A New and Golden Dawn v. 2.0

(OOC: Original thread here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=180985 stagnated because of ASB on my part and a lack of time. Hopefully this second incarnation will be better, planning to take this up to present day time and interest permitting.)

The twilight of the Eisenhower Presidency left the United States in the strongest position she had been in in nearly a generation. With a humming economy, a postwar populace settling back into normalcy, and a temporary if fragile peace in Southeast Asia, there was little reason for pessimism on the road ahead. Indeed, the renowned general had in the estimation of the public acquitted himself as well in peace as in war; to this day, no President has left office on such high approval as the one simply called Ike.

The decade to come would prove one of the most challenging and tumultuous in American history, but for the moment the American people would stay the course, blissfully unaware of the brewing storm of change that lay ahead

-From Happy Days: The 1950s Examined, Simon & Schulster Publishing, 1978

Everyone I've ever encountered says that the 1960 Republican National Convention was the smoothest they'd ever seen a convention run. What they don't realize is that 90% of the work was done beforehand. We knew that a convention when you have the incumbency, be it in person or in party, had to project unity of purpose first and foremost. We also knew that it was rarely in the character of politicians to agree on anything beyond the basics, so we set out to get as much of the heavy work out of the way as possible beforehand.

My first audience with Vice President Nixon was in 1959, as Ike was rounding the corner on his Presidency and we started to look to the future. Strange as it may seem now, Mr. Nixon was reluctant to run at first, but after a bit of convincing he came around right around the turn of the new year. With that settled, I and the rest of the Republican Party national staff began having regular audiences with not only Vice President Nixon but also President Eisenhower and other potential key supporters. In a way, we were campaigning before the campaign even started.

In short order we had most of the framework in place. President Eisenhower, despite his differences with his Vice President, agreed for the sake of the Party to give his endorsement and play up Nixon in foreign and domestic policy, focusing on things that would be unlikely to cause much controversy.

We began discussing Vice Presidents soon after, and by March we had a short list of names: Ambassador Lodge of Massachusetts, Governor Rockefeller of New York, Senator Dirksen of Illinois and Senator Goldwater of Arizona. Almost immediately we mutually agreed to discard Goldwater and Lodge. Barry Goldwater, we reasoned, was as likely to torpedo our campaign with his mouth as he was to help us with Southerners and conservatives. Lodge, of course, might have helped us to win Massachusetts, but we had other plans for him. In the end, we got Everett Dirksen; Vice President Nixon was disappointed at this at first, since he'd extended an invitation to Rockefeller, but we reasoned that Rockefeller could deliver us New York either way. Dirksen, meanwhile, would play well to compliment Nixon's civil rights record in Congress and gave us a better chance at swinging Illinois away from Mayor Daley's machine.

Just as we planned for and expected, the convention went off without a hitch. Rockefeller got up and threw his full support behind Nixon, Goldwater said his bit, and then we voted. To the outside observer, it was over as quickly as it had begun. To those of us working the Nixon campaign, it was just beginning."

-From Nixon as I Knew Him by Former Nixon Chief of Staff Leonard W. Hall, 1974

"My fellow Americans, I will not pretend that the world in which we live is not fraught with danger. Indeed, our world is as a volcano lying dormant: impressive to gaze upon, seemingly benign, but capable of terrible destruction. We have known the destructive capabilities of our world; the blood shed twice over in Europe within our lifetimes, the terrible fury of the atomic bomb, the naked aggression of the forces of international communism.

"My friends, ours is not a world in which men of our caliber are allowed time to acclimate before getting down to business. There is no training period for the office of the President of these United States. The situation at hand demands experience, proven leadership ability, and a willingness to do what is necessary to ensure the continuity of freedom in our world. These are the qualities I, Richard Milhous Nixon, bring to this table and to the American table. As your President, I will lead our nation out from the shadows of war, of strife and of uncertainty, and into a new and golden dawn. Thank you, and may God bless America."

-Excerpt from nomination speech of Richard M. Nixon
 
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POLLS SHOW NIXON, KENNEDY CLOSE IN MIDWEST; KENNEDY APPEARS TO HOLD SOUTH EASILY

-New York Times headline 8/3/60

"I cannot envision a circumstance where the Kennedy campaign would fail to carry the Solid South. The South has not voted Republican since Reconstruction, and with Vice President Nixon's snub fresh in our conscience, we're certainly not about to start now."

-Editorial in Alabama Journal, dated 8/11/60

It was early in the campaign and we were already in panic mode. As many in the party had predicted, Dirksen wasn't doing us any favors in the South, and with the Midwest being anyone's game we had a moment where we were looking down the barrel of a rout come November. We had to have allies in Dixie if we wanted a shot, period. Needless to say, I and the rest of the campaign team spent many a sleepless night stumping for Southern endorsements and pulling names. We had a decent names list going, most of whom would end up giving us a token endorsement, but there were two who immediately jumped out at us, and who would prove to be game-changers.

The first was William F. Buckley, the publisher. Now Buckley may not have been a politician but he was sure as hell influential with that National Review of his, and he could reach a lot more people than we could. In addition, Buckley was still segregationist in those days, so if he vetted us we might just be able to convince a southerner or two that we were worth consideration. In the end, getting his endorsement was easier than I think a lot of us thought it would be. Will Buckley was no friend of Civil Rights, but he sure as hell wasn't about to go supporting Jack Kennedy and his "liberal prep-school agenda" as he called it. A short conversation later and we had full-page Nixon ads running in the Review and Buckley singing our praises everywhere he went.

The second name to be tossed out was Allan Shivers, the former Governor of Texas. I'll admit, a lot of our staff thought this one would be a waste of time, myself included. Shivers was a Texan and a Democrat, they said, and a segregationist to boot. Nixon, though, thought it was a great idea. Shivers had supported Ike in '52, and didn't hold much love for Johnson, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to give him a call.

Now, a lot of people to this day disagree about what happened next, but let me make something absolutely clear: to the best of my knowledge--and I was in that room when the discussion happened--Allan Shivers was never promised a Cabinet seat. I don't know what led Shivers to give us his support, maybe he just wanted to stick in Johnson's craw, but I do know that Richard Nixon was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing in that whole affair.

-Former Nixon Chief of Staff Leonard Hall, quoted in Nixon as I Knew Him

SHIVERS, BUCKLEY ENDORSEMENTS CLOSE GAP IN SOUTH; KENNEDY HANGS ON 51-49 IN LATEST POLL

-New York Times Headline 8/18/60
 
I myself have mixed feelings about both Nixon and Kennedy. I don't know much about either of them besides general fact like Kennedy being pro-Civil Rights and Nixon starting the EPA. And the rumours surronding Kennedy and Watergate of course. Now I guessing that the Kennedys had a back up in case they lost in '60. My question is: would a Kennedy run with Johnson? Would Johnson want to run again?
 
Kennedy and Watergate? That is really a WTF moment.

Yes, a Kennedy would run with Johnson, hoping LBJ would lose so JFK would position himself to run next time with LBJ being discredited. They wanted to do it in '56 but LBJ refused to run, in part because he knew what the real story was.

The backup plan was to catapult Bobby into the NY political scene as the dynastic scion.
 
Kennedy and Watergate? That is really a WTF moment.

Yes, a Kennedy would run with Johnson, hoping LBJ would lose so JFK would position himself to run next time with LBJ being discredited. They wanted to do it in '56 but LBJ refused to run, in part because he knew what the real story was.

The backup plan was to catapult Bobby into the NY political scene as the dynastic scion.
I meant the rumours of Kennedy's affairs and Nixon and Watergate. Though Kennedy breaking into his party's headquarters is an interesting, slighty amusing thought. And I thought the back up plan involved Jack or Ted in some way.
 
This has been very much a learn-as-you-go affair for me, especially digging into Nixon's character, but I will confess I don't know what's going to happen in '64 yet. I haven't even decided the character of the election night yet beyond who gets which big states. Either way though, Jack won't be the last of the Kennedys. Their name is simply too big OTL to handwave away entirely.

Going to try for at least one and possibly two updates tomorrow. Stay tuned, folks, its going to get interesting.
 
OOC: I couldn't find a date for Nixon's knee injury, so I made one up that fits in the TL. If anyone has the actual date, I'd be appreciative.

NIXON HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING KNEE INJURY, VOWS TO KEEP CAMPAIGNING

-New York Times headline, 8/28/60

The knee thing was bad, I'll admit that much. When we heard the prognosis of two weeks there were more than a few who thought it was lost. Mr. Nixon, though, wouldn't hear any of it. "I've had worse knocks in my life than a dinged up knee," he said. "And none of them stopped me." I admired the Vice President's resolve, but at the same time we had to face reality: he couldn't stump while he was laid up in the hospital, and Kennedy was hitting all of our key territories throughout that period. After a few powwows in the conference room of the hospital, the Vice President hit on something that would prove advantageous for us down the stretch.

"Well Leo," he said, "I can't stump while I'm laid up in this damned hospital, but I know someone who can and he's sitting right next to me," he said, motioning toward Senator Dirksen. "Ev, would you mind filling in for me on our schedule? You know all our talking points, of course, and you might be able to hit our Midwest stops a bit harder than I could." Dirksen, of course, readily agreed. "And while we're at it," Nixon continued, taking charge of this impromptu meeting. "Someone phone Rockefeller and see if he can't take a few days out of his schedule to run New York for us. This injury might keep me out of all 50 states but we're getting the word out one way or another."

"You know Mr. Nixon," I said, "you may have hit on something here. There's only one of you and one of Ev Dirksen, but we've got Republican politicians all over the country, except maybe in the South. I'll contact Headquarters and ask them to get the word out that any Republican politician not campaigning for himself should campaign for Nixon. That goes for College and Young Republicans as well."

In short order we had an entire army of Republicans where there had previously been only one Richard Nixon. We wouldn't make every state in the Union, as fate would have it, but damned if we didn't get our word out to every last one of them.

-Former Nixon Chief of Staff Leonard Hall, quoted in Nixon as I Knew Him

DIRKSEN TO ADDRESS UNION LEADERS IN DETROIT, CHICAGO AS POLLS SHOW KENNEDY GAINS IN MIDWEST
-New York Times Headline 9/3/60
 
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