2016

Ex-Presidents and Smith Caronas

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My interest in reading about presidents started in childhood. I recall walking to the Allenstown, N.H. library, taking a short cut through an open field on a summer day to check out a biography of George Washington. I was probably about 10. Since then, I have read biographies of more than half our presidents and own about four dozen biographies of those chief executives who most affected America’s history — Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Lyndon Johnson and others. I have skipped Franklin Pierce — the only president from New Hampshire if one does not count Josiah Bartlett from “West Wing,” which I suppose one should not. It is a pity the favorite president of my lifetime is fictional.

I have also not read biographies of Warren G. Harding, Chester Arthur or James K. Polk. Nor do I plan to. I almost certainly will read the first biography of President Obama written by a respected historian, for a first take on his presidency. But time will have to pass before anyone can claim to write Obama’s definitive history — or at least the first definitive history. There is always another one lurking around the corner.

Certain presidents fascinate me. I have read at least a half dozen books about Richard Nixon, the dark prince of the Oval Office. Perhaps it is because his downfall came about just as I became an adult. I have paid attention to politics since I could read, though I do not know why. In the 1960s and early 1970s my parents were considered moderates — though now, especially in the South, they would be dubbed damned liberals.

But they were not politically active, other than my dad occasionally slapping a bumper sticker on his truck. In 1972, when Nixon swamped McGovern my dad put a “Nixon: Now More Than Ever” sticker on his 1953 Chevy pickup. (As I have written before, I was Gregg County chairman of the McGovern campaign, at 17, so I could not even vote for the man. That shows how hopeless his effort was here. But I had fun.) When I borrowed my dad’s truck if my 1954 Dodge had broken down, I would tape a McGovern sticker over the Nixon sticker and then take it off when I got home. So perhaps that is why I am so fascinated with Nixon.

The only president who captures my reading attention more has been Lyndon Johnson. Again, I think the connection is somewhat personal. I handed out fliers for Eugene McCarthy in the snow during the 1968 New Hampshire primary, because a pretty college girl asked me to. (I was 12.) I recall watching our snowy black-and-white television when LBJ announced a few weeks later he would not run for re-election. A few months after that, we moved to LBJ’s home state. I watched the debacle at the Chicago convention on my grandfather’s television, when Mayor Daley’s goons cracked heads. My grandfather, as I later teased him, was one of those Southern Democrats who had not voted for a Democrat for president since Truman — except for Johnson.

So every few months I check to see if there is further word on Robert Caro’s progress in finishing his magnificent five-volume series of biographies on LBJ. He is working on the final volume, 34 years after I bought the first installment. Caro, who is 80, appears hale and hearty. A piece in last week’s Wall Street Journal magazine features him identifying the objects he holds dear in his office. You have likely seen this type of article before. I love seeing the workspace of other writers — especially those infinitesimally more talented and famous than I shall ever be.

Caro still uses a Smith Carona electric typewriter, out of production for 30 years. He had 17 extras as backups for parts, but is now down to 11. I’m worried. What if he runs out of typewriter parts before he finishes this last volume? I have spent over half of my life on this journey, and do not want it to end for want of a working Smith Carona Electra 210. I am being a bit selfish about this, since I am just one of Caro’s many readers, but I have a lot of time invested in these volumes.

I am going to keep my eye out, while on occasional forays to flea markets and garage sales. If I find an Electra 210, I plan to buy it and ship it to Caro’s publisher as a backup. Maybe he will send me an autographed copy of the final copy in return.

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