For a moment, friends and foes of Richard Nixon were thinking that the phrase on the T-shirt had come true: "He's Tanned, Rested and Ready - Nixon in '92."
But it wasn't the case after all.Thousands of listeners on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" program Wednesday tuned in to hear Richard Nixon - as played by impersonator Rich Little - announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
As with Orson Welles' Halloween 1938 broadcast of "War of the Worlds," panic erupted in some quarters before listeners realized it was all an April Fools' Day joke.
"People rushed out to tell their mailmen, some were crying, they were really emotional," program host John Hockenberry said of people who called in after the program ended.
Little read an "announcement" speech:
"I would not boast of a career in which so many tragedies and setbacks have occurred," Little, playing Nixon, said. "I would only say that it is the true leader who stands alone. Having marched up this hard road and won back your confidence, I ask you once again, my fellow Americans, to make me your president."