The Nixon Effect: How Richard Nixon S Presidency Fundamentally Changed American Politics by Douglas E. Schoen
Author:Douglas E. Schoen [Schoen, Douglas E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Leadership, Presidents & Heads of State, History & Theory, United States, Biography & Autobiography, 20th Century, Political Science, Political Process, History
ISBN: 9781594038006
Google: cgRDCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: 2016-01-19T11:39:19+00:00
Nixonized until the Nineties
So popular was Reaganâand so trusted, by now, were Republicans on national defenseâthat he even got his vice president, George H. W. Bush, into office in 1988 for what some called a âthird Reagan term.â The election of 1988 once again demonstrated the chasm that separated the parties on defense and securityâthe chasm that had been opened wide by George McGovernâs candidacy and Richard Nixonâs presidential leadership.
A story in the Chicago Tribune illustrated how widespread the public perception of Democratic weakness on defense had become. The Democratic nominee, the hapless governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, was not the man to redefine the party on national security. When Dukakis was campaigning with John Glenn at a General Electric defense plant outside of Cincinnati, he tried to convince his listeners that he would preserve the nationâs defensesâbut they werenât buying. They booed him, and when Dukakis insisted that he supported a strong national defense, the crowd responded with: âBush, Bushâ and âGive us a break!â76
The ultimate Dukakis moment, howeverâand the capstone to two decades of Democratic ineptitude on national security and in presidential electionsâwas the Massachusetts governorâs infamous tank ride, in which he dressed in General Dynamics coveralls and donned a helmet for a photo op that would, he hoped, demonstrate his commitment to defense. But Dukakis looked unnatural, to put it generously, sitting in the tankâone commentator compared him to Rocky the Flying Squirrelâand the contrived pose made perfect fodder for a Bush campaign ad.
Sid Rogich, working for the Bush ad teamâheaded by Roger Ailes, who had gotten his start with Nixon in 1968âsaw the Dukakis footage and thought, âI canât believe they put him in that position.â Rich Bond, Bushâs deputy campaign manager and later head of the Republican National Committee, remembered a staff meeting in which someone said, in reference to Dukakis in the tank, âMy God, he looks like Alfred E. Newman.â77 Everyone dissolved in laughter.
It didnât take long for Rogich and Ailes to get an ad together called âTank Rideâ showing the footage of Dukakis in the tank with a voice-over highlighting the incongruity. The effect was heightened by scrolling the text:
Michael Dukakis has opposed virtually every defense system we developed.
He opposed new aircraft carriers.
He opposed antisatellite weapons.
He opposed four missile systems, including the Pershing Two missile deployment.
Dukakis opposed the Stealth bomber and a ground emergency warning system against nuclear attack.
He even criticized our rescue mission to Grenada and our strike on Libya.
Now he wants to be our commander in chief?
America canât afford that risk.78
Dukakis was beaten in forty states, winning just 111 electoral votes to Bushâs 426.
The defeat capped off a decade of presidential drubbings for the party of FDR, Truman, and Kennedy: the Democrats lost forty-four states in 1980, when Carter ran for reelection; forty-nine states in 1984; and forty in 1988. And, in the period from 1968 to 1988, the Nixon-scarred Democrats lost every presidential election but one. The American center had drifted away from Democrats in presidential elections, and a
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