One of the funniest jokes by comedian Jim Gaffigan was when he said he thought it must have been very difficult to find suitable birthday presents for Jesus.
When one of his followers gives him a pair of socks, Christ responds with “Socks. These will go great with my sandals. What am I, German?”
It was always a pretty good bet if you saw tourists walking around New York in shorts, sandals and black socks, they were probably German. That’s why the picture at the beginning of this piece is so surprising. Albert Einstein — definitely a German — is in sandals and other beach attire talking with a friend.
Believe it or not, sandals are the only things on Einstein’s feet.
No socks.
Of course, Germans weren’t the only ones known for poor fashion choices.The president when I came of age was infamous for walking on Southern California beaches in a business suit. In fact, I’m not sure there were ever pictures of him in beach attire, socks or no socks.
The picture above, released recently, shows Nixon closer to relaxing clothing than anything else I can remember. No suit, no tie, a shirt with at least a few buttons unfastened and not tucked into his pants. His shoes appear to be loafers. The other man in the photo, an uncanny copy from receding hairline to his attire, was Nixon’s friend Bebe Rebozo.
The dog is not Checkers, perhaps the best known presidential dog other than FDR’s Fala.
Checkers was never actually a presidential dog. He died in 1964.. but it’s a pretty good bet that without the dog in the famous 1952 speech, Nixon would never have gotten anywhere near the White House.
The dog humanized him.
Well, sort of.
Nixon’s ancestry was partly German on his mother’s side.
Maybe it’s a good thing there are no pictures of him in sandals.