Rockefeller introduces Richard *E.* Nixon at convenion. Joke? Flub? Did I hear wrong?

Factual Questions
1

I was just watching a segment about political conventions on “CBS News Sunday Morning.” They showed a montage of clips from past convention speeches. One of the clips showed Nelson Rockefeller nominating or introducing Richard ***E. * ** Nixon.

Now, Nixon’s middle name was Millhouse, so, unless I heard it wrong, Rocky used the wrong middle initial. I tried to Google around to see what this was all about, but all I learned was that the Archie Bunker character on the TV show “All in the Family” used to refer to the president as “Richard E. Nixon.”

I suspect the two flubs are related. (But maybe not.) Was Rockefeller making a joke – that is, winking at the well-known Archie Bunker reference? Or were the “All in the Family” writers running with the Rockefeller goof. Or was it something else entirely?

Thanks all, in advance.

2

I think it’s a fairly obvious reworking of Alfred E. Newman.

3

:confused: Other than the fact that they have the same syllables with the same stress pattern, I can’t see what suggests that the one is a reworking of the other. And the syllable matching only suggests it very weakly.

-FrL-

4

And Jimmy Carter, at the 1976 Democratic convention, praised the great "Hubert Horatio Hornblower. "

Sometimes, people just foul up while in the media spotlight.

5

“Barack America!”

6

I saw the clip today, too. It was clearly a slip of the tongue by Rockefeller – there is no way he would joke in that situation.

Whether the All in the Family use was related would be difficult to assess without knowing when it was first used in the show. It could have been a reference to Rockefeller (hardly an Archie Bunker type, though), or Rockefeller could have been influenced by seeing the show, but more data is needed.

7

Monday morning bump.

8

Yes, he did say it, no it wasn’t a joke, and yes it’s one of the all-time great political flubs.

Ed

9

Huh. I’d heard of Carter’s Hornblower gaffe, but never the Rockefeller one about Nixon. (BTW, his middle name was “Milhous”).