New York Magazine - USA (2019-12-09)

20 newyork| december9–22, 2019

Reread

march18, 1974

StillRoseMary’sBaby?

IllustrationbyRichard Hess

A feature on Nixon’s longtime

secretary, who was takingthefall

for erasing a key Watergatetape.

“The day I needed it, Hesswasn’t

finished,” Bernard says. “Icalled

him again and said, ‘Dick,it’ s got

th ame

ap ck,

saying that he hadn’t finishedthe

chair, the dress, the details.I took

a look and said, ‘It’s good enough.’”

november5, 1973

WhyNixonWas

Afraid of Cox

Illustration by Robert Grossman

“Robert Grossman was

another of those regulars,” says

Bernard. “He drew a comic

strip for us, at the bottom of the

‘City Politic’ column, and

also came up with illustration

ideas”—like this one, published in

the days after the Saturday Night

Massacre, not long before

impeachment proceedings began.

august23, 1971

WallStreet’sCase

Ag ainst Nixon

Illustration by Paul Davis

“We had a team of artists,”

Bernard says, “that we knew

could do certain things well and

certain things on deadline.

Paul Davis originally worked in

a primitive style—he did

other covers for us, for the ‘Power’

issue—but he could also

do caricature: You can see that

Nixon’s exaggerated here.”

october28, 1968

GloriaSteinemonLearning

to Live With Nixon

Photograph by Carl Fischer

AsBernard recalls, “Gloria”—who

wasone of New York’s first

politicalcolumnists—“didn’t want

tobephotographed for this.” In

thebook, Steinem explains why:

“Itseemed to me that serious

writersdidn’t do that. As you can

see,theresult was a compromise.

I wasthere amid Nixon photos,

butwithmy back to the camera.”

february4, 1974

Is NixonFinally

GoingUnder?

Illustration by David Wilcox

Glaser expresses great affection
for this one. “It’s remarkable
because it could be no other human
being on Earth besides Nixon.
And you wonder, what is it that
helps t
a fragm s
always miraculous. To some degree,
Nixon and Trump both share
this quality, of being a trademark.”

june 24, 1974

The Nixon Blues:

How the President’s Character

Explains Watergate

Illustration by JulianAllen

“Julian Allen was ourstaff

illustrator,” says Bernard,“and

‘T he Nixon Blues’ wasbasedon

the fact that we knewNixon

played the piano. A funny thing

was that, on Third Avenue

later that week, we sawa piano

bar that had put this coverup,

saying, ‘Coming nextweek.’ ”

september 9, 1974

Why Nixon Did

Himself In

Illustration by Haruo Miyauchi

One of many covers that reflects

New York’s long history as

a place for emerging journalists,

photographers, and illustrators.

“Haruo worked at Push

Pin Studios for Milton, studying

under him,” Bernard says,

“and he was young and we wanted

to give him a chance and

gave him the assignment.”

june 10, 1968

Will Nixon Trip Over

Nixon Again?

Illustration by David Levine

Levine is probably most

closely associated with the New

York Review of Books, but he

was a regular here as well.

“If we couldn’t figure a visual

treatment for an article,” says

Glaser, “we’d say, ‘Give it to

David. He’ll do a portrait.’ We

knew he’d always get something

on time and beautiful.”

1968 –1974

All Our Nixons

How New York’s original

graphic-design team

caricatured a crooked president.

Richard Nixon inadvertently helped New York grow up. The magazine was

founded in 1968, the year he was elected to the presidency. A few years later,

coverage of the Watergate scandal launched New York into the business of cover-

ing national affairs regularly. In those years, he appeared on our cover ten times.

¶ In their new book Mag Men: Fifty Years of Making Magazines, Milton Glaser

and Walter Bernard—who first collaborated in 1968 as New York’s founding

design director and art director, and continue to do so today—recount their

decades of editorial work, here and elsewhere. We asked about the covers they

conceived and assigned when Tricky Dick, rather than Tiny Hands, was the man

sweating out the prospect of impeachment. christopher bonanos