There is a statue of Joe Paterno...

at Penn State University.  It needs to come down.  If not destroyed, it needs to be moved somewhere, where the public will not see it.  Put it into eternal storage, hide it in a closet in the athletic department or just melt it down for scrap metal.  But it needs to come down.

But wait, some say.  You can't judge a man's entire life and career by one action.  Joe Paterno was one of the greatest, if not greatest, college football coaches in history.  He was at PSU for 61 years.  He coached five undefeated teams to bowl victories.  He coached more wins than any other football coach in college football history.  He and his wife donated over $4 million to Penn State.  They funded the library that bears their names.  There's no counting how many lives he influenced positively.

I'm reminded of another figure in our history who is judged solely by one event in his long career.  Richard M. Nixon.  Today, 18 years after his death and 38 years after his resignation from the Presidency, his legacy can be summed up in one word.  Watergate.

Richard Nixon was Vice-President for 8 years.  He was President for almost 6 years before he resigned.  He served in Congress as both member of the House, and as a Senator.  He could have used his religion (he was a Quaker) to avoid military service.  Instead he volunteered and served in World War II.  He gets at least partial credit for exposing the spying of Alger Hiss.  He fought Communism.  He fought for statehood for Alaska and Hawaii.  He voted in favor of civil rights for minorities.  He pushed the Civil Rights Bill of 1957 through the Senate while Vice-President. 

When JFK defeated Nixon in the 1960 Presidential election, it was Nixon who refused to join in the chorus shouting "fraud" regarding allegations of voter fraud in Illinois and Texas.  He refused to contest the election or engage in what he felt would be divisive activities that would diminish the U.S. in the eyes of the rest of the world.  Even though he announced he wasn't going to seek office again after losing the 1962 race for the California governorship, he supported Barry Goldwater loyally in 1964.  He worked hard in the 1966 mid-term elections to get Republicans elected to Congress, to try to wipe out the gains Democrats had made in 1964 in the wake of Goldwater's candidacy.

As President, his accomplishments were impressive.  He opened the door to China when many thought it closed forever.  He did bomb Cambodia, but he also brought about peace in the Vietnam war.  He ended conscription into the military, although we still have draft 'registration' to this date.  He negotiated SALT I and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, two landmark agreements in arms reductions.  His administration improved relations with the Middle East, including the restoration of diplmatic relations with Egypt for the first time since 1967.  We can thank President Nixon for the Environmental Protection Agency.  He spoke about the environment in his State of the Union address, he supported the Clean Air Act and the formation of OSHA.  Nixon desegregated public schools.  He implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first program of Affirmative Action.  He endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment, and in spite of protests from feminists that he did little to help the ERA or their cases after the election, he appointed more women to cabinet positions than President Johnson had. 

That's a lot.  But it's all almost forgotten today because Nixon was definitely involved in the Watergate break-in and the attempt to cover it up.  All of his accomplishments today, well documented at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda and in the history books, are almost completely ignored.

And they should be.  It was a betrayal of the trust of the American people.  It was a crime.  So too was what JoePa did when he helped to cover up what Jerry Sandusky did. 

Take that statue down!