Nixon's Doomsday




One other thing happened on Monday January 7th 1974 that effected my life. The local ABC affiliate WQAD started rerunning Star Trek. It's impossible for me to tell you how much this meant to me. I had vague memories of watching Star Trek when it was first on the air. But the memory of my love for the show was still strong.
In fact on that busy January night there was only one episode I could remember clearly. It was called the Doomsday Machine. That episode was about a cigar shaped robot spanning hundreds of miles long chopping up planets and eating the rubble for fuel. The Enterprise finds a wrecked starship called the Constellation which had encountered the Doomsday Machine and was now drifting in space with only it's Captain left aboard. Together both ships must combat the Doomsday Machine before it gets to Earth. The effects are cheesy by todays standards but back then I thought it was great.
I loved that episode. Even though I had only seen it once it left a very big impression on me. Everytime John would buy himself a model of the Enterprise I would take a lighter to it and transform it into the Constellation. John was never happy with my handiwork.
So when Star Trek reruns began playing I knew it was only a matter of time before the Doomsday Machine was shown. I began saving up money and bought myself a new model of the Enterprise. Within days I had transformed it into the Constellation. Soon I had bought myself another Enterprise. This one I kept in nice shape.
Sometime during Easter break , TV Guide said that the episode I had awaited for was finally coming on. I was overjoyed. The day of the episode I grabbed my models and sat in front of the TV. At 3 in the afternoon right after Gilligan's Island went off I changed the channel to watch my show.
I was greeted with a picture of a large room with a bunch of old men talking. This wasn't right, I thought. I grabbed the TV Guide and thumbed to the page I had marked. There it was. 3 o'clock. Star Trek. Doomsday Machine. WQAD. Channel 8.
I looked up at the TV. It was on channel at. It was three o'clock.
"Mom!"
Mom came out of the kitchen. "Yes?"
"What's this stuff?" I pointed at the TV.
"That's the Watergate hearings."
"Watergate? What's that?"
" Ask your Dad. He'll tell all about it. All I know is President Nixon did something wrong."
Nixon? Nixon did this?
Three o'clock slowly drifted to four o'clock. I sat there waiting for this thing to end. I was very upset. Mom could see how mad I was from the look on my face. "Well if they didn't show your little show today maybe they'll show it tomorrow?" Leave it to my Mom to make me feel better.
The next day I sat down at 3 o'clock and turned the channel. Star Trek came on.
It wasn't the Doomsday Machine. They had skipped it. I was so mad there were tears coming out of my eyes.
That night after Dad came home but before he could get too drunk I asked him what these Watergate hearings were.
" Tricky Dick broke the law and they are having the hearings to prove it."
"How long will it take?"
"I suppose until they prove it or Nixon admits it."
" You mean if he just told them what happened all this would stop?"
Dad looked thoughtful (in all likely hood he was trying to remember how much beer he had left in the fridge.) "I guess."
Nixon. What a jerk I thought.
As the days went by the Watergate hearings became worse. More and more Star Trek episodes were being preempted by them. Many times Mom would wander into the living room between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon to find me sitting upside down in Dad's chair, mumbling under my breath over and over again,"Confess confess confess."
Soon other channels began showing the Watergate hearings. Gilligan's Island became another casualty of our mad President. Get Smart another. Eventually all I was left with was PBS. This effectively left me with no television to watch. After all I was in 3rd grade. Far to old to watch Big Bird and Bert and Ernie.
I did a lot of reading that summer. After all 1974 was still a few years away from us having our first VCR. I also found myself listening to a lot of records. My favorites were Cheech and Chong, and one Richard Pryor album. But in order to listen to them I had to turn them way down so Mom and Dad wouldn't listen to them.
Right after 3rd grade got out for the summer TV Guide listed the Doomsday Machine to come back on. I got all my Star Trek items and sat in front of the television an hour early. I kept praying for the hearings to end early that day. 3 o'clock came and the hearings kept right on rolling on. I screamed. Mom came running into the living room and asked me what was wrong. I looked up at her and said in an anguished voice,"They just won't stop!" Mom had no idea what I was saying.
Then at 3.30 the hearings ended for the day. A flash of hope surged though me. Perhaps I could see at least half the episode? A commercial came and went. Then F-Troop started came on.
F-Troop?
Any half a Star Trek episode was far better then an whole F-Troop any day! When was Nixon going to stop holding the airwaves hostage and just go away? A deep deep burning hatred began to burn in my heart for the evil little man. The sooner he was gone the happier my life would be. What idiots elected this dink anyway?
I found Dad before he was too drunk that night to answer questions.
"Dad did you vote for Nixon?"
"Hell no."
"Who did?"
"Republicans."
"What's a Republican?"
"Who's the bad guys on Star Trek?"
I perked up on this. "Klingons and Romulans!"
Dad waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah Republicans are a lot like those guys." (I've since come to learn that Klingons have more honor.)"And Nixon's their evil leader."
Nixon........Republicans. I was really starting to hate these guys. Just give me back my shows, I thought. I was spending more time then was healthy playing outside with friends, and reading books and running around with my dog. I needed to be in the house watching shows I had memorized years ago.
I mean Good God even the Munsters and the Adams Family were being preempted. When was this madness going to stop?
With virtually no Television during the day time summer seemed to crawl by.
Then about a month before school was to begin again, in early August 1974 TV Guide listed the Doomsday Machine again. It was to come on Friday August 9th at 3 oclock. "Please", I thought to myself, "Please let this be an early day."
Then Wed night August 7th Nixon came on TV and gave a short speech. He said he was resigning.
I looked at Dad. "What's that mean?"
"He's giving up. He's quitting." Dad had a huge smile on his face. It was not unlike what a shark might look like before it bites someone.
He's quitting?
I couldn't believe it. I was so happy I began to laugh. The next day was a beautiful warm summer day. I watched the television as it showed the little evil man boarding a helicopter and flying away. Nixon flew to an airport where he got on a big jet. He then flew of to California. As the newsmen talked they kept showing where the presidents plane was on a map. When the time came for his plane to flying overhead where I was I ran outside into the street and looked up in the sky. Sure enough a few minutes later I saw a jet fly overhead. (I'm not sure if that really was his jet but my 9 year mind was awfully sure.)
I began to dance in the street. "He's gone!" I began shouting for all my neighbors to hear." Tricky Dick is gone!" I saw various curtains pulled aside and women peeking out at me. I didn't care."Tricky Dick is GONE!" I was practically screaming at this point.
The next day Friday August 9th 1974 the Doomsday Machine finally came on. I sat on the floor just a few feet from the television holding my models of the Enterprise and Constellation. The entire time there was a smile on my face and I was content.

In 1992 on one of the first dates with my soon to be wife we went to Best Buy. While I was wandering around looking at the video tapes for sale I saw a bunch of Star Trek episodes for sale. There in the middle was The Doomsday Machine. Best Buy was selling it for only $9.95. I thought it was funny that it was now so easy to buy after all the trouble It was to watch it back in 1974. I couldn't resist getting it . I took it home and watched it a few times before putting it away and forgetting about it.
On Friday April 22 1994 Nixon died. They aired his funeral on TV. All the former presidents except Reagan attended and gave speeches. I didn't watch much of it. Nixon had stolen far too many hours of my childhood television shows. I wasn't going to let him have anymore.
Instead a few moments after the funeral came on I dug around under my television cabinet, found the video tape of the Doomsday Machine and popped it into the VCR. I thought it was fitting.