Local man owns Presidential artifact

Carolyn Abell/Special to The Gazette CNHI

TIFTON — "One man's trash is another man's treasure," or so the saying goes.

In the mid-1970's Tifton resident John Mallory was visiting a friend in Unadilla, who was liquidating his antique business. The friend frequently bought salvage items from Robins Air Force Base and sorted through them for anything of interest and possible resale value in his antique business. As a long-term antique collector, Mallory was offered the opportunity to sift through a pallet load of the salvage trash from the base.

He found several items of interest, including a heavy glass ashtray, a brass table lamp and a metal valise in fairly good condition. Upon examination, he noted that the valise had a medallion attached to the front near the opening. Looking closely at the medallion, he was surprised to see that it portrayed the Presidential Seal in the center with the words "THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SEAL" in raised letters around the edge. Impressed with his "find," Mallory, a draftsman by trade, decided to use the valise for his drafting work, and continued to do so until he retired in the mid-1980's.

After retirement, Mallory's curiosity prompted him to pry off the Presidential Seal medallion to see if there was anything on the back side. Around the outer edge he found "37th PRESIDENT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." In the center was the name "Richard M. Nixon," and below it "Inauguration 1-20-69."

On the inside top part of the valise are printed the words (or code) "WE NO."

There is no lock on the case, nor is there any indication that there ever was one. There are, however, 11 small holes drilled through the top and a couple more in the front, indicating that something -- possibly a telephone-- had at one time been installed in the valise.

Mallory says that Nixon made at least two trips to Robins Air Force Base during his presidency, because he and his wife had traveled there to see the President. Though not able to get close to him, they nevertheless saw him from a distance.

Mallory says that Nixon made at least two trips to Robins Air Force Base during his presidency, because he and his wife had traveled there to see the President. Though not able to get close to him, they nevertheless saw him from a distance.

Diane Truluck in the Robins Air Force Base office of the historian, verified that President Nixon landed there in Air Force One on Nov. 16, 1973. His visit, however, was not to the base itself.

The purpose was to attend a special ceremony at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government to pay tribute to former Congressman Carl Vinson on his 90th birthday. Vinson, who served 50 years as a Georgia Congressman in the U.S. House of Representative, was known as the "father of the two-ocean Navy" for his efforts to build up the United States Naval Fleet in order to be able to fight in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans simultaneously. In fact, on the date of Vinson's 90th birthday, Nixon announced that the nation's third nuclear powered aircraft carrier would be named the U.S.S. Carl Vinson.

Truluck was unable to offer any explanation, however, as to why one of Nixon's valises might have been discarded at the base.

One of John Mallory's friends, who worked for former President Jimmy Carter, told him that the valise was very similar to the one Carter had carried, which held the famous "red phone"-- a "hot line" that connected the United States President with the leader of the-then Soviet Union.

Information provided by Olivia Anastasiadis, a curator at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., failed to provide anything conclusive about what the valise was used for, or whether it had actually been a personal possession of Nixon. According to Anastasiadis, "It may be that the trunk (sic) was related to the President's inaugural, but not his personal property."

In any event, John Mallory considers it a prized possession. He literally picked up a piece of presidential history from a trash pile.