“And what if I demanded a recount and it turned out that despite the vote fraud, Kennedy had still won? Charges of “sore loser” would follow me through history and remove any possibility of a further political career.” – Richard M. Nixon to Hugh Hefner in 1968…
Excuse me? Richard Nixon? This must be before entitlement became all the rage!
It’s easy to forget but in the 1960 Presidential Election, Richard M. Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy. The loss happened in the closest political contest in American History, thus far, period. Kennedy garnered 49.7% of the vote to Nixon’s 49.6%, a difference of one tenth of one percent. I guess your vote counts, right?
True or not, many in the Nixon camp suspected voter fraud, including former President Dwight Eisenhower as well as key Democrats. Fraud was especially suspected in Illinois and Texas, home of Mayor Richard Daley and Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Lyndon Johnson, respectively. These guys were no joke as far as influence went, hence the suspicions.
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was murdered and we have lionized him ever since so the question got buried, only coming up from time to time. To be sure, I’m not asking if fraud was committed. The results have been combed over time and again, and I have a different question.
In 1960, Nixon had a Constitutional right to demand a recount. A right, not a privilege, as the election was within one percentage point. However, within 24 hours, Nixon conceded and three days later, he gave a speech explaining that it would not be good for the country to hold up the democratic process with a recount.
Maybe his concern was not possessed of the most altruistic of motives but seriously, what the hell happened to dignity? Where did it go? Nixon was concerned about what was good for the country? Really? If that happened today, how do you think it would have turned out? You know how…Her name is Hilary Clinton.
It was sad to see but when Nixon finally became president, in 1968, he allowed fear, paranoia and basic amorality to destroy a pretty phenomenal list of achievements in his presidential legacy. the EPA Act, the HMO Act, the Consumer Product Safety Act…he did a lot of good…The Watergate break-ins and subsequent cover-up, led to his inevitable resignation, lest he face certain impeachment and conviction. Can you say bye-bye library? He had to resign as he didn’t just “tape.” Planning to blow up the Brookings Institute and frame Ted Kennedy is well, not good…
July 1969 #POTUS37 #USPresident #RichardNixon greets #Apollo11 astronauts after splashdown | @NASAhistory #PresHist #USPresidentialHistory pic.twitter.com/bTklBfSKxT
— Margaret C. Boardman (@BoardmanMC) July 28, 2017
Still, given 1960, “Why aren’t we taking more personal development lessons from ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon?”
In 2000, George W. Bush and Al Gore had a bitterly contested election go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Recount or not, I don’t care about who was “right” as both sides came off like spoiled children and were more about themselves than anything and it was obvious. I can say this with a relative sense of objectivity as I didn’t vote for either guy. Both were entitled pansies, “My daddy said I could be president, so there!” said one camp. “Well, so did mine!” retorted the other camp and so says my lawyer…you get the basic gist.
In my view, both wanted what was good for them and not so much the country. They both lawyered up as both plead their cases on television. Now, both right and left have their reasons why their guy should have won. Both have anecdotal evidence how one side stole, or was denied, the presidency. But the fact is, if we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. And if Trump isn’t careful, it won’t be “Tricky Dick” but “Tricky Trump” that we remember as the dirtiest commander in chief.
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