulls-eye.

2/26/84.

Jesse Jackson appears at a Manchester synagogue to say that, yes, now that he thinks about it, he does recall referring to Jews as "Hymie" and New York as "Hymietown" after all, though it "was not done in the spirit of meanness."

2/28/84.

The newly discovered voting bloc "Young Urban Professionals" ("Yuppies") upwardly mobile baby boomers eager to abandon idealism for materialism gives Gary Hart (or, as he's becoming known among the press, "His Newness") a surprise 10-point victory over Walter Mondale in New Hamps.h.i.+re. Says Johnny Carson of the winner, "I like his slogan: 'Vote for me, I have Kennedy hair.'"

MARCH 1984.

3/2/84.

"When Democratic voters start displaying their volatility, we can choose one of two explanations: they are moved by excitement or by ennui. The evidence of New Hamps.h.i.+re powerfully suggests that they are bored. Its Democrats were already tired of Mondale, who is the husband type and they turned in their weariness to Hart, who seems the boyfriend type."

--Columnist Murray Kempton 3/4/84.

The Reagans celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary. Just as, on their 29th anniversary, Nancy said, "It seems like 29 minutes," and on their 30th anniversary she said, "It feels like 30 minutes," so here does she say, "I cannot believe it's been 32 years. It seems like 32 minutes."

3/6/84.

Attacking the President for saying things about him "when he knows them to be untrue," Jimmy Carter observes, "President Reagan doesn't always check the facts before he makes statements, and the press accepts this as kind of amusing."

3/6/84.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: DEVELOPER SAYS HE DISCUSSED JOB AFTER HELPING SELL MEESE'S HOUSE 3/7/84.

New York Times: APPOINTEE TELLS OF LOANS ARRANGED FOR MEESE 3/9/84.

Defending his failure to attend church, President Reagan piously observes, "Frankly, I miss it very much. But I represent too much of a threat to too many other people for me to be able to go to church." But, then, why does he not hold services in the White House, as previous Presidents have done? No one asks.

3/11/84.

During a debate in Atlanta, Gary Hart is asked what he would do as President if a Czechoslovak pa.s.senger jet heading toward Strategic Air Command bases ignored US warnings to turn back. "If the people they looked in and saw had uniforms on, I would shoot the aircraft down," he says. "If they were civilians, I would just let them keep going." Observes former jet fighter pilot John Glenn, to appreciative chuckles, "You don't go peeking in the windows to see if they have uniforms on."

Later, Mondale gets his licks in, telling Hart, "When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad, 'Where's the beef?'" This adoption of the slogan from a popular hamburger commercial proves so devastating that Mondale jokes that he should fire his speechwriters and researchers and "hire somebody from Hee-Haw Hee-Haw."

3/13/84.

Gary Hart wins six Super Tuesday contests (Florida, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, Nevada, Oklahoma and Was.h.i.+ngton) though the media eager to keep the race alive interprets Mondale's ability to avoid a shutout (he wins Georgia and Alabama) as a victory of sorts. On NBC, Roger Mudd asks Hart, "Why do you imitate John Kennedy so much?" Hart says he doesn't. Undeterred, Mudd s.h.i.+fts to a different brother. "Will you do your Teddy Kennedy imitation for me now?" he asks. "I've heard it's hilarious." Hart, unamused as he so often is declines.

3/13/84.

Attorney general-designate Edwin Meese admits that he "inadvertently failed to list" in his financial disclosure statements a $15,000 interest-free loan from a man who received a federal job not long after, as did his wife and son and several other Meese friends who helped him out financially. He explains that "it never occurred to me that an interest-free loan was a thing of value."

3/15/84.

An indignant Gary Hart attacks Walter Mondale for airing ads in Illinois that raise the issues of Hart's age and name changes. He apologizes two hours later after learning that no such spots have been broadcast.

3/17/84.

Gary Hart apologizes for a TV spot attacking Cook County Democratic chairman Edward Vrdolyak. Though Hart claims the ad has been pulled, a series of failed communications keeps it on the air all weekend. "Here's a person who wants to be President of the United States," observes Mondale, "and he can't get an ad off television." Hart who expected to win Illinois loses by six points. His aura of invincibility evaporates, and the Mondale comeback commences.

3/22/84.

"The standard for the attorney general nominee should not be: can he prove he is not a felon?"

--Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) expressing his doubts about the Meese nomination 3/23/84.

Gary Hart addresses the continuing questions about his background. "When I tell the truth, I expect my word to be taken as truth," he says testily. "Obviously, if I don't tell the truth and people can prove it, that's a very disastrous thing."

3/25/84.

New York Times: MEESE SAYS HE NEVER CONSIDERED THAT LOAN MIGHT LOOK IMPROPER 3/28/84.

Disapproving of artificial means to prolong life in an increasingly overcrowded world, Colorado governor Richard Lamm says perhaps too bluntly that terminally ill elderly people have a "duty to die and get out of the way."

3/29/84.

"When I throw my gla.s.ses, they know I'm angry."

--President Reagan explaining how his aides can tell he's upset besides, of course, when he talks about his "keister"

APRIL 1984.

4/1/84.

On the eve of his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye in the midst of a significant career comeback gets into a fight with his father, who shoots him to death.

4/2/84.

"We have taken that question out of the game because it is distasteful in this country."

--Selchow and Righter executive John Nason confirming that the question, "How many months pregnant was Nancy Davis when she walked down the aisle with Ronald Reagan?" has been removed from the American version of Trivial Pursuit (The answer: Two and a half) 4/4/84.

President Reagan is asked about the perception that his administration helps the rich at the expense of the poor. "Oh, I'm concerned about it," he says. "It's a political problem if people believe it, but there's absolutely no truth in it."

4/5/84.

"The deaths lie on him and the defeat in Lebanon lies on him and him alone ... The trouble with this fellow is he tries to be tough rather than smart."

--Tip O'Neill rejecting President Reagan's claim that congressional criticism of US policy encouraged terrorist attacks 4/6/84.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: MEESE APPARENTLY FAILED TO REPORT REIMBURs.e.m.e.nTS 4/8/84.

Richard M. Nixon returns to television in a series of interviews, conducted by former aide Frank Gannon, for which CBS paid $500,000. Among the highlights: *His acknowledgement that it's the media's responsibility to examine the President "with a microscope ... but when they use a proctoscope it's going too far"

*His description of his 1974 call to George Wallace, trying and failing to get him to exert influence over a Democratic senator on the House Judiciary Committee. "As I hung up the phone, I knew it was all over," he says. "I turned to Al Haig. I said, 'Well, there goes the presidency'"

*His claim that being "the most vilified man" in American politics "didn't bother me that much, but believe me, it bothered my family."

4/9/84.

Barry Goldwater writes to William Casey protesting the mining of Nicaraguan harbors. "It gets down to one, little, simple phrase: I am p.i.s.sed off!" he says. "This is an act violating international law. It is an act of war."

4/9/84.

One day after his administration announced it will not recognize the World Court's jurisdiction over the mining of Nicaraguan harbors, President Reagan proclaims May 1 as "Law Day USA." Says the President, "Without law, there can be no freedom, only chaos and disorder."

4/9/84.

The National Enquirer National Enquirer reports that John W. Hinckley Jr. "has found love behind the walls of his mental hospital" and is romantically involved with Leslie deVeau, a 40-year-old Was.h.i.+ngton socialite who shotgunned her daughter to death, then lost an arm in a suicide attempt. Or, as the reports that John W. Hinckley Jr. "has found love behind the walls of his mental hospital" and is romantically involved with Leslie deVeau, a 40-year-old Was.h.i.+ngton socialite who shotgunned her daughter to death, then lost an arm in a suicide attempt. Or, as the New York Post New York Post puts it, "HINCKLEY HAS HOTS FOR ONE-ARMED SOCIALITE KID-KILLER." puts it, "HINCKLEY HAS HOTS FOR ONE-ARMED SOCIALITE KID-KILLER."

4/11/84.

The Chicago Tribune reports that one of Jesse Jackson's most prominent supporters, Rev. Louis Farrakhan, referred to Hitler as "a very great man," though, to be sure, "wickedly great." reports that one of Jesse Jackson's most prominent supporters, Rev. Louis Farrakhan, referred to Hitler as "a very great man," though, to be sure, "wickedly great."

4/13/84.

"The beef is here tonight!"

--Rev. Jerry Falwell introducing President Reagan at a fundamentalist rally 4/22/84.

"I think I really wanted to write my biography more to be able to mention that Jack Kennedy and I were friends than anything else."

--Jerry Lewis in Parade Parade 4/25/84.

James Baker is asked if he's ever been to a Communist country. "Well," he replies, "I've been to Ma.s.sachusetts."

4/26/84.

William Casey apologizes to the Senate Intelligence Committee for keeping the Nicaraguan mining a secret.

4/27/84.

Nancy Reagan presents a Peking zoo with a check for $13,077 raised in America to help China's starving pandas. Jesse Jackson notes that senior citizens in the US are "eating cat and dog food" while the First Family is "over there feeding Communist pandas."

4/29/84.

The Reagans travel to Xi'an, where they pose at an excavation site among a group of 2,200-year-old life-size statues. They then visit a hastily created "free market" where local citizens pretend to inspect the merchandise as if they were really shopping. President Reagan says the market created solely for the purpose of being photographed and instantly dismantled shows that capitalism in China is "flouris.h.i.+ng."

4/30/84.

Students at Shanghai's University of Fudan ask President Reagan which experiences best prepared him for his current career. "You'd be surprised," he tells them, "how much being a good actor pays off."

4/30/84.

The National Enquirer National Enquirer points out that Gary Hart's new signature yes, he's changed that, too bears a disturbing resemblance to Richard Nixon's. "Both Hart and Nixon use large capital letters, indicative of a ma.s.sive ego and overpowering ambition," says handwriting expert Robert Wa.s.serman, who says both signatures are very hard to read. "Indecipherable signatures reveal that the person has something to hide," he adds, noting that Nixon's had become "very unreadable" by the time he reached the White House. "If Hart was a used car salesman and I saw his signature on a contract, I'd be worried." points out that Gary Hart's new signature yes, he's changed that, too bears a disturbing resemblance to Richard Nixon's. "Both Hart and Nixon use large capital letters, indicative of a ma.s.sive ego and overpowering ambition," says handwriting expert Robert Wa.s.serman, who says both signatures are very hard to read. "Indecipherable signatures reveal that the person has something to hide," he adds, noting that Nixon's had become "very unreadable" by the time he reached the White House. "If Hart was a used car salesman and I saw his signature on a contract, I'd be worried."

MAY 1984.

5/1/84.

"He thought they were the Smith Brothers."

--Larry Speakes on President Reagan's reaction to Peking wall posters of Stalin, Lenin, Marx and Engels 5/9/84.

Richard M. Nixon's comeback continues as he is warmly received at the annual meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, where he predicts that Mondale won't pick a female running mate. Says the renowned political seer, "He's going to take either Bentsen or Hart."

5/12/84.

During a white-water river trip in Oregon, Gary Hart has to be talked out of trying to run a particularly hazardous rapid. Explains the would-be most powerful man on the planet, "I love danger!"

5/12/84.

The number two man at the Housing Department, Philip Abrams, expresses doubt that Hispanics live in crowded homes because of poverty. "I don't think so," he says. "I'm told that they don't mind and they prefer, some prefer, doubling up ... It's a cultural preference, I'm told."

5/14/84.

Declaring, "Well, isn't this a thriller?" President Reagan presents Michael Jackson with an award for allowing "Beat It" to be used in anti-drunk driving ads. Jackson later avoids gawking adult fans by locking himself in a White House men's room.

5/15/84.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee rejects the nomination of Leslie Lenkowsky to be deputy director of the US Information Agency because of his involvement in, and lying about, the blacklisting of 95 prominent Americans of a non-right- wing persuasion among them Walter Cronkite and Coretta Scott King from the USIA's overseas speaking program.

5/22/84.

Asked about the possibility of secret funds going to the contras, President Reagan declares, "Nothing of that kind could take place without the knowledge of Congress."

5/25/84.

Gary Hart tells supporters at a Los Angeles fundraiser that he has just been reunited after what he implies was a painful campaign-induced separation with his wife, Lee. "She campaigns in California," he says enviously, "and I campaign in New Jersey."

"I got to hold a koala bear," says Lee.

"I won't tell you what I got to hold," Hart chuckles, oblivious to how these jokes will play back east. "Samples from a toxic waste dump."

5/28/84.

"I was just talking about the hazards of commuting coast- to-coast. That's all I said. The people of New Jersey are more intelligent than that. They know a remark made in jest and lightheartedly, about having to commute coast-to-coast to see my wife, was not meant disparagingly about this state."

--Gary Hart in the process of blowing a 15-point lead in the state JUNE 1984.

6/4/84.