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81 4 Richard M. Nixon and the Republican Nomination “If you ever let them [the Democrats] campaign only on domestic issues, they’ll beat us—our only hope is to keep it on foreign policy.” —Richard M. Nixon on the reason he chose Henry Cabot Lodge as his running mate For the Republican Party, 1957 and 1958 were not good years. In November 1958, the GOP suffered its worst defeat since 1936 and came out of the midterm elections badly wounded. In 1959, the party began to rebound. As it entered the presidential election year in 1960, it did so with a popular incumbent president, albeit one who was constitutionally prohibited from running in 1960, and two formidable presidential candidates, Vice President Richard M. Nixon and New York governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. The Republican Party in 1960 had three centers of power: the old guard right, the center right, and the center left, insofar as one can speak of a left in the 1960 GOP. On the right, there was a power vacuum. Its natural and much-revered leader, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, had died in 1953. For the remainder of the decade, none of the pretenders to his mantle proved remotely worthy. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy ended his bid in disgrace and alcoholism and died in 1957. Taft’s successor as Senate majority leader, William Knowland of California, did not measure up. As Republicans became a minority in the Senate, the Democratic majority leader, Lyndon Johnson, outmaneuvered Knowland. The Californian embarked on a course of selfdestructive personal behavior and in 1958 suffered a humiliating defeat when he ran for the governorship of California. The death of Taft and the failure of McCarthy and Knowland left the Republican right without a dynamic , effective leader. Only in 1960, when Arizona senator Barry Goldwater began his remarkable ascent, did a new Republican right once again constitute a powerful force. In this year, though, Goldwater was at the very beginning of his national career. The power vacuum in conservative leadership was a benefit to Vice President Richard Nixon, who occupied a position on the center right. Nixon, a staunch domestic anticommunist, made his mark with the Alger Hiss case. 82 * Kennedy v. Nixon He established himself as a strong opponent of international communism and a firm ally of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. On the other hand, Nixon supported U.S. engagement abroad and was never sympathetic to attempts to roll back New Deal social programs. The combination of a strong anticommunism linked to moderate domestic policies gave Nixon the ability to appeal to both the Republican right, as well as the more moderate and progressive elements in the GOP. Finally, Nelson A. Rockefeller, governor of New York, on the center left, was the leading GOP advocate of more domestic social welfare programs, expanding government both in Albany and Washington D.C., and increasing taxes to pay for these policies. At the national level, he stood for increased spending on national defense. Rockefeller was never happy working under Eisenhower. He had little power, was unable to accomplish much, and felt stifled. He entered the administration as undersecretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953–54), and then became special assistant to the president for foreign affairs (1954–55). During these years, he also advised Eisenhower on government reorganization. Further advancement and real influence in the administration, though, were not forthcoming. Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson liked Rockefeller and wanted to make him deputy secretary with a view to Rocky taking over when Wilson stepped down. Tight-fisted Secretary of the Treasury George Humphrey, though, was in no mood to see a spender like Rockefeller in a position where he could be counted upon to bombard the administration with requests for more programs and more money. Humphrey persuaded the president to kill the idea. A frustrated Rockefeller left the administration in 1956 and returned to New York to enter state politics. In the dismal Republican performance of 1958, Rockefeller was one of the bright lights, winning the New York governorship by more than 500,000 votes against Democratic incumbent Averell Harriman. Rockefeller’s initial electoral performance was a brilliant one and portended greater things to come.1 In the aftermath of November 1958, political observers believed that Rockefeller was not satisfied with being governor of New York. Overnight, he became a de facto presidential candidate and maintained that appearance through 1959. In some ways, the Rockefeller campaign resembled John F. Kennedy’s...

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