Nixon in New York by Li Victor;

Author:Li, Victor;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

“The Campaign Begins”

First, Johnson was going to sit back and see how Nixon handled the 1966 midterm elections. These elections were vitally important to Nixon if he wanted to mount a serious bid for the presidency in 1968. During the 1964 elections, as Johnson was on his way to securing a historic landslide, Democrats running throughout the country had reaped the benefits. Republicans lost two seats in the Senate, as well as thirty-six in the House, giving Democrats a two-thirds majority in both chambers.

While those numbers didn’t give the GOP much reason to be optimistic, there were some promising signs for a party that was still picking itself up off the mat after the Goldwater fiasco. For one thing, even as Republicans were getting wiped out at the polls in 1964, they were making significant inroads into the historically Democratic Solid South. Not only had Goldwater won five states south of the Mason-Dixon line, but several House districts had voted for Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction, including five districts in Alabama, and one each in Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina. These results heartened Nixon and convinced him that the South could be competitive in 1968—foretelling his “Southern Strategy” and providing a base for GOP presidential candidates that they continue to rely on.

Plus, Nixon believed that the Democrats were vulnerable on a host of issues. Rising deficits, racial tension, and the growing unpopularity of the Vietnam War put Democrats on the defensive, and that suited Nixon well because he was always better on the attack. Throw in the fact that, historically, the party that holds the White House loses seats in a midterm election and Nixon felt optimistic—more optimistic than he’d ever been heading into an election cycle.[7] If Republicans did well in 1966 and picked up seats in both Houses, as well as captured governors’ houses in several states, Nixon would get the credit. After all, with Dewey and Eisenhower retired, Goldwater in political exile, Romney and Rockefeller running for reelection, and new star Ronald Reagan pursuing the governorship of California that had eluded Nixon in 1962, Nixon would be the only Republican traveling the country and campaigning for multiple candidates.

A strong showing in 1966 was vital for Nixon’s chances in 1968. In order to have a chance at the presidency, Nixon believed he needed a substantial increase in GOP elected officials throughout the country. “I had to run five percent ahead of the ticket in 1960 if I were to win,” Nixon said.[8] “I did run five percent ahead, but I still lost by that minimal amount. So I realized that in 1968 we had to close that gap some, because after 1964 the party was down to the same level it was in 1958. So we had to increase the number of governors. We had to increase the number of senators, increase the number of congressmen.”

Before 1966 even started, Nixon set the tone by publicly predicting big gains for the GOP in the midterm elections. In

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