Nixonland. Part 44

"And that's how I feel tonight. So I say to you, 'Everyone resume your stations. We're going to bring America home.'"

The ovations were as deafening as victory.

A strange little book appeared at newsstands: How McGovern Won the Presidency and Why the Polls Were Wrong. How McGovern Won the Presidency and Why the Polls Were Wrong. It argued that Americans would see through Nixon's phony "peace settlement"; would remember how, four years earlier, Americans had been bamboozled with hints of some secret plan to end the war: It argued that Americans would see through Nixon's phony "peace settlement"; would remember how, four years earlier, Americans had been bamboozled with hints of some secret plan to end the war: Those who have had a chance for another four years and could not produce peace should not be given another chance. Those who have had a chance for another four years and could not produce peace should not be given another chance. The people could not be so bamboozled again. The book conjured up images of Election Day: storefronts jammed with new McGovern volunteers, all saying, "I'm disgusted with Nixon keeping the war going until just before Election Day-what can I do to help McGovern?" The people could not be so bamboozled again. The book conjured up images of Election Day: storefronts jammed with new McGovern volunteers, all saying, "I'm disgusted with Nixon keeping the war going until just before Election Day-what can I do to help McGovern?"

The people would see McGovern's courage-and turn away from the smears. would see McGovern's courage-and turn away from the smears. The people The people would see that he would see that he listened listened-while the president hid in the Oval Office. They would see that it was McGovern McGovern who brought us together-Nixon only stirred up hate. Hadn't Mayor Daley said, at one of those Chicago parades, "George McGovern awakens the best in us"? who brought us together-Nixon only stirred up hate. Hadn't Mayor Daley said, at one of those Chicago parades, "George McGovern awakens the best in us"?

The people would finally connect the dots, from the ITT bribe to the grain deal to the Watergate burglary, the ratf.u.c.king squads and the secret fund that paid them, the millions pouring in from corporations with business before the government. The people would put two and two together, just as McGovern said in a televised address on corruption: "Mr. Nixon is not out just to would finally connect the dots, from the ITT bribe to the grain deal to the Watergate burglary, the ratf.u.c.king squads and the secret fund that paid them, the millions pouring in from corporations with business before the government. The people would put two and two together, just as McGovern said in a televised address on corruption: "Mr. Nixon is not out just to defeat defeat the Democratic Party...he is out to the Democratic Party...he is out to destroy destroy the Democratic Party." Even Republicans would not stand for that. The shallow attachment voters had with the president would be overwhelmed by the pa.s.sion of McGovernites. The reports on the souring of youth support would turn out to be wrong. The polls didn't know how to adequately sample these new, young first-time voters. They wouldn't reflect the millions of Americans too poor to have phone service. They didn't factor in the love for an honest man. Maybe people wouldn't the Democratic Party." Even Republicans would not stand for that. The shallow attachment voters had with the president would be overwhelmed by the pa.s.sion of McGovernites. The reports on the souring of youth support would turn out to be wrong. The polls didn't know how to adequately sample these new, young first-time voters. They wouldn't reflect the millions of Americans too poor to have phone service. They didn't factor in the love for an honest man. Maybe people wouldn't say say they were for McGovern, but that was only testament to the president's success turning the name they were for McGovern, but that was only testament to the president's success turning the name McGovern McGovern into something you were supposed to be ashamed of. America still had a secret ballot. In their hearts, they would know who was right. Pat Caddell reported that when they gave homes they were polling into something you were supposed to be ashamed of. America still had a secret ballot. In their hearts, they would know who was right. Pat Caddell reported that when they gave homes they were polling sealed sealed ballots, McGovern did 9 percent better. ballots, McGovern did 9 percent better.

The Gallup poll showed it 5936 for the president. One of the people who didn't believe it was one of the nation's most respected political columnists, Scotty Reston of the New York Times, New York Times, the Sunday before Election Day. Nixon would win, "but the thought that the American people are going to give Mr. Nixon and his policies and anonymous hucksters and twisters in the White House a landslide popular victory...is a little hard to imagine." To believe that Gallup was right, "you must also believe that the American people regret corruption but have accepted it as an unavoidable part of American life and really don't care about all those millions of dollars given to the Republican party by a few rich men and women, all the secret funds, and the bugging and burglary of the Democratic party and the fake letters and political sabotage and the guerilla warfare used in this campaign...that it's all right for the President to seek four more years in the White House without defining his program for the next four years, without debating the opposition candidate, or answering questions from the press...that the American people don't mind or haven't noticed that Presidential power is now unbalancing the whole American system." (Though Reston added, for the sake of balance, that McGovern's claim "We now have the most corrupt Administration in the history of the Republic...is obvious and wicked nonsense.") the Sunday before Election Day. Nixon would win, "but the thought that the American people are going to give Mr. Nixon and his policies and anonymous hucksters and twisters in the White House a landslide popular victory...is a little hard to imagine." To believe that Gallup was right, "you must also believe that the American people regret corruption but have accepted it as an unavoidable part of American life and really don't care about all those millions of dollars given to the Republican party by a few rich men and women, all the secret funds, and the bugging and burglary of the Democratic party and the fake letters and political sabotage and the guerilla warfare used in this campaign...that it's all right for the President to seek four more years in the White House without defining his program for the next four years, without debating the opposition candidate, or answering questions from the press...that the American people don't mind or haven't noticed that Presidential power is now unbalancing the whole American system." (Though Reston added, for the sake of balance, that McGovern's claim "We now have the most corrupt Administration in the history of the Republic...is obvious and wicked nonsense.") Anne Wexler, one of McGovern's whiz-kid staffers, said Reston was wrong: they would would win. Their voter registration drive had signed up 5.5 million people in seven big states that contained almost enough electoral votes to prevail-1.5 million in Texas alone: "They're all our people. If we can get them out, there's no way we can lose Texas." In Ohio, a microcosm of the nation, an aide to liberal Democratic governor John Gilligan, who'd replaced the man who had called the National Guard to Kent State, said, "I'm not ready to predict we'll carry Ohio, but I may be in another week." McGovern people talked about a letter that had surfaced from Nixon's campaign chairman in Michigan, warning, "President Nixon's lead in Michigan has been slipping for the last two months. Furthermore, the commitment by many of those who still tell pollsters they favor the President is not strong." win. Their voter registration drive had signed up 5.5 million people in seven big states that contained almost enough electoral votes to prevail-1.5 million in Texas alone: "They're all our people. If we can get them out, there's no way we can lose Texas." In Ohio, a microcosm of the nation, an aide to liberal Democratic governor John Gilligan, who'd replaced the man who had called the National Guard to Kent State, said, "I'm not ready to predict we'll carry Ohio, but I may be in another week." McGovern people talked about a letter that had surfaced from Nixon's campaign chairman in Michigan, warning, "President Nixon's lead in Michigan has been slipping for the last two months. Furthermore, the commitment by many of those who still tell pollsters they favor the President is not strong."

It would end like a Henry Fonda movie-something like Twelve Angry Men, Twelve Angry Men, where only the jury's prejudices had blinded them from seeing that they were about to condemn an innocent man, and where the liberal's gentle, persistent force of reason had compelled the brutish conservative, by the last reel, to realize the error of his ways. where only the jury's prejudices had blinded them from seeing that they were about to condemn an innocent man, and where the liberal's gentle, persistent force of reason had compelled the brutish conservative, by the last reel, to realize the error of his ways.

But America wasn't described by such liberal narcissism. It was a place where the real Henry Fonda, in 1970, turned over to the FBI office in Los Angeles a death threat that arrived at his home-"YOUR DUAGHTER [sic] HAS BEEN TRIED FOR TREASON FOR BEING A TRAITOR. HER DATE OF EXECUTION WILL BE DEC 1970 TO PROTET [sic] HER & SAVE HER PAY 50,000 CASH"-but where FBI files reveal nothing was done to find the ident.i.ty of the sender. The father had submitted the ransom note to the same FBI office that was running a hara.s.sment campaign against his daughter.

It was also the America where the real Henry Fonda, when his daughter told him she opposed firing Angela Davis because she was a Communist, said, "If I ever find out you're a Communist, Jane, I'll be the first person to turn you in."

From the library of the White House ("This room, like all the rooms in this great house, is rich in history"), Nixon gave his final televised speech before the voting: "The leaders in Hanoi will be watching," he said. "They will be watching for the answer of the American people-for your answer-to this question: shall we have peace with honor or peace with surrender?"

The Sunday before the election, McGovern said, "I'm going to give you one more warning. If Mr. Nixon is elected on Tuesday, we may well have four more years of the war in Southeast Asia.... He's going to stay there. He's going to keep our troops there. He's going to keep the bombers flying. He's going to confine prisoners to their cells in Hanoi for whatever time it takes for him to keep his friend General Thieu in office." The next morning Newsweek Newsweek came out with its campaign wrap-up. They criticized McGovern for "the harshest rhetoric of any campaign in history." came out with its campaign wrap-up. They criticized McGovern for "the harshest rhetoric of any campaign in history."

McGovern gave his final televised speech: "Mr. Nixon will not end the war." Nixon "has always supported the war." Nixon campaign aides were delighted. "The more the McGovern side tried to say that the president was in favor favor of the war, the more it worked to our advantage," Nixon's advertising chief said. McGovern's constant invocations of war's savageries were doubly ant.i.thetical to his fortunes: they heightened the people's relief that Nixon was ending the war and tainted George McGovern with the savor of someone who believed America was dishonorable, who wanted to make Americans feel ashamed. of the war, the more it worked to our advantage," Nixon's advertising chief said. McGovern's constant invocations of war's savageries were doubly ant.i.thetical to his fortunes: they heightened the people's relief that Nixon was ending the war and tainted George McGovern with the savor of someone who believed America was dishonorable, who wanted to make Americans feel ashamed.

Nixon's aides were confident. Their boss, however, was not. Election eve, and the president gathered his retainers around him, warning them to expect one final "dirty attack": these Democrats were capable of anything.

How did it end? After Lyndon Johnson's landslide 1964 victory and the declaration by the pundits of permanent liberal victory; after the Watts riot and the first long, hot summer, and then the second; after the consuming fires of Vietnam and the war at home to try to stop it, and the war against those who tried to stop it; the wars against school-integrating bureaucrats and the war on school buses and s.e.x ed; the conspiracy trials; civil rights, civil rats; radicals bombing buildings, vigilantes shooting and beating radicals; Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie and Clyde and and The Green Berets; The Green Berets; the a.s.sa.s.sinations, the New Politics, the drugs, the dropouts, the Soaring Sixties-how did it all end? the a.s.sa.s.sinations, the New Politics, the drugs, the dropouts, the Soaring Sixties-how did it all end?

After this strange, stiff man from Whittier who scaled pool-house walls rather than be photographed in a time and place not precisely of his choosing, who practiced McCarthyism before McCarthy had thought of the idea, who bravely faced down the sn.o.bs who wanted to kick him off General Eisenhower's ticket in a speech that forever divided Americans; who braved the rocks of mobs in South America and the televised onslaught of a bronzed Adonis named Kennedy; who inspired the protective love of millions of white middle-cla.s.s Americans in their daily battles with existential humiliation at the hands of the media, the liberals, the know-it-alls, the slovenly, the loud, the them them-who proved that he could take it, take it, like Lincoln, like Churchill, and like Lincoln, like Churchill, and come back; come back; the cross-bearing embodiment of a Silent Majority's humiliations, humiliating their shared tormentors in return; the bomber of dikes and the builder of miraculous new alliances with former enemies- the cross-bearing embodiment of a Silent Majority's humiliations, humiliating their shared tormentors in return; the bomber of dikes and the builder of miraculous new alliances with former enemies- How did it all end?

Election Day. The president dropped his ballot by accident, then bent down to pick it up. Ron Ziegler shouted at the press corps, "Stop that! Stop that! No pictures!" You would think they would be more relaxed. The only thing in doubt was whether Nixon would win forty-eight, forty-nine, or possibly all fifty states.

And yet Richard Nixon didn't sound as if he was having much fun that night, taking in the election returns, working the phones, the sound track to Victory at Sea Victory at Sea blaring in the background. blaring in the background.

He called George Allen, the coach of the Redskins: "How do the Giants look next week?"

Coach Allen wound up his answer by saying, "You never can take for granted-"

Nixon: "No! No! No!"

It wasn't clear whether the president thought they were still talking about his favorite football team or his chances for reelection. Sixteen minutes later, Colson relayed the early reports: Nixon was at 77 percent in Georgia ("overwhelming in the South," Colson gloated); and Kevin Philips, doing a.n.a.lysis for NBC, was predicting that Nixon would win 60 percent of the popular vote. "What are you thinking if we don't win the House or the Senate?" Nixon grumbled back. "That's how they'll p.i.s.s on the whole thing."

An hour and a half later, Colson broke the astonis.h.i.+ng news that Nixon would probably take the city of Chicago. The boss, nonplussed, was still haunted: "It's amazing, the coattail thing just isn't working." Republican congressional candidates were faring poorly. Colson, who'd been quoted saying he'd run over his own grandmother to reelect Richard Nixon, tried out a theory to comfort him: all those Silent Majoritarian former Democrats who'd fallen in love with him were merely casting "penance votes" for Democratic congressional candidates out of guilt for their apostasy.

Nixon accepted only four congratulatory phone calls-from Frank Rizzo, Henry Kissinger, and two career-long rivals. "Mr. President, you've done the impossible!" barked Nelson Rockefeller, telling Nixon he might even get a majority in New York City. The president managed to pivot into gloominess and self-pity nonetheless. He savaged his opponent-"Wasn't that fellow unbelievably irresponsible with his charges in the last two days?"-then congratulated himself for the unwarranted magnanimity of his victory speech: "You've got to be generous, don't you think so?"

Henry Kissinger oozed oleaginous sycophancies. The president replied by b.i.t.c.hing that his liberal-leaning speechwriter, Ray Price, had suggested he send McGovern a wire reading, "I look forward to working with you and your supporters." Nixon reported himself snarling back at the very idea. "This fellow to the last was a p.r.i.c.k," he said. "Ray just doesn't have the right sense of this sort of thing."

Then, in an astonis.h.i.+ng conversation with Hubert Humphrey, Nixon thanked the man he had s.h.i.+vved on election eve in 1968 by conspiring to sabotage talks to end the Vietnam War for being "a statesmanlike man" by not criticizing Nixon's Vietnam moves now. "Speaking as friends," the president said, "people ask very privately to compare this with '68, and I said the difference is that when Senator Humphrey and I were campaigning, and we had this terrible issue of Vietnam, we both put the country first. And this time, I said, we had a problem where one fella said any G.o.dd.a.m.ned thing that came into his head." Nixon then granted Humphrey absolution for campaigning for the Democratic nominee nonetheless: "You had to fight for your man." Humphrey's voice turned conspiratorial: "Well, I'll have a talk with you sometime.... I did what I had to do. If not, Mr. President, this whole defeat would have been blamed on me and some of my a.s.sociates." Humphrey seemed to be admitting he had wanted McGovern to lose, and that he had tried to keep him from winning. They shared a hearty laugh, Nixon waxing effusive, telling Humphrey that Churchill had returned to the prime minister's chair at age sixty-eight-"and what the h.e.l.l, you're still in your sixties!"

It recalled the Chicago ward boss who said that McGovern wouldn't win because they wouldn't let him win. And the "iron law of inst.i.tutions," the truism that people care more about maintaining their power within inst.i.tutions than the power of the inst.i.tution itself.

Politically speaking, Nixon was right to thank Hubert Humphrey-for helping sustain the Democratic civil war between the New Politics reformers and the regulars, a civil war Nixon wished nothing more than to see continue raging. And so it would continue. Though even as election night drowned McGovern, McGovernism itself wasn't necessarily faring poorly at all. Senators and congressmen who had supported legislation to set a strict date for withdrawal from Vietnam had scored comfortable reelection victories. One night in April of 1971, after one of Nixon's Vietnam speeches, every major Democratic presidential contender had taken turns stepping before the cameras and begging Nixon to set a date certain to end the war. Even the furthest-right candidate, Scoop Jackson, had joined them (his only caveat was that Nixon should not publicly announce the date). And all through the 1972 campaign season, conservative Republicans had mightily strove to a.s.sociate this position with the notion that the Democrats were all but stabbing American servicemen in the back. And yet, on Election Day, voters were not reluctant to vote for Democrats. The Republicans lost two seats in the Senate, increasing the Democratic margin to 5743. The Republicans gained only a dozen seats in the House, putting but a negligible dent in the Democrats' majority, which was now 243192.

Voters just wouldn't vote for McGovern-who ended up winning only one state, Ma.s.sachusetts, and the District of Columbia. Nixon won nearly 61 percent of the popular vote, the third-greatest percentage in the history of the republic. He swept the South-79 percent of the vote in Mississippi. He became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the majority of Catholics. He even won a record number of Jews. Most remarkably, he won 35 percent of self-identified Democrats. He had given them a chance to vote to end the war and and stick it to loudmouthed, smelly antiwar anarchists; to millions of Americans, this was the most tantalizing prospect of all. stick it to loudmouthed, smelly antiwar anarchists; to millions of Americans, this was the most tantalizing prospect of all.

But third third place in history's popular vote, and still facing a liberal Congress? That was enough to make of his victory an agony. place in history's popular vote, and still facing a liberal Congress? That was enough to make of his victory an agony.

On election night he had kept bugging Chuck Colson for news from Ma.s.sachusetts, still 5050, desperate to pull out an electoral college sweep. Harry Dent comforted him the next morning, "Ma.s.sachusetts deserved to be on the wrong side." Presently, Nixon snarled at Dent about the third-party candidate of the far right: "Of course, if we hadn't had that G.o.dd.a.m.ned G.o.dd.a.m.ned Schmitz in there, we would have got sixty-three!" Nixon lashed out at the Republican Party that had failed him: "Isn't it really the necessity, isn't it necessary to build a third party?" he asked. In days to come he lashed out at the eighty of eighty-nine members of the White House press corps whom he claimed to have learned had voted for the Democrat: "Freeze them!" Then, in an interview with the Schmitz in there, we would have got sixty-three!" Nixon lashed out at the Republican Party that had failed him: "Isn't it really the necessity, isn't it necessary to build a third party?" he asked. In days to come he lashed out at the eighty of eighty-nine members of the White House press corps whom he claimed to have learned had voted for the Democrat: "Freeze them!" Then, in an interview with the Was.h.i.+ngton Star, Was.h.i.+ngton Star, he lashed out at the electorate that had just given him his thumping second-term mandate: "The average American is just like the child in the family. You give him some responsibility and he is going to amount to something.... Pamper him and cater to him too much, you are going to make him soft, spoiled, and eventually a very weak individual." he lashed out at the electorate that had just given him his thumping second-term mandate: "The average American is just like the child in the family. You give him some responsibility and he is going to amount to something.... Pamper him and cater to him too much, you are going to make him soft, spoiled, and eventually a very weak individual."

And, on that day after the election, he joylessly annotated Pat Buchanan's news summary: "The opposition line will be: "1. McGovern's mistakes lost it and not his views and not RN's strength.

"2. The low vote proves no one liked either candidate.

"3. RN let down his party."

He felt dejected. Soon he would fire his entire cabinet. He needed more control. control. The landslide, a successful criminal cover-up: it wasn't half enough. In this, his gloominess was warranted. The following spring, the The landslide, a successful criminal cover-up: it wasn't half enough. In this, his gloominess was warranted. The following spring, the final final slow, soiling humiliation of his political career began, as Congress started investigating Watergate. Twenty months after his landslide victory, he would no longer be the leader of anything. He would become the only American president to resign, disgraced. slow, soiling humiliation of his political career began, as Congress started investigating Watergate. Twenty months after his landslide victory, he would no longer be the leader of anything. He would become the only American president to resign, disgraced.

That was how it ended for Richard M. Nixon.

But how did it end for us?

In this book I have written of the rise of two American ident.i.ties, two groups of Americans, staring at each other from behind a common divide, each equally convinced of its own righteousness, each equally convinced the other group was defined by its evil. I have written of the moments where, at the extreme, members of these groups killed one another or tried to kill one another, most often in cold blood. Klansmen killing civil rights marchers in Selma; and two pacifists shot through the back of the head in Richmond, Virginia, and left in a ditch; a hippie shot in the back of the head in New Mexico. A teenager shooting a rabbi dead during a service in Louisville, crying, in the New Left's language, about the congregation's "phoniness and hypocrisy." Weathermen preparing bombs for a ma.s.sacre at a servicemen's dance at Fort Dix. Vigilante Cubans setting fires and bombs at the offices of Soviet attaches and talent agents handling Soviet artists. State police carrying out extrajudicial killings following the pacification of the riot in Newark; black nationalists ambus.h.i.+ng cops in Cleveland. I have dedicated this book to the memory of these Americans killed by other Americans, for reasons of ideology.

I have written of the rise, between the years 1965 and 1972, of a nation that had believed itself to be at consensus instead becoming one of incommensurate visions of apocalypse: two loosely defined congeries of Americans, each convinced that should the other triumph, everything decent and true and worth preserving would end. end.

That was the 1960s.

We Americans are not killing or trying to kill one another anymore for reasons of ideology, or at least for now. Remember this: this war has ratcheted down considerably. But it still simmers on.

I have written of liberals' rage at the rise of Richard Nixon, the Nixon of the Checkers Speech, who so brilliantly co-opted the liberals' populism, channeling it into a white middle-cla.s.s rage at the sophisticates, the wellborn, the "best circles"-all those who looked down their noses at "you and me" (a favorite phrase of Ronald Reagan's, who was both a student and a teacher of Richard Nixon's), whose aggravating moral one-upmans.h.i.+p seemed so often to Nixon's people to license moral relativism; a "toryhood of change" that sneered imperiously at the simple faiths of ordinary folk, their simple patriotism, their simple pleasures. I have written of these liberals' simple faiths, too, compared them to the drama staged by the Henry Fonda character in Twelve Angry Men: Twelve Angry Men: the belief that if only Nixon's people could truly see the belief that if only Nixon's people could truly see reason, reason, grasp "the responsible literature in the field," their prejudices would melt away, their true interests would be recognized-and they would end up liberals, too. grasp "the responsible literature in the field," their prejudices would melt away, their true interests would be recognized-and they would end up liberals, too.

I have written of a cult of "American consensus" that rose up among the punditocracy and reached its apogee with the landslide defeat of Barry Goldwater-their fervent imagining, alongside Lyndon Johnson's, that "these are the most hopeful times since Christ was born in Bethlehem," that America was united and at peace and would forever be, if only "extremists" stopped stirring up the pot. And I have written about the kind of intellectual self-repression it took to believe this: that the demonic furies of race and war were gathering even as the words were written, that America has always been divided and will always be. It is not too much to suggest that the rages that accompanied the crumbling of this myth of consensus, as the furies of the 1960s advanced, would not have been so rageful-would not have been so literally murderous-had the false rhetoric of American unity not been so glibly enforced in the years that preceded it: that some of the 1960s anger and violence was a return of what America had repressed.

I have written of how, as these furies advanced, this man Nixon was able to be so stubbornly successful in answering Americans' yearning for quiet; quiet; but that, even so, in a complex admixture, Nixon also rose by stoking and exploiting anger and resentment, rooted in the anger and resentments at the center of his character. For what was his injunction to join his Silent Majority if not also an invitation to see one's neighbors as aliens, and to believe that what was alien would destroy us? I have even suggested that the demons that consumed him, the demons that led to Watergate, were part of a sincere desire to combat what he believed was truly but that, even so, in a complex admixture, Nixon also rose by stoking and exploiting anger and resentment, rooted in the anger and resentments at the center of his character. For what was his injunction to join his Silent Majority if not also an invitation to see one's neighbors as aliens, and to believe that what was alien would destroy us? I have even suggested that the demons that consumed him, the demons that led to Watergate, were part of a sincere desire to combat what he believed was truly evil evil-a battle with which many of the public in some sense identified, who embraced Nixon not despite the anxieties and dreads that drove him, but because of them. And that the vindictiveness that came of those anxieties and dreads was not separate from the fronts of pious normalcy he and his followers presented to the world, but bound up with them as well.

Richard Nixon died in 1994. At his funeral, Senator Bob Dole prophesied that "the second half of the twentieth century will be known as the age of Nixon." In a sense he surely did not intend, I think Bob Dole was correct. What Richard Nixon left behind was the very terms of our national self-image: a notion that there are two kinds of Americans. On the one side, that "Silent Majority." The "nonshouters." The middle-cla.s.s, middle American, suburban, exurban, and rural coalition who call themselves, now, "Values voters," "people of faith," "patriots," or even, simply, "Republicans"-and who feel themselves condescended to by sn.o.bby opinion-making elites, and who rage about un-Americans, anti-Christians, amoralists, aliens. aliens. On the other side are the "liberals," the "cosmopolitans," the "intellectuals," the "professionals"-"Democrats." Who say they see shouting in opposition to injustice as a higher form of patriotism. Or say "live and let live." Who believe that to have "values" has more to do with a willingness to extend aid to the downtrodden than where, or if, you happen to wors.h.i.+p-but who look down on the first category as unwitting dupes of f.e.c.kless elites who exploit sentimental pieties to aggrandize their wealth, start wars, ruin lives. Both populations-to speak in ideal types-are equally, essentially, tragically American. And both have learned to consider the other not quite American at all. The argument over Richard Nixon, pro and con, gave us the language for this war. On the other side are the "liberals," the "cosmopolitans," the "intellectuals," the "professionals"-"Democrats." Who say they see shouting in opposition to injustice as a higher form of patriotism. Or say "live and let live." Who believe that to have "values" has more to do with a willingness to extend aid to the downtrodden than where, or if, you happen to wors.h.i.+p-but who look down on the first category as unwitting dupes of f.e.c.kless elites who exploit sentimental pieties to aggrandize their wealth, start wars, ruin lives. Both populations-to speak in ideal types-are equally, essentially, tragically American. And both have learned to consider the other not quite American at all. The argument over Richard Nixon, pro and con, gave us the language for this war.

Do Americans not hate each other enough to fantasize about killing one another, in cold blood, over political and cultural disagreements? It would be hard to argue they do not.

How did Nixonland end? It has not ended yet.

NOTES.

ABOUT THE NOTES.

Notes like these serve a threefold purpose: transparency, accountability, and as a resource for readers' own further explorations. All three functions have greatly been enhanced by the exponential expansion of material available on the Internet since my research began in 2001.

Historians have produced outstanding Web sites devoted to individual events; see, for example, "The Hard Hat Riots: An Online History Project," from George Mason University's Center for History and New Media, which cross-references doc.u.ments and news accounts for a minute-by-minute reconstruction of that 1970 event. You can find out what was on the TV news every night via the abstracts at the Vanderbilt University Television News Archive (openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu). Interested citizens have scanned crucial doc.u.ments onto their own Web sites-such as the good soul who reproduced Rolling Stone Rolling Stone's coverage of the Berkeley People's Park riots of 1969. And, of course, cla.s.sic TV moments referenced herein such as the Checkers Speech of 1952 and the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 can be viewed, in whole or in part, on YouTube and other video sites. The American Museum of the Moving Image's "Living Room Candidate" site makes available every presidential campaign commercial described in the text.

Time put its entire archive online so that any pa.s.sage from the magazine quoted herein can be Googled, leading the reader to the original article. (Just as this book was going to press, put its entire archive online so that any pa.s.sage from the magazine quoted herein can be Googled, leading the reader to the original article. (Just as this book was going to press, Atlantic Monthly Atlantic Monthly did the same.) Readers interested in the relations.h.i.+p between Ronald Reagan and the University of California can review the doc.u.ments reporter Seth Rosenfeld requisitioned via the Freedom of Information Act for his extraordinary "Campus Files" series, available at the did the same.) Readers interested in the relations.h.i.+p between Ronald Reagan and the University of California can review the doc.u.ments reporter Seth Rosenfeld requisitioned via the Freedom of Information Act for his extraordinary "Campus Files" series, available at the San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle Web site. Every presidential utterance recorded in the Web site. Every presidential utterance recorded in the Public Papers of the President Public Papers of the President series has been digitized, sometimes with audio and video, by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters of the University of California-Santa Barbara. In the notes, PPP followed by a doc.u.ment number and date makes it easy for the reader to find Johnson and Nixon speeches at presidency.ucsb.edu. series has been digitized, sometimes with audio and video, by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters of the University of California-Santa Barbara. In the notes, PPP followed by a doc.u.ment number and date makes it easy for the reader to find Johnson and Nixon speeches at presidency.ucsb.edu.

The State Department has put online the Vietnam volumes of the Foreign Relations of the United States Foreign Relations of the United States collection of doc.u.ments, which includes full texts of every major high-level memo on Vietnam decision-making, and even transcripts of some telephone conversations. The Pentagon Papers have been digitized by the Mount Holyoke University International Relations Program. The Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia adds digitized audio of Nixon White House tapes at regular intervals, and an important newly released tape-number 33, in which you can listen to the president reacting in real time to the returns on Election Day, 1972-is online at the National Archives' Nixon Project. David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections and Larry Kestenbaum's Political Graveyard sites are exceptionally useful as well. collection of doc.u.ments, which includes full texts of every major high-level memo on Vietnam decision-making, and even transcripts of some telephone conversations. The Pentagon Papers have been digitized by the Mount Holyoke University International Relations Program. The Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia adds digitized audio of Nixon White House tapes at regular intervals, and an important newly released tape-number 33, in which you can listen to the president reacting in real time to the returns on Election Day, 1972-is online at the National Archives' Nixon Project. David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections and Larry Kestenbaum's Political Graveyard sites are exceptionally useful as well.

Readers with online access to university libraries, or physical access to larger public libraries, may be able to download PDF files of newspapers including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Was.h.i.+ngton Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Was.h.i.+ngton Post, and and Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times articles cited below (these are the files subscribed to by the library I use, at the University of Chicago; others may vary) through ProQuest Historical Newspapers, with content fully searchable, and also download the full pages in which the articles appeared. articles cited below (these are the files subscribed to by the library I use, at the University of Chicago; others may vary) through ProQuest Historical Newspapers, with content fully searchable, and also download the full pages in which the articles appeared.

These are just some examples; there will be more with each pa.s.sing month. A continually updated hypertext version of these notes will be available at my Web site, rickperlstein.org, so that readers, wherever possible, can explore Nixonland Nixonland's source materials on their own.

Here is how the notes below work: Phrases in italics are pa.s.sages taken from the text. Paragraphing of the source citations follows the paragraphing in the text. Each page number preceding a paragraph in the notes corresponds to the page where the paragraph begins in the text.

ABBREVIATIONS.

BPP: Berrigan Brothers Papers, Cornell University Special Collections, Ithaca, New York CDN: Chicago Daily News Chicago Daily News CT: Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune LAT: Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times LBJCR: "Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 19631969: A collection from the holdings of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas" (microfilm) MIP: Files on the events of 1970 collected by Maurice Isserman, in possession of author MTR: Museum of Television and Radio, New York City NLT: Nixon Library Tapes transcribed by author, National Archives, College Park, Maryland NYDN: New York Daily News New York Daily News NYT: New York Times New York Times NYTM: New York Times Magazine New York Times Magazine PDP: Paul Douglas Papers, Chicago History Museum PDP722: Douglas Papers, Part I, Box 722, 1966 folder PPP: Public Papers of the Presidents. Public Papers of the Presidents. All public utterances of the presidents are available online, listed by month and year, at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/RNLB: Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, Yorba Linda, California All public utterances of the presidents are available online, listed by month and year, at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/RNLB: Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, Yorba Linda, California USNWR: U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report WP: Was.h.i.+ngton Post Was.h.i.+ngton Post WSJ: Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal

PREFACE.

In 1964, the Democratic presidential: All election tabulations from http://www.uselectionatlas.org. All election tabulations from http://www.uselectionatlas.org.

Five years later, a pretty young: Anthony Lukas, Anthony Lukas, The Barnyard Epithet and Other Obscenities: Notes on the Chicago Trial The Barnyard Epithet and Other Obscenities: Notes on the Chicago Trial (New York: HarperCollins, 1970), 9. (New York: HarperCollins, 1970), 9.

"I'm getting to feel like": "At War with War," "At War with War," Time, Time, May 18, 1970. May 18, 1970.

CHAPTER ONE: h.e.l.l IN THE CITY OF ANGELS.

You might say the story starts: KTLA, "h.e.l.l in the City of Angels," MTR. KTLA, "h.e.l.l in the City of Angels," MTR.

KTLA's live coverage of Watts: Interview with Terry Anzur, "Ron Fineman's on the Record," http://www.ronfineman.com/010928.html; author interview with Terry Anzur.

"Let this session of Congress be known": PPP 91, January 8, 1964. PPP 91, January 8, 1964. "Our Const.i.tution, the foundation of our republic, forbids it": "Our Const.i.tution, the foundation of our republic, forbids it": PPP 446, July 2, 1964. PPP 446, July 2, 1964.

Johnson's approval rating even among Republicans: Rick Perlstein, Rick Perlstein, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (New York: Hill & w.a.n.g, 2001), 307. (New York: Hill & w.a.n.g, 2001), 307. So, even, did conservative businessmen: So, even, did conservative businessmen: Ibid., 309. Ibid., 309. "I'm sick of all the people": "I'm sick of all the people": Bill McKibben, "Reversal of Fortune," Bill McKibben, "Reversal of Fortune," Mother Jones, Mother Jones, MarchApril 2007. Great Society speech: PPP 357, May 22, 1964. MarchApril 2007. Great Society speech: PPP 357, May 22, 1964.

"crazy figures," William F. Buckley: John Judis, John Judis, William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives (New York: Touchstone, 1990), 207. (New York: Touchstone, 1990), 207.

Clark Kerr quote: Milton Viorst, Fire in the Streets: America in the 1960s Fire in the Streets: America in the 1960s (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979), 277. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979), 277.

"I know that very often": CT, letter to the editor, January 1, 1964. CT, letter to the editor, January 1, 1964.

"Iowa would go Democrat": Philip A. Klinkner, Philip A. Klinkner, The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 19561993 The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 19561993 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 75. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 75.

"I doubt that there has ever been": Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power (New York: New American Library, 1966), 483. (New York: New American Library, 1966), 483.

"These are the most hopeful times": PPP 810, December 18, 1964. PPP 810, December 18, 1964.

"We have achieved a unity of interest": PPP 2, January 4, 1965. PPP 2, January 4, 1965.

Johnson "is almost universally liked": Editorial, Editorial, Nation, Nation, January 11, 1965. Melvin Laird quote: John Kessel, January 11, 1965. Melvin Laird quote: John Kessel, The Goldwater Coalition: Republican Strategies in 1964 The Goldwater Coalition: Republican Strategies in 1964 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968), 308. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968), 308. A poll that month found: A poll that month found: F. Clifton White and William Gill, F. Clifton White and William Gill, Suite 3505: The Story of the Draft Goldwater Movement Suite 3505: The Story of the Draft Goldwater Movement (New Roch.e.l.le, NY: Arlington House, 1968), 417. (New Roch.e.l.le, NY: Arlington House, 1968), 417. Should that two-thirds dominate their party's: Should that two-thirds dominate their party's: Lee Edwards, Lee Edwards, Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution (Was.h.i.+ngton, DC: Regnery, 1995), 344. (Was.h.i.+ngton, DC: Regnery, 1995), 344.

One staffer, Frank Kovak: Klinkner, Klinkner, Losing Parties, Losing Parties, 78. 78.

Martin Luther King in Selma: Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 19631965 Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 19631965 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998), 575600; James T. Patterson, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998), 575600; James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 19451965 Grand Expectations: The United States, 19451965 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 57984. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 57984.

For Judgment at Nuremberg Judgment at Nuremberg see J. Hoberman, see J. Hoberman, The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties (New York: New Press, 2003), 122. (New York: New Press, 2003), 122. Lyndon Johnson was a man given to towering rages: Lyndon Johnson was a man given to towering rages: G.o.dfrey Hodgson, G.o.dfrey Hodgson, America in Our Time: From World War II to Nixon-What Happened and Why America in Our Time: From World War II to Nixon-What Happened and Why (New York: Doubleday, 1976), 219. (New York: Doubleday, 1976), 219. LBJ, JUST YOU WAIT: LBJ, JUST YOU WAIT: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Lyndon Baines Johnson, The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 19631969 The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 19631969 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 162. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 162.

"It is wrong-deadly wrong": PPP 107, March 15, 1965. Reaction to voting-rights speech: Hodgson, PPP 107, March 15, 1965. Reaction to voting-rights speech: Hodgson, America in Our Time, America in Our Time, 220. 220.

"Today, we strike away the last major shackle": PPP 409, August 6, 1965. PPP 409, August 6, 1965.

James Reston column: "Was.h.i.+ngton: The Quiet Revolution," NYT, August 6, 1965.

Background on Watts riot: Matthew Dallek, The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics (New York: Free Press, 2000), 12938. (New York: Free Press, 2000), 12938.

"White Backlash Doesn't Develop": NYT, November 5, 1964. NYT, November 5, 1964.

A prominent liberal Southern: Sam Ragan, "Dixie Looked Away," Sam Ragan, "Dixie Looked Away," American Scholar American Scholar 34 (1965). 34 (1965).

"How is it possible": Robert Dallek, Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 19611973 Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 19611973 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 223. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 223. Los Angeles radio station KNX fired: Los Angeles radio station KNX fired: "A Few Prized Minutes with Michael Jackson," LAT, August 24, 2004. "A Few Prized Minutes with Michael Jackson," LAT, August 24, 2004.

the latest in a series of South Vietnamese: Hodgson, Hodgson, America in Our Time, America in Our Time, 228; Schulzinger, 228; Schulzinger, A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 19411975 A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 19411975 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 170. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 170.

Bob Hope Christmas special: Bob Hope: The Vietnam Years, 19641966, Vol. 1 Bob Hope: The Vietnam Years, 19641966, Vol. 1 (Hope Enterprises, 2004). (Hope Enterprises, 2004). thirty-six hundred Rolling Thunder sorties: thirty-six hundred Rolling Thunder sorties: Schulzinger, Schulzinger, Time for War, Time for War, 172. 172.

"one of the few Communist-free": Interview with Daniel Ellsberg. Interview with Daniel Ellsberg. "Few Americans will quarrel": "Few Americans will quarrel": "This Is Really War," NYT, July 29, 1965. "This Is Really War," NYT, July 29, 1965.

Early Vietnam protests: Tom Wells, The War Within: America's Battle over Vietnam The War Within: America's Battle over Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 2127. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 2127. SDS discussed a "Kamikaze Plan": SDS discussed a "Kamikaze Plan": Ibid., 4445. Ibid., 4445.

"Holiday from Exams": Todd Gitlin, Todd Gitlin, The Whole World Is Watching: Ma.s.s Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left The Whole World Is Watching: Ma.s.s Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), 49. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), 49. According to one poll: According to one poll: Wells, Wells, War Within, War Within, 63. 63.

The Republican National Committee could hardly raise: Klinkner, Klinkner, Losing Parties, Losing Parties, 79. 79. "attempted gigantic political kidnapping": "attempted gigantic political kidnapping": WP, "Can 26 Million Be Wrong," November 25, 1964. WP, "Can 26 Million Be Wrong," November 25, 1964.

Morley Safer report: A. J. Langguth, Our Vietnam: The War, 19541975 Our Vietnam: The War, 19541975 (New York: Touchstone, 2000), 385; Daniel C. Hallin, (New York: Touchstone, 2000), 385; Daniel C. Hallin, The "Uncensored" War: The Media and Vietnam The "Uncensored" War: The Media and Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 132. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 132.