Discourse

With the current imbroglio dominating the news cycle, I was reminded of what life was like during my freshman year in college. A visiting scholar was living in our dormitory and some evenings a few of us would chat with him in the lounge. The scene was similar to the picture above including the fireplace.

The Watergate matter was slowly grinding toward its conclusion. The question had (famously) come down to, “What did the President know-and when did he know it?” President Nixon did, of course, have his defenders. Political conversations were comparatively civil back then. It was not at all uncommon in those days for people who had different opinions to discuss them with one another.

I remember one evening when an earnest young Nixon defending student had engaged our visiting professor in a dialogue about the events of the time. The only line I can recall was when the professor remarked, “If you assume he (Nixon) is guilty as hell, everything makes sense.”

Back in that relatively quaint era, the concept of guilt carried considerably more import than it appears to today.