Public tastes and mores were moving away from Nixon’s values, which remained firmly rooted in small-town, prewar rural America. On May 13, Safire wrote in his diary this “aside” from Haldeman: “The President turned on the ballgame Tuesday night, and when it was rained out, he watched a show called ‘All in the Family.’ It really bugged him. He remembers all the dialogue and he acts it out when he tells about it. It had to do with a fag who was portrayed sympathetically. The President feels that the decline of civilizations has always been marked by an acceptance of homosexuality and a general
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