Beautiful Music: Nixon Elect

Despite an unforgettably poor performance by Vice President Richard Nixon during the first ever Presidential debates, the turning point came on the evening of October 27, 1960, when the Republican candidate called the wife of imprisoned civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and even went to the point of announcing it to the public. While his opponent Senator John F. Kennedy also made a phone call, Nixon made the point of publicizing this overture to the African-American vote. Speaking at a press conference on October 27, Nixon informed the audience of his call to Coretta Scott King, and urged for her husband's release. With pressure now mounting from the sitting Vice President and potential future President, King was released from prison the next day, acknowledging that Nixon likely played a big part in his release. While the Kennedy campaign attempted to also take on the issue, Nixon's gesture completely leveled the playing field for election day.

While at his suite in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on November 8, 1960, Richard Nixon watched the results with his family. At first it was a virtual tie in both the electoral college and the popular vote, but as the night wore on, he began to steadily advance ahead of Senator Kennedy. By midnight, the New York Times called the race for the Vice President, but Nixon himself was hesitant and wanted to wait longer to declare a victory. By six o'clock the next morning, it was clear that the Vice President won the election. Senator Kennedy phoned the Vice President by seven o'clock to concede the race. At that point, the Vice President addressed a crowd of supporters at the hotel to declare his victory.

"We have made history tonight--not just for ourselves, but for all ages," Nixon declared to the crowd. "This is a victory for not just the American people, but a victory for the entire world!" The crowd was wild and his victory seemed to resonate with many Americans. Winning 295 electoral votes and 48.5% of the popular vote against Kennedy's 207 electoral votes and 48.3% of the popular vote, his victory was definitive and his popular vote margin was larger from what many expected. 35 electors from Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina however declared that they would not vote for either Nixon or Kennedy, but instead supported Harry F. Byrd, the Senator from Virginia.


The first step for President-elect Nixon to taking office was to create a cabinet. Wishing to create an easier transition between the Eisenhower-Nixon administrations, the President-elect selected a few major figures on the Eisenhower administration to continue on in his White House. As Vice President, he had worked with many members of the Eisenhower cabinet and formed close working relationships with them. On November 17, he announced that he was keeping on Secretary of State Christian A. Herter. Secretary of Labor James Mitchell, and Secretary of the Interior Fred Seaton were also kept on. Former Maryland Governor Theodore McKeldin meanwhile was announced as Attorney General on December 8, and on December 15, Nixon announced that James H. Douglas, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, would become his Secretary of Defense if he were nominated.

On January 17, 1961, just three days before Vice President Nixon was to become the 35th President of the United States, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his farewell address to the nation, where he spoke of the military industrial complex and other issues he feared would be dominant in the 1960s. It was the famous general's last attempt to guide police and to influence the issues before he left for private life. On January 20, 1961, Richard Milhous Nixon became the nation's 35th President on the steps of the United States Capitol, where he declared the "Dawn of a new era in American politics." He also vowed to oppose recognition of the People's Republic of China, and vowed to grow the American economy, saying that "The average American can make one contribution above all else to the effort against Communism. We must live lives that show those Communist nations that life under our way of life is the superior way of life."

The world forever changed the day Richard Nixon became President.

Martin Luther King Sr. does not change his vote.

Looking good! Keep up the awesome work!

Your timelines are amazing. Looking forward to this one, hopefully it won't distract you to much from updating Night Fall.

How does Nixon do better in the South after this? Wouldn't it hurt him among Southern whites?

You'll see. Nixon still has his private views on race, but his decision to back King would have consequences for the GOP and Richard Nixon, especially when it comes to elections. As of right now, Nixon has managed to (At least briefly) stop the shift of African-American voters to the Democrats.

Noravea said:

You'll see. Nixon still has his private views on race, but his decision to back King would have consequences for the GOP and Richard Nixon, especially when it comes to elections. As of right now, Nixon has managed to (At least briefly) stop the shift of African-American voters to the Democrats.

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I've thought about doing a TL like this in the past. I'm looking forward to where you are going with this.

Dick Daley failed to win Illinois for Kennedy. The man will disappear into a puff of smoke because his life no longer has meaning.

Octosteel said:

Dick Daley failed to win Illinois for Kennedy. The man will disappear into a puff of smoke because his life no longer has meaning.

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Isn't that a good thing?

Excited to see where this goes, Noravea.

The following is a taped interview between former Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and NBC's Tom Brokaw, recorded on May 5, 1983

Tom Brokaw: Good evening everyone and welcome to the Nightly News. Tonight, I am sitting down with former Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., of Massachusetts. Good evening Mr. Vice President.

Henry Cabot Lodge: Good evening Tom.

Tom Brokaw: First I would like to discuss with you the events that first rattled the Nixon administration soon after taking office in 1961. Of course you had the start of the quagmire in Cuba, as well as rising tensions in French Indochina. Not to mention the Civil Rights movement at home. All of these events took place in a matter of months and brought the Nixon administration into a sort of emergency situation for the better part of a year. Why do you think things happened the way they did?

Henry Cabot Lodge: Well, the first thing I would have to say is that the people in our administration...the people working for President Nixon...were very capable people. Most of them he met while working under President Eisenhower, so they had a very close friendship. I believe it is a common misconception that President Eisenhower dumped the Bay of Pigs Crisis on his lap. We must remember that Vice President Nixon was heavily involved in national security issues, so he knew what to expect in those first months.

Things were tumultuous. I remember one of the President's aides came up to me and told me that he was there to be a foreign policy President. That was his area of expertise. I had no doubts that at some point in those four years that President Nixon would lead us into a confrontation with the communists, but I had no idea it would be in just a little over two months after taking office.

Tom Brokaw: Were you involved in the immediate stages of the Bay of Pigs Crisis?

Henry Cabot Lodge: No. In fact, I would say that I was deliberately left out of the process of dealing with it. I had no doubts in President Nixon's expertise in the field, but to turn a CIA operation into a full-blown intervention with American boots on the ground was such a huge misstep and I was quite frankly horrified that even after we had been led down that path, he did not seek my advise or flat out ridiculed what little I could tell him.

Tom Brokaw: Would you say that the Bay of Pigs Crisis was a revelation into the mind of Richard Nixon? And was it that which drove you to run for President yourself?


On the night of April 14, 1961, just under three years since the Nixon administration began in Washington, the Cold War once again became hot. Stationing several destroyers off the coast of Guantanamo Bay to serve as a diversion for Brigade 2506's planned invasion of the Bay of Pigs, President Richard Nixon did not anticipate that the Cuban Air Force would immediately react to the situation, sending three FAR T-33s over the Guantanamo Bay facility, striking one runway and killing over a dozen American servicemen. One of the T-33s were subsequently shot down, while the other two flew a sortie on the group of destroyers before returning home. Almost instantaneously, a crisis of massive proportions began in Havana and the United States. The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, immediately ordered his armed forces not to retaliate, but communications between Havana and the Cuban military forces stationed around Guantanamo Bay were cut off. The American destroyers, immediately reacting to the air raid, launched strikes against local Cuban military forces, killing dozens and injuring hundreds. These events kicked off the Cuban War, immediately prompting President Nixon to begin preparing for further military attacks.

Following the night of April 14/15, the United States Air Force began to launch larger attacks against Cuba. Twelve Douglas B-26B bombers in four groups launched attacks against three Cuban airfields as well as key military and political installations in Havana. Secretary of State Christian Herter, a fellow internationalist like Nixon, called the President's behavior during the attacks "confusing," saying that the new President would often disappear into the Oval Office or one of the side offices before reappearing with a decision seemingly made already. Since Cuban resistance to the strikes were so incoherent, Herter correctly believed that there were communications issues within Cuba's government and military, but Nixon refused to listen. Later that day, the Soviet Union and Cuba both condemned the American provocations within Cuba and in particular around Guantanamo Bay. Soviet forces were placed on high alert, and the Red Army presence in East Germany seemed to expand by that point. It was at this time that President Nixon chose to address the nation. He informed Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge of his decision to request a Senate resolution to support the United States intervening in Cuba.

April 16 passed with generally the same outcome. American airstrikes hit various strategic points around Cuba, although this time Fidel Castro addressed the nation and called for "Complete and total resistance against the United States." The Cuban military became more resistant to the strikes, and in some cases even drew blood from the United States Air Force, shooting down one B-26 bomber over the Cuban city of Guantanamo, killing all aboard. The following day, just after midnight on April 17, the first Cuban exiles of Brigade 2506 landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. Approximately 1,400 ground troops with heavy support from the United States in the air and at sea landed at a beachhead. The Cuban military launched a retaliation, but with more of an American presence than initially planned, the Cuban exiles with the assistance of American troops quickly defeated the few militias that immediately responded. At that point, President Nixon called for an emergency session of Congress that evening.

Walking to the podium in the House Chamber, President Nixon was met with a standing ovation before he could even speak. Nixon spoke firmly, but appeared nervous. "Two nights ago, after naval exercises near Guantanamo Bay, Cuban aircraft struck our base, killing twelve brave servicemen and striking our naval vessels, injuring dozens of our sailors," he told Congress. "Just as Pearl Harbor struck at our nation's heart, so have the attacks on Guantanamo Bay." Describing the actions of several sailors, airmen and soldiers in Cuba over the previous three days, Nixon built the case for a war in Cuba. "Tonight, over a thousand brave Cubans are fighting for their lives on the shores of their homeland...for their homeland. With American support, their efforts did not turn into the massacre that was otherwise expected. I ask that a joint resolution is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate to approve the further use of American forces in Cuba, so that we can preserve freedom and democracy in one of our closest neighbors." Nixon's speech was watched by millions, and almost immediately, support for the war skyrocketed. Many Americans felt that Cuba must be secure for American safety, and Nixon's approval ratings went from 54% to 65% within two weeks.

On May 1, the Bay of Pigs Resolution was passed by the House of Representatives as Brigade 2506 continued to see advances being made, and on May 4, the Senate passed the resolution. It went into effect on May 7, 1961, at which point 5,000 American Marines were deployed to Guantanamo Bay, an additional 5,000 being sent to the Bay of Pigs to reinforce the Cuban exiles in the region. On the evening of May 7, more American aircraft than at any time during the previous month flew airstrikes over the Republic of Cuba, launching attacks on all major military installations, airfields, ports, and government buildings as well as the suspected locations of various Cuban armies. For the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the United States once again entered an undeclared war against a communist regime.

Octosteel said:

Dick Daley failed to win Illinois for Kennedy. The man will disappear into a puff of smoke because his life no longer has meaning.

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What's halting his role as Emperor-for-Life of Chicago? And I'd be curious to know if the Dem '68 Convention still happens there. LONG way off, I know.

Subscribed.

First Half-Assed Prediction: No Missile Crisis
Second H-A Pred: Nixon cuts deal with Kruschev for cheap grain to USSR, no fall for Kruschev (at least for awhile)

Noravea said:

You'll see. Nixon still has his private views on race, but his decision to back King would have consequences for the GOP and Richard Nixon, especially when it comes to elections. As of right now, Nixon has managed to (At least briefly) stop the shift of African-American voters to the Democrats.

Click to expand...

Were there enough African-American voters in North Carolina in 1960 to be able to close a 4.2% gap despite more Southern whites going over to the Democrats after the "Get MLK out of jail" announcement?

Emperor Julian said:

Were there enough African-American voters in North Carolina in 1960 to be able to close a 4.2% gap despite more Southern whites going over to the Democrats after the "Get MLK out of jail" announcement?

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I believe it would be possible, yes. Also a lot of people in the state from both parties went on to write-in for faithless electors like four other Southern states did. Nixon won a bare plurality.

This is beautiful. Nixon has got to be my favorite American politician of the 20th century, though I recognize he was not the best or the most moral.

So either Nixon is out after one term of Cabot Lodge is dropped in 1964. Maybe both, but I'm expecting Lodge gets dropped.

Biden&Ceaser'12 said:

This is beautiful. Nixon has got to be my favorite American politician of the 20th century, though I recognize he was not the best or the most moral.

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Speaking as a contemporary TRUE BELIEVER (as in his Total Innocence regarding the charges against him) in Nixon, I have never forgiven him. I spent much of 1972, 73, and 74 defending him to my friends, only to be reduced to complete humiliation by his resignation, which told me "He did it".

Oops! Gotta run!

Are you Alex Keaton?

Noravea said:

I believe it would be possible, yes. Also a lot of people in the state from both parties went on to write-in for faithless electors like four other Southern states did. Nixon won a bare plurality.

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Is there some POD of a more organized Dixiecrat campaign further back in this?

In any case, I was unaware there were that many black voters in 1960 in any Southern state.

A lot of the black voters that went for Nixon were in the North. It was enough to sway Missouri and New Jersey.

Oh interesting TL! I don't love Nixon like I do his predecessor, but I kinda like RN despite myself.