Nostalgia Is A Helluva Drug

I worked at the Houston Post newspaper from about 1971 or 1972 until 1991. I left to do other things during that time but I kept coming back, working part-time or full. Sometimes just as a summer fill-in and sometimes as a second job. I loved the Post. Especially during the years the paper was owned by the Hobby family, one of Texas' most distinguished. The Hobbys sold the paper in 1983 and it was never the same.

The Post passed on to the Great Press Room In The Sky in 1995 leaving behind a quirky building and a lot of upset employees who had been given no warning of the closure. But I digress.

I have a few mementos of my time there....some pencils, stationary and this comic-sized booklet intended to be used in schools through the Post's Newspaper in the Classroom Program. It was printed in 1972-ish and features a two page spread on each U.S. President through Richard Nixon. I'd forgotten all about it until I was clearing my work desk drawers last week. It's printed on stock that is about one step up from standard newsprint. 

It's discolored over the years but it's not fragile like a regular 45+ year-old newspaper would be, I was reluctant at first to scan the thing because I figured that folding back the pages and pressing it to the platen would damage it. But It seems none the worse for wear now that I'm done.

The cover:

The graphic wraps around to the back cover:

The Presidential Seal is awesome. Makes me wish we still had a president.

I stuck GW's portrait up at the top. Appears to be the same portrait as is seen on the dollar bill.  I took a photo of the JFK spread for perspective.

Here is GW's 'fact page'/bio. It's funny how a some pages have aged differently than others. The discoloration is slight with some but others have turned a much darker shade of orange/brown. I'd guess that two different qualities of newsprint were used to print this and combined in the collating process.

Honest Abe. He lost the popular vote and yet went on to become arguably our greatest President. Sigh.

I don't think any President has led a more diverse and entertaining life than Teddy Roosevelt. Public Service Announcement: Read This Book.

My man, LBJ:

The last President in the publication is Richard Milhous Nixon. Another fascinating and complex character. A few years ago I watched a lecture on the 1968 election and how George Wallace's presence siphoned off votes that likely would have put Hubert Humphrey in the White House. How would Viet Nam have played out? No Watergate? It was pretty interesting.

Back to the Post. This is the building as seen in my time there:

The building inside was as interesting as it appeared from the outside. We called it the 'Castle'. The Houston Chronicle bought the Post properties many years ago. They immediately began using the presses but it wasn't until a few years ago that they moved their main offices from their downtown Houston location to the Post building southwest of town. They then put their name on the outside. I drive by often but I can't even look at it now. In the 70's there was a real rivalry between the two papers, the Chronicle was our 'enemy'. I've been reading the Chronicle since the Post died but I've never gotten over that. LOL

Lastly a note about a memorable day at work. In May of 1976 a tanker truck fillied with liquid ammonia was speeding through the elevated interchange of US 59 and the 610 Loop right outside the Post building. It crashed thru the guardrail on the upper ramp and crashed. I'll never forget being herded upstairs to the third floor but not before telling my drivers (I was Ad Services dispatcher then) not to return to the building. I had them take their company-owned delivery vehicles and head home.

Here are a few pics I found and following them is a video done by my late friend Judd McIlvain who was a reporter at KHOU back then.

You can't see our building in the first one but it's behind the elevated freeway ramps.

The Pearl distributor was across the Loop and a block south from us. The Post would be just off to the right.

It was a hell of an explosion. Shook the building something fierce and broke this concrete pillar.

There's the Post  between the pillars in these next two pics.

Here's the KHOU video. If you've read this far thanks for indulging me on my trip down memory lane.

Presidents and Junk Wax

Collecting Presidential memorabilia is an expensive hobby for the most part. That's why I confine myself to inexpensive campaign pins, Presidential cards from Topps and other companies and assorted trinkets.

When I saw that Archives had a Presidential Chronicles subset I figured I could find it cheap and I did. It's only 10 cards total but several of those ten are targets in my collection, such as it is.

The JFK and Nixon cards are my favorites of the set. I really feel the pictures Topps chose for these two cards capture the essence of each of them. Kennedy, the charismatic orator, Nixon the thoughtful brooder.

The other cards in the set are Truman, the two Bushes, Jimmy Carter.....

...Hoover, Lincoln (how I wish I could afford some actual Lincoln memorabilia!), Ford and President Obama. The last two are very well represented in my collection.

The back of each card has a one paragraph blurb. You can't call it a 'bio'.

The Kennedy card uses a picture from his speech at Rice University in September of 1962. That day he proposed a large budget for NASA in hopes of having them put a man on the moon. Here's the original photo from Google Images. Looks like it was a beautiful day at Rice Stadium. I've seen many games there and that place hasn't changed a bit in 50 years.

And the Junk Wax I mentioned in the title? The seller used eight 90's era baseball and hoops cards to fill out the thick toploader. I'm sure every one of us has gotten cards orders thru the mail that included extras that the seller used to protect the 'goods'. I've never had this many cards as a 'bonus'. These are the six 'best' cards of the bunch. The Frank Thomas and Karl Malone cards are probably worth a nickel apiece but hey, a Hall of Famer's card is a Hall of Famer's card!

Campaign Buttons, Losers and a Winner

Wendell Willkie was a lawyer with no previous political campaign experience when he ran against the two term incumbent, Franklin Roosevelt, in 1940. Willkie lost but became a Roosevelt confidant, adviser and a sort of unofficial 'ambassador at large'. After the loss to FDR in 1940 be wrote a successful book on his world affairs and travels and he was an outspoken civil rights activist.

I recently picked up the three buttons above. They are the first Willkies in my collection. He is a pretty fascinating character worth checking into.

Dwight David Eisenhower ran and won two presidential campaigns with Dick Nixon as his running-mate. 'Ike's' campaigns where run in 1952 (when I was born) and 1956 so everything I know of them is what I read.  Ike always appears so reserved and laid back. But according to a book released last year he was a pretty tough guy in his dealings with his second in command and the two were anything but close.

I have several Eisenhower buttons (and many Nixons) but this is new and it's easily my favorite. Love the Capitol dome motif.