Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full

p. 588

One of the banes of Nixon’s life was his awkwardness. He would spill ink, conk his head on car door frames, and then spill blood on the white dress of one of the car’s occupants. “He stopped the habit of serving soup at White House official dinners after spilling soup down the front of his vest on his first such occasion.” Once, he was to throw out the first pitch on opening day for the Washington Senators baseball team and “actually dropped the ball.” Then, cameras clicking away, he had to pick it up. [These and other foibles were poignant to the sympathetic].