Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Jr. served as Vice President of the United States from 1965 to 1969 under President Lyndon Johnson. Humphrey was the Democratic Party’s nominee in 1968, losing to Richard Nixon. He died ten years later on January 13, 1978.
A memorial service was held at the White House and hundreds of people came from all over the world to say good-bye to their old friend and colleague.
But one person who came was shunned and ignored by virtually everyone there. Nobody would look at him much less speak to him. That person was former president Richard Nixon. Not long before, he had gone through the shame and infamy of Watergate. He was back in Washington for the first time since his resignation from the presidency.
Then a very special thing happened, perhaps the only thing that could have made a difference and broken the ice. President Jimmy Carter, who was in the White House at that time, came into the room. Before he was seated, he saw Nixon over against the wall, all by himself. He went over to him as though he were greeting a family member, stuck out his hand to the former president, and smiled broadly.
To the surprise of everyone there, the two of them embraced each other, and Carter said, “Welcome home, Mr. President! Welcome home!” One president to another, from different parties, they understood what they had in common, what burdens they had born in common when they were elected president.
Newsweek magazine commented on the scene, “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.”
On this Inauguration Day, there is much for you and me to reflect upon and especially to do……
Do YOU believe that what President Jimmy Carter did and said that day to Richard Nixon was the right thing to do and say?
If YOU were in the room that day with President Richard Nixon, would you have approached him? What would you have said to him?
What do you think the candidates you voted for in the recent November 3rd election would have said and done to Richard Nixon that day?
Too many of the people I know keep cutting the fingers of their hands that hold their prayer books, bibles and rosaries with their sharp tongues every time they see a face on TV that they despise. Please pray for them! They really need our prayers so that our nation might begin to heal!
We Will Never Change the World by GOING to Church. We Will Only Change the World by BEING the Church!
