In his popular weekly radio and subsequent television quiz show, ÂYou Bet Your Life, Groucho Marx featured the “magic word.” If a contestant happened to utter it during the course of the show, he or she would instantly receive $25 or $50 or some other, inflation-adjusted amount.
The change in control of both houses of Congress was not the only bad news for George Bush. The day after the election, he announced the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense and the nomination of Robert Gates as his successor.
The nation’s—and the world’s—final farewells to Coretta Scott King were celebrated in Atlanta on February 7. Three former presidents attended Mrs. King’s funeral, as did President Bush.