When I was in college--my first, no, second time, in my early twenties--I worked for Interlibrary Loan at the U-MN Library.
I was one of the student go-fers who, in those pre-Internet days, took a library truck into the stacks of this huge library and retrieved hard copy of books and magazines in order to Xerox requested chapters or articles by hand.
(I can still smell the ink and ozone and feel the heat of the overworked copiers.)
The copies were then mailed (in the mail) to the people who'd requested them, as the happy expense of we taxpayers.
In my eyes, the worst task was hunting down material in Government Docs---that mess of printed papers put out by the US Congress, bound in distinctive brown paper.
Today at the thrift store, however, I was soooo excited to see this House Report bound in that brown paper:
Zowee! Ninety-nine cents for the actual House Report No. 93-1305: Impeachment of Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, August 20, 1974.
The first thing I thought was,
Damn! I wish I could send this to my father!
My father, once a professor of political science and now dead these past 6+ months, always said that Nixon was the only politician he hated, personally.
When I looked at the introductory matter, then I really wished he (my father) were alive so I could call him and ask,
What does it meant that on the list of Impeachment Inquiry Staff is Hillary D. Rodham, Counsel? What was she doing?
I know I can (and will) google the answer, but since my father and I never had a lot of easy meeting points, I always loved finding a good question for him, on which I could hang a conversation.
Gollee, and there's John Conyers on the Committee on the Judiciary list, now sadly disgraced, and Barbara Jordan, r.i.p.
And Trent Lott!
And, and, and:
I rarely pay close attention to politics, but these names rang through my childhood, on TV and at the dinner table.
But look---this is the most amazing thing to read, on Page One:
Hey... we got rid of a rotten president before, we could do it again, eh?
Since my dad is not here to enjoy this, I'll keep it for a while, then list it on eBay.
I was one of the student go-fers who, in those pre-Internet days, took a library truck into the stacks of this huge library and retrieved hard copy of books and magazines in order to Xerox requested chapters or articles by hand.
(I can still smell the ink and ozone and feel the heat of the overworked copiers.)
The copies were then mailed (in the mail) to the people who'd requested them, as the happy expense of we taxpayers.
In my eyes, the worst task was hunting down material in Government Docs---that mess of printed papers put out by the US Congress, bound in distinctive brown paper.
Today at the thrift store, however, I was soooo excited to see this House Report bound in that brown paper:
Zowee! Ninety-nine cents for the actual House Report No. 93-1305: Impeachment of Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, August 20, 1974.
The first thing I thought was,
Damn! I wish I could send this to my father!
My father, once a professor of political science and now dead these past 6+ months, always said that Nixon was the only politician he hated, personally.
When I looked at the introductory matter, then I really wished he (my father) were alive so I could call him and ask,
What does it meant that on the list of Impeachment Inquiry Staff is Hillary D. Rodham, Counsel? What was she doing?
Gollee, and there's John Conyers on the Committee on the Judiciary list, now sadly disgraced, and Barbara Jordan, r.i.p.
And Trent Lott!
And, and, and:
But look---this is the most amazing thing to read, on Page One:
The Committee on the Judiciary... recommends that the House exercise its constitutional power to impeach Ricard M. Nixon, President of the United States....
RESOLUTIONResolved, That Richard M. Nixon President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Hey... we got rid of a rotten president before, we could do it again, eh?
Since my dad is not here to enjoy this, I'll keep it for a while, then list it on eBay.
My sister e-mailed me:
ReplyDelete"Remember how our father HATED Trent Lott’s hair? That it was shellacked in place? LOL"
What a great find! And I'll take that, please!!!
ReplyDeleteSo much fun to go back through the old government reports and see who was on what Committees.
Kirsten
Hi, Kirsten:
ReplyDeleteWho knew it could be so fun! Funny, eh?