The Comeback Gentleman

[DKrol]

The Comeback Gentleman
A DKrol Timeline



The story of how America's most distrusted and disgraced President become the greatest politician of the 20th Century

[DKrol]

Part I - The Rise and Fall of Richard Milhous Nixon

President Nixon leaving the White House on Marine One in 1974

Richard Nixon had always been a shining star within the Republican Party. A successful Senator and a competent Vice President, Nixon's name was on every pundit's lips when they were asked who would be the Republican nominee for every election from 1956 to 1968. After his loss in 1960 to John Kennedy, Nixon returned to California and challenged incumbent Democrat Governor Jerry Brown in 1962. The race drew national media attention and although Nixon lost by 5%, his image as a champion of 1960s conservatism was strengthened. Nixon was a loyal Goldwater campaigner but was not blamed for the disastrous Republican performance in 1964, allowing his political stock to grow even higher. In 1968 there was never any doubt that Nixon would be the Republican nominee and, after the riots at the Democratic Convention and abysmal campaign of Hubert Humphrey, Nixon easily won the presidential election and finally found himself moving into the Oval Office.

Once sworn in, Nixon championed a bold vision of the United States. He made advances with the Soviets and the Chinese and began the process of withdrawing American troops from the conflict in South-East Asia. By the time of the 1970 mid-term elections, Nixon's popularity was in the high 70s and Republicans increased seats in the Senate and House, but fell short in both of claiming a majority. His reelection in 1972 was never in question and he easily limited Senator McGovern to only one state. The capstone of Nixon's term in office was the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, ending the Vietnam War once and for all. His airlift of supplies to beleaguered Israelis during the Yom Kippur War won him respect across the globe, as did his leadership on environmental issues and his continued commitment to racial integration in schools and the Equal Rights Amendment. If it weren't for the 22nd Amendment, many commentators were confident that Nixon would have been able to win a third term in 1976.

Unfortunately for Nixon, the achievements of his term-and-a-half were overshadowed by Watergate. Started by a series of articles in The Washington Post by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, Watergate centered around allegations that Nixon had been engaged in the cover-up of a break-in at the Democratic Headquarters in the 1972 election. Through the years-long investigation, Nixon maintained his innocence but ultimately came up short in the eyes of the public. One poll in July 1974 found that only 25% of Americans believed Nixon should remain in office. Always considering himself a patriot, Nixon did what he felt was right for the nation.

On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned from the Presidency in favor of his Vice President, Jerry Ford. Although Ford offered to pardon Nixon in September 1974, Nixon denied the request, pledging to fight on in the legal system. Nixon told Ford what he had told the Associated Press in 1973.

"I am not a crook."

[erſatz-york]

Go on

[DKrol]

Part II - The Tapes

Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox pursued Richard Nixon like a rabid dog

As a condition of Attorney General Elliot Richardson’s confirmation in Nixon’s second term, Archibald Cox had been appointed as Special Prosecutor to investigate “all matters related to the 1972 election.” Nixon was, in private, furious at Cox’s selection, calling him a “partisan viper” but he applauded Cox’s choice in public, commending his “strong sense of independence and duty.” Democrats initially applauded Cox and cheered at his selection but later grew weary of him when Cox tried to derail the Senate Watergate Committee’s investigation in favor of his own.

One of the earliest objects of Cox’s focus were a series of campaign donations to the Nixon Campaign. These were several hundreds of thousands of dollars donations from American Airlines, Gulf Oil, and Goodyear Tire. Even before leaving office, Nixon acknowledged the donations were improper and pledged to pay a substantial fine.

The crux of Cox’s investigation, of course, was on the Watergate break-in and cover-up. Originally, there was little concrete evidence that Nixon was involved. It wasn’t until White House Counsel John Dean testified to the Senate Watergate Committee that someone implicated Nixon on the record and it wasn’t until Nixon’s former assistant, Alexander Butterfield, testified that there became physical evidence that could answer many questions: the White House tapes. Nixon had had an extensive recording system installed in the White House in 1970, after removing an early system put in place under Lyndon Johnson. Until his death, Nixon argued that the recording system was the only way to ensure an accurate record of conversations and dealings.

The Nixon Tapes became the focus of Cox’s investigation. Through a series of legal battles while Nixon was still in office, Cox won the release of several of the tapes over arguments of Executive Privilege. One tape in particular drew attention: a tape from June 20, 1973 with 18-and-a-half minutes of static silence. Coming in the middle of a conversation between Nixon and H.R. Haldeman, Cox argued, that portion of tape had to have incriminating evidence. But because the tape was blank - seemingly recorded over - no one could be certain. This only led to more questions: since a White House secretary admitted to accidentally erasing the first 4 minutes of the silence, where did the other 12 minutes come from?

White House Secretary Rose Mary Woods shows how she accidentally erased 4 minutes of tape

Nixon himself maintained he had no idea what caused the silence. He had only had the system installed, he argued, he had no understanding of how it operated. He was just a furious with his staff as Cox was when he learned of the 18-and-a-half minute silence; aids could hear him shouting through the closed door. Since the White House could not recover what was on the missing section of tape, it was left to the imagination of Cox - and jurors - what had been erased. It was this mounting pressure from Cox, the public, and the Congress that forced Nixon out of office.

With Nixon out of office, Cox turned up the heat, no longer feeling bound to show any respect to the Office of the President. Cox went to a grand jury on September 1, 1974 and asked them to subpoena all tapes from the White House recording system. Nixon argued that doing so would compromise critical national security interests and put American lives at risk. The grand jury agreed with Cox and ordered the subpoena, but Nixon resisted. When the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Cox, Nixon appealed to the Supreme Court.

In United States v. Nixon, Nixon didn’t claim executive privilege over all the tapes. He only sought to protect those with a “vital national security message” or that “conveyed a deeply personal and private belief.” Cox argued that all conversations were under the purview of his investigation and must be released. Nixon set aside 21 tapes that he felt were too sensitive to release, but consented to the release of the rest. This wasn’t enough for Cox; he wanted them all. Nixon, his personal lawyer Herb Kalmbach, Cox, Cox’s assistant James Vorenberg, and Chief Justice Warren Burger sat in Burger’s chambers over the course of a week in September 1974 and listened to the 21 tapes Nixon had withheld. Burger then relayed the contents of the tapes to the other justices.

When Burger called the Supreme Court into session on the matter of United States v. Nixon, they agreed with Nixon that the matters discussed on the 21 tapes were not relevant to the purview of the investigation or they were either too personal or posed too a serious threat to national security to be released. The Court ruled that the information Cox and Vorenberg heard in Burger’s chambers was inadmissible in court and placed a gag order on the two to ever discuss the contents. Without the tapes, Cox’s case was on shaky ground but that didn’t stop him.

On October 3, 1974, Cox’s grand jury issued three indictments on charges related to conspiracy to commit a crime and obstruction of justice. One for White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman. One for Domestic Affairs Adviser John Ehrlichman.

And one for Richard Milhous Nixon.

[DKrol]

Part III - The Trial of the Century

The U.S. District Court of D.C., where Nixon stood trial in 1975

When the indictment was delivered to Nixon, who had ironically taken up residence at the Watergate Hotel after leaving office, he was oddly pleased. This was the moment he was ready for, the moment he had been planning on since the first news of the Watergate break-in broke. Nixon was confident he would be able to clear his name in the open air of the courtroom.

A trial date was set for March 3. Nixon got to work beefing up his legal team, hiring California star defense attorney Robert Shapiro and former U.S. Solicitor General Robert Bork in the weeks following the indictment. While Bork was originally hesitant, after listening to an extensive selection of the White House tapes and interviewing several White House aids, he become more confident in their chances. Shapiro would do the majority of the arguing in court, being known for his fiery and effective courtroom style, while Bork did most of the legal work behind the scenes, building the facts of the case.

March 3 came up quickly. When Nixon, Shapiro, and Bork arrived at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Nixon had a characteristic smug grin on. While he himself wouldn’t be taking the stand, as part of an agreement to turn over large portions of his personal memos to Cox, he knew he would be exonerated by the trial. Cox’s prosecution went fast and hard, parading a circus of witnesses in front of the jurors in an effort to implicate Nixon in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in. Star prosecution witnesses were John Dean and Alexander Butterfield, who repeated what they had told the Senate Watergate Committee. While nothing new was exposed during the prosecution’s presentation, many observers thought that public opinion would weigh on the jury and send Nixon to prison.

On March 19, the prosecution rested, and the defense started on March 20. Shapiro called three of the Watergate burglars, Virgilio Gonzalez, James McCord, and Frank Sturgis, all of whom said that they’d never received money or directions from Nixon himself, but had interacted with friends of H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. This wasn’t entirely groundbreaking, but it was the first time Nixon, and his team, openly placed blame on Haldeman and Ehrlichman.

Former First Lady Pat Nixon proved to be a key witness in the 1975 trial

With Nixon himself safe from the stand, the defense turned to the next best thing: Pat Nixon. The former First Lady was asked several times if she ever heard her husband speak about Watergate, the break-in, or a cover-up at any time before the allegations stated. Each time, she firmly denied her husband having any knowledge of, or involvement in, anything related to Watergate. Many said that Nixon’s protection of her husband won over the hearts of jurors; regardless of what people thought of her husband, Americans loved Pat. In his cross-examination, Cox asked her if she could say with confidence that her husband hadn’t used their personal income to write checks as a part of the cover-up. Pat said she couldn’t, only because she didn’t regularly look at their finances but “there was never any dip in my ability to go shopping” so it was unlikely large sums of money were being used. As an icon of post-World War II domesticism, many Americans believed Pat Nixon’s answer.

The trial began to drag on, into the middle of April. On April 9, Shapiro called his final witness: Michael Jones. Jones was a little-known audio engineer at Atlantic Records whom Shapiro presented as an expert witness with regards to the White House tapes. Shapiro had given Jones the original tape from June 20, 1973, with the 18-and-a-half minute missing section, and asked him if he could reconstruct the missing portion, using the latest technology. While Cox had known Jones was being called, he was floored when he discovered why Jones was on the stand, mostly because Cox believed the uncovered mystery section would incriminate Nixon.

Jones hadn’t been able to reconstruct the entire 18-and-a-half minutes of silence but he had been able to rebuild a six minute portion in the middle of the silence. The reconstruction begins with Nixon asking Haldeman about the previous night’s L.A. Dodgers game, which the Dodgers had won, 3-0, over the Atlanta Braves. The conversation then moves to Watergate. Haldeman asks the President if he’s seen the day’s paper, which Nixon says “unfortunately.” Haldeman says that he could “cut some checks, move some things around” before Nixon cuts him off and says “No, no. I won’t have any of that. No.” The tape then crackled out and fell back into silence.

The court room was silent as Nixon leaned back in his chair.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Wow, this is infuriating! Thank god we don't live in this universe, corruption would probably much worse in the modern day than it is in real life if Nixon was able to scam his way to redemption. Great writing, DKrol!!

[DKrol]

I'm glad you're enjoying it in an infuriating way!

Any one have any questions or comments? I'll do my best to answer them, but there's going to be a fairly heavy veil of secrecy on this TL.

[erſatz-york]

Great timeline, can't wait for more!

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Will this TL take place solely in the 1970s? Or will it feature some details of a post-good-Nixon world?

[DKrol]

Will this TL take place solely in the 1970s? Or will it feature some details of a post-good-Nixon world?

The main storyline will go until the early 1990s when Pat dies (same as OTL). I may do some kind of epilogue then, but no promises.

[America Needs R'hllor]

This is looking good.

[DKrol]

Part IV - The Comeback Tour

Richard Nixon walking out of the D.C. District Court

Cox failed to sway the jurors during his cross-examination of Michael Jones. Although Jones did admit he had no idea what was said before or after his reconstructed 6-minute portion, the juror had heard enough to plant seeds of doubt. After a three-day deliberation period, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on the basis that Cox had failed to prove Nixon’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. When the judge read out the jury’s verdict, Pat Nixon collapsed into tears of joy in the arms of her son-in-law, David Eisenhower.

The result sent shockwaves across the country. Many of those who had turned against Nixon during the lead-up to the trial retreated, saying that they had only been looking for evidence rather than casting a sentence. Senate Republicans who had told Nixon to resign or face impeachment quickly tried to move back into Nixon’s good graces, making pilgrimages to his California home and sending letters, telegrams, and fruit baskets to the former President. The Democrat-led Senate Watergate Committee pledged to continue its investigation into Nixon’s activities but, after the verdict, much of the air was let out of their efforts and the Committee was disbanded in the winter of 1976 with little fanfare.

An interview with Richard Nixon became the hot-ticket item for the media during the summer of 1975. Nixon, eager for the positive press attention, appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Issues and Answers, and a special program with Walter Cronkite for CBS in the two months after his acquittal. It was essentially an “I told you so” tour from Nixon, who repeated his famous “I am not a crook” in each interview. Reporters asked Nixon at every opportunity what his future would hold, with some speculating he would run for President in 1976 or California Governor in 1978. His response was that he would continue what he had always done: “I’m going to serve the American people.”

His first return to service came in November, 1975. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco had died, leading to the restoration of the Spanish monarchy under Juan Carlos I. President Ford saw this as a major opportunity to solidify Western Europe as anti-Soviet. Secretary of State Philip Habib, a diplomatic careerist chosen by Ford to replace Nixon-ally Henry Kissinger during the trial, had just fallen ill and was unable to make the trip to Spain to show America’s support. Without a Vice President, with Nelson Rockefeller's nomination still held up in Congress, Ford turned to a man once considered the premier diplomat in the country: Richard Nixon.

Nixon and Kissinger preparing for Nixon’s trip to Spain

Nixon eagerly took on the task of representing the United States in Spain for Juan Carlos’ coronation. He invited Kissinger to meet with him at La Casa Pacifica and the two went through several hours of detailed briefings on Spanish politics. Ford also sent Assistant Secretary of State of European Affair Arthur Hartman to California to brief Nixon on current U.S. policy. Hartman also had the uncomfortable task of telling a former President that he had very limited authority to negotiate or craft policy on behalf of Ford. Nixon brushed Hartman off and left for Spain, with Pat, David, and Julie.

Global media latched onto the Nixon family’s trip, grabbing every opportunity to capture glamorous shots of the redeemed President and his family. When the Nixons stopped in Washington, D.C. for refueling before heading on to Spain, there were many who clamoured for Nixon to return to the White House and meet Ford there. Instead, Ford met Nixon on the tarmac, they spoke for a few minutes in the backseat of a limousine, and then Nixon got back on the plane. The shot of Ford and Nixon on the tarmac topped every newspaper in the morning, with the New York Times running the headline “NIXON'S BACK.”

Upon Nixon’s arrival in Madrid, he was treated as if he was still in office. Juan Carlos met him and Pat at the airfield and then Nixon and the King inspected Spanish soldiers. After the inspection, the two men retired to Juan Carlos’ chambers at the Royal Palace to talk. Ignoring his orders from Hartman, Nixon pressed the Spanish King on several political issues, including a commitment to anti-Communism, democratic reforms within Spain, and efforts to reunify Spain after the division of Franco. Juan Carlos committed himself to democratic internal reforms, with plans for free elections in 1976 and the groundwork being laid for new, democratic constitution. Historians debate how much influence Nixon had on these decisions, as some suspect that Juan Carlos was preparing those actions anyway. Regardless, Nixon was heralded in American media as crusading for democracy in Spain. Privately, Ford was fuming when he read that Nixon engaged in such talks directly in the face of his directions. Publically, the State Department applauded Juan Carlos for taking steps towards a more free and fair country and thanked Nixon for representing his country.

After the coronation, the Nixons went on a tour of Europe, making stops in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rome, and London before returning to America. At each stop along the way, Nixon was greeted by large crowds, fawned over by the media, and received warmly by the local governments. When asked by The Times of London, one Brit described his excitement at seeing Nixon by saying, “He fought the man - and won.”

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

This is awesome.

[Cold War Liberal]

This is awesome.

[DKrol]

I'm glad you guys are enjoying it! It's been really fun to write and I have a definitive end game in mind, so we won't be plagued by me running out of creative juices like we have in the past.

[America Needs R'hllor]

This is awesome.

Also, poor Ford lol.

[DKrol]

Part V - The Election of 1976

All eyes turned to the fight between Ronald Reagan and Jerry Ford in 1976

The election of 1976 was going to be the first indicator of Richard Nixon’s ambitions for a comeback. In the days following his acquittal, some speculated that Nixon would be running for his former job in 1976. That conversation quickly faded as legal scholars pointed out that the 22nd Amendment banned anyone from being elected to the Presidency more than twice, which Nixon had been in 1968 and 1972. Attention then turned to what role Nixon would play in the election if he wasn’t a candidate.

President Ford announced he would be running for President in the fall of 1975, pledging to continue the work he’d started since 1974. His main highlights were ending the war in Vietnam, working towards denuclearization with the Soviets, and two sets of tax cuts which created a healthy economy. With the threat from Nixon sedated by the Constitution, the main challenge to Ford came from another Californian: Ronald Reagan.

Reagan was a household name before making his foray into politics in 1966, when he ran for Governor of California, from his decades in Hollywood films and as a spokesman for G.E. With his chiseled good looks and masterful speaking skills, Reagan was an easy candidate for any office. He began making campaign stops in the spring of 1975 and officially launched his campaign for the Presidency in October in New York City. He lambasted President Ford as being too soft on Communism and too unproven as a conservative, attacking him for allowing South Vietnam to fall to the North in April, 1975 and for begining negotiations to turn the Panama Canal over to the Panamanians.

Both candidates immediately turned to Nixon to seek his blessing - and finances. Many key Republican donors were sitting back and waiting for Nixon to make a choice before unleashing their checkbooks. Nixon had a good relationship with both Ford and Reagan. Although Reagan had lead a “Stop Nixon” campaign in 1968, the two united when Reagan stood by Nixon during Watergate. Ford had served as Nixon’s Vice President and had, at least publicly, stood by Nixon during Watergate, as well as gave Nixon the opportunity to tour Europe with a cleared name. Nixon was in a tough spot.

Reagan and Ford each made several pilgrimages to see Nixon during the ‘76 Campaign

In private, Nixon gave his support to both Ford and Reagan, in varying degrees to play the field. He told Reagan at a meeting at La Casa Pacifica in January, 1976 that he strongly supported Reagan’s message and supported “holding Ford’s feet to the fire.” Ford and Nixon met for the first time since the 37th President’s return from Spain in March at Nixon’s Florida home, the Florida White House. Nixon told his successor that the challenge to him was largely unfounded and that there was little that could have been done to protect South Vietnam from falling once Vietnamization ended.

Those who knew Nixon were not surprised by his actions in the 1976 election. He had built his career around hiding his true intentions and feelings and keeping as many avenues open to himself as possible. Neither Ford nor Reagan knew of Nixon’s words to the other but also neither spoke of Nixon’s support in definitive terms, because Nixon strategically refused to cement his support with a public appearance. It was only at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City that Nixon made a full, complete, and public endorsement of a candidate: after Ford had won the nomination on the first ballot. Nixon saw that Reagan still had a future in politics and advised Ford to chose him as his Vice President. After such a divisive primary, however, Reagan balked at the idea when the Ford camp proposed it, leading to Kansas Senator Bob Dole getting the nod.

With the mess of the nomination out of the way, Ford turned his attention to his Democratic opponent, little-known Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale. Nixon served as an unofficial senior advisor for Ford and an official top surrogate, representing the President across the country while Ford pursued a Rose Garden strategy. Ford made only two formal campaign stops during the 1976 campaign, one in September to Ohio and one, the day before Election Day, to Florida. Instead of campaigning, Ford remained largely in Washington to preside over the Bicentennial and present himself as a busy, capable governing executive.

Carter, early on in the campaign, attempted to make Watergate an issue of the campaign in an effort to disgrace Ford’s star surrogate. The attacks took little hold, however, as voters largely responded with a collective shoulder shrug after the jury’s acquittal. In the middle of October, Carter quickly changed messaging, instead running on a campaign of economic malaise, arguing that the Ford tax cuts were harmful to the economy, long-term, and that manufacturing wasn’t keeping pace with the global market.

Carter’s messaging failed to resonate with voters, who were largely happy with their current situation. Ford, despite the early odds being against him, won a convincing victory in November, 1976, and secured for himself a full term as President.

While Nixon was glad that his ally Ford had won, the 1976 election was more important to him than that. It showed that he could still win over voters.

[erſatz-york]

Ford has won the battle against Carter, but will the win the battle against stagflation?

[_]

I LOVE THIS TIMELINE

YES FORD WON AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[DKrol]

Part VI - Back to Work

Ford knew the best way to keep an eye on Nixon was to keep him close

When President Ford was inaugurated for his first full term in office, Richard Nixon was given a seat of honor in the second row behind the podium. It was clear to many that Nixon was going to have an important role in the administration but it was unclear where he would fit. Prospective landing spots including Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, or Secretary of State. Nixon himself privately favored the State Department, given his success in dealing with the Soviets and the Chinese, as well as his trip to Spain and tour of Europe. John Sparkman, Democratic Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Ford that the Committee could not confirm Nixon. Sparkman’s opposition was not based on his foreign policy credentials; it was based on Nixon’s public support for Civil Rights.

Instead, Ford chose Nixon’s UN Ambassador George H.W. Bush for Secretary of State. Nixon was offered Chief of Staff but turned it down, considering it too lowly of a position. Instead, Nixon’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Caspar Weinberger, was chosen for Chief of Staff. Ford also brought on a former Nixon staffer, former Chief of Staff Dick Cheney, as Secretary of Defense. Ford was still left with the task of finding a job for Nixon that would stroke his ego but also allow Ford to keep an eye on him.

The answer, once Ford actually asked Nixon what he wanted, was clear. On February 1, 1977, Ford nominated Nixon to become the next American Ambassador to the United Nations, with Secretary of State Bush in attendance. Ford praised Nixon for his decades’ long commitment to American foreign policy and commended him for “chartering a new age” with relations with the Soviet Union and China. The Foreign Relations Committee, confident that Nixon’s voice would be drowned out in the sea of voice at the United Nations, voted narrowly to recommend him for confirmation. The Senate, still Democrat controlled after Ford’s election, also confirmed Nixon by a much closer margin than many previous UN Ambassadors, 68 to 32, with all Republicans, the only Independent, and 29 Democrats voting to confirm.

Nixon’s first test as UN Ambassador came at the end of April, when tensions between Cambodia and Vietnam escalated into the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. Nixon made a passionate plea for action to the Security Council where he, in very couched terms, expressed a “deep regret” for the actions that United States had taken “over the last several years” that led to such a predicament. Nixon argued that the body had to give, in at least moral terms, support to the Cambodians as they fought to protect their national identity from the Communist threat. While the Soviet Union vetoed a motion in the Security Council, Nixon’s rousing speech did bring the Cambodians and the Vietnamese to the table.

The Cambodian attacks in Vietnam were Nixon’s first test as UN Ambassador

High-level talks were held in New York between representatives of Cambodian leader Pol Pot and Vietnamese Premier Pham Van Dong, Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua, and Nixon in September, 1977. The talks were generally ineffective, as Vietnam continued to capture swaths of the Cambodian countryside, but they gave Nixon an opportunity to keep his face in the papers. Every few days Nixon would tell reporters that a breakthrough was imminent, and then announce that the breakthrough was that Pol Pot and Pham Van Dong had spoken on the phone for a few minutes. As the talks ended in December, Nixon declared victory despite achieving nothing more than a “firm commitment to dialogue” between the Cambodians and Vietnamese. The media ate it up.

Nixon relished every opportunity to hold official UN functions at La Casa Pacifica, despite it being on the opposite side of the country from the UN Headquarters. Three sessions of the Cambodian-Vietnamese dialogues were held in California, and it was in California where Nixon opened talks over the Ethio-Somali War. Unlike with Vietnam, Nixon’s talks actually did create a meaningful end to the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia. Somalia recognized the Ethiopian claim to the Ogaden in exchange for Ethiopia exporting grain to the hunger-plagued Somalia. Under Nixon’s guidance, the Ethio-Somali War lasted only four months, from July to November, 1977. Nixon also attempted to aid Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in establishing a lasting Middle Eastern peace plan during talks in New York but the two leaders largely rebuked Nixon, limiting him to a press conference. But Nixon got his picture in the paper.

As 1977 drew to a close and 1978 opened, Nixon was often spending more and more time at La Casa Pacifica, leaving career diplomat Robert Strausz-Hupe to lead the American delegation in New York. Speculation ran rampant that Nixon was planning on leaving the UN in favor of elected office in California. Nixon remained coy with the press but began assembling an informal campaign team in the winter of 1978, led by former RNC Chairwoman Mary Louise Smith. Nixon headlined a fundraiser for the California Republican Party in February, 1978 and made a circuit of speaking tours on college campuses across the Golden State. In March, after Nixon had missed several Security Council votes in order to spend time in California, Ford, privately, demanded Nixon’s resignation. Nixon happily consented and quite as UN Ambassador on March 6, 1978, a little over a year after being confirmed.

Then, on March 7, Richard Nixon held a rally on the campus of UC-Berkeley to announce he would be seeking a return to public office.

((Note: This is the last post until Monday, as I'm going away for the weekend))

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

Interesting

[erſatz-york]

Interesting

[America Needs R'hllor]

Aw, that cliffhanger. This is great! I'd guess Nixon would go for Senator, since it's more of a nationalized, attention-garnering position. Also, FF Begin and Sa'adat!

[DKrol]

I'm back from my trip. Looking at tomorrow for the next update.

[DKrol]

Part VII - A Second Shot

Nixon’s political future rested on the decision of California voters in 1978

In 1962, Richard Nixon staked his future career on the California Gubernatorial election. He made the same gamble in 1978. In March, he announced he was entering the Republican Primary to face Jerry Brown in November. The only other declared Republican at that point was Attorney General Evelle Younger, and Nixon’s entry kept the primary field limited. Nixon ran his primary campaign as if he were the only candidate, referring to Younger only occasionally on the campaign trail. Instead of fighting Younger, Nixon focused on attacking Brown and his record in California as a “Do-Nothing Governor.” On the June 6 Primary Election, Nixon crushed Younger. Nixon claimed 67% of the vote, compared to 21% for Younger, 6% for State Senator Ken Maddy, and 6% for Mayor Pete Wilson.

Brown, who had largely sat back and waited for Nixon to, he hoped, fall on his own sword and loose the primary, jumped into action. The Brown Campaign attempted to paint Nixon as a candidate of the previous decade, not a man of the future, and questioned his commitment to California, citing his long period of residence in Washington, D.C., New York, and New Jersey. Nixon countered by attacking Brown for opposing the reduction in property taxes of Proposition 13, as well as for his elimination of the depletion allowance. Nixon allies, but never Nixon himself, also charged that Brown was only elected governor because of his father, who had defeated Nixon in 1962.

Brown challenged Nixon to an audacious schedule of 7 debates up and down the state of California. Nixon rejected the idea of 7 and instead proposed a pair of debates, one in Orange County and one in Eureka, to which Brown agreed to. The first debate, held in early September, was only a few miles away from Nixon’s La Casa Pacifica at the San Clemente High School. Nixon took the previous three days off to prepare at his home, while Brown continued an aggressive campaign schedule and made the several hours long journey from Bakersfield before the debate.

It was the complete inverse of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate. Nixon appeared cool and calm and fit the elder statesman profile. Brown, on the other hand, was tired and sweaty. Brown also, it became known afterwards, was experiencing diarrhea after eating a bad fish taco in Bakersfield. In his memoirs, Nixon says that Brown “was crapping his pants during [the debate]...literally.” The content of the debate has largely been lost to the annals of history; the style of the debate is what everyone remembers.

Former Governor Pat Brown, who defeated Nixon in 1962, met with the former President in 1978

The second Nixon-Brown debate ended up not happening. A rain storm caused a mudslide in Santa Barbara the day before the debate and the candidates agreed to cancel the debate. While Brown used the time to meet with emergency responders in Sacramento, Nixon traveled to Santa Barbara and met with people displaced by the mudslide. When Brown saw Nixon, shaking hands and handing out bottles of water, he was furious, attacking Nixon for “taking political advantage of a tragedy.” Regardless, people looked at the footage and saw a warm, caring man, rather than cold and calculating politician people often saw in Nixon.

On November 7, Nixon spent the day traveling around polling places in his native Orange County, while Brown criss-crossed the state, beginning in Eureka and finishing in Oakland. When the votes started coming in, it seemed Brown might have just been able to fend off the former President’s challenge. Large margins in San Francisco, Yolo, and Los Angeles Counties gave the incumbent a strong cushion to start with. By 11:00 PM, however, it became more likely Nixon was going to come out victorious. Nearly 60% of the vote in Orange County, 53% in El Dorado County, and a sizable 44% in Napa County dug into Brown’s cushion. By midnight, Brown was leading by only 45 votes.

It was not until 3:00 AM on Wednesday that news anchors could project the results from California in the midst of a nationwide Democratic wave, a rejection of the Ford presidency. Nationally, Democrats gained a supermajority in the Senate and firm control over the House of Representatives. With a majority of 134 votes, ABC News projected that the 35th Governor of the State of California would be the 37th President of the United States.

Nixon was back in office. And already thinking about the future.