Blago on One of His Favorite Presidents: Richard Nixon

It's fitting that Rod Blagojevich was impeached on what would have been the 96th birthday of Richard Nixon, one of his favorite presidents. He told me during an interview for a Chicago magazine profile I wrote of him in 2003, when things were still "golden" for the young governor with presidential ambitions, "Nixon had a lot of fascinating qualities." He described Nixon, who resigned before he could be impeached, as a "visionary" in foreign affairs, but concluded, "He's a Greek tragedy in many ways."

Blago loves reading biographies of U.S. presidents. The bookshelves in his North Side home were full of them. I was there to interview Patti-- I had already interviewed Blago in his Thompson Center office--but he was still home and came in to say hello and to show off his collection. I wondered at the time why the state's chief executive would be home at midday; we've since learned that Blago often stayed home and, at the taypayers' expense, dreamed, schemed and read a lot of books, allowing him to regale reporters with little-known facts and anecdotes about past presidents. At that point he daydreamed about moving his wife and his two daughters into the White House on January 20, 2009.

Like so many politicians of either party, Blago claims that his favorite presidents are Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. One wonders if he blanched when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, in his news conference after Blago's arrest, said that Lincoln would roll over in his grave if he knew of Blago's attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat. Probably not.

When a former Blago aide suggested to the impeachment committee that they might want to order a psychological evaluation of the governor, I thought of Nixon, who, in his final days in the White House, seemed mentally out of whack. At the White House, Nixon would get dressed in his suit and tie, drink too much and talk to the portraits on the wall; Blagojevich, at home, dresses up in his jogging ensemble and heads out for his usual morning run, while in Springfield he's making history as the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached.

The Nixon tie starts with Blago's father, Rade, born in 1911 in a small village outside Belgrade, a child of pig farmers. He and his brother were artillery officers in the Yugoslav army when the Nazis invaded in 1941. They spent four years in prisoner of war camps in Germany, leaving Rade with a lifelong hatred of Communism. A staunch Republican, Rade adored General Eisenhower, whose army had liberated Rade's POW camp, and Richard Nixon, who made his name outing those he labeled Communists.

In the summer of 1980 before he started law school, Blago and a friend, on their first trip to New York City, (the friend was later in the news for giving Blago's daughter a check for $1,500 after the man's wife got a state job) awoke at 4:30 am so 23-year-old Rod could get an autograph from Nixon as he left his Upper East Side townhouse for his morning walk. Wearing a suit, Nixon emerged at 7. As his secret service agents eyed the boys warily, Blago, wearing running shorts, was waiting with his line: "Mr. "President, can I trouble you for an autograph?" He asked that Nixon sign the autograph to his mother who, Blagojevich explained, loved Nixon because "he had suffered so much," had "two lovely daughters," and "was loyal to Pat." Rod felt prepared and confident because he had read Nixon's memoir, which had been published two years before, and also had read Six Crises. Nixon handed both boys his business card. Rod told him that they had been to Yankee Stadium to see the a doubleheader against the Brewers. The park is beautiful, he allowed, but they were partial to Wrigley Field. A bystander suggested that they go to the "Met." Having never heard of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rod told Nixon, "We're going Friday to see the Mets play the Reds."

Having done poorly on the LSATs, Rod was rejected by the University of Chicago and Northwestern and Harvard, which is how he ended up at law school at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. (He told me that he did not want to consider "second-tier" law schools in Chicago.) Lon Monk, Blago's roommate at Pepperdine and later his closest friend, groomsman at his wedding and former gubernatorial chief of staff, said the choice of Pepperdine was influenced by Blagojevich's fascination with and admiration of Nixon, whose roots were in the area. Monk recalls Blagojevich talking a lot about Nixon during those years. (If Monk's name sounds familiar, it's because he's in the news these days. Burris admitted Thursday to calling months ago to ask Monk, who by then had left government and was working as a lobbyist, to tell Blago of Burris's interest in being appointed Senator. It's also been revealed that Monk's cell phone was bugged by the feds; whether Burris's call to Monk was captured is not yet known.)

The admiration continued over the years. Blago was a "huge Nixon fanatic," John Wyma, his chief of staff when he was in Congress, told me. (Wyma is also in the news because last October he agreed to cooperate with the feds in their investigation of Blago. Wyma, a fundraiser and adviser to the governor, cooperated with Fitzgerald in an attempt to get immunity from prosecution. His cooperation led to court approval of the bugging of Blagojevich, Monk, etc.)

In our interview, Blago volunteered that he voted for Republicans: Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, "thinks" he voted for the elder Bush in 1988, and had he been old enough to vote in the 1972 Nixon/McGovern race, he's not sure how he would have cast his ballot.

In an introspective mood, Blago, who on tape and in recent revelations sounds mean and angry, told me back then that the difference between Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon is that Clinton learned to forgive his enemies, even Republican congressmen who led the successful effort to impeach him.

"Unlike Nixon, Clinton didn't obsess about his enemies and hold these grudges to the extent that it destroyed him. ....[Nixon] came from humble origins, worked hard his whole life, was smart, tenacious, lacked a lot of natural abilities and overcame them, went into a profession, which was really in many ways not suited for his personality and through drive and determination and a lot of trickery-- Disraeli called that the greasy pole to the top-- and many of those qualities that got him to where he was, negative qualities, are what ultimately brought him down, and I think if Nixon were a little more relaxed and had a little more love in his heart, a little less negative resentments...."

When Blago was a congressman and Clinton was president, he got a ride on Air Force One. Clinton told Blago that he should take advantage of the great food and that he could call anyone, anywhere. He called his mother, who was not impressed that her son was on the presidential plane with the president. "Oh, son," she told him, "don't you let him get you in trouble."

Comments

[LMPE]

Long story short, Blago is a DINO (Democrat in Name Only).

[coach215]

Actually, this is an insightful discussion of how Blago's Nixonian lone wolf tendencies made him more vulnerable to discovery and capture than George Ryan and Dan Rostenkowski, who were simpatico with the Illinois 20/20/20 culture (sixty years of watching others steal and waiting your turn to steal and reap the benefits), but that doesn't excuse the shame of his conduct, which unfortunately dishonors the good people in government and politics and feeds the culture that leads the psychologically high-risk in politics to think they might as well go bad.

[quiviran]

Wonder if he'll take a page from Nixon's playbook and resign before they kick him out?

[mybarocks]

no, i think he'll play it out till the end and then claim he didn't get a fair trial. In the end, though after a media circus, he'll go away... but unlike nixon, i don't predict any major movie studios pursuing this story!

[AnnfromCA]

Blago strikes me as nothing fancier than a con artist who managed to fool a lot of folks for a long time.

[edwinm]

"The Nixon tie starts with Blago's father, Rade, born in 1911 in a small village outside Belgrade, a child of pig farmers. He and his brother were artillery officers in the Yugoslav army when the Nazis invaded in 1941. They spent four years in prisoner of war camps in Germany, leaving Rade with a lifelong hatred of Communism.­"

I wonder how a four year stay in a Nazi-run POW camp can leave someone with a lifelong hatred of Communism. Can anyone explain that?

[mhess44]

I think it has more to do with an opposition to dictatorships in general than to the specific ideology. Possibly with a little bit of prorpganda, fascism and Soviet communism could be made to seem strikingly similar, especially when compared to American democracy. It's all about freedom, man.

[Carol Felsenthal - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes, the Nazis imprisoned the Blagojevich brothers, but Gov. Blago's father hated what happened post war when the communists, he thought, imposed another kind of totalitarianism on his country.

Here's the longer version taken from my Chicago magazine profile:

[Rod Blagojevich's father] was born in 1911 in a small village outside Belgrade, a child of pig farmers. He and a brother, Milorad, were artillery officers in the Yugoslav army and were on leave in their village when the Nazis invaded in 1941. They surrendered after the Nazis threatened to exterminate the entire village if all the soldiers didn't turn themselves in. Rade and Milorad-for whom the governor is named-spent four years in prisoner of war camps in Germany. After the war, the Serbian Orthodox church in Libertyville brought the brothers to Chicago. Neither spoke English or had any money.....­Rade had arrived here with a lifelong hatred of Communism and the men-among them, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt-who he thought had imposed this evil system on his beloved native country. A staunch Republican, Rade adored General Eisenhower, whose army had liberated Rade's POW camp, and Richard Nixon, who made his name outing those he labeled Communists.

[edwinm]

Ah, I see. Good explanation. The great "sellout at Yalta 1945". Makes sense.

[bbbtmenw]

GOV BLAGO is no more a crook than any other politician. The problem for him is that he is Governor of Illinois when Obama was running for President.

We can include the other governors from Illinois that have gone to jail, for a similar reason; Illinois and CHICAGO politics.

Illinois, especially Chicago, has been Democratic and Union stronghold for years. Every conservative group complains and mentions to not trust Illinois Election results and attacks them in the press.

Their, conservatives, focus on and hate for Illinois Politics, caused Blago, and other governors, to get higher scrutiny.

Every politician makes deals, many make a fortune doing it, all get kooshy jobs after, and everyone knows this.

Even Obama is seating his friends and allies. Each worked for him to better "the country" and themselves. Obama fought for millions for his state as a Senator. It is the way, deal, deal, deal.

Blago was just stupid to talk openly and the FBI was just being political for singling him out.

[larry278]

I guess Gov Rod didn't know that Attorney Cochran attended one of Ca's 2d tier law schools. There are many 1st rate minds who come out of 2d tier law schools & other post grad schools. Dr Rice is an exmple of a 1st rate mind who came out of the 2d tier, University of Denver. She has accomplished a few things before getting side tracked as W's Secretary of State. She may go back to the academic life & make up for her time with W.