Nixon would've been a good president if he was elected in '60, but instead did badly when he won in '68. The climate in '68 caused him to be a crook.
Ikefan said 02/23, 12:21 PM
I had to shorten my statement. If Richard Nixon had been elected in 1960, he would not have been a crook, because the conditions and political climate would not cause him to do so. But instead, he was elected in 1968, where at that time, he had become more paranoid (by his defeat by Jerry Brown in California's gubernational race; usually, a veep would always win), and thus he committed the crime of Watergate in paranoia of McGovern. I think he would have been a very good president had he been elected in 1960, where there would be no terrible loses to cause extreme sneakiness, distrust, and paranoia in Nixon, traits that he carried to his presidency come 1969.
IamFry said 02/23, 02:32 PM
I imagine that this will be a tough one for you to debate, as history shows that being "a crook' is, at least, within his character, while it can never be proven that he was 'driven to it' by the 1960 election.
If paranoia is a character flaw within Nixon's psyche that can lead to crooked behavior, then perhaps something else could have triggered the paranoia that lead to Watergate if not the gubernatorial loss (assuming your conclusion is correct, that it was paranoia that lead to Nixon's downfall).
And if that isn't enough, then how about this: In a parallel universe in which Nixon wins the 1960 election, we have no idea how crooked he'd be, because he'd be shot in Dallas after two years.
Ikefan said 02/23, 06:36 PM
What I meant is he wouldn't have committed these crooked deeds. And I think experience obviously do change your character, plus the times change your politics and decisions. And who knows if he would've been shot, Tricky Dick wasn't nearly as young or out in the open.
IamFry said 02/23, 08:09 PM
I agree that experience does change your character. Every now and then, people are tested and their true nature comes out. People face their own trials and must decide whether to act nobly or to be a weasel.
Accepting that it was the trials he faced as a candidate which led him to be shady, who's to say that the trials he'd have faced in office wouldn't have led him to be shady? The Cuban Missile Crisis may have turned him into even more of a wretch than you suggest losing the gubernatorial bout did.
We all face trials, and reveal our true nature. Nixon did, and revealed his true nature. He's a weasel.
Ikefan said 02/23, 11:06 PM
Because the trials wouldn't have been as bad. I think Nixon would have used the counsule of Dwight Eisenhower and the very foreign policy savy Henry Cabot Lodge to easily see him through. Plus he wouldn't have had missiles aiming at Russia and the predacament would have never happened in this first place. Nixon is a weasel, but who would have been a good president had he been elected at that time.
IamFry said 02/25, 05:57 PM
The trials wouldn't have been as bad - so the stress of losing an election is more intense than facing nuclear armageddon? No.
As for Nixon receiving the counsel of Eisenhower, well, you probably know more about Eisenhower than I do, but I'm under the impression that, aside from the occasional appearance, he virtually retired from politics when he left office, and wouldn't have been a factor.
I'll close by restating what I've been saying, that Nixon showed his mettle when he went crooked, and if he'd won the 1960 election, he'd still be the same man.
Comments
Add Your Comment
I can in no way agree with this, Nixon was always a weasel, does anyone remember (not literally) the checkers scandal in 1952? That was just a taste of Nixon, he was also involved in the McCarthy witch hunts (although to a lesser extent) and his presidency would have further expressed this (as it did in '68). Nixon also did somethings that hurt the American economy, he set up the price freezes that made some businesses go bankrupt and cause many more to teeter dangerously close to it, he created the HMOs we suffer under now. So how would those failed policies have been better in 1960 rather than 1968? Nixon is, I would say, our third worst president , passed only by James Buchanan and George W. Bush, he was always a weasel despite the year.
base89 | 02/25/08
Report Offensive Comment
While the climate has been blamed for a lot of things -- melting ice caps, the immanent extinction of the polar bears, the increase in spontaneous nudity in the workplace, I don't think global warming is to blame for Nixon being Nixon.
Hadrian | 02/26/08
Report Offensive CommentPost A Comment
Please keep it clean. Bad words will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed.
CNN TOP POLITICAL STORIES
TOP STORIES on TIME.COM
TIME PHOTO ESSAYS
Israeli Soldiers Sweep Into Gaza
IDF tanks and infantry launch a ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave
(Uriel Sinai / Getty)
The Science of Snowflakes
Caltech physics professor Kenneth G. Libbrecht has turned his passion for the study of ice crystals into an art form. In his books and website, Snowcrystals.com, he breaks down some of the basics behind these miniature miracles of nature
(Kenneth G. Libbrecht)
Good move, Iambligh. I like the cuban missile crisis line. I was wondering when something about 1960 would show up to be strenuous enough to push good ol Nixon over the line.
Eaglevision | 02/23/08
Report Offensive Comment