I had a school girl crush on Richard M. Nixon. There, I've said it. It's out in the open and I'm finally freed from my dark secret.

I fear that I'll lose one of my loyal readers over this, my mother-in-law. Really Mom, it was very innocent! I was 12 when I became aware of my feelings for the man and it had nothing to do with politics.

Come on now, look at this face....


What 12 year old girl WOULDN'T have a crush on this man?

I noticed the other day that it was the anniversary of his death on my "Today in Twisted History" list and I got to wondering about why I would have a crush on Richard M. Nixon. Sure, I had typical crushes and David Cassidy was right up there, but he didn't have the *power* that Tricky Dick had.

I think that crush was my first inkling that I was attracted to men with power. I've never really grown out of that (but have since grown out of my crush on Richard M. Nixon.) It has nothing to do with money, it's more of a presence. Nobody in the world had more power at the time in my eyes than the President of the United States.

Plus, I happened to live in the city where he was born. In front of the little blue house was a sign, "The birthplace of our president, Richard M. Nixon". Whenever anyone asks me where I grew up I say, "I grew up in Yorba Linda, the birthplace of our president, Richard M. Nixon". Sometimes I say "beloved president, Richard Milhouse Nixon" just to mix it up a bit.

I was glued to the set during the Watergate scandal. I even wrote him a tear stained letter telling him that I hated those people who were doing that to him. Ummmm, remember kids, I was 12! I received a letter back from him thanking me for my support and blah blah blah "youth of today" blah blah blah. Hand signed by Richard M. Nixon.

I framed that letter and when I moved away from home I hung it on my wall when I lived in student housing. My roommate, being a hard-core democrat, was none too pleased with my framed letter hanging on our bedroom wall, so she'd take it down and hide it just to torment me.

Eventually, the framed letter was lost for good.

I don't know what happened to my framed letter, nor do I know what happened to my crush on Richard M. Nixon.

What I do know is that there is probably no other blog in existence that mentions Richard M. Nixon's name no less than nine times (10 if you include "tricky Dick"). And I'm absolutely certain that I'm the only person in the world who had a crush on him at the age of 12.

May the object of my 12 year old affections rest in peace.