[DBWI] On the death of former President Charles Van Doren

I think it's pathetic that Herb Stempel is still going on with his never-proven "Twenty-One was rigged" accusations. Look, Herb, you tried to kill Van Doren's candidacy with that accusation in 1968, and it didn't work, or Richard Nixon would have become president.
 
Yeah, that certainly was the big manufactured scandal of the 60s. Most of us, even a lot of Republicans are glad Charlie Van Doren's charisma on Twenty-One propelled him into politics and the White House in record time, otherwise as you said Nixon gets elected in '68 instead of going to prison over his failed repeat bid in '72. "Twenty-One was rigged," break into the CREEP office (an admittedly bad acronym), will the dirty tricks never end? Those definitely helped Reagan defeat Muskie in '76, though blaming the economy on Regan in '80 wasn't really fair either.
 
I think it's pathetic that Herb Stempel is still going on with his never-proven "Twenty-One was rigged" accusations. Look, Herb, you tried to kill Van Doren's candidacy with that accusation in 1968, and it didn't work, or Richard Nixon would have become president.

In contrast, many historians have pointed to James Snodgrass, a contestant on Twenty-One, who had evidence that he was given the questions in advance. Historians note that if Snodgrass had been given the questions, and Stempel had been given the questions, then Van Doren was probably given the questions too. Had Snodgrass come out with the evidence during Van Doren's lifetime it could have killed his career.

Anyway, without Van Doren you wouldn't have the massive campaign finance scandal of 1974 that caused the first ever resignation of a US President. The downside is that Nixon is probably elected instead, and he uses nuclear weapons to end the Vietnam War.
 
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