In 1962-63 my family was in the Los Angeles area because Dad was assigned there to be the Washington Post's guy setting up the new Post-Los Angeles Times news-sharing agreement, an arrangement which exists to this day.
In 1962 Richard Nixon ran for governor of California against "Pat" Brown," the incumbent and the father of the space cadet Jerry Brown. One day that fall Dad went to cover a Nixon campaign rally in an LA-area elementary school cafeteria. He arrived there at the same time Pat Nixon did, only to find that a solid mass of people separated her from her husband on the stage. Dad, a big guy, said, "Make way for Mrs. Nixon," and the crowd parted to let her join her husband on the stage.
"Thank you. I don't believe I've ever met you before," Pat Nixon said to my Dad, offering her hand and smiling radiantly. "Oh, I'm Jack Eisen of the Washington Post, Dad replied. As soon as she heard Post she withdrew her hand, her smile vanished, and she turned her back to join her husband. Later Brown won the election and Nixon gave his unfortunate, "You don't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore" concession speech.
Oh well, so much for bipartisanship. Common courtesy is free, it doesn't cost anything. In the old days members of the U.S. Congress could denounce each other all day and still enjoy a bourbon and water together that evening.
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