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The Democratic National Committee never saw it coming in 1972. President Nixon would win an overwhelming landslide re-election over George McGovern that year. His coattails would sweep the Republicans into the majority in the House and Senate for the first time since 1954.

During his second term, Nixon would enjoy continued success in foreign affairs by ending the Vietnam War and bringing Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to the negotiating table (resulting in a peace treaty signed by the two nations in 1975).

On the domestic front, a compromise brokered by Attorney General Elliott Richardson helped end busing in Massachusetts (known as the Boston Plan). Richardson would win election as Governor of Massachusetts in 1978.

Unable to run for a third term, Nixon anointed former Treasury Secretary John Conally as his successor. Vice President Ford already decided to retire in 1976. Conally was able to hold off a challenge from former California Governor Ronald Reagan to win the nomination. To satisfy the Reagan delegates, Conally picked Senator Robert Dole as his running mate. The Republican ticket did not match Nixon's 1972 landslide but still managed an easy victory over the Udall-Jackson ticket (Udall's Mormon faith hurt him in the South and Scoop Jackson was never known for his great oratory). In his victory speech, Conally expressed his regret that Lyndon Johnson was not alive to see this victory.

The Conally administration would be a total disaster. The Panama Canal Treaty barely passed the House but lost in the Senate. This marked the beginning of the estrangement between President Conally and Senators Goldwater and Helms.

Conally was also criticized for his cozy relationship with the oil companies. The huge gas lines during the summer of 1979 and the Arab oil embargo did not help. His decision to impose price controls to combat inflation resulted in a recession that did not end until 1981. Then, there was the Iran Hostage Crisis.

Secretary of Defense John Tower's drinking problems proved to be a major headache for Conally and most likely led to the Senate rejecting the SALT II treaty. In his memoirs, former US Senator George Bush (Tower's successor) blamed his upset loss in 1978 to Bob Krueger on Tower's behavior.

It was no surprise when Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy to challenge Conally in the GOP primaries. What was surprising was that during an interview on the Today show, Reagan struggled to answer Tom Brokaw's question why he wanted to be President (after watching the interview, Senator Mark Hatfield announced his party switch to Independent while caucusing with the Democrats). Also, Reagan's outburst during a debate in New Hampshire reinforced his image as a mean old man. Conally barely won renomination but the damage was done.

The Democrats nominated former Governor Reubin Askew of Florida for President and Senator Richard Clark of Iowa for Vice President. Conally ended up winning the states of Alaska, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Kansas and Texas (barely). Askew won the rest as the Democrats ended the Republican's 8 year control of Congress.

Askew's two terms would result in economic recovery, relief for struggling farmers and an arms reduction treaty with the Russians that was ratified in 1986. Askew and his Secretary of State Edmund Muskie shared the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize.

When Agnew left office, he had a 65 percent popularity rating and the budget had a $50 million dollar surplus.

I read an interesting article in the New York Times about how burglars got away with stealing files from the DNC offices at the Watergate Hotel in 1972 in a crime that remains unsolved. The author, Carl Bernstein, alleged that the burglars acted under orders from President Nixon himself. Had the burglars been caught, a chain of events could have occurred implicating Nixon and maybe resulting in impeachment.
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