Today In History: Trump Invokes Memories of 7-Eleven; Nixon Paralyzed By Fateful Stroke

April 18, 2017, is the 106th day of the year, with 257 days remaining. The moon is in a waning gibbous phase, and illumination is at 59 percent.

Donald Trump recalls the tragedy of... 7-Eleven?

On the eve of the New York primary, Donald Trump told a local crowd that he wanted to talk about something that was close to his heart.

“I was down there, and I watched our police and our firemen down on 7-Eleven, down at the World Trade Center, right after it came down,” the GOP frontrunner expressed.

But he did not seem to realize that he had cited a chain of convenience stores, and his audience did not not seem to mind — or notice.

The error promptly drew notice and criticism.

“I saw the bravest people I’ve ever seen,” Trump continued without missing a proverbial beat, “including the construction workers, including every person down there.”

Former president Richard Nixon suffers a stroke

One fateful Monday in 1994, Richard Nixon suffered a stroke that left the former president partly paralyzed and unable to speak. Two days later, Dr. Fred Plum, the chief neurologist at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, reported on Nixon’s worsening state, citing “prominent brain swelling” and that the next one to three days would be crucial. The stroke was believed to have resulted from a blood clot that formed in one of the upper chambers of Nixon’s heart before breaking off and traveling through an artery to his brain. Plum characterized Nixon’s state as “drowsy, but able to be awakened.”

The health worker involved in Nixon’s care said the former president had suffered a right hemiplegia, or paralysis of the right side of the body.

“He is beginning to approach the period of maximal brain swelling just from the legion,” the worker further commented, “so, he may be better or worse in the next day or so, and I don’t think there is any way of telling.”

Nixon was a polarizing figure who had won the presidency by a record landslide and ultimately resigned in disgrace 21 months later. Four days into his stay at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, the 37th president of the United States passed away.

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore