At the table across from Nixon sat Ambassador Averell Harriman, also Groton and Yale, but not exactly a gracious gentleman on this night. “The Crocodile,” as he was known for his habit of snapping at people, looked straight at Nixon and announced in a loud voice (he was slightly deaf), “I will not break bread with this man!” Harriman had been a supporter of Helen Gahagan Douglas and regarded Nixon as an inferior being. He turned off his hearing aid, refused to eat anything, and shortly left the dinner.
