Today is Nixon's 107th Birthday! I was super excited because I had lots of fun props I didn't have during our first go around. I have campaign buttons and newspapers! And you see those little "Deomcratic Secrets in the bottom right hand corner of the first picture? Those are the same ones we used in 2015! Hayden has had it with his toys the entire time since then! Also, I wore my shirt I had made when I visited my last of the 50 states- because Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states.
I set up my cameos board- and we had lots of 'We Didn't Start the Fire guys show up!
And of course, there's the book from our last go around.
So, I did write A LOT about Nixon this go around- but we're trying to cover elections and Nixon was in FIVE of them. He was Veep in two, he lost once, and he won two. I think that's a record. Anyway, read if you want, or page down for some pictures and such. (Hayden took a few while I talked)
The Story of Richard Nixon
2020 Edition: By Corinne Waterstraut
107 years ago today our 37th President was born in Yorba Linda, CA in a house that his father had built. Things to know about Richard Milhouse Nixon: His mom was a saint. His father, an angry abusive asshole. Dick would take after his father.
His family was poor, and Quakers. The Quaker religion conservative values included no swearing and no drinking. His mother thought he might one day become a Quaker missionary. (Spoiler Alert: Nixon did not in fact, become a Quaker missionary).
I can’t really imagine Richard Nixon as a kid. He seems like one of those people that was born a grumpy, conniving old man. But, he was in fact a child at some point.
And some of his childhood could have been a bit of a future predictor.
Richard was 7 when his brother died, and he was determined to make up the loss to his parents by becoming successful. It was a drive that would eventually get out of control.
He was an angry child. Richard once got pissed about not catching as many tadpoles as his friend, so his logical answer was to hit the boy over the head with a toy hatchet (It might have been a toy- but still left a scar on the kid- which he had for the rest of his life).
His first grade teacher described him as “A very solemn child who rarely ever smiled or laughed”
At fourteen, he heckled carnival goers by being a ‘carnival barker’
He had a failed run as his High School Student Body President.
Richard Nixon had a smile that always seemed forced, he never seemed to relax, he was always awkward with small talk, and he preferred solitude. He was a good debater and a klutz.
But he was also a theater nerd: In High School Richard Nixon decided to try his hand at the theater. Dick always seemed to be putting on a show, so why wouldn’t he try his hand at acting?
Richard Nixon never did anything unless it was a means to an end. In this case, the end was a pretty girl, and daughter of the local police captain who loved the theater and wanted Dick to try out to be in the high school play.
And just as he would throughout his life, Dick Nixon was all in to impress whoever he needed to impress to get where he wanted to go. So he took dance lessons and tried out for the play.
The play went horribly, in case you were wondering. He had to wear a toga and a mix up gave him boots that were two sizes too small. (It would be the only time in Nixon’s life he wore boots, He swore them off and even gave them away when he was campaigning in Texas and Texans offered them as a gift).
Nixon wore the small boots, flubbed his lines, and had an awkward love scene with the object of his affection. It didn’t work out between Nixon and his high school love interest.
Nixon went off to college at Whitter, local Quaker college, because he couldn’t afford Harvard. He became class president, started a frat, practiced with the football team, and even spent his weekends teaching Sunday School to little kids.
But, even then he showed promise in the criminal arts. Not so much he could get work at the FBI (he was rejected when he applied), but he was a sneaky sneaks even in college. He was arrested with a bunch of friends sneaking into a movie theater without buying tickets. He put a call into a judge friend and got off scott free. He later broke into the deans office to see his grades early, again, escaping any real punishment.
During all of this, Dick kept on acting, joining the community theater, which would introduce him to Thelma Catherine Ryan at one lucky audition. Lucky for him, less so for her.
Thelma had been born the day before Saint Patricks Day, and her father gave her the nickname Pat. But, her upbringing hadn’t been easy. She grew up in California on a farm where she spent most of her time picking vegetables and watching her drunk father yell at her mother. Her mom died when she was 13, and Pat was left to run the household. Then, her dad died when she was only 17.
Orphaned before college, Pat was a tough girl and she soldiered on. She got good grade and worked any odd jobs she could to work her way through college (a dental assistant, a cleaning lady, a telephone operator, a store clerk).
She adventured to New York City by convincing an old couple headed there anyway to pay her to drive them cross county. That was enough money for her train ticket back.
After graduating with honors, Pat got her teaching certificate and taught typing at a local high school. And, she dabbled in acting.
Pat had model good looks, and she impressed directors with her acting ability. But, Pat was uninterested in a career in acting. She was mostly interested in the amateur acting troupes, which is where she met her fellow troupe player, Richard Nixon.
Dick was hoping to impress Pat more than he had his high school costar. For him, it was love at first sight. For her, not so much. I mean how many people are immediately drawn to Richard Millhouse Nixon, you know?
Nixon told Pat that he was going to marry her someday. If this had been 80 years later, she would have blocked him on all the dating apps. But, it was 1938, so all she could do was pretend to not be home half the time, and roll her eyes at him.
Eventually though, Pat gave in and went on a date with him. Even then, it took her another two years before she agreed to marry him.
Dick took the usual path into politics and became a lawyer. He ended up in DC during World War II, and both worked at the Office of Price Administration, before Dick enlisted in the Navy and Pat traveled with him from base to base. (He never actually saw any action though).
They had two daughters, Tricia and Julie (Julie would go on to marry Dwight Eisenhower’s grandson! Her kids have a presidential great-grandfather and a presidential grandfather!)
In 1945, Richard Nixon decided to enter politics. Pat was not thrilled. She agreed, but with two rules.
1. She never, ever wanted to have to give a political speech
2. The family’s privacy would never be intruded.
Dick Agreed. But, spoiler alert: Nixon lied.
Nixon has a long and sordid public life. It’d take us forever to cover it all. So, the middle bares some fast-forwarding. We need to get to the good parts.
He ran (and won) Congressional Campaigns in the House in 1946 and 1948 and the Senate in 1950. He won his first seat by throwing out unfounded claims his opponent was a Communist.
But all those campaigns were all full of mudslinging, and unsavory actions. He just kept accusing his opponents of being “Commies” and it just kept working. He ran against a woman and printed posters that said she was “pink right down to her underwear” a sexist jab and an accusation of Communist Sympathy.
He earned the nickname “Tricky Dick”. He attracted Controversy and attention (Exactly what Pat wanted to avoid).
He continued to chase “Communists” for the “House Unamerican Activities Committee”. Joe McCarthy didn’t actually serve on this board. But, it was basically a real-Joe McCarthy-like- Committee. The Committee would make Nixon a political stand out.
And a political stand out means he was gaining attention and support from big businesses and organized crime bosses. They helped with his smear tactics, and Dick Nixon was known as the mean-spirited guy with an impersonal style, and shadowy connections.
Pat, meanwhile, went all in on his campaigns without complaint. She raised to kids, she did all the cooking and cleaning, she even made slipcovers for their furniture and curtains for their home in DC. But, she did more than that.
Pat was the MVP of all of his campaigns. She ran the campaign offices. She typed up and mailed pamphlets, She researched opponents strengths and weaknesses and she even donated what little savings she had to his campaign (and throw in some of Richard’s poker winnings for good measure). None of it was her idea of fun, but she did it all without complaint.
She had a light at the end of the tunnel: Dick promised her that he would leave politics at the end of his Senate term in 1956. But, again, spoiler alert: He lied.
But Pat loved Nixon more than she hated politics, so she went along with all of his political endeavors. She saw a side to Nixon rarely seen by anyone else. When asked about him in an interview she replied with “Oh, but you just don’t realize how much fun he is! He’s just so much fun!”
In 1952, American Hero-General of D-Day fame-Dwight Eisenhower was going to be the Republican nominee. And his running mate would be Richard Nixon. So why exactly did Eisenhower choose Nixon- the Orange County Senator who was best know for “Red hunting”- to join his presidential ticket?
It wasn’t Ike’s idea, he didn’t much care who his veep would be. His advisors, however, thought Nixon would be a perfect running mate. Nixon’s youth (he was only 39), his stance against communism, and his political base in the large state of California were all seen as vote-winners. It was literally a classic smoke-filled room in Chicago that resulted in choosing Nixon. Another back room deal added to the tally for Nixon.
Nixon was nearly there. The light at the end of the tunnel. He always believed he was destined for the White House, he believed POTUS was a position meant for him. He was self-confident, he was ambitious, but is drive for results at any price was an issue.
Eisenhower had pledged to work with his Vice President, saying he would give him some responsibilities. But, he was also put off by Nixon, almost dropping his veep from the ticket when Nixon was accused of taking inappropriate contributions.
Eisenhower wanted Nixon to go on TV to diffuse the situation.
Dick was annoyed and nearly ready to walk. Surely he’d find another way to the White House. But, Pat convinced him to go on TV and save his career, even though it was a career she hated.
Nixon went on TV, and he apologized. He admitted that he did receive a gift, but it wasn’t in his bank account: it was a canine resident. A baby cocker spaniel was given to him from a Texas devotee. The family named the dog Checkers, and Nixon said he couldn’t give the “gift” back regardless of the outcome and break his daughter’s hearts.
Of course, everyone loves a dog story. Nixon came off and relatable and shockingly enough, likable. The “Checkers Speech” (which of course, was obviously staged, a little something he learned in the theater) would be the closest thing something in the 1950s could be to going viral.
Eisenhower was satisfied for now, and the two won and headed off to the White House together.
But, Eisenhower still wasn’t a fan. He made Dick “America’s Goodwill Ambassador” just to get him out of DC. Pat, of course, always the supportive wife, went with him.
Eisenhower might not have been impressed with Dick, but he was impressed with Pat. He noted her ability to reach people, connect with people, remember names and put people at ease. She was an extraordinary Second Lady. The press loved her, and she seemed popular with everyone.
Well, everyone until they went to Caracas, Venezuela and people started spitting on her and Dick. But, Pat held her own and never flinched.
When 1956 rolled around, Eisenhower was up for re-election. He tried to offer Nixon a cabinet position to get him off the ticket, but Nixon declined. He saw that as further from his rightful spot in the White House than his current position. Plus, Ike had had a couple heart attacks by then, if he hung in there, he might just end up as President by default. (Nixon effectively ran the country for six weeks while Ike was recovering from one of those heart attacks).
He wasn’t the only one that saw the opportunities. Democrats claimed Ike was a part time president, while Nixon was the power behind the throne. Democrats even tried to get Adlai Stevenson to run a campaign called “Nervous about Nixon”. But Stevenson was a gentleman, and refused to run the dirty ads.
Maybe he should have. Eisenhower and Nixon won in a landslide.
Ultimately, Ike did give Nixon responsibilities. And Nixon redefined the job of Vice President, by doing far more than anyone else had done. He attended National Security and cabinet meetings, running them if Ike couldn’t attend. Nixon became one of the most active Vice-Presidents in US History.
And then came 1960. 1960 represented a new era in politics. Out of the old guys like Truman and Eisenhower, and in with the fresh faces of JFK, and Richard Nixon (running as the “New Nixon”).
America had just been beaten in the Space Race by the Russians. Khrushchev was an ever threatening presence. Eisenhower had sent federal troops to handle the Little Rock 9, but the root of the Civil Rights issue would need addressed. And America was gradually becoming more involved in Vietnam. It was a page of lyrics right out of We Didn’t Start the Fire.
The new president would have a lot to deal with.
Nixon’s only competition for the nomination came from Nelson Rockefeller- again of We Didn’t Start the Fire Fame- the more liberal Republican Governor of New York. Nixon met with him privately and they struck what would be called the “Compact of 5th Avenue” to shape the party platform for the election. Nixon easily won the Republican nomination on the first ballot.
On the Democratic side you had a handsome, movie star looks War Hero turned Congressman turned Senator, John F. Kennedy. His family had money. Everyone loved his wife. But, there was one problem: he was a Catholic.
Yes, even though we were 100 years removed from the Know-Nothing Party, anti-Catholic was still a thing. The last Catholic to run for president, was Al Smith in 1928 (who lost to Herbert Hoover), and he was practically burnt at the stake. Kennedy though, addressed a group of Protestant Ministers and denied, convincingly, that he had any allegiance to the Pope.
Nixon, to his credit, refused to make JFK’s religion an issue. But that didn’t stop the Democrats from trying to make it into an issue. Even in their “push pulling” they asked “Do you think they’re going to keep Kennedy from being president just because he’s Catholic?”
Nixon tried to combat his devious, underhanded, ‘Tricky Dick’ persona. Pat, helped soften him. Everyone loved her, and she would be his greatest asset in the race for the White House. At one point a Nixon advisor said “If we can’t improve Nixon’s public image, perhaps we could drop him and run Mrs. Nixon”.
While Richard Nixon often came off aloof and abrasive, he did his best to appear mellow, mild and reasonable. (Democrats didn’t buy it. Harry Truman weighed in “If you vote for Nixon you ought to go to hell”)
But pretty boy JFK was not without his problems. His rich boy status played much better in cities than it did in the country. Farmers were not charmed by him. (Things didn’t go well at a rally in South Dakota and JFK was herd telling aids “Well, that’s over. Fuck the Farmers.”)
In an effort to appeal to the more southern, less “pretty-boy” voters, JFK asked LBJ to be his running mate. The two could not have been more different, and didn’t particularly get along. But, they needed each other.
Then came the famous televised debates. The very first presidential debates on TV. JFK looked fresh faced, poised, and confident. Nixon appeared nervous and tired. His make-up was streaming down his face due to his sweating. Dick looked so bad on TV, afterward his mom called to check on him.
Those who listened to the debates on radio thought Nixon had won. Those who watched it on TV, however, gave the win handily to JFK. There would be more televised debates. Nixon would look better, but it didn’t matter- the damage was done.
Most experts predicted a Kennedy victory, but in no way would it be a landslide. On election day, voter turnout was high- over 60%- and it was close. As close as elections have ever come. When all the votes were counted, JFK had won by only 119,450 votes, or less than 1/10 of one percent. (Though the electoral college was 303 to 219)
After a sleepless night, Nixon conceded, and JFK went on to become the 35th President of the United States. Republicans were upset Nixon didn’t challenge the results.
He would have had good reason to.
An investigative reporter for the New York Herald Tribune started digging into the election. He promised a 12-part series of highly convincing articles detailing voter fraud.
He started with Texas (Lyndon Johnson’s home state) and Illinois (home to the powerful Democratic machine run by a powerful Mayor Richard Daley)
In Texas, there was evidence of stolen paper ballots, dead men voting, and phony registering. A minimum of 10,000 votes for the Kennedy/Johnson ticket were nonexistent. Polling stations reported thousands more votes than they had registered voters.
In Illinois, the reporter found evidence of cash payments for votes by precinct captains, dead voters, duplicate voting, and “pre-primed” ballot machines, which would automatically record three votes for every one cast.
In Chicago, Mayor Daley held back on releasing statewide election returns (maybe to see just how many votes JFK would need to take the state). Nixon took 93 of the 102 counties, but lost in Chicago by 450,000 votes. Even with that swing, Nixon only lost Illinois by 8,000 votes.
Mayor Daley also looks really shady here. He called JFK and told him “Mr. President, with a bit of luck and a few close friends, you’re going to carry Illinois”
The reporter was four articles in, and about to examine other states, when Nixon called him into his office. He begged the reporter to stop with the articles, claiming it was bad for the unity of the country to continue these articles. Nixon told him “Nobody steals the presidency of the United States”. And in a time when the press was more cooperative with politicians, the reporter agreed.
Let’s be real, Nixon probably didn’t believe what he told the reporter. Tricky Dick had just been out tricked by the Democrats and he knew it. We give the election of 1960 a 10 on the Sleaze-O-Meter for sure.
We all know what happens next: JFK, was sworn in, he was assassinated, LBJ became president- then won reelection.
Pat thought Dick was done in politics, until a dinner party in 1962, when she found out Dick had been planning to run for governor of California She left the party in tears.
Nixon wasn’t above dirty tricks in his run for governor, either. He set up a phony organization called “The Committee for the preservation of the Democratic Party”, which mailed out half a million postcards to registered Democrats, expressing concern over the “capture” of the party by a “left wing” minority and their candidate Pat Brown. A court forced Nixon to stop sending out the postcards, and the Republicans had to pay a settlement.
Nixon didn’t stop there. There might not have been photoshop in 1962, but Nixon did the equivalent, making it look like Brown was bowing to Russian Premier Khrushchev.
But none of it mattered. California wouldn’t end up electing Richard Nixon, instead going with Democrat Pat Brown. Feeling rejected yet again, he famously threw a hissy fit, telling reporters “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, this is my last press conference.” ABC ran a half-hour special called “The Political Obituary of Richard Nixon”.
He moved to New York and swore off politics. “I say categorically that I have no contemplation at all of being a candidate for anything in 1964, 1966, 1968, or 1972… Anybody who thinks that I could be a candidate for anything in any year is off his rocker.”
But Nixon just couldn’t stay away.
In 1968, LBJ was not running for re-election. Republicans had gotten their butts kicked four years earlier and wanted their party back.
With Johnson out the Democrats went scrambling to find their nominee. Hubert Humphrey, LBJ’s Vice President seemed like the anointed successor. Humphrey had also been 35th Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota and a Senator (and even the Majority Whip)
In the lead up to the nomination, Hubert Humphrey was up against the anti-war opponent Senator Eugene McCarthy, and Robert Kennedy, JFK’s brother, who was now a Senator for Massachusetts.
But Robert Kennedy would suffer the same fate as his brother, without ever getting to finish his run for president. After winning the California primary, Robert Kennedy was shot and killed.
Hubert Humphrey did not enter any of the 13 state primary elections, but won the Democratic nomination at the party convention in Chicago. The Convention was not without controversy though, as protesters rioted in the streets.
Nixon rehabbed his image with media advisors that groomed him for success. No more relentless campaigning, no more debating (even his Humphrey would call him “Richard the Chicken-hearted” for avoiding debates), and only press events where he had softball questions lobbed from supporters. He learned to talk in sound bites. Vague answers seemed to play best.
He assembled a loyal, capable staff. His only miscue was perhaps his Vice Presidential candidate, Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew. The guy was handsome, but not very bright and had far too big of a mouth. He was a loose cannon, sayings offensive things on the campaign trail like “What’s wrong with that fat Jap?”, calling Polish Americans “Polacks” and commented after touring a ghetto “when you’ve seen one city slum, you’ve seen em all.”
Nixon campaigned on the “Progressive de-Americanization” of our involvement in the Vietnam War. The media seemed to think he had a “secret plan” to end the Vietnam war.
He talked about the “Forgotten Americans, the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators”, which spoke to the working class who at this point were pretty fed up with the hippies, rioting students, blacks, and bra-burning feminists.
He called the Democrats soft on crime (protests) and promised to restore peace and order. He pointed to the rioting at the Democratic Convention.
Hubert Humphrey, meanwhile, was in a tough spot. He had to detangle himself from an unpopular LBJ. Blue collar voters didn’t like him, but the anti-war protesters didn’t either.
It looked bad for Humphrey. Making matters worse, Democrats didn’t want to contribute to a losing cause, and so he was constantly short on cash.
But by September, the race was closer. The public was growing tired of Nixon’s vague stances, and Nixon’s voters were being cut into with racist-third-party candidate, Alabama Governor, George Wallace.
In late October, just before the election, a lame duck President Johnson announced Hanoi would begin peace talks- and LBJ’s Vice President shot ahead in the polls. Nixon framed it as untrue and a way for LBJ to salvage Humphrey’s candidacy.
Then, days before the election the president of South Vietnam announced that his country would not participate in the peace talks, and negotiations broke down.
This likely turned the election in Nixon’s favor. If the peace talks had successfully been a go, it’s likely Hubert Humphrey would have ridden LBJ’s coattails all the way to the Oval Office. But, when the South Vietnam President announced the peace talks were off- Humphrey’s fate was sealed.
There are many people, LBJ included, who believed that Nixon had conspired with South Vietnam to break off the deal by convincing him that Nixon would give South Vietnam a better deal. It’s not too far fetched. Nixon’s top advisor had made contacts in South Vietnam. But, any evidence was circumstantial and the charges were never proven.
For Hubert Humphrey, this was all too much to overcome. The combination of Johnson's unpopularity, the Chicago demonstrations, and the discouragement of liberals and African-Americans after the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. that year, all contributed to his loss to former Vice President Nixon. Though he only lost the popular vote by 0.6%, he lost in a landslide in the electoral college: 301 to 191.
In his inaugural address he said “the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker”, a phrase that would later be put on his tombstone.
Richard Nixon was finally president of the United States of America. As far as he was concerned, he had reached his destiny.
But that didn’t stop him from being an insecure, bitter, man with no apparent sense of humor, a fear of appearing soft or weak or dependent. He continued to have a buttoned up, suspicious way about him.
It was as if he was paranoid everyone was out to get him. Maybe it was PTSD from his 1960 presidential run. Maybe it was just Nixon, but he’d stay up well into the night calling friends and staff, writing notes furiously on yellow legal pads. And you know, threating to murder reporters to get them off his back.
And then there were the tapes. LBJ had told Nixon about his secret White House recordings, and Nixon, ever the sneaky sneaks, decided that was a good idea. He installed an elaborate taping system throughout government offices.
What he didn’t know is those tapes would come back to haunt him.
Pat, though, was a wonderful first lady. She personally answered White House mail and got action for the authors, she risked her life on a battlefield in Vietnam helping wounded troops, and promoted her pet project of volunteering.
No first lady had ever traveled as much as her (over 26,000 miles!) She wore local dress in Africa and was treated like royalty. She familiarized herself with local countries customs, and political climates.
And she felt strongly for advancing the cause of women. She advocated for women on the Supreme Court. And *gasp* she even wore pants for a photo shoot! (Nixon, hated seeing pants on a woman though, even his wife).
Nixon’s presidency had some high lights.
First of all, he had a surprisingly liberal agenda including welfare reform and affirmative action.
His presidency saw the huge milestone of the first man on the moon, when Neil Armstrong took his historic moonwalk.
The Nixon years also witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the South.
He signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. To begin the war on drugs.
And his foreign policy knowledge was impressive.
He visited China, which had become a closed country, and convinced them to open up relations with the US. The Chinese government also gave us to rare giant pandas as a gift.
He made an historic visit to the Soviet Union, meeting with their leader Leonid Brezhnev (He’s of ‘It’s the End of the World As we know it fame), and signing two very important treaties in an effort to reduce arms (and the chance of WWIII).
But as re-election approached, there was still no answer to Vietnam, and American’s were growing tired of it. 200,000 people had Marched on Washington to end America’s involvement in the war.
Kent State College student protesters took to the streets. It turned ugly when 4 students were shot and killed by the National Guard.
And Nixon did not have the best of plans. He called it his “Madman Theory” and he decided to let the North Vietnamese (the Communists) believe he was crazy and he could snap at any minute. Nixon legit told his advisors to slip word that they couldn’t constrain him when he was angry- and remind them he had his hand on the nuclear button. Who knows how far off the truth that was, Nixon did say he wanted to “bomb the bastards off the earth”. He went on to bomb pro-Communism forces in Cambodia for twelve straight days.
After promising to end the war in Vietnam, it had now expanded to neighboring countries. And when opposition to the war reached a fever pitch, his answer was brutality and paranoia.
So, the Vietnam War was still raging on. Nixon hadn’t delivered on that campaign promise. But he had gradually brought some troops home, and the American public, for the most part seemed to be behind Nixon’s gradual withdrawal.
And now we arrive at 1972. Americans wanted compassion, competence, and integrity. Instead, they’d be witnesses to a campaign that would forever be synonymous with “dirty tricks”
The Democrats would nominate Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. He had a pedigree. He was a World War II War hero, who had served in the House before the Senate. He had a PhD and taught political science and history.
But, he was also as boring as you’d expect a history teacher from South Dakota to be. He just wasn’t terribly exciting. His nomination and acceptance speech happened at nearly 3 o’clock in the morning when nobody was watching.
And his campaign had overlooked a minor detail: You’re supposed to run a background check on your running mate. Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton had been treated for depression with electric shock therapy. There were also rumors he had been treated for alcoholism. McGovern eventually dropped him from the ticket, and Republicans painted him as indecisive.
McGovern ran as the “peace candidate” , and pledged to go to Hanoi to ask for peace. He called for guaranteed national income for the poor, and promised amnesty for draft dodgers. McGovern wanted to ban the sale of handguns, and favored busing to achieve racial integration in schools. He was the leading Spokesman for protest groups: anti-war activists, social-justice seekers, black-civil rights workers, women’s rights activists.
Nixon, meanwhile, decided not to run as candidate Nixon, but President Nixon. He only appeared at the White House Rose Garden and carefully planned events. His “Rose Garden” strategy was designed for him to appear presidential and above politics.
Nixon wanted to run on his foreign policy achievements & prosperous economy.
He might have seemed like he was above the fray of dirty politics, but behind the scenes his campaign was crawling with dirty tricks. The Committee to Re-Elect the President (officially CRP, but much funner to call it CREEP) took out full page ads posing as “concerned citizens” supporting Nixon, they sent pro-Nixon postcards into a Newstation that was taking a public-opinion poll to make it look like the public supported Nixon more than it did.
Going even further, Nixon and his top staffers compiled an enemies list (it stretched to over 200 names) and ordered the IRS to conduct audits of people on the list.
Nixon also told his top aids to “set up a little group right here in the White House” to fix leaks. The group would informally be known as the “Plumbers”.
On the night of June 17, 1972 five “Plumbers” would be caught red-handed in the offices of the Democratic National Convention in the Watergate Hotel. They had tiny microphones hidden inside phony Chapstick, cameras, 40 rolls of film, and $3,500 in brand new, consecutively numbered dollar bills.
When the White House was asked about the guys, the White House Press Secretary dismissed it as a “third rate burglary”, and life and the campaign seemingly went on.
Nixon marginalized his opponent by making him seem like a dangerous radical. Nixon stuck to the line of the three A’s: Acid, Amnesty (for draft dodgers), and Abortion.
Nixon beat the pants off of McGovern, in the largest popular vote landslide in history, losing by nearly 18 million votes. And winning in the electoral college 520 to 17. Young people, McGovern’s demographic, simply did not show up to vote.
But Nixon failed to win Congress. He had downplayed his partisan affiliation, refusing to help elect Republicans to the House and Senate and instead working for a personal victory.
McGovern won only Massachusetts and D.C. but retained his Senate seat. So what became of him? He lost his Senate seat in 1980 to a Republican and the “Reagan Revolution”. Four years later, he ran in the Democratic Primary, but dropped out early
He was Clinton’s US ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in the 90s. George McGovern died in 2012 at the age of 90. Joe Biden gave his eulogy.
As it turns out, those guys who broke in to Watergate had some experience under their belt. They had been ordered to get dirt on a Defense Department Official by breaking into his psychiatrists office.
And this wasn’t the first time they broke into Watergate. They done so a few weeks earlier, too. But their listening devices weren’t working properly, so they went back in. This time, they carelessly taped the spring locks on the doors, and it was noticeable by the night watchmen who called the DC police. Two of the suspects had address books with White House telephone numbers in them., and of course those brand new, consecutively numbered hundred dollar bills is not exactly your walking around money.
The trail led directly to CREEP, and the White House. And then the famous phrase of “What did the president know, and went did he know it” circled in the heads of Americans.
As we all know, the cover-up is generally worse than the crime, and that’s where Nixon came in. The famous unnamed source “Deep Throat”, had told the FBI Watergate was part of a widespread spying and sabotage plan to help Nixon win his re-election, and that “hush money” was now being paid out to anyone who knew anything. There was even a plot to get into the CIA to intervene in the FBI’s investigation.
And if you know anything about how to find a crook, you know you’re supposed to follow the money. $100,000 of Nixon campaign checks were found to be deposited into the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars.
Nixon downplayed and denied everything. He called it mere politics, claiming the news were publishing biased and misleading articles. But, as more and more evidence came out- and more and more people connected to Nixon resigned and faced prosecution, Nixon’s popular support began to decline.
And then Spiro Agnew decides to show back up in the history books. Shocker, that guy who was crass and abrasive and entitled had actually evaded taxes, laundered money, and taken bribes when he was Governor of Maryland. He was forced to resign, and Nixon needed to appoint a new Vice President.
Nixon chose Minority Leader of the House, Gerald Ford.
Dick never shared much of his political life with Pat. They didn’t seem all that close even behind close doors during his presidential career- they even had separate bedrooms. But now she was being asked questions about Watergate, and she didn’t know anything.
Pat was watching all of her nightmares come true. Her privacy was being invaded, he integrity questions. All she could do was avoid the scandal the best she could and smile. But the public turned on her too, calling her “plastic Pat”.
Nixon starts to flail. If he was angry and hard to deal with before, he now felt like everyone was against him, his paranoia and bad temper were a terrible combo. But it got even worse when he started mixing prescription cocktails and mixed drinks, sending him into nightly stupors who drunk dialed colleagues until he passed out in his wingback chair. (He was a lightweight, though, people said one beer would transform him into a slurring wino).
We know what happens next. Nixon famously says “I am not a crook”, support slips for him more and more, everyone discovers there are tapes, because, remember, Nixon was so paranoid he had EVERYONE taped, and now all his scheming, foul-mouthed recklessness has been preserved for posterity.
The White House refuses to hand over the tapes, the Supreme Court says you have to, and the House starts to look into Impeachment.
Seeing no other way out, and knowing the Senate had enough votes to kick him out when the House would impeach him, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974.
Gerald Ford becomes our 38th president, and pardons Nixon.
Nixon disgraced went back to California, and left the public eye. He spent his years writing books about his time in the White House, but never actually admitted to anything more than “making mistakes”.
Pat grew reclusive. She went into seclusion and was plagued by health problems the rest of her life. Poor Pat has placed her own desires behind Richard’s for so long, making epic sacrifices, and he rewarded her with scandal and humiliation.
It’s sad really, Nixon was a titan in shaping international peace. But he threw it all away, leaving behind a heap of lies that serve as a reminder if American reporters, and Congress weren’t so vigilant in getting to the truth, a president just might be able to get away with anything.
Nixon complained for years Watergate was all anyone wanted to talk about. But he kept working and he wrting and traveling and eventually Watergate wasn’t the only thing anyone wanted from Richard Nixon.
Presidents Bush and Clinton would eventually come to Nixon and seek his advice on how to deal with Russia.
When he had a stroke Ronald Reagan sent him well wishes: “You’re the feistiest one of us all, and you’ve got a huge cheering section rooting for you.”
Richard Millhouse Nixon died in 1994 and President Bill Clinton issued an official, but personal proclamation: “He suffered defeats that would have ended most political careers, yet he won stunning victories that many of the world’s most popular leaders have failed to attain.”
Nixon didn’t get a state funeral. But, on the day of his funeral every living president and forty-two thousand people showed up at the library to see his flag draped coffin and say goodbye. He was touted for his accomplishments, and not one person uttered the word “Watergate”.
Everyone: Republicans and Democrats showed up to put Nixon to rest. Love him or hate him, everyone came together in a redemption funeral for Richard Nixon. It was a reconciliation.
Perhaps this was one Nixon’s greatest manipulations. When he landed in California, after leaving the White House, he dedicated the rest of his life to this moment. To his funeral, when he would be remembered for more than just his short comings. He painstakingly worked to change his public image, and he had done it.
President Clinton’s words the day of the funeral are on display as you walk in and out of the Nixon Library: “May the day of Judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close.”
Nixon is buried at his library, just steps from the house he was born in, next to Pat who died the year before him, with a simple black marker with the words from his first inauguration engraved into the stone: “the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker”.
Of course, we read his legacy through rose colored glasses..
And, a Scathing Review.
Hayden placed Pat Nixon on his first lady dream team with Political Savvy.
Hayden rated all of Nixon's Elections very high on the Sleaze-o-meter
Then of course we had to have a Richard Nixon birthday dinner.
We had Pat's Meatlofa, Cottage cheese, baked grapefruit, and a California Blend of veggies in a nod to his home state. Plus, some of Tricia Nixon's Chocolate Chip Cookies.
The meatloaf and the veggies were a hit. The grapefruit was just weird.
Nixon put ketchup on his cottage cheese occasionally, and that totally freaks me out. But Calib tried it. He said he'd give it a 4 out of 10. Like, it wasn't terrible, but he's not going to voluntarily eat it again. I went with pineapply on my cottage cheese, another Nixon fave and WAY less weird.
Hayden drew his picture of Nixon..
and placed Nixon on the scale of presidents near Dupster Fire, but above Millard Fillmore. I suspect, however, Nixon may rise in the ranks. He is on velcroe, afterall, so he can be moved as Hayden learns about more presidents.
Up Next: I've got nearly three weeks to get together the next two presidents!
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