A Richard Nixon mask is a mask with the likeness of Richard Nixon. It was commercially available and quite popular in the waning days of the administration. It is generally made out of vinyl by Cesar Mask (fr), a French company, and is sold worldwide. The most famous Nixon mask was the big nose Nixon comical mask that was made by Cesar in the 1970s. Later, other companies made similar versions made from latex rubber or similar flexible castable compounds.

Mask of Richard Nixon from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

One of the notable features of most Nixon masks is the classically-caricatured nose. Many of the different versions of the Nixon mask have a wide, grinning smile as well.

Although the masks were widely believed to be only a fad, which would presumably die down as the public attention on Watergate waned and once Nixon left office, the masks managed to outlive their presumed fad status by becoming popular during events such as Halloween and adult masquerade parties. The Nixon mask remains popular today and is worn both for humorous effect and in protest marches and similar "public displays of disaffection". According to Harper's magazine's October 2002 "Harper's Index," Nixon masks were the best-selling political mask for the previous five years for the top U.S. costume wholesaler Morris Costumes.[1]

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References

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  1. ^ "Harper’s Index Archived 2005-12-08 at the Wayback Machine," Harper's (October 2002).
  2. ^ Marshall, Lee (2007), Bob Dylan: the never ending star, Cambridge: Polity, p. 14, ISBN 978-0-7456-3641-2