Nixon's Vice Presidential Choices 1960 & 1968 Nixon's Vice Presidential Choices 1960 & 1968 (1/3) > >> Robespierre's Jaw: Why on earth did Richard Nixon select Henry Cabot Lodge in 1960 as his running mate and Sprio Agnew in 1968? They brought nothing to these tickets. Why did Nixon select Lodge and Agnew? It's not like Lodge and Agnew brought Massachussets and Maryland for them in 1960 and in 1968. Was there anyone else that Nixon could have chosen that would have brought something to the ticket? Discuss. Lincoln Republican: In 1960, Nixon was of the view the Republicans could win by focusing the election on foreign policy, but if the election was focused on domestic policy, that the Democrats would win. Thus, the selection of Henry Cabot Lodge, former Senator from Massachusetts, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations at the time he was named the Vice Presidential nominee. Lodge brought, it was believed, considerable foreign policy knowledge and expertise to the ticket.

In 1960, the best possible running mate for Nixon would have been Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, who in fact was not interested in the Vice Presidential nomination. However, had Nixon been successful in persuading Rockefeller to join the ticket, Rockefeller's name, strong campaign skills, and particular brand of Republicanism, could quite possibly have been instrumental in swinging the following states into the Nixon column Pennsylvania, 32 EV, lost by 2.32% New Jersey, 16 EV, lost by 0.80% Michigan, 20 EV, lost by 2.01% These, added to Nixon's 219 EV, would have given him 287 EV, a clear win in the Electoral College. Possibly, just possibly, Rockefeller could as well have made New York, lost by 5.26%, competitive for the Republican ticket. A downside to a Rockefeller VP candidacy may have been a potential loss in some of the southern states that Nixon carried, however, I believe that Nixon himself would have had the strength and influence in these southern states to still carry them. Lodge, after all, was not exactly considered to be a stalwart conservative himself.

Lodge, like Rockefeller, was more to the moderate to liberal wing of the party. Nixon's Rockefeller choice may have proved in 1960 to have been the perfect counter to Kennedy's Johnson choice. HappyWarrior: He chose Agnew because he was considered a moderate leader in the Republican party, giving him likeability. Lincoln Republican: In 1968, former Vice President Nixon's first choice for Vice President was his old friend and trusted confidante Robert Finch, Lieutenant Governor of California. Nixon was at this time a resident of New York, and therefore there would be no problem with the residency issue and the fact that Finch was from California. Finch turned down the offer, however, and Nixon had to go with someone else. Finch could have been a capable and effective Vice President, not knowing at the time, of course, that he would later become President.

Other names considered by Nixon for Vice President, Mayor John Lindsay of New York City, Senator Chuck Percy of Illinois, Governor George Romney of Michigan, Senator Richard Hatfield of Oregon, Governor Ronald Reagan of California, Senator John Tower of Texas, Congressman George Bush of Texas, Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan, Governor John Volpe of Massachusetts, Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland. In the end, Nixon decided to go with someone who was considered at the time as more of a moderate in the party, rather than one of the more liberal possibilities, Lindsay, Percy, Romney, Hatfield. Agnew would go on, however, to become a champion of the conservative wing of the party. Nixon was impressed with Agnew's speaking abilities, with his distinguished and handsome looks, and with his oratorical abilities and his presence on the stage and on camera. Nixon liked the fact, as well, that Agnew was from a border state, not north and not south. The presence of Agnew on the ticket very nearly won Maryland for Nixon in 1968, losing by only 1.64% in this Democratic stronghold.

Nixon would later regret his selection of Agnew, and wanted him replaced by Treasury Secretary John Connally as early as 1971. The plan never took flight, however, and Agnew was again on the ticket in 1972. Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee, also from a border state, would have been a good selection for Nixon to make. Although not long on elective political experience in 1968, only having been elected to the Senate in 1966, Baker would have made a bright, young, energetic candidate, certainly not costing Nixon any states he did win, and likely being viewed by the electorate and the public as more credible than was Agnew. Agnew had only been elected Governor of Maryland in 1966 as well, so he had no more high level elective experience than did Baker in 1968, and the ticket still won the election. I have no doubt that a ticket of Nixon and Baker would have won the election by at least as large a margin, if not more, especially in the popular vote, as did Nixon and Agnew. Perhaps Baker could have helped Nixon win Texas in 1968, which was only lost by 1.27%.

So my choice for Nixon in 1968 would have been Howard Baker. StateBoiler: I wonder if Agnew always kicked himself for his misdeeds as Governor. He was thisclose to the Presidency. Navigation Richard M. Nixon - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Richard M. Nixon A+E Networks Introduction Richard Nixon (1913-94), the 37th U.S. president, is best remembered as the only president ever to resign from office. Nixon stepped down in 1974, halfway through his second term, rather than face impeachment over his efforts to cover up illegal activities by members of his administration in the Watergate scandal. A former Republican congressman and U.S. senator from California, he served two terms as vice president under Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) in the 1950s. In 1960, Nixon lost his bid for the presidency in a close race with Democrat John F. Kennedy (1917-63). He ran for the White House again in 1968 and won.

As president, Nixon’s achievements included forging diplomatic ties with China and the Soviet Union, and withdrawing U.S. troops from an unpopular war in Vietnam. However, Nixon’s involvement in Watergate tarnished his legacy and deepened American cynicism about government. Google Education and Early Political Career Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California . He was the second of five sons of Francis Anthony Nixon (1878-1956), who struggled to earn a living running a grocery store and gas station, and his wife, Hannah Milhous Nixon (1885-1967). .Nixon absorbed his parents’ discontent with their working-class circumstances and developed a strong sense of ambition.. Did You Know? While serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Richard Nixon won large amounts of money playing poker. He used these winnings to help fund his first political campaign in 1946. He attended Whittier College, where he excelled as a debater and was elected president of the student body before graduating in 1934.

Three years later, he earned a law degree from Duke University, where he was head of the student bar association and graduated near the top of his class. After Duke, he returned to Whittier, California, and began working as an attorney. In 1940, Nixon married Thelma Catherine “Pat” Ryan (1912-93), whom he met while participating in a local theater group. The couple had two daughters, Patricia (1946-) and Julie (1948-). When America entered World War II (1939-45), Nixon joined the U.S. Navy and served as an operations officer in the Pacific. Following the war, Nixon launched his political career in 1946 when he defeated a five-term Democratic incumbent to represent his California district in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a congressman, Nixon served on the House Un-American Activities Committee and rose to national prominence by leading a controversial investigation of Alger Hiss (1904-1996), a well-regarded former State Department official who was accused of spying for the Soviet Union in the late 1930s.

Nixon was re-elected to Congress in 1948 and two years later, in 1950, won a seat in the U.S. Senate. An Unsuccessful Bid for the Presidency Although Nixon’s attacks on alleged Communists and political opponents alarmed some people, they increased his popularity among conservative Republicans. In 1952, General Dwight Eisenhower selected the 39-year-old first-term senator to be his vice presidential running mate. A few months after accepting the nomination, Nixon became the target of a negative campaign that raised questions about money and gifts he allegedly received from industry lobbyists. Nixon answered these charges in his famous “Checkers” speech, claiming that the only gift he ever accepted was a puppy named Checkers for his young daughter. The speech proved effective and preserved Nixon’s spot on the ticket. Eisenhower and Nixon won the election of 1952 and were re-elected in 1956. In 1960, Nixon claimed the Republican presidential nomination, but lost one of the closest elections in American history to U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts . The turning point of the campaign came in the first-ever nationally televised presidential debate.

During the broadcast, Nixon appeared pale, nervous and sweaty compared with his tan, well-rested and vigorous opponent. The loss to Kennedy dealt a terrible blow to Nixon’s ego. He claimed that the media disliked him and had slanted campaign coverage in favor of his handsome and wealthy opponent. Nixon returned home to California, where he practiced law and launched a campaign for governor in 1962. When he lost this election as well, many observers believed that his political career was over. As a disgusted Nixon told reporters, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” Winning the White House Six years after losing the governorship in his home state, Nixon made a remarkable political comeback and once again claimed his party’s presidential nomination. He prevailed in the 1968 U.S. presidential election, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey (1911-78) and third-party candidate George Wallace (1919-98). Nixon took office at a time of upheaval and change in the U.S. The American people were bitterly divided over the Vietnam War (1954-75), while women marched for equal rights and racial violence rocked the nation’s cities.

Declaring his intention to achieve “peace with honor” in Vietnam, Nixon introduced a strategy known as Vietnamization , which called for gradually withdrawing American troops from the war while training South Vietnamese army forces to take over their own defense. In January 1973, Nixon administration officials reached a peace agreement with Communist North Vietnam. The last American combat troops left Vietnam in March of that year. The hostilities continued, however, and in 1975 North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam and reunited the country under Communist rule.In addition to dealing with the Vietnam War, Nixon made historic visits, in 1972, to China and the Soviet Union. He reduced tensions between these Communist nations and the U.S., helping to set the stage for establishing formal diplomatic relations. Nixon also signed important treaties to limit the production of nuclear weapons. The Watergate Scandal and Beyond While Nixon was running for re-election in 1972, operatives associated with his campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington , D.C. Several members of Nixon’s administration had knowledge of the burglary and while Nixon denied any involvement, secret tapes of White House conversations later revealed that the president had participated in efforts to cover up the criminal activity.

Facing impeachment by Congress, Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974. He was replaced by Vice President Gerald Ford (1913-2006), who a month later pardoned Nixon for any wrongdoing. A number of administration officials were eventually convicted of crimes related to the Watergate affair. After leaving the White House, Nixon retired to California (he and his wife later moved to New Jersey ) and quietly worked to rehabilitate his image, writing books, traveling extensively and consulting with Democratic and Republican presidents. By the time he died on April 22, 1994, at age 81 in New York City, after suffering a stroke, some people viewed him as a respected elder statesman. Other Americans, however, rejected efforts to paint him as anything but a disgraced criminal. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags Richard M. Nixon | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Richard M. Nixon Richard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States (1969-1974) after previously serving as a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from California.

After successfully ending American fighting in Vietnam and improving international relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, he became the only President to ever resign the office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. Reconciliation was the first goal set by President Richard M. Nixon. The Nation was painfully divided, with turbulence in the cities and war overseas. During his Presidency, Nixon succeeded in ending American fighting in Viet Nam and improving relations with the U.S.S.R. and China. But the Watergate scandal brought fresh divisions to the country and ultimately led to his resignation. His election in 1968 had climaxed a career unusual on two counts: his early success and his comeback after being defeated for President in 1960 and for Governor of California in 1962. Born in California in 1913, Nixon had a brilliant record at Whittier College and Duke University Law School before beginning the practice of law. In 1940, he married Patricia Ryan; they had two daughters, Patricia (Tricia) and Julie. During World War II, Nixon served as a Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific. On leaving the service, he was elected to Congress from his California district.

In 1950, he won a Senate seat. Two years later, General Eisenhower selected Nixon, age 39, to be his running mate. As Vice President, Nixon took on major duties in the Eisenhower Administration. Nominated for President by acclamation in 1960, he lost by a narrow margin to John F. Kennedy. In 1968, he again won his party's nomination, and went on to defeat Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C. Wallace. His accomplishments while in office included revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, and a broad environmental program. As he had promised, he appointed Justices of conservative philosophy to the Supreme Court. One of the most dramatic events of his first term occurred in 1969, when American astronauts made the first moon landing. Some of his most acclaimed achievements came in his quest for world stability. During visits in 1972 to Beijing and Moscow, he reduced tensions with China and the U.S.S.R. His summit meetings with Russian leader Leonid I. Brezhnev produced a treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons.

In January 1973, he announced an accord with North Viet Nam to end American involvement in Indochina. In 1974, his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, negotiated disengagement agreements between Israel and its opponents, Egypt and Syria. In his 1972 bid for office, Nixon defeated Democratic candidate George McGovern by one of the widest margins on record. Within a few months, his administration was embattled over the so-called "Watergate" scandal, stemming from a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 campaign. The break-in was traced to officials of the Committee to Re-elect the President. A number of administration officials resigned; some were later convicted of offenses connected with efforts to cover up the affair. Nixon denied any personal involvement, but the courts forced him to yield tape recordings which indicated that he had, in fact, tried to divert the investigation. As a result of unrelated scandals in Maryland, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973. Nixon nominated, and Congress approved, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as Vice President.

Faced with what seemed almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974, that he would resign the next day to begin "that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America." In his last years, Nixon gained praise as an elder statesman. By the time of his death on April 22, 1994, he had written numerous books on his experiences in public life and on foreign policy. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. For more information about President Nixon, please visit Richard Nixon - Ballotpedia Richard Nixon Jump to: navigation , search This page was current at the end of the official's term in office. Please contact us with any updates. Richard Nixon President of the United States Former officeholder January 20, 1969 - August 9, 1974 Party Vice President of the United States 1953-1961 U.S. House, California, District 12 1947-1951 Have you heard of The Tap?

Click here to read the latest edition of Ballotpedia's weekly newsletter. Richard Milhouse Nixon (b. January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California ) was the 37th President of the United States . He served from 1969 until 1974. Nixon remains the only president in American history to resign in office, which he did in the wake of the Watergate scandal. He was then succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford in accordance with the U.S. Constitution . [1] Biography Early life Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California . In high school, he earned a scholarship to Harvard University; however, due to his family's financial situation, he attended Whittier College instead. [2] There, he earned a reputation as a skilled debater and was elected student body president. Nixon earned his undergraduate degree in 1934. Then he attended Duke Law School, where he graduated near the top of his class. In 1942, Nixon enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Pacific.

He returned to the United States in 1946 and began his political career. [3] Early political career Prior to becoming President, Nixon served two terms as vice president under President Dwight Eisenhower . Before that, he had served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1946 to 1951 and in the United States Senate from 1951 to 1953. During his first campaign for president, Dwight Eisenhower selected Senator Nixon as his running mate. Eisenhower and Nixon went on to win in 1952 and 1956. As vice president, Nixon largely focused on issues of foreign policy, travelling throughout Asia and the Middle East and meeting with world leaders on behalf of President Eisenhower. [2] After serving two terms as vice president, Nixon won the Republican Party nomination for president in 1960. In that election, Nixon also participated in the first televised presidential debate. He narrowly lost to Democrat John F. Kennedy in one of the closest presidential elections in American history. [3] Two years later, Nixon also lost the California gubernatorial race.

[4] Presidency and post-presidency After losing his bid for President of the United States and Governor of California , many assumed that Nixon's political career was over. However, Nixon staged a comeback and won the Republican nomination for president a second time in 1968. He went on to defeat his Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and third-party candidate Governor George Wallace of Alabama . During his tenure, Nixon aimed to ease Cold War tensions by famously meeting with China's communist leader Mao Zedong and the leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev. He also ended America's involvement in Vietnam in 1973. In 1972, Nixon won re-election with one of the biggest landslides in American history. However, shortly after his inauguration, his administration became engulfed in the infamous "Watergate scandal," in which Nixon officials were caught breaking into Democratic National Committee offices. Realizing that he was almost certainly going to be impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first and only president in American history to resign. On August 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald Ford assumed the presidency.

[5] After leaving office, Nixon continued to travel around the world, and wrote several books on matters of domestic politics and foreign policy. [3] Career NIXON, Richard Milhous - Biographical Information Senate Years of Service: 1950-1953 Party: Republican Courtesy U.S.

Senate Historical Office NIXON, Richard Milhous, a Representative and a Senator from California and a Vice President and 37th President of the United States; born in Yorba Linda, Orange County, Calif., January 9, 1913; attended the public schools; graduated from Whittier (Calif.) College in 1934 and Duke University Law School, Durham, N.C., in 1937; admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Whittier, Calif.; attorney in Office of Emergency Management, Washington, D.C., January 1942 to August 1942; during the Second World War served in the United States Navy from August 1942 to January 1946 and was discharged as a lieutenant commander; elected as a Republican to the Eightieth and Eighty-first Congresses and served from January 3, 1947, until his resignation November 30, 1950; elected to the Senate for the term commencing January 3, 1951; subsequently appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Sheridan Downey and served from December 1, 19

50, until his resignation January 1, 1953, to become Vice President; elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with Dwight Eisenhower on November 4, 1952, for the term beginning January 20, 1953; reelected Vice President of the United States in 1956, and served from January 20, 1953, until January 20, 1961; unsuccessful Republican nominee for President of the United States in 1960; resumed the practice of law in Los Angeles and New York; unsuccessful Republican nominee for Governor of California in 1962; elected President of the United States in 1968 and inaugurated January 20, 1969; reelected in 1972, and inaugurated January 20, 1973; resigned August 9, 1974, during impeachment proceedings against him in the House Judiciary Committee arising from matters surrounding the Watergate affair; accepted pardon from President Gerald R.

Ford, September 8, 1974; was a resident of New York City, and later Park Ridge, N.J., until his death in New York City, April 22, 1994; interment on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, Calif. Bibliography Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; American National Biography; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law; Nixon, Richard. RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1978; Gellman, Irwin F. The Contender: Richard Nixon, the Congress Years, 1946-1952. New York: The Free Press, 1999; Parmet, Herbert S. Richard Nixon and His America. Boston: Little, Brown Co., 1990. The Nixon Administration and Watergate: Vice President Spiro Agnew Home » Timelines by Topic » Regions » North America » United States » Nixon and Watergate Follow Us! We are planning some big changes! Please follow us to stay updated and be part of our community.

The Nixon Administration and Watergate Vice President Spiro Agnew 1969-1971: Agnew Helps Create Modern Era of Attack Politics Life Magazine cover featuring Agnew. [Source: Southern Methodist University]Vice President Spiro Agnew, fresh from helping Richard Nixon win the 1968 election by viciously attacking their Democratic opponents, wins a reputation as a tough-talking, intensely negative public presence in Washington. Much of Agnew’s tirades are crafted by White House speechwriters Pat Buchanan and William Safire.

In 1969, Agnew derides antiwar protesters, saying, “A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.” [ Chicago Sun-Times, 10/11/1998 ] In 1970, he attacks the American media and critics of the Nixon administration alike, telling a San Diego audience that “we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism.” Agnew attacks enemies of the administration as “pusillanimous pussyfooters,” “vicars of vacillation,” and “the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.” Democrats are “radic-libs” and “ideological eunuchs.” In Des Moines, reading a speech written by Buchanan, Agnew slams the US media industry, saying it is dominated by a “tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one.” Agnew’s unrelenting attacks on the press raise, reporter Lance Morrow writes in 1996, “issues of media bias, arrogance and unaccountability that are still banging around in the American mind.” Agnew is undone by his own negativity, earning a

 barrage of critical press coverage for, among other things, calling an Asian-American reporter a “fat Jap,” referring to a group of Polish-Americans as “Polacks,” and dismissing the plight of America’s poor by saying, “To some extent, if you’ve seen one city slum, you’ve seen them all.” Many political observers feel that Agnew’s heated rhetoric is the precursor to the wave of personal, negative attack politics practiced by the GOP in the decades to come.

[ New York Times, 9/19/1996 ; Time, 9/30/1996 ] Interestingly, while many Americans celebrate Agnew’s rhetoric, few want him as a successor to the presidency. One Baltimore bar patron says, “I don’t want the president of the United States to sound like I do after I’ve had a few beers.” Mid-1971: Nixon Tries to Replace Agnew with Connally John Connally. [Source: Texas State Archives]President Nixon, disenchanted with Vice President Spiro Agnew’s ability to deliver electoral results and his negative public persona, decides to press Agnew to resign his post. In Agnew’s stead, Nixon wants to appoint Treasury Secretary John Connally, a popular, conservative Texas Democrat who Nixon feels can deliver votes among Southern Republicans and Democrats alike in the 1972 presidential elections. Agnew has privately grumbled about the lack of respect he receives in the White House, and discussed his idea of resigning to enter the business sector. But Connally’s choice would raise objections in Congress, which under the 25th Amendment would have to ratify Connally as the new vice president.

Worse, Connally does not want the job, feeling the vice presidency is “useless” and believing he can be more effective in Nixon’s Cabinet. Though Nixon promises Connally an unprececented amount of power as vice president, even making him in essence “an alternate president,” Connally declines the position. Publicly, Nixon reaffirms his support for Agnew, not wishing to disrupt his chances at re-election in 1972. Mid-1971 and Beyond: Agnew Refuses to Resign from Vice Presidency By the summer of 1971, President Nixon and his senior staffers, particularly John Ehrlichman, have come to view Vice President Spiro Agnew as more of a liability than an asset (see Mid-1971 ). Agnew, who has served the president well as a conservative “stalking horse” who could lambast antiwar protesters and foreign leaders in a way that might be unsuitable for a president (see 1969-1971 ), has in recent months begun complaining about being kept away from real decision-making, particularly on foreign affairs.

(Agnew has not made himself popular by attacking Nixon’s recent overtures to the Communist Chinese and complaining to anyone who would listen about his “poor” treatment at the hands of Nixon and his aides.) All of this has made Nixon unwilling to spend a lot of political capital in defending Agnew from bribery charges (see April 10, 1973 ). Nixon aides ask Agnew to voluntarily resign, a request he resists. In return, Agnew levels accusations that White House staffers began a media leak campaign designed to drive him from office. Agnew waffles on the question, offering to resign if Nixon would promise to grant him immunity from prosecution, then thundering to one receptive audience, “I will not resign if indicted!” By September, Nixon’s new chief of staff, Alexander Haig, brought in to keep the Nixon administration intact under the specter of the Watergate investigations, begins pushing Agnew to resign, threatening that the Justice Department would prosecute him for income tax evasion on the bribes he had taken unless Agnew resigned.

Agnew will later say that he felt Haig was implicitly threatening his life if he didn’t “go quietly”; for his part, Haig finds Agnew so menacing that he tells his wife if he disappeared, she “might want to look inside any recently poured concrete bridge pilings in Maryland.” April 10, 1973: Vice President Agnew Accused of Taking Illegal Campaign Contributions Vice President Spiro Agnew tells Nixon aide H.R. Haldeman that he is becoming enmeshed in an investigation of illegal campaign contributions in his home state of Maryland. The state’s US Attorney, George Beall, questioned Agnew’s former business aide, Jerome Wolfe, who provided evidence of Agnew discussing raising funds from Maryland business owners who had received state contracts. It “wasn’t shakedown stuff,” Agnew says, “it was merely going back to get support from those who had benefitted from the administration.” Agnew knows that Beall’s brother is Senator J. Glenn Beall (R-MD), and asks Haldeman to have the senator intercede with his brother, a request Haldeman refuses.

For his part, President Nixon is more amused than angered by Agnew’s apparent corruption, joking that taking campaign contributions from contractors was “a common practice” in Maryland and other states. “Thank God I was never elected governor of California,” Nixon cracks. But the allegations against Agnew will become more widespread; a Maryland grand jury will alert the Justice Department that Agnew had taken money for past favors, even taking payments—bribes—after becoming vice president. October 10, 1973: Agnew Pleads No Contest to Tax Evasion Charges, Resigns as Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. [Source: University of Maryland]Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns. He will be replaced by an appointee, House Republican Gerald Ford (see October 12, 1973 ). Agnew, a conservative Maryland Republican with a long history of racial repression, ethnic jokes, and racial slurs in his record, appealed to conservative Southern voters as Richard Nixon’s vice presidential candidate in 1968 and 1972 (see 1969-1971 ). Agnew was the first vice president to be given his own office in the West Wing.

[ Time, 9/30/1996 ; US Senate, 2007 ] But by mid- and late 1971, Agnew is battling attempts from within the White House to force him to resign (see Mid-1971 and Beyond ). Nolo Contendre - Agnew’s lawyers reach a deal with the Justice Department, agreeing to a plea of nolo contendre (no contest) to the tax charge, a $160,000 levy of tax repayments, and a $10,000 fine. In return, Agnew agrees to leave office. One of his last actions as vice president is to visit Nixon, who assures him that he is doing the right thing. Agnew later recalls bitterly: “It was hard to believe he was not genuinely sorry about the course of events.

Within two days, this consummate actor would be celebrating his appointment of a new vice president with never a thought of me.” For his part, Nixon will recall, “The Agnew resignation was necessary although a very serious blow.” Nixon apparently is not as concerned about punishing a White House official for misconduct as much as he hopes Agnew’s resignation will redirect the public anger away from himself. That ploy, too, will backfire: Nixon later writes that “all [Agnew’s resignation] did was to open the way to put pressure on the president to resign as well.” 1981: Lawsuit Finds Agnew Accepted $147,500 in Bribes A Maryland taxpayers’ civil suit finds that former Vice President Spiro Agnew, who resigned over bribery and tax fraud charges eight years before (see April 10, 1973 and October 10, 1973 ), had solicited $147,500 in bribes as Baltimore county executive and as governor of Maryland, and that as vice president he had accepted $17,500 of that sum in cash while in office.

[ Time, 9/30/1996 ] Agnew’s former lawyer George White admits outside of the courtroom that Agnew had not only admitted taking bribes while governor, but told White that such behavior had been going on “for a thousand years.” White is freed to discuss privileged lawyer-client communications because of Agnew’s public assertions of his innocence in his recently published memoirs, Go Quietly… Or Else. White’s revelations fuel the civil suit that finds Agnew indeed took bribes while governor and vice president. September 17, 1996: Agnew Dies; Republican Colleagues Praise Him as Courageous ‘Voice of the Silent Majority’ Spiro T. Agnew, the Republican vice president who resigned his office after pleading no contest to tax evasion charges (see October 10, 1973 ), dies of leukemia in his home state of Maryland.

Former Nixon speechwriter Pat Buchanan recalls Agnew’s “raw political courage” for serving as “the voice of the silent majority” during the Nixon administration, and says: “Of all those caught up—on both sides—in the American tragedy of 1973-1974 [Watergate], Spiro Agnew was one of the good guys.… At a time when the establishment was craven in pandering to rioters and demonstrators, Spiro Agnew told the truth.” Buchanan helped write some of Agnew’s most inflammatory speeches (see 1969-1971 ). Other Republicans also laud Agnew, even though for twenty years Agnew has had virtually no contact with any of his former Republican confrerees. “Spiro Agnew earned the support of millions of his countrymen because he was never afraid to speak out and stand up for America,” says Senator Bob Dole (R-KS), the Republican candidate for president. “He minced no words when patriotism and military service were ridiculed.” And former President George H.W. Bush says of Agnew: “He was a friend.

I loved his family.” Former Democratic senator and World War II veteran George McGovern, whose courage and patriotism was harshly attacked by Agnew during the 1972 presidential campaign, says, “Some of the things he said during his lifetime were extreme and regrettable, but nonetheless I mourn his passing.” Former Nixon speechwriter Vic Gold is perhaps the most rhapsodic, saying of Agnew, “He was the John the Baptist of the Reagan revolution.” [ New York Times, 9/19/1996 ; Knight Ridder, 9/19/1996 ] Reporter Sandy Grady is less forgiving. “Agnew was a small-time pol who became the most blatant crook to sit one heartbeat away from the presidency,” he writes. “He was a demagogue ranting ghost-written bile that split Americans amid the war and fires of the ‘60s. But political peers, sensing in Agnew’s tumble their own fragility, always treated Spiro as gently as a museum vase.” September 30, 1996: Dole Campaign Using Agnew-Like Political Tactic, Says Columnist 1996 Dole presidential campaign button.

[Source: Dole Institute]Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter uses the occasion of former Vice President Spiro Agnew’s death (see September 17, 1996 ) to condemn the “wedge politics” of Agnew’s heyday (see 1969-1971 ). “Agnew led Richard Nixon’s campaign to win suburbia for Republicanism by exploiting white middle class anger at the poor, college antiwar activists, and the ‘liberal Eastern media’,” Alter writes. But “Spiro Agnew is gone, and the wedge politics he honed aren’t cutting for the GOP this year.” Agnew’s “politics of polarization” do not work anymore, Alter observes, but adds that Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole is still trying to use Agnew-like tactics in his own campaign to defeat incumbent Bill Clinton.

Dole echoes Agnew’s language (see 1969-1971 ) in calling Clinton’s White House “a corps of elite who never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered.” Dole, writes Alter, is “still working from the 1968 playbook.” October 6, 2003: Echoes of Agnew’s Anti-Media Rhetoric in Rumsfeld’s Speeches, Says Professor Shawn Parry-Giles. [Source: University of Maryland]Communications professor Shawn Parry-Giles says that she hears echoes of the rhetoric of former Vice President Spiro Agnew in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s speeches about Iraq (see 1969-1971 ). Parry-Giles says: “Spiro T. Agnew’s resignation is often lost in the turmoil surrounding the painful events of Watergate (see October 10, 1973 ). Yet his campaign against the US news media during the Vietnam War still resonates, especially among those who covered the war. In a recent press conference… Rumsfeld emphasized all the good that has come from the US efforts in that war torn country.

In listening to his press conference, I heard echoes of… Agnew’s famous line: ‘In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism.’ If the war in Iraq continues on its current trajectory, we might expect the spirit of Agnew to rise once again, as the Bush administration reminds the US news media and the [D]emocratic presidential candidates that in times of international conflict, we are to remain unified.” Nixon's Checkers Speech . Eisenhower . WGBH American Experience | PBS Eisenhower's vice president, Richard Nixon, counters critics who claim he took a $18,000 contribution and used it for personal expenses, though he admits that his family dog,Checkers, was a political gift. Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech September 23, 1952 My Fellow Americans, I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned. Now, the usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or to deny them without giving details.

I believe we have had enough of that in the United States, particularly with the present Administration in Washington, D.C. To me the office of the Vice Presidency of the United States is a great office, and I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might attain them. I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth. And that is why I am here tonight. I want to tell you my side of the case. I am sure that you have read the charges, and you have heard it, that I, Senator Nixon, took $18,000 from a group of my supporters. Now, was that wrong? And let me say that it was wrong. I am saying it, incidentally, that it was wrong, just not illegal, because it isn't a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isn't enough. The question is, was it morally wrong. I say that it was morally wrong -- if any of that $18,000 went to Senator Nixon, for my personal use.

I say that it was morally wrong if it was secretly given and secretly handled. And I say that it was morally wrong if any of the contributors got special favors for the contributions that they made. And to answer those questions let me say this: not a cent of the $18,000 or any other money of that type ever went to me for my personal use. Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States. It was not a secret fund. As a matter of fact, when I was on "Meet the Press" -- some of you may have seen it last Sunday -- Peter Edson came up to me, after the program, and he said, "Dick, what about this fund we hear about?" And I said, "Well, there is no secret about it. Go out and see Dana Smith who was the administrator of the fund," and I gave him his address. And I said you will find that the purpose of the fund simply was to defray political expenses that I did not feel should be charged to the Government.

And third, let me point out, and I want to make this particularly clear, that no contributor to this fund, no contributor to any of my campaigns, has ever received any consideration that he would not have received as an ordinary constituent. I just don't believe in that, and I can say that never, while I have been in the Senate of the United States, as far as the people that contributed to this fund are concerned, have I made a telephone call to an agency, nor have I gone down to an agency on their behalf. And the records will show that, the records which are in the hands of the administration. Well, then, some of you will say, and rightly, "Well, what did you use the fund for, Senator? Why did you have to have it?" Let me tell you in just a word how a Senate office operates. First of all, the Senator gets $15,000 a year in salary. He gets enough money to pay for one trip a year, a round trip, that is, for himself, and his family between his home and Washington, D.C. and then he gets an allowance to handle the people that work in his office to handle his mail.

And the allowance for my State of California, is enough to hire 13 people. And let me say, incidentally, that this allowance is not paid to the Senator. It is paid directly to the individuals, that the Senator puts on his pay roll, but all of these people and all of these allowances are for strictly official business; business, for example, when a constituent writes in and wants you to go down to the Veteran's Administration and get some information about his GI policy -- items of that type for example. But there are other expenses that are not covered by the Government. And I think I can best discuss those expenses by asking you some questions. Do you think that when I or any other senator makes a political speech, has it printed, should charge the printing of that speech and the mailing of that speech to the taxpayers? Do you think, for example, when I or any other Senator makes a trip to his home State to make a purely political speech that the cost of that trip should be charged to the taxpayers? Do you think when a Senator makes political broadcasts or political television broadcasts, radio or television that the expense of those broadcasts should be charged to the taxpayers?

I know what your answer is: It is the same answer that audiences give me whenever I discuss this particular problem. The answer is no. The taxpayers should not be required to finance items which are not official business but which are primarily political business. Well, then the question arises, you say, "Well, how do you pay for these and how can you do it legally?" And there are several ways, that it can be done, incidentally, and it is done legally in the United States Senate and in the Congress. The first way is to be a rich man. So I couldn't use that. Another way that is used is to put your wife on the pay roll. Let me say, incidentally, that my opponent, my opposite number for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his wife on the pay roll and has had her on his pay roll for the past ten years. Now let me just say this: That is his business, and I am not critical of him for doing that.

You will have to pass judgment on that particular point, but I have never done that for this reason: I have found that there are so many deserving stenographers and secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didn't feel it was right to put my wife on the pay roll. -- My wife sitting over there. She is a wonderful stenographer. She used to teach stenography and she used to teach shorthand in high school. That was when I met her. And I can tell you folks that she has worked many hours on Saturdays and Sundays in my office, and she has done a fine job, and I am proud to say tonight that in the six years I have been in the Senate of the United States Pat Nixon has never been on the Government pay roll. What are the other ways that these finances can be taken care of? Some who are lawyers, and I happen to be a lawyer, continue to practice law, but I haven't been able to do that.

I am so far away from California and I have been so busy with my senatorial work that I have not engaged in any legal practice, and, also, as far as law practice is concerned, it seemed to me that the relationship between an attorney and the client was so personal that you couldn't possibly represent a man as an attorney and then have an unbiased view when he presented his case to you in the event that he had one before Government. And so I felt that the best way to handle these necessary political expenses of getting my message to the American people and the speeches I made -- the speeches I had printed for the most part concerned this one message of exposing this Administration, the Communism in it, the corruption in it -- the only way I could do that was to accept the aid which people in my home State of California, who contributed to my campaign and who continued to make these contributions after I was elected, were glad to make. And let me say that I am proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me for a special favor. I am proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me to vote on a bill other than my own conscience would dictate.

And I am proud of the fact that the taxpayers by subterfuge or otherwise have never paid one dime for expenses which I thought were political and should not be charged top the taxpayers. Let me say, incidentally, that some of you may say, "Well, that is all right, Senator, that is your explanation, but have you got any proof?" And I would like to tell you this evening that just an hour ago we received an independent audit of this entire fund. I suggested to Governor Sherman Adams, who is the chief of staff of the Eisenhower campaign, that an independent audit and legal report be obtained, and I have that audit in my hand. It is an audit made by Price Waterhouse & Co. firm, and the legal opinion by Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, lawyers in Los Angeles, the biggest law firm, and incidentally, one of the best ones in Los Angeles. I am proud to report to you tonight that this audit and legal opinion is being forwarded to General Eisenhower and I would like to read to you the opinion that was prepared by Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, based on all the pertinent laws, and statutes, together with the audit report prepared by the certified public accountants.

It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the funds by Dana Smith; that Senator Nixon did not violate any federal or state law by reason of the operation of the fund; and that neither the portion of the fund paid by Dana Smith directly to third persons, nor the portion paid to Senator Nixon, to reimburse him for office expenses, constituted income in a sense which was either reportable or taxable as income under income tax laws. (signed) Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, by Elmo Conley That is not Nixon speaking, but it is an independent audit which was requested because I want the American people to know all the facts and I am not afraid of having independent people go in and check the facts, and that is exactly what they did. But then I realized that there are still some who may say, and rightly so -- and let me say that I recognize that some will continue to smear regardless of what the truth may be -- but that there has been understandably, some honest misunderstanding on this matter, and there are some that will say, "well, maybe you were able, Senator, to fake the thing.

How can we believe what you say -- after all, is there a possibility that maybe you got some sums in cash? Is there a possibility that you might have feathered your own nest?" And so now, what I am going to do -- and incidentally this is unprecedented in the history of American politics -- I am going at this time to give to this television and radio audience, a complete financial history, everything I have earned, everything I have spent and everything I own, and I want you to know the facts. I will have to start early, I was born in 1913. Our family was one of modest circumstances, and most of my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier. It was a grocery store, one of those family enterprises. The only reason we were able to make it go was because my mother and dad had five boys, and we all worked in the store. I worked my way through college, and, to a great extent, through law school. And then in 1940, probably the best thing that ever happened to me happened. I married Pat who is sitting over here.

We had a rather difficult time after we were married, like so many of the young couples who might be listening to us. I practiced law. She continued to teach school. Then, in 1942, I went into the service. Let me say that my service record was not a particularly unusual one. I went to the south pacific. I guess I'm entitled to a couple of battle stars. I got a couple of letters of commendation. But I was just there when the bombs were falling. And then I returned. I returned to the United States, and in 1946, I ran for Congress. When we came out of the war -- Pat and I -- Pat during the war had worked as a stenographer, and in a bank, and as an economist for a Government agency -- and when we came out, the total of our savings, from both my law practice, her teaching and all the time I was in the war, the total for that entire period was just less than $10,000 -- every cent of that, incidentally, was in Government bonds -- well, that's where we start, when I go into politics.

Now, whatever I earned since I went into politics -- well, here it is. I jotted it down. Let me read the notes. First of all, I have had my salary as a Congressman and as a Senator. Second, I have received a total in this past six years if $1,600 from estates which were in my law firm at the time that I severed my connection with it. And, incidentally, as I said before, I have not engaged in any legal practice, and have not accepted any fees from business that came into the firm after I went into politics. I have made an average of approximately $1,500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures. And then, unfortunately, we have inherited little money. Pat sold her interest in her father's estate for $3,000, and I inherited $1,500 from my grandfather. We lived rather modestly. For four years we lived in an apartment in Parkfairfax, Alexandria Virginia. The rent was $80 a month. And we saved for a time when we could buy a house. Now that was what we took in. What did we do with this money? What do we have today to show for it?

This will surprise you because it is so little. I suppose as standards generally go of people in public life. First of all, we've got a house in Washington, which cost $41,000 and on which we owe $20,000. We have a house in Whittier, California which cost $13,000 and on which we owe $3,000. My folks are living there at the present time. I have just $4,000 in life insurance, plus my GI policy which I have never been able to convert, and which will run out in two years. I have no life insurance whatever on Pat. I have no life insurance on our two youngsters Patricia and Julie. I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car. We have our furniture. we have no stocks and bonds of any type. We have no interest, direct or indirect, in any business. Now that is what we have. What do we owe?

Well, in addition to the mortgages, the $20,000 mortgage on the house in Washington and the $10,000 mortgage on the house in Whittier, I owe $4,000 to the Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C. with an interest at 4 percent. I owe $3,500 to my parents, and the interest on that loan, which I pay regularly, because it is a part of the savings they made through the years they were working so hard -- I pay regularly 4 percent interest. And then I have a $500 loan, which I have on my life insurance. Well, that's about it. That's what we have. And that's what we owe. It isn't very much. But Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that we have got is honestly ours. I should say this, that Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she would look good in anything. One other thing I should probably tell you, because if I don't they will probably be saying this about me, too. We did get something, a gift, after the election.

A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention that our two youngsters would like to have a dog, and, believe it or not, the day we left before this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore, saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checks. And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it. It isn't easy to come before a nation-wide audience and bare your life, as I have done. But I want to say some things before I conclude, that I think most of you will agree on. Mr. Mitchell, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, made this statement that if a man couldn't afford to be in the United States Senate, he shouldn't run for senate. And I just want to make my position clear. I don't agree with Mr.

Mitchell when he says that only a rich man should serve his Government in the United States Senate or Congress. I don't believe that represents the thinking of the Democratic Party, and I know it doesn't represent the thinking of the Republican Party. I believe that it's fine that a man like Governor Stevenson, who inherited a fortune from his father, can run for President. But I also feel that it is essential in this country of ours that a man of modest means can also run for President, because, you know -- remember Abraham Lincoln -- you remember what he said -- "God must have loved the common people, he made so many of them." And now I'm going to suggest some courses of conduct. First of all, you have read in the papers about other funds, now, Mr. Stevenson apparently had a couple. One of them in which a group of business people paid and helped to supplement the salaries of State employees. Here is where the money went directly into their pockets, and I think that what Mr.

Stevenson should do should be to come before the American people, as I have, give the names of the people that contributed to that fund, give the names of the people who put this money into their pockets, at the same time that they were receiving money from their State government and see what favors, if any, they gave out for that. I don't condemn Mr. Stevenson for what he did, but until the facts are in there is a doubt that would be raised. And as far as Mr. Sparkman is concerned, I would suggest the same thing. He's had his wife on the pay roll. I don't condemn him for that, but I think that he should come before the American people and indicate what outside sources of income he has had. I would suggest that under the circumstances both Mr. Sparkman and Mr. Stevenson should come before the American people, as I have, and make a complete financial statement as to their financial history, and if they don't it will be an admission that they have something to hide.

And I think you will agree with me -- because, folks, remember, a man that's to be President of the United States, a man that is to be Vice President of the United States, must have the confidence of all the people. And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. and that is why I suggest that Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Sparkman, if they are under attack, that should be what they are doing. Now let me say this: I know this is not the last of the smears. In spite of my explanation tonight, other smears will be made. Others have been made in the past. And the purpose of the smears, I know, is this, to silence me, to make me let up. Well, they just don't know who they are dealing with. I'm going to tell you this: I remember in the dark days of the Hiss trial some of the same columnists, some of the same radio commentators who are attacking me know and misrepresenting my position, were violently opposing me at the time I was after Alger Hiss.

But I continued to fight because I knew I was right, and I can say to this great television and radio audience that I have no apologies to the American people for my part in putting Alger Hiss where he is today. And as far as this is concerned, I intend to continue to fight. Why do I feel so deeply? Why do I feel that in spite of the smears, the misunderstanding, the necessity for a man to come up here and bare his soul? And I want to tell you why. Because, you see, I love my country. And I think my country is in danger. And I think the only man that can save America at this time is the man that's running for President, on my ticker, Dwight Eisenhower. You say, why do I think it is in danger? And I say look at the record. Seven years of the Truman-Acheson Administration, and what's happened? Six hundred million people lost to Communists.

And a war in Korea in which we have lost 117,000 American casualties, and I say that those in the State Department that made the mistakes which caused that war and which resulted in those losses should be kicked out of the State Department just as fast as we can get them out of there. And let me say that I know Mr. Stevenson won't do that because he defends the Truman policy, and I know that Dwight Eisenhower will do that, and he will give America the leadership that it needs. Take the problem of corruption. You have read about the mess in Washington. Mr. Stevenson can't clean it up because he was picked by the man, Truman under whose Administration the mess was made. You wouldn't trust the man who made the mess to clean it up. That is Truman. And by the same token you can't trust the man who was picked by the man who made the mess to clean it up and that's Stevenson. And so I say, Eisenhower who owes nothing to Truman, nothing to the big city bosses -- he is the man who can clean up the mess in Washington. Take Communism. I say as far as that subject is concerned the danger is greater to America.

In the Hiss case they got the secrets which enabled them to break the American secret State Department code. They got secrets in the atomic-bomb case which enabled them to get the secret of the atomic bomb five years before they would have gotten it by their own devices. And I say that any man who called the Alger Hiss case a red herring isn't fit to be President of the United States. I say that a man who, like Mr. Stevenson, has pooh-poohed and ridiculed the Communist threat in the United States -- he has accused us, that they have attempted to expose the Communists, of looking for Communists in the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife. I say that a man who says that isn't qualified to be President of the United States. And I say that the only man who can lead us into this fight to rid the Government of both those who are Communists and those who have corrupted this Government is Eisenhower, because General Eisenhower, you can be sure, recognizes the problem, and knows how to handle it. Let me say this, finally. This evening I want to read to you just briefly excerpts from a letter that I received, a letter which after all this is over no one can take away from us.

It reads as follows: Dear Senator Nixon, Since I am only 19 years of age, I can't vote in this presidential election, but believe me if I could you and General Eisenhower would certainly get my vote. My husband is in the Fleet Marines in Korea. He is in the front lines. And we have a two month old son he has never seen. And I feel confident that with great Americans like you and General Eisenhower in the White House, lonely Americans like myself will be united with their loved ones now in Korea. I only pray to God that you won't be too late. Enclosed is a small check to help you with your campaign. Living on $85 a month it is all I can do. Folks, it is a check for $10, and it is one that I shall never cash. And let me just say this: We hear a lot about prosperity these days, but I say why can't we have prosperity built on peace, rather than prosperity built on war? Why can't we have prosperity and an honest Government in Washington, D.C., at the same time? Believe; me, we can. And Eisenhower is the man that can lead the crusade to bring us that kind of prosperity.

And now, finally, I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay on the Republican ticket or resign. Let me say this: I don't believe that I ought to quit, because I am not a quitter. And, incidentally, Pat is not a quitter. After all, her name is Patricia Ryan and she was born on St. Patrick's day, and you know the Irish never quit. But the decision, my friends, is not mine. I would do nothing that would harm the possibilities of Dwight Eisenhower to become President of the United States. And for that reason I am submitting to the Republican National Committee tonight through this television broadcast the decision which it is theirs to make. Let them decide whether my position on the ticket will help or hurt. And I am going to ask you to help them decide. Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision, I will abide by it. But let me just say this last word. Regardless of what happens, I am going to continue this fight.

I am going to campaign up and down America until we drive the crooks and the Communists and those that defend them out of Washington, and remember folks, Eisenhower is a great man. Folks, he is a great man, and a vote for Eisenhower is a vote for what is good for America.

Question: Prior to becoming Vice-President, and later President, Richard Nixon was a Senator for which state?
Answer: CALIFORNIA