Richard M. Nixon (1969 – 1974)
Richard M. Nixon was, of course, our first President to resign from office. Like I mentioned earlier, this was a turbulent time for the Presidency. From 1933 to 1961, we had had only three Presidents. We had that many in the period from 1974 to 1977.
Nixon was a Quaker from California, born in 1913. Much of his early life was spent in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier. In his teens, he’d get up at 4 a.m., travel to Los Angeles to get vegetables at the market, then clean them and display them at the family grocery store before heading to school. He graduated high in his high school class then went to Whittier College. He continued to work at the family store, participated in the debate society, and developed a reputation as a very hard worker. He attributed a quote to Eisenhower with which he identified, “We were poor, but the glory of it was that we didn’t know it.”
He caught a break inasmuch as Duke University’s law school was new and offered a number of scholarships in an effort to attract top students. The scholarship availability was apparently more limited for second and third year students, making competition fierce. Nixon held on to his scholarship and graduated third in his law school class.
He tried unsuccessfully after law school for a post with the FBI. He was approved but, due to budget cuts, the offer was never extended; and Nixon headed back to Whittier where he got into private practice, working for corporations and drawing up wills. Nixon met his wife, Pat, while participating in community theater. Trying to improve his prospects, Nixon went to work for the federal government, but only briefly as an attorney. After World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve, and then sought and obtained a logistical post in the South Pacific. In 1945, he was appointed to a post where he assisted with terminating war contracts.
After the war, in 1946, Nixon ran to unseat an incumbent Democrat from his Congressional seat. He won after intense campaigning and after painting his opponent as being tied to communist groups. He supported passage of the Taft-Hartley Act which limited the power of unions and supported the Marshall Plan to give financial aid to Europe. In 1948, as a member of the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC), Nixon helped break the Algier Hiss case — Hiss was accused of being a spy for the Soviets. Much doubt has been cast on that allegation due to the manner in which the investigation was conducted and the future conduct of HUAC and Senator McCarthy with respect to trampling the rights of citizens and generally attempting to profit from anti-Communist hysteria. That said, the growing consensus seems to be that Hiss was, in fact, engaged in espionage. In any event, Nixon’s political star rose on account of his spy hunting.
In 1950, at the age of 37, Nixon ran for the U.S. Senate. He successfully painted his opponent as a communist-sympathizer and won by 20%. It was during this campaign, he earned the appellation “Tricky Dick.” In the Senate, Nixon was friendly with Joe McCarthy but was able to keep a bit of distance from the inflammatory Senator. “[Nixon] supported statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, voted in favor of civil rights for minorities, and supported federal disaster relief for India and Yugoslavia. He voted against price controls and other monetary restrictions, benefits for illegal immigrants, and public power.”
In 1952, Eisenhower was in the process of being nominated for President. He did not have much of a preference for Vice-President, and Nixon was selected because he was young, had a base in electoral-vote rich California, and had a reputation as strongly anti-communist. There was a bump in the road when it was found out that there was a legal but politically questionable fund set up by Nixon’s political supporters that helped pay for political expenses. Nixon went on air and gave the notorious “Checker’s” speech which was widely watched and well-received. Nixon remained on the ticket.
In 1960, after having served as vice-president for eight years under Eisenhower, Nixon ran for President in his own right. It was a close campaign, but ultimately, he lost out to John F. Kennedy. Then, in 1962, he ran a lackluster campaign against Pat Brown to be governor of California which he lost by 5%. Complaining about the media, Nixon said, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” The timing was politically fortuitous. He mostly sat out the 1964 Goldwater campaign and, when the Republicans got crushed that year, Nixon escaped blame. He helped other Republicans campaign in 1966 and received some of the credit for the positive results the Republicans enjoyed that year. With Democrats splintered over the Vietnam War, Nixon thought his prospects were good, and he decided to run again.
The Democratic side was chaotic. Johnson decided not to run after an unexpected loss in New Hampshire. Robert Kennedy was assassinated just moments after winning the California primary. Nixon’s main opponent was Michigan’s George Romney. Amid the chaos, Nixon attempted to project an image of stability, claiming to represent the silent majority against the counterculture – hippies and war protesters. He had a secret plan for “Peace with Honor” in Vietnam, and campaigned as a “law and order” candidate, contending that crime was too high. Ultimately, Nixon carried the day. He won 43.4% of the vote, Hubert Humphrey won 42.7% of the vote, and segregationist George Wallace took 13.5% of the vote. Despite getting only 0.7% more than Humphrey in the popular vote, Nixon had 301 electoral votes to Humphrey’s 191 and Wallace’s 46. Nixon’s win in California, Illinois, and Ohio was narrow. Had California gone the other way or Illinois & Ohio together, the vote would have gone to the House of Representatives.
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