The 1960 Election was tight from the beginning. Every single waking moment of the campaign would have an effect on the result. It was notable for the first use of a televised debate format between the two candidates. VP Nixon was preparing against Kennedy ever since he wrapped up the nomination. He looked like he had it, and it seemed as if he did. Kennedy did look his best, and delivered some burning zingers, sure, but Tricky Dick took the cake, winning the debate 47-44 in a Gallup poll taken shortly after. Nixon went into election night with the best of hopes, his own pollsters showing him ahead 50-45 against the Senator. While a 5 point lead definitely wasn't happening, as the results poured in, it was apparent that Nixon would win. But an interesting development came - He had lost the popular vote by .05% to Senator Kennedy. Considering that the election was super close (New Jersey won by a thousand votes, ditto for Illinois and Hawaii), it was understandable. While Lyndon Johnson kept on arguing with Kennedy on the issue of conceding, it took 3 hours for Kennedy to pick up the phone and concede the election.
President Nixon's first concern were the two Vietnams. While the countries were ignored by Eisenhower, they became too much of a problem to look away for Nixon. His Secretary of State - James Wadsworth, and his Ambassador to South Vietnam - Elbridge Durbrow, both agreed that sending "advisors" to South Vietnam would improve the situation on that front. While Nixon hesitantly agreed, he also would try to distance the US from the dictatorship in South Vietnam by cutting some trade relations as well as planning his assasination. He signed the plan, and it would go into action a day later.
Another issue that gripped the Nixon administration was Civil Rights. He campaigned on dismantling desegregation after all, and he did say in his inauguration speech that "No person, regardless of gender or race, shall be excluded from the American Dream". How exactly he could follow up on that, he was not sure. He decided to issue Executive Order 10924, which would try to force employers to not profile potential employees based on race. He furthered this with his co sponsoring of the Civil Rights Act, introduced in the Senate by John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. It was a controversial move, as the act was introduced by Democrats. However, before it could be signed, a massive movement by Southern Democrats was started to get the act blocked. Senator John C. Stennis took on the role of filibustering. He spent 7 and a half hours on the Senate floor defending Segregation, his lasts words before leaving the podium being "Seperate But Equal". An hour before voting took place, President Nixon gave a speech on live television about the need for Civil Rights, a memorable quote being "There is no Separation in Equality". Luckily for Northern Democrats and Republicans, the act passed 70-30.
The third major issue was Cuba. In the middle of 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the Government, led by Fulgencio Batista, and declared himself Prime Minister. Since then, he was making increasingly worrying threats towards the US. So in 1961, Nixon, in a secret meeting with his Cabinet, announced his support of a secret invasion, using rebels from Cuba. His crew were unsure about it, but they later folded. It was to be known as the "Bay of Pigs" invasion. The plan was dating back to Eisenhower, but Nixon made a few changes, such as including air strikes and making it a more direct "intervention". It started smoothly, with Havana being overrun within a week, but that's when things got bad. Fidel was enraged by the death of his brother, Raul, so he declared an all out Guerilla War on the US. Cuba was soon cut into two areas (with the US taking the south-west), even if the Cuban Airforce was able to drive the US back a mile or two. It was a stalemate, and many, even within Nixon's staff, regarded the operation as a failure.
In 1964, President Nixon lost the election narrowly to an up and coming young Democrat, who was able to win an upset over Senator Johnson and Fmr. Governor Pat Brown at the DNC. No man saw him coming.
Obviously not.
