Richard Milhouse Nixon and a Toileting Travesty
A Freudian Foible)
In 1972 our son Joe was two and we were twenty-two. I remember well what the Republicans called “the clearest choice of the century” Nixon vs. McGovern. It was indeed “the clearest choice” for my wife Cyndy and me and it stirred us to some at least token political activism distributing pamphlets for the Democrat McGovern and the platform for social change, equality and peace. WE were tearful and down-trodden as we watched the election results, a Nixon landslide with Massachusetts the only state which gave McGovern a majority. Later I would proudly drive around with my “Don’t Blame Me; I’m from Massachusetts” bumper sticker as it became “perfectly clear” what the national majority had chosen. Yes indeed, you can fool almost all the people some of the time. We even drove south,stayed ironically at Fort McHenry of Star Spangled Banner fame (we knew a kindred spirited National Park Service Ranger stationed there) and we attended the “Counter-Inaugural” protest organized by the loyal dissenters. We came face to face with some frightening police (state) crowd control tactics in response to what we considered totally acceptable free assembly and expression. The “Tricky One” even crossed our path in his motorcade and I swear he seemed to glow/gloat with a very strange aura as he was surrounded in all directions by motor cycle police, rooftop snipers,troops and choppers in the air. Returning to Boston with our civics lesson set firmly, we were delighted to open the weekly alternative Phoenix front page which carried a picture of President Nixon with the jagged teeth of “Jaws” ,the movie non-hero of the time superimposed on RMN’s mouth. As an expression of domestic political protest I cut the photo out and taped it irreverently to the inside cover of our toilet seat so that in effect we could “dump” on Nixon even as he “dumped “ on us. I thought no more of it and the photo disappeared sometime during the next months – or the next thousands flushes.
Not too long after this we commenced our first toilet training experiences with Joe a la Dr. Spock- gentle encouragement ,praise ,reward ,etc. ,but Joe was very reluctant. In fact, over the ensuing months he was fretful and even fearful in response to our regular BM training attempts. He would hold in for long periods and finally go in his underpants to his discomfort and our frustration. (One time he refused to admit that he had gone in his pants ,insisting that “the dog did it!} Despite our cajoling, story telling ,playing etc he would have no part of the toilet and our training was becoming a rather traumatic ordeal. We became involved in some therapeutic “anal”ysis and as Joe did his “clay play” it was obvious that he was fixated on the toilet as a painful ,”biting “ experience…Oh,oh! To be honest I think at first I repressed the truth of the Nixon/Jaws connection probably out of guilt that my act of political potty protest had had such an adverse effect/association for my beloved son. Oh the guilts! How could I have been so insensitive? But , I had a brainstorm in response. Batman (the original television parody ,not the subsequent dark,pop culture hyped item) was omni-present in ads and related toys. I cut out a picture of Batman ,taped it to the underside of the toilet seat where the offensive Nixon/Jaws parody had been and as the “official prosecutor is my witness", Joe did his first self-gratifying bowel movement on the toilet that very afternoon! Was this a clear case of psychic image replacement? From that time Joe demonstrated no toilet trauma, but a distinctively retentive personality.
It was a different type of sinister plumbing (Watergate) which led to Milhouse's evacuation from the White House not much later. I celebrated as the President who had had such a negative impact on us chose his infamous position in the “annals “ of the Republic!
For Human Growth and Development ,QJC 9/25/89
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