THE START OF A NEW CAREER

The Watergate trial, resulting from the June 1972 discovery of a break-in to DNC headquarters at the Watergate Hotel by Nixon's Administration, began on October 3^rd, 1974.

And so the new career of one Jim Manning began!

Now Jim Manning was a retired gentleman whose daughter happens to be married to me. He retired when she said she was marrying me, figuring: What else could go wrong?

He corrected the NY Times

She corrected me!

Jim in his retirement lived for the news, Sunday mornings particularly, while his dumb ass son-in-law was watching all the pregame shows for the NFL: he was watching ‘Meet The Press’ among other shows that aired. Sitting in his chair, a chair I still covet, he made observations and announcements about what he heard. A Democrat at heart, and very liberal, his sympathies aligned with the House Investigative panel, he set in for a long and enjoyable haul.

Everyone was wrapped up in the scandal, and watched all the news clips and read all the newspapers, as Americans witnessed something so unthinkable. It was a scandal made for the Internet, when there was no Internet, as the testimony presented daily brought new revelations almost by the hour.

For me, reading the newspapers in the morning on the train and at night going home from work, I had enough of it and wanted to get away from the hoopla at night and weekends, but Jim loved it! Give him his chair, his Sunday Times and his TV, and he put his own perspective on the news and I had to hear about it. It was now his passion, his love and his job, to give me zingers, dingers and opine on the current state of affairs.

But I had a little secret, I never told him, I was part of the Watergate hoopla! Yes, me, that always-skinny kid with two babies was a part of the Watergate drama. It seems my boss was on the Dean’s List, the infamous list given up by John Dean, White House council for the President. Apparently, Mr. Nixon had a bone to pick with anyone who had access to the media, and political clout that didn’t coincide with Nixonian mythology. I designed the button that said: “I’M ON THE DEAN’S LIST” which made you smart if you went to college or in trouble if not.

 

The Dean of the Dean's List!

Not telling my father-in-law that I was behind a button he kept seeing, pumping out propaganda he was reading and being paid for it would have spoiled our relationship. He would have then probably kept his opinions to himself in front of me, and I enjoyed hearing his rants, remarks and daily reports as he interpreted them. Plus I was politically a dog, not caring who ran the country, since whoever it was, was going to run it into the ground anyway. This of course is still my belief, but with a more informed attitude towards all political parties and their promises.

 

MY Dean's List!

When the Watergate scandal was over, Grandpa Jim went back to his daily New York Times crossword puzzle and his weekly routine of correcting the typos he found in the Sunday Times and mailing them in to the paper to note. His career ended when Nixon waved goodbye on the Marine helicopter, and like Nixon, Jim’s career rose into the sunset for good.

But why do I tell you this? I have no idea.

 

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