Nixon won re-election largely by decimating, through dirty tricks, worthier opponents. Also, he used "banana republic" economics, i.e. the wage and price controls combined with devaluation and heavy Fed stimulus to ensure a temporarily palmy economic environment.
I think people are too hard on Nixon, who was more of a leader than Obama and the six idiots put together. An argument can be made that Nixon only lost in 1960 due to Democratic vote fraud....I think there was a lot more to it than that. First, McGovern was simply a horrible opponent. the Hippies hijacked the party and slammed it into the wall. And give Nixon his due, he kept the economy stable while ending a war, and changed the dynamic of the Cold War by playing the two major adversaries off against each other.
I think that liberal or conservative voters should correctly view Nixon as neither, but a thug. As far as Illinois vote fraud, other Republican jurisdictions had that as well. Nebraska is widely rumored to have had a fraudulent result.
As for 1972, this is how memory serves me.
During the spring of 1971 things were going poorly for Nixon. The economy was barely emerging from the 1969-70 recession, but prices started surging at 5-6% annual rates, around what they were before we entered the recession. Long term rates zoomed as well, after a brief drop during 1970.
The Vietnam War, the "peace talks" and the withdrawal from Vietnam were not going well either. Adding to the misery, the Pentagon Papers came out during June 1971. While they covered only the Democratic administrations, Nixon and Johnson were personally rather close, and the administration was bound at the hip to prior policies.
So, in order to rescue himself from what looked like an economic and foreign policy debacle, on, I believe, August 15, 1971 Nixon took the following steps:
- Devalued the U.S. dollar by 10%(not sure on amount);
- Slammed closed the gold window, effectively eliminating the gold standard (this was finalized in the Smithsonian Accords that December);
- Imposed an import tariff of, I believe, 10% (not sure on amount); and
- Imposed a short-term wage and price freeze (eventually called "Phase I wage and price controls)
These steps were what "kept the economy stable while ending a war".
As for foreign policy he was said to have "play(ed) the two major adversaries off against each other". This had utterly no benefits in any of the world's hot spots, either Vietnam or in the Middle East. What we had was a craven surrender of Taiwan to the Communists, and a pulling of the plug on the South Vietnamese. In my view, the purpose of the Peking February 1972 and Moscow May 1972 visits was to create a sense of euphoria, not unlike a heroin high.
We paid for it richly as allies stopped relying on the U.S. because the U.S.'s word was not worth the paper it wasn't written on.
In short, Nixon was a scoundrel.
All the same, I was probably the only person in my high school (I was a senior) to support Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon since I felt that the 18 months leading up to September 1974 were marked largely by paralysis. I did believe that Nixon cut a deal for himself to resign. All the same, I was happy to see him out and the country's business again being conducted.
Incidently, didn't vote for Obama, probably won't vote for him next time. (Although if the GOP nominates Romney, I won't vote GOP, either.) But I do find this interesting.
You see, here's the thing. I don't see beating Obama as a priority. It'd be nice, as long as it doesn't put Romney in the White House. Romney would be worse for a whole lot of reasons, not the least of which is that he turns the GOP into Democratic Party Mark II. The GOP might actually benefit from a second Obama term. It will have more time to develop and articulate oppossing philosophies.
Here's where I see the real problem with the GOP today. Most of its assumptions have been debunked. It has to rework what its assumptions are, and reconnect with the middle class.
In any case, I don't see 5 million Obama Supporters changing their minds.
As for Obama you may be right that the G.O.P. would benefit from a second Obama term. I am not prepared to see a country I love destroyed in the process.
Also important is Obama's effect on our allies. They are losing their respect, fast, for U.S. policy, and find us unreliable.
Israel is also a vital forward base in a part of the world where the nearest (somewhat) stable country in the direction of the Pacific is India. We simply need to rope down that part of the world and setting Israel up to be butchered by Arab hordes is not a good idea.
