President Nixon's Ill-Fated White House Palace Uniforms

By | October 8, 2021

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Richard Nixon celebrating his presidential victory in Paoli, PA. (Wikimedia Commons).

When Richard Nixon took the Oval Office in 1969, he decided the White House uniformed Guard desperately needed a makeover. The 37th President came to this conclusion after making diplomatic trips to the UK, Indonesia, India, and Iran among others. In his estimation, the White House Secret Service uniformed division looked “slovenly,” in comparison to other countries.

Therefore, Nixon ordered fresh uniforms based on the outfits of the West German police officers. So what was the reaction to these palace guard uniforms and how do Alice Cooper and a high school marching band in Iowa figure into this trivial tale?

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The media had a good laugh at Nixon's expense. (WeirdUniverse)

A Frosty Reception

For context, we aren’t talking about the average Secret Service agent we all see in the movies. The White House also retains a uniformed division that performs basic duties like waving metal detectors, working with bomb-sniffing dogs, and other likely classified tasks.

Nixon decided to bust out his fresh gear for the arrival of United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Unfortunately, Nixon did not receive the rave reviews he undoubtedly had anticipated. Here were a smattering of the not so glowing quotes when the uniforms first debuted: "they look like extras from a Lithuanian movie,” "like a palace guard of toy soldiers," "they look like old-time movie ushers," "will they be goose-stepping, or what?"