The
Comeback of Richard Nixon 1962-1968
"Once you've been in
the arena, you can't stay out" (Witcover, 34). Despite his unsuccessful
run for the presidency in 1960, and his humiliating defeat for governor of
California in 1962, Richard Nixon could not call it quits for politics. He was
ambitious and determined, an absolute political animal. Many people, including
Nixon himself, considered his two defeats in the early sixties as nails in the
coffin. He was washed up; almost nobody had considered the possibility of his
return to politics. In his last press conference, Nixon pledged that he was
going to take a long holiday and go back to practicing law. After a few months
out of the public's view, he became restless. Law was not nearly as exciting as
being on the international stage, conducting foreign policy, and working in
Washington. Although he felt that he might never be able to run for any
political offices ever again, he gave many speeches and hung around Republican
circles. He hoped to serve as a party unifier, which would also enable him to travel
and have access to the media. When the 1964 election came around, many
Republicans found themselves dissatisfied with their candidates, and hoping
that Nixon would decide to run. The Republican Party was at a major low, and
experienced Richard Nixon was seen as a possible route to recovery. Johnson's
landslide victory reinforced this urge to rehabilitate and re-establish
Republican presence and influence in government. Four years later, Nixon would
be ready for the job.
Growing up in Yorba Linda and
Whittier, California, Nixon studied hard in school and finished third in his
high school class. He went on to study law at Whittier College and later at
Duke University Law School in North Carolina, and served as a Naval Officer
during World War II. When he returned to Whittier following the war, Nixon was
approached by Republican Party leaders who asked if he would be interested in
running for the House of Representatives (Hay, 13). From there, he became
involved with the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the Alger Hiss
case, which gained him national attention. Dwight Eisenhower chose Nixon to be
his running mate in the 1952 presidential election. For the next eight years,
Nixon would be in the center of it all, gaining experience and a hunger for
politics. In 1960, with the support of the Republican Party, Nixon was prepared
to run for president.
However, the election of
1960 would not be easy. Although Nixon had more experience and national
recognition, the charisma of his opponent, John F. Kennedy could not be denied.
In addition, a recession, unemployment, Sputnik
and space gaps shook public confidence in the Eisenhower administration (Moss,
143). Despite this, Ike still had considerable influence and his hesitation to endorse
Nixon hurt the campaign (Barron, 54). Both Kennedy and Nixon sided together on
many issues, and the race became on some level, a personality contest. This is
illustrated through the television debates, which persuaded many undecided
voters to side with the cool and confident Kennedy. Choosing southerner Lyndon
Baines Johnson, Kennedy took the populated states of the northeast and the
South. Nixon carried the votes in his highly populated home state of
California, and most of the west. The election was close, and Nixon lost by
about 118,500 of the popular votes and about 84 electoral votes (Moss, 146).
The loss was upsetting, but
Nixon had put up a good fight. He returned to California to practice law, but
another political opportunity popped up: governor of California. Nixon was
pleased to be able to stay involved in politics, and local Republicans wanted
to see him defeat current governor Pat Brown in the 1962 election. Some of his
closest advisors, and even his wife attempted to persuade him not to run, as
his defeat would certainly mean political ruin (Barron, 59). He decided to run
anyway. Nixon had just been in a national campaign, his name was a household
word and in the newspapers, and he had only lost by a small margin. He could
have been president. He should have been able to successfully run for the
position of governor.
However, Pat Brown gave him
a challenge. He was "a popular governor who had made no real mistakes in
office" (Barron, 58). Kennedy at this time was enjoying incredible popularity,
and democrats across the nation were doing well because of this. Nixon's lack
of enthusiasm also affected his campaign. He viewed going from vice president,
and almost reaching the presidency to being the governor of California as a
major step-down. He enjoyed being on the national and international stage
(Barron, 59). Pat Brown highlighted this fact during his own campaign, claiming
that Nixon did not truly desire the position and was planning to use it as a
stepping stone for another presidential race. He tried to make it appear as
though Nixon was planning to abandon the office midterm to run in the 1964
presidential election. This is quite far from the truth, as Nixon had no desire
to face Kennedy and lose against him a second time, although he may have been
hoping to use the position as a hideout until 1968, when Kennedy would be out
of the scene (Witcover, 25). To his dismay, Nixon supported Brown's claim when
he appeared on a television show and accidentally said, "When I become president" and tried to correct
himself by saying, "When I become governor of the United States" (Barron, 59). Nobody had believed Nixon had
given up on his ambitions to become president just yet. In addition to this,
Pat Brown made an issue about Nixon's brother Donald receiving a loan from
billionaire Howard Hughes. It was reported that he received a $205,000 loan to
save his failing grocery store while Hughes received favors and tax breaks in
exchange (Barron, 56). While campaigning, Nixon relied on his old tactics of labeling
his opponent "soft" on communism, but this no longer worked.
Nixon
also faced other difficulties in California. "In past campaigns for the
U.S. House and Senate, The Los Angeles
Times and other large newspapers in the state had favored him over his
Democratic opponents" (Barron,60). Newspapers in the early sixties
attempted to move towards more unbiased techniques of reporting, of which Nixon
perceived as unfair towards him. "There were also one million more
Californians registered as Democrats than Republicans" (Barron, 58). This
difference was evident when the results came in: Nixon had lost by 300,000
votes, more than twice as many votes than when he had lost on the national
scale two years earlier (Barron, 60). Irritated, embarrassed, and frustrated,
Nixon gave his "last" press conference, in which he told reporters
they "would not have Nixon to kick around anymore" (Hay, 16).
Richard
Nixon moved his family to New York, where they could put California behind
them. He received many job offers after his last press conference, including
chances to be presidents of two universities, Chairman of the Board at the
Chrysler Corporation, and was scouted as the possible next commissioner of
baseball (Witcover, 40). Nixon never considered any of these jobs, and instead
got a job at a law firm in New York City. There "he would be a private
citizen, but a private citizen living in the communications center of the world
who had positioned himself to be seen and heard on both the national and
international stages" (Witcover, 43). In the law firm, he chose to work
with the Paris and Washington offices of the firm, which highlighted two of his
favorite things: politics and foreign policy. He was also approached to give a
speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on foreign policy. It was
well received, and kept his name in the news. Even on his family vacations,
Nixon made sure to stop by and get pictures of himself with famous figures such
as Charles de Gaulle, and the Pope, (and making sure they surfaced in
newspapers) which also contributed to keeping his reputation of a foreign
policy expert alive (Witcover, 49). He also published his book The Six Crises in 1962, which became a
best seller, and reminded the nation of his political experience.
Many
circumstances favored Nixon to run for the presidency in 1968. Although his
defeat in California in 1962 was a major humiliation, Nixon was able to keep
his name afloat and exert some influence in Republican circles. Because he
loved politics, Nixon was willing to accept the unofficial role of a Party
spokesperson as opposed to that of the political washout. He once said,
"leadership doesn't always involve being a candidate" (Witcover, 69).
He gave multiple speeches and tuned up his image and speaking skills. The 1964
election had few promising Republican candidates, and Nixon's major threat,
Kennedy, had been assassinated. When asked, Eisenhower said "I suppose that if there was a wave of support that threw him
again into the race, there would be no question about his capacity to do the
job" (Witcover, 56). Many Republicans understood that Nixon was the more
experienced and capable man, but he still down from his two major political
defeats. To those who asked if he had plans to run again, Nixon responded that
he was happy in New York, working at a law firm and speaking about foreign
policy and politics now and then. This denial of a declared candidacy boosted
the polls in his favor. In the Nebraska primary, while not on the ballot, Nixon
won the majority of votes (31.5%) over Goldwater (Witcover, 79). This
illustrated a growing interest in the possibility of Nixon running for
president again.
The
landslide victory of Johnson in 1964 reinforced many Republicans' desires to
control the executive and congress once again. None of their candidates were
capable of competing with what the Democrats had to offer. In 1966, Richard
Nixon gave a speech on rehabilitating the Republican Party, which corresponds
with Republican congressional gains in that year (Witcover, 109). He also
blamed Democrats for the escalation of the Vietnam war. The nation was
beginning to disdain and distrust LBJ, who announced he would not run in 1968.
With
few to compete with for the Republican presidential nomination, Nixon launched
the "most expensive, sophisticated presidential campaign in American
political history" (Moss, 228). He seemed to be a "new Nixon"
whose centrist appeal and his claim that he would end the Vietnam war helped
him win the majority of votes. The Democratic Party was splintered. Robert
Kennedy, a favorite who had wanted peace in Vietnam was assassinated, leaving
the nomination open to Hubert Humphrey. The Democratic Convention in Chicago
erupted in violence and riots, which were televised and brought into viewer's homes.
Humphrey's campaign was "floundered along, disorganized, short of both
money and campaign workers" (Moss, 228). Many liberals, young and old,
stayed home on election night. However, Nixon still only won by a narrow lead
of about 500,000 (Moss, 229). It did not matter anymore though. He had reached
the destination he had set in his mind shortly after entering Congress in 1946,
despite two major political defeats. His arrival to the White House in 1968
marked one of the greatest political comebacks in American history.
That
same year, Nixon said in an interview that
"Anybody in politics
must have great competitive instinct.
He must want to win. He must not like to lose, but above everything else, he must have the ability to comeback, to
keep fighting more and more strongly when it seems that the odds are the
greatest. That's the world of sports. That's the world of politics. I guess you
could say that's life itself" (Witcover, 12)
Nixon fought hard for in the presidential race of 1960, but lost by one of the smallest margins in the history of an election. Although he may have appeared to be sore about the loss, he persisted, and was persuaded to run for governor of California in 1962. Although this position did not excite Nixon, and he viewed it as a step down from his previous positions, it would keep him in politics. While his opponent, Pat Brown tried to spread the perception that Nixon was just using the position as a stepping stone to the presidency in 1964, Nixon shuddered at the idea of possibly losing to Kennedy a second time. It is possible he was hoping to gain the position as a way to wait until 1968 when John F. Kennedy would be out of the political picture, but even his defeat allowed him six years of rebuilding, whether he considered another chance at running from the get-go or not. During the years after his defeat and before his election to office, Nixon tried to busy himself with his law practice, but nothing could excite him more than politics. Even if he couldn't ever hold a position again, he hoped to serve as a party unifier or spokesperson that could still exert some influence from afar. When Republicans were dissatisfied with their candidates in 1964, and were intern blown out of the water by Johnson that year, some considered Nixon to be the only capable man to run in 1968. Splinters in the democratic party and Nixon's promises to end the Vietnam war gave him an edge against his opponent, squeaking past Humphrey by a small margin. Along with favorable circumstances and party support, it Nixon's ambition and hard work that got him the only place he wanted to be: the White House.
Barron,
Rachel. Richard Nixon: American Politician. Morgan Reynolds
Incorporated:
Greensboro, 1999.
Hay,
Jeff. Richard M. Nixon: Presidents and Their Decisions. Greenhaven
Press: San
Diego, 2001.
Moss,
George Donelson. Moving On: The American People Since 1945. Prentice
Hall:
New Jersey, 2001.
Witcover,
Jules. The Resurrection of Richard Nixon. G. P. Punam's Sons: New York,
1970.