If you were to ask the typical Disney dweeb about which President of the United States they most strongly associate with the Walt Disney Company and its theme parks, I’m betting that 99.9% of them would go with Abraham Lincoln.
And why not? After all, Honest Abe plays a huge part in the Disney theme park legacy. First of all, there was that Abraham Lincoln AA figure that the Imagineers created for the State of Illinois pavilion at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. This eerily life-like Audio Animatronic recreation of our 16th President caused a sensation at the Fair, not to mention ushering in a whole new era of achievement for the Disney theme parks.
By January 1965, Disneyland had its very own version of the “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” show installed in the Main Street Opera House. Six years later, Walt Disney World got its “Hall of Presidents” (in which Honest Abe also played a very prominent role). So — as I was saying — it would be a pretty safe bet to assume that most Disneyana fans would say “Lincoln” if they were asked “Which U.S. President do you most closely associate with the Walt Disney Company and its theme parks?”
So — given that today is the tail end of the Presidents Day weekend (the three day long holiday when we’re supposed to celebrate the birth of both Lincoln as well as George Washington) — I guess the smart thing for me to do would be to cook up a column about Walt Disney and Abraham Lincoln. How these two great Americans are joined at the hip, etc. etc. That might make for a timely bit of writing.
The only problem is … no one ever accused me of being smart. Me personally, the U.S. President that I mostly closely associate with the Walt Disney Company and its theme parks is Richard Mihouse Nixon.
Why for? Well, surely you’ve seen those photographs of Nixon and Walt Disney that were taken back in June of 1959. The ones that show the then-Vice President of the United States and his family standing with Walt on the Tomorrowland platform, getting ready to officially cut the ribbon for the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail.
What I like about these pictures is that Nixon brought along his daughters — Tricia and Julie — so that they can take part in the ceremony. And (according to eyewitnesses who attended the event) the girls did try to cut the ribbon. The only problem was that the enormous pair of scissors that Nixon’s daughters were wielding in the ceremony didn’t really have an edge to its blades.
So — as the photographers snapped away — Tricia and Julie tried repeatedly to cut through that ribbon, but to no avail. Finally, Walt took pity on the girls. Quickly whipping out his pocket knife, Disney sliced through the ribbon, then ushered Vice President Nixon and his family on board the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail for its inaugural run.
To hear Imagineering legend Bob Gurr tell the story, the Monorail’s first official trip around the Park was probably a bit more exciting than it was originally supposed to be. You see, as the sleek futuristic train pulled out of the Tomorrowland platform, Walt, the VP and his family were aboard … but the security detail that had been tasked to protect the Vice President had accidentally been left behind at the station.
As you might understand, the Secret Service agents who were assigned to Nixon’s detail were frantic. And they were made even more frantic when the Monorail returned to the Tomorrowland station. And — rather than stopped — the futuristic train slowed for a second, then zipped on through for another trip around Disneyland.
Why’d it do that? Because Tricia and Julie — being typical kids — had had a great time on the inaugural run of the Monorail. So — as the train headed into the Tomorriowland station — the girls turned to Walt and their father and said “Please? Can we got around just one more time?” And Disney and Nixon of course said “Yes.”
Bob Gurr reportedly still has mixed emotions when he thinks back on what it was like to go zipping through Tomorrowland station that hot and humid June day. (FYI: Bob was the guy that Walt tasked with piloting the Monorail during Nixon’s 1959 visit to the Park.) By that I mean: Gurr reportedly thought it was extremely comical to see the Secret Service running alongside the futuristic train. The agents trying to decide if there was a safe way that they could leap aboard the still-moving vehicle.
On the other hand, Bob was supposedly concerned that — once the Monorail finally came to a full and complete stop — that these same Secret Service agents would leap aboard the train and beat him within an inch of his life.
Thankfully, the Monorail finished its second, unexpected and unscheduled lap of the theme park without incident. And the Secret Service didn’t end up wrestling poor Bob Gurr to the ground. In part because Nixon stepped on the train, laughing, telling the head of his security detail “You should have seen your expressions …”
I know, I know. It’s kind of weird to hear a story about Richard Nixon laughing. To read about how this controversial figure in American history supposedly once behaved like a normal human being. Out for a day at the theme park. Out having some fun with his family.
After all, that’s NOT the Richard Nixon that most Americans know. These days, most people seem to prefer to remember the late President (Nixon died back in 1994) as “Tricky ***.” The only U.S. Commander-in-Chief to ever resign in disgrace. The man who lied about the Watergate break-ins. The guy who said “I am not a crook.”
(Interesting bit of Disney trivia here: Nixon actually made his infamous “Crook” remark while he was on Disney property. Strange but true, kids. Back on November 17, 1973, the then-President flew down to Orlando to speak to 400 Associated Press editors, who were holding their annual meeting at WDW’s Contemporary Resort Hotel. These days, no one remembers what else Nixon said during his day at Disney World. But that off-the-cuff comment haunted him ’til his dying day.)
But the guy I just wrote about in the previous paragraphs wasn’t the Richard Nixon that Walt Disney knew in the mid-1950s / early 1960s. Walt actually thought of *** as a friend and a colleague. Someone that he could count on whenever Disney needed help generating publicity for his then-fledgling theme park.
I’m told that — given the number of times that Nixon visited Disneyland and/or attended the grand opening of various new attractions during the park’s early years — that Disney’s publicity department actually had a standing joke that they used to tell about the then-VP: “Hell, we could open up an envelope and *** would offer to attend the ceremony.”
Okay. So maybe they made fun of the guy behind his back. But that doesn’t mean that Disneyland’s Publicity Department didn’t really appreciate it when the then-VP would pull a few strings to help make the opening of a brand new attraction something really worth writing about.
Take for example, the dedication of Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage (Which — not-so-co-incidentally — occurred on the very same day in June of 1959 when Nixon’s kids helped cut the ribbon for the Monorail). To add a little oomph to this ceremony, Nixon persuaded a really-for-real senior U.S. Navy official — Rear Admiral Charles C. Kirkpatrick — to take part in the festivities.
Why would Nixon do this? Well, to be honest, a lot of it has to do with Richard Nixon being born and raised in Orange County, CA. Which is why he took such great pride in the idea that Disney had selected Anaheim as the site for his first theme park. And — more importantly — why Nixon did everything he could to help Walt’s project succeed.
Even after he was elected President of the United States in 1968, Nixon was still trying to throw business Walt’s way. When foreign heads of state or dignitaries would visit him at the White House, Nixon would ask about their travel plans during their stay in the U.S. If any of his visitors even casually mentioned that they were headed to Southern California, Nixon would almost automatically chime in with “Oh, then you’re going to have to go to Disneyland. It’s a wonderful place. Nothing else like it in the whole world.”
I know, I know. That’s kind of a strange way for a President of the United States to behave. But Nixon did this because … well … he really liked Walt Disney. Tried to do whatever he could to support Walt’s endeavors. Like the time when Walt suddenly found himself in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, CA. Disney called the then-VP up and asked if he’d agree to formally open the Games. Nixon immediately said “Yes.”
Never mind that Nixon had to take time out from his presidential campaign. Never mind that the guy had to fight his way through a fierce snowstorm to get to the stadium. If Walt asked *** for a favor, Nixon was happy to do it.
Nixon’s loyalty — his sense of friendship toward Walt Disney, the man — extended long after the old Mousetro passed away in December 1966. EX: Even though the ex-president had basically been living in seclusion since his resignation in August 1974, turning down invitations to all sorts of exclusive events, Nixon did agree to come on down to Orlando in October 1982 to take part in the grand opening of what was then being hyped as “Walt’s last and greatest dream: Epcot Center.”
But perhaps the clearest indication of how Richard Nixon felt about Walt Disney came in March 1969 when the then-President presided over a ceremony where he presented the first Walt Disney commemorative medal to the Disney family. (FYI: This medal was actually commissioned to help pay for the California Institute of the Arts. Which is probably best known to all you animation fans out there by its severely abbreviated name: Cal Arts. )
In a ceremony that was held at the White House — with Walt’s widow, Lillian; his two daughters, Diane and Sharon; as well as his brother, Roy O. Disney, in attendance — Nixon spoke of his friendship with Walt Disney. Of the fun times that he and his family had had at Disneyland:
“It is very hard to describe our feelings about Walt Disney. I say our feelings, because my wife and I had the opportunity of knowing him personally. He was just as exciting and interesting personally as he was in all those wonderful movies that we remember through the years, starting with the cartoons and then the real life ones and then ‘Mary Poppins’ and all the rest.
To know this man was to know that we had been fortunate to have a spirit with us that perhaps come once in a generation to a fortunate people.
He was a great artist. He was a perfectionist. He was a wonderful human being.
All of that he shared with us, not just with his family that loved him because they knew him, but he shared it with the world, and the world is a better and a happier and a more joyful place in which to live because he was there.”
Not a bad little speech, eh? I’m told that Nixon wrote this one all by himself. That he didn’t have his press secretary, Ron Ziegler (who spent several summers piloting a “Jungle Cruise” launch around Adventureland. FYI: Ziegler passed away just last week) or H.R. Haldeman (another old Disneyland hand) massage the text. That the President wanted this speech to come from the heart.
I know, I know. It’s still kind of weird to read a sentence that says something like “Nixon had a heart.”
Look, there’s no getting around the fact that our 37th President made an awful lot of mistakes in his life time. Not to mention a great many enemies. But Richard Nixon also managed to make at least one friend: Walt Disney.
Make of that what you will, okay?
Happy Presidents Day!