The Nixon Room

I mentioned yesterday how Vera booked us a quick vacation here in Savannah. She found us a room in a nice bed & breakfast called the Presidents’ Quarters Inn conveniently located among all of Savannah’s pedestrian-friendly squares and not too far from the river we crossed to get here.

I didn’t pay much attention to the name of the place as we were checking in, then found it funny when the sheet of paper we were given to put in our car windshield for parking had “RICHARD M. NIXON” in large type across the bottom.

Soon, though, I realized what Vera had done. Each of the rooms is named after a different U.S. president, and knowing all about my Nixon obsession studies, she had ensured we got the Nixon room. It’s being positioned next door to LBJ’s room seems appropriate, as does the fact that the room somewhat ignominiously faces the laundry.

All of the rooms in the place have been named after presidents who at one time or another spent time in Savannah -- not in the actual Presidents’ Quarters, mind you, but in the city. The hosts didn’t know too much about Nixon’s Savannah stay, but I found this description of a visit in October 1970 including a clip from WSB-TV.

Aside from the plaque next to the door, the only other indication of the room being devoted to the country’s only president to resign the office is a small display on one wall in the room dedicated to Nixon that includes some campaign buttons and a bumper sticker (pictured at left).

I actually brought one of the volumes of Stephen Ambrose’s Nixon biography on the trip. I wonder if the caretakers will spot it on the night stand when they come in to clean the room.

Speaking of privacy, I think I better go check right now to see if the phone is bugged.