The Biggest Supreme Court Losers

With David Souter retiring, President Obama has his first opportunity to make a mark on the U.S. Supreme Court. But the nomination process can be a minefield of potential stumbles and mistakes. If history is an indicator, Obama shouldn't have too much of a problem, especially because of the large Democratic majority in the Senate. Most nominees are confirmed. But some presidents have had more difficulty than others. The all-time loser is John Tyler, with a whopping eight failures: four of his nominations were withdrawn, one rejected, and three others died in the U.S. Senate due to lack of formal action. (Several of Tyler's nominations were of the same candidates.) Behind Tyler are Grant and Fillmore with three failures, then Washington, Madison, Polk, Cleveland, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan with two each. The most recent Senate rejection was Reagan's choice of Robert Bork (pictured) in 1987. The latest nominee withdrawal was George W. Bush's selection of Harriet Miers.

Worst VP Picks

I stumbled upon a fascinating online article by Elana Schor from Guardian.co.uk that appeared on August 23, 2008, which focused on the best and worst vice president picks of all time. It's difficult to argue with her picks. Here's her worst five:
1. Aaron Burr: Pictured right, Burr was chosen by Thomas Jefferson but dropped from the ticket in 1804. He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
2. Spiro Agnew: Nixon's first vice president, tax evasion forced from office.
3. Dan Quayle: Chosen by George H.W. Bush to appease conservatives...but he couldn't spell well.
4. John Tyler: He ascended to the presidency when William Henry Harrison died. Often referred to as "His Accidency."
5. Hannibal Hamlin: Lincoln chose him as his first-term running mate, but saw him as a mistake and dropped him for another loser: Andrew Johnson.
Read Schor's excellent analysis, and her top five picks, here.

Are We Being Taped?

One of the most fascinating mysteries of presidential history relates to why Richard Nixon didn't destroy the secret White House tapes. If he had, he might very well have served out his second term instead of being forced to resign. But the tapes remained safe, except for the infamous 18 1/2 minute gap. The record strongly suggests, however, that Nixon wanted the tapes destroyed. On April 18, 1973, just days after the existence of the tapes became public, the following conversation took place between Nixon and H.R. Haldeman, his chief of staff:

Nixon: "I'd like you to take all these tapes, if you wouldn't mind. In other words, uh..."
Haldeman: "Yeah."
Nixon: "I'd like to because there's some material in there that's probably worth keeping."
Haldeman: "Yeah."
Nixon: "Most of it is worth destroying. Would you like, would you do that?"
Haldeman: "Sure."

How do we know about this conversation? Simply because, ironically, Nixon and Haldeman were being recorded. And Haldeman never followed through on Nixon's instructions. During the historic 1977 Nixon/Frost interviews, Nixon was specifically pressed on this question. His answer was that "it would have been an open admission, or at least appeared to be an admission, well, I'm trying to cover something up." But the facts don't support this spin. Simply put, Nixon wanted the tapes to disappear. But Haldeman didn't cooperate. Here's a link to a transcript and audio recording of the April 18, 1973 Nixon/Haldeman conversation, courtesy of the Presidential Recordings Program at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. (Pictured is a photograph of the original Nixon White House tape recorder and tape, courtesy of the American Historical Association and the National Archives and Records Administration.)

Dick's Fine Wine

Some blunders are small. Some result in catastrophe. Others are are just rude, misguided and annoying. Of the latter, let's raise our glasses to Richard Nixon. As reported in Woodward and Bernstein's excellent The Final Days, while entertaining Congressmen aboard Sequoia, the presidential yacht, Nixon would serve a decent Bordeaux to his guests, while secretly drinking his treasured 1966 Chateau Margaux. This deception was accomplished by Nixon's elaborate scheme to have his private wine wrapped in a napkin to hide the label. So while his guests enjoyed one wine, Nixon savored something better.