Garden City is Nixonland

I'm looking forward to reading "Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein, because for one thing Garden City was the capital of Nixonland, and for another thing it's really the story of our generation. My parents denied it, but I was born four days before the 1960 election, and I was named "Richard." You do the math. (In Reno, I sat across from a woman also born in 1960; she was named "Jackie.")

I have two strong memories. In the first, I recall, when I was 7, standing along Franklin Avenue waiting for Nixon to drive by in an open car. There was an advance man revving up the crowd. When he finally came by, my mother grabbed me under my arms, lifted me up (no mean feat even then) and shouted, "Here's another Richard!"

The day after the 1968 election, I walked home from Stratford to discover that Nixon finally had been declared the winner. My mother and grandmother were dancing with each other in the living room, elated at his win.