IV.

Road to the Presidency

A.

California Campaign of 1962

After losing the presidential election, Nixon returned to California, and in 1962 became the Republican candidate for governor, opposing the Democratic incumbent, Edmund G. (“Pat”) Brown. Again the campaign was bitter, and Nixon argued that Democrats were not sufficiently concerned about the threat that Communism posed around the world and at home. He also asserted that California did not enforce its laws strictly enough. This time the strategy did not work; Brown won easily. At first Nixon refused to acknowledge Brown’s victory. When he did so at a televised news conference, he used the opportunity to attack the press, who he felt had treated him unfairly in the campaign. Most political observers believed that Nixon’s political career was ended.

B.

Election of 1968

After his defeat, Nixon moved to New York City, where he joined a large law firm. He remained in close touch with national Republican leaders and campaigned for Republican candidates in the 1964 and 1966 elections. By February 1, 1968, he had sufficiently recovered his political standing to announce his candidacy for president.

In seeking the nomination in 1968, Nixon had certain handicaps to overcome. For one thing, he had not won an election on his own since 1950. Moreover, he had no state in which to base his candidacy: His former state, California, had rejected him in 1962, and his current state, New York, was the home ground of another possible candidate, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. In addition, Nixon could count on few Republican governors for support, and they would lead the delegations from their states at the Republican National Convention.

On the other hand, Nixon did have wide support in Congress and with other politicians whom he had helped in their campaigns. In addition, he seemed to occupy a middle position in policies and ideas between the conservative wing of the party, then led by Governor Ronald W. Reagan of California, and the Northeastern liberal wing, which preferred Governor Rockefeller. Polls indicated clearly that Nixon was the favorite of regular party members.

With their backing Nixon easily won the nomination on the first ballot at the convention held in Miami Beach, Florida, in August. For his running mate he chose Spiro T. Agnew, the governor of Maryland.

His Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, had to contend with serious divisions within his party and was on the defensive because Nixon placed particular stress on the unsuccessful war in Vietnam and the growing antiwar protests at home. The election was complicated by a third party headed by former Alabama governor George C. Wallace. Nixon and Humphrey each gained about 43 percent of the popular vote, but the distribution of Nixon’s nearly 32 million votes gave him a clear majority in the electoral college.