all right, welcome back.

so last time, if you remember or where we left off, we were of 1164 presidential election and the 68 midterms. and today we move on and are reading from evan on chapters nine and ten, which really takes sort of into the 68 campaign. and by the end of this class, richard nixon will be the president. so we've been waiting a long time to get to that point since january so to recap from last

time, 64 was a terrible year for republicans. one of the four great landslides of the 20th century where arizona senator barry goldwater lost was defeated. incumbent president lyndon johnson. so a terrible year for republicans. conservatives. however, call it a great year. 1964. and remember, we talked conservatives were democrats, conservatives were republicans. they were divided. it's different than it is. the parties are configured. and in 64, if you're a conservative and still are a few goldwater conservatives around and we asked them today kind of talk to about 64 they don't talk like that. they went over the cliff with goldwater. they get the sort of twinkle in their eye and the smile. and this was a wonderful year to be a conservative. it was really the year that conservatives exerted themselves. not only did they get a true conservative, but have nominated for the first time in modern u.s. politics. but they realized that rather than be divided in the two parties, some of us are

democrats, some of us are republicans. so the nomination of goldwater was a signal to conservatives that they belonged in the republican party in the future. and so it began process started earlier, but it was important, especially in 64, with strom thurmond switching parties from the democrats to the republicans. former actor ronald reagan came out and endorsed a prominent democrat labor union leader going back to the forties and the fifties, endorsed goldwater and had as famous a time for choosing speech, which is interesting. you could watch it on youtube. it's about 30 minutes long. so we don't have we can't watch it in class. and it began the process of the political winds gradually shifting in the south. and today we find in another shift that we don't have the perspective yet to see going on. so after goldwater, the south begins to shift. republican and today something else is going know, i think is georgia going to remain republican is is virginia going

to remain republican? and it's started earlier. remember, eisenhower won virginia times in 52, eisenhower, nixon, eisenhower, nixon in 1956, one louisiana. so it really began chip away at the traditional democratic south, which was a stronghold. and so 64, again, a terrible year for republicans, a great year for conservatives in terms of their in the future. and then 66, the lopsided loss by republicans. 64 they almost gained they gained back almost everything. they lost in 64 during the midterms and 66 in terms of the house, in terms of the senate, in terms of governors, in terms of state house seats, coast to coast democrats still in charge, democrats held the white house with lyndon johnson. they still controlled the house and the senate after the 66 midterms. but republicans had made it considerably close and erasing the losses of 64 and and

building momentum as they move toward 68. and so that's where we begin today, as we know from from previously, nixon had a good life in new york city for the first time he was making money. he wasn't a public official practicing law, a named partner at one of wall street's most important white shoe law firms with some of the biggest clients. you could have of any law firm in the country. right around the corner from from street in lower manhattan in new. and i think as much as he wanted to get back the arena, as he called it, into politics, his wife, pat nixon, happy to be away from politics his daughters for the first time, had a kind of normal childhood, if you can call that normal. having your dad as vice president living in manhattan around the corner from central park. but they were you know, they were teenagers. they were reaching teenagers late, teens, early twenties, like many you an important age

to be able to be creative and have time and grow intellectually. and so really the first time in their lifetimes being born of the 1940s anything approaching a family that that was normal or had any kind of consistency to it yet nixon said and i think it was in pat buchanan's book, the greatest comeback and also cited otherwise that he thought within a few years he would be he would be dead intellectually, he'd the practice of law didn't stimulate and ultimately he would be dead physically if this went on for too much. so i think he was eager to get back into politics. so testing the waters in 64 and it didn't really go anywhere. 66 becoming a more prominent out of office, but campaigning for hundreds of republicans and accurately predicting the wins they had that that fall and racking up all kinds of favors be cashed in later. you know, should he make and you if you if you hustle around the country and take photo ops and campaign with house candidate and senate candidate and win.

you know, they remember that you were there for them and you rack up all kinds of political favors to be cashed in later. so the decision to run in 1968 was not an easy one. and try for a moment, to take yourself out of 2024 and put yourself in the perspective richard nixon and say 67 or 68 campaigns, then we're shorter. they're not like now where it seems like campaigns never end. we have we have an election today and the new campaign begins tomorrow. it seems like today it was different than campaigns began about a year in advance or so. so a presidential campaign in 68 would really start just before new hampshire primary in 68, january, february is when you really have to make up your mind because you have to either collect signatures or get on the ballot in those primaries, you know, similar today with was 2024 the sort of gamesmanship of of even for incumbent president biden. and for donald trump there's a certain gamesmanship shape about which primaries do you really invest in heavily which ones do

you campaign personally? where do you pick and choose and strategize? and so nixon very much in that situation at 67, i think wanting to get back in, but also wanting make a reversible decision should he change his mind and and not just pen as he did in 1964. and so this was i tell this story a bit in my last book, which came out in the fall, which is on the 68 election. so i'm going to go the reading here a little bit. nixon decides late 67. he doesn't know what to do, and so he retreats to key biscayne florida, kind of one of the very first keys in, the florida keys, one of the northernmost ones just sort of south or, southeast, i guess, of miami and a separated by a causeway still there today. a beautiful place to go. great for a tennis fan. they've got a big tennis there, beautiful lighthouse and state park system that you can walk down to. that was all there during nixon's time. and that's he wanted to reflect kind of away from the city. and he he had had friends in

south florida like, baby raposo and, senator george smathers was a democrat, but a moderate who always welcome nixon to and visit in key biscayne. and this is a picture of of the compound that that nixon stayed at when he was there, kind of the front and the back. and it was i remember i went there a few years ago, was around 2011. and you could they actually were tearing a lot of these old floridian homes were being torn down and mansions were being built in their place in 2011, when i drove by, it was sort of they tore down both homes. it was sort of a double lot, huge sort of italian mansion, which out which is kind of a shame but inevitable and you're standing where where you see the front of the house here. if you could stand to the side and see where the the ocean is, the bay right on the right side. what you would see today is this dramatic skyline of miami like right there, like south miami. so it's a really impressive place to be. i mean, it's striking when you

visited it in 2011, when i drove by, anytime i'm in the area, kind of drive by and see what's new in that neighborhood that houses were gone, but the presidential helipad that was done during presidency was still there, which is kind of off to the side, you know, down here. so that's really the one last artifact that's left from that time period where nixon went to go retreat in late in 67. and i think really didn't know what to do. remember, he had lost he had lost narrowly for the presidency in 1960 in the narrow victories, believe it or not, are really the tough ones, because anything you could have done, you question yourself much more. you know, if you're defeated decisively, there's a lot less. what if going on like if i'd only done this or i'd only done that. but when you lose narrowly that sticks with you forever. you know, if i'd only made one more trip to the east coast or one more trip to some primary, i knew i cut short, you know, the close ones are really tough. the humphrey campaign talked to the humphrey people for the book, 68.

for them, that is really tough because it's really it sticks with you and you continue to sort of fight it in your own mind. like, why did we lose like that was unfair. so that was nixon in 60. that was really emotional to lose. he'd never lost before in politics and in 62, losing in more humiliating fashion as we discussed before for the california governorship, that was a more decisive loss. nixon at that point was a loser. in politics, you don't usually come. politics does not guarantee a second act. in fact, it's rare you get a second act. and so nixon even his own party, was considered a loser. i think nixon thought himself that he was not only a loser, but nixon in his own memoirs. so i was a sore loser. by 68. remember that whole last press conference thing he did in 60, 62? gentlemen, you're going to have nixon to kick around anymore. i he could he called himself a sore loser. his own memoirs, which is not usually a place to look for. criticism of someone in their own in their own writings. and so he really doubted himself. and 67 he thought he wasn't sure

that he could survive a third loss. you know, what would that put the family through? and also, history showed wasn't there no precedent for this i you could look and more recent history tom dewey running twice you could for the republican party and losing both times you look at adlai stevenson in 52 and 56 and the democratic party losing twice. you're done after two losses. usually you don't even get a second chance. i mean, even in more modern politics, it's very rare that a defeated nominee, no one thinks, oh, they'll think they'll have another chance in four years. no. moving on, you know, and in both parties and you know, you have to go back a ways. you could go back to like eugene debs, the socialist candidate who ran four times in the opening years of the 20th century, including in 1916. he's the closest parallel. if donald trump were to be convicted and go to jail. and i'm not suggesting that's a great possibility but in 1916, woodrow wilson major debs ran from jail and he was still won a

million votes with a lot population. so if you run for office and go to jail. you still have a path forward, you know, potentially. so can be redeemed. but, you know, maybe william jennings bryan is an example. beginning in 1896, he ran a handful of times. he was a democratic nominee but never had redemption and never actually won, but was the nominee. several times, beginning in 1896. so it wasn't clear nixon was was going to have a path. so he's down in key biscayne, thinking, what do i do? and he doesn't know what to do. so he calls his friend reverend billy graham. graham, the picture first picture i'll show you is later, 68. this is a graham had a a a crusade rally. you can almost see at the very last letters of the word pittsburgh. so they're at the stadium in pittsburgh. and so nixon says to graham, i don't know what to do, whether i should run. would you please come down and counsel me on his decision and

this is a fascinating part of the story that wasn't on the public record until my book came out. so the graham's allowed me to use billy graham's diary in this book, and it's the first book to use the diary. and the diary is fascinating. it's what i do in the book is not fair. it's really sort of the edge, the tip of the iceberg. so died in 2018 at age 99 and the diary has verbatim content with presidents, their staffs and their top of and families beginning. 1950 with harry truman to barack obama in 2014. think about that for a second content of conversation. i would say it's part scrapbook, part diary, some part of it's handwritten or like a traditional diary. some part of it is was dictated and then typed up later. i'm going to show you a page, a couple of pages from that today of the 68 campaign, which was used in the book some part of it might be it might be like a white house lunch menu where

graham might have scratched something on it. in his handwriting, the president said to him or something that he said to the president, but this is a unique resource on the presidency that's not in the national archives. he's not in any presidential library. so you're going to be hearing if you follow president or politics or history at all, you're going to be hearing more about this diary. so enough about that. graham comes down and and assumed that nixon was was going to run. why wouldn't you? i mean, you don't have to be a complete cynic like me to believe that politicians work so hard to acquire power and the chance to maintain power. they don't give it up until. it's clawed forcefully away from them. i mean, lbj is a good example. i mean, lbj was not or was not going to give that up unless he really had to or unless he doubted himself and graham. so graham came down the. trouble with graham is so says come down and advice and counsel me on what to do and graham says i can't not well enough to travel.

graham canceled all of his schedule. he had viral pneumonia. he went to atlanta to receive an award and he checked into the to a holiday inn just outside of atlanta. and he was going to stay there for as long as it took to feel better. he no, i'm not well enough to travel. i've canceled my whole schedule. i'm not even going to go home. he lived outside of charlotte, north carolina, until get better. and so nixon said nixon said, i will send a private plane and i need you to come to key biscayne like this is important. and so graham wrote his diary something like, well, i guess there's things are more important than health. and so graham, graham graham goes down and and i'll come back to that just in just a minute. graham is important for another reason, as nixon makes his decision in late 67 a couple of months hannah nixon hannah nixon died. this is actually i don't have a photo from mrs. nixon's funeral

because obviously she's in this. this is when frank nixon died. and 56, the brother's the youngest editor escorting, their mother here in uniform. and foreground, two months before hannah nixon had died. so frank had passed away in the fifties when nixon was vice president. and in 67, in the fall, hannah nixon died. and hannah nixon was the one more than anyone else. graham also who encouraged nixon get another chance to run. you have to do it. you know, don't don't give up. and a lot of sort of writers of nixon will refer to this is kind of like the voice of hannah, like at certain moments in nixon's career. so the voice of hannah, which might actually have been her voice or something inside of him, you know, that inspired him to keep going and. so graham helped to officiate at her funeral in 67 and was there and like hannah graham said, you're going to get another chance. now, graham. graham believe that nixon nixon was still young. i mean, in 67, he was he was he was 54 years old. just turned 54. so certainly it's very young by

today's standards of politics on either side of the aisle. so nixon had nixon had the luxury he, unlike most politicians of he could wait. he could choose his political timing to make a reentry to politics. so graham came down and officiated. and like hannah i think nixon felt after her death that that he something in his mind told him that he had to do it for her. he had he had to run for her as a way of kind of redeeming that she didn't live to see him run again. but i think i think that's a factor in his thinking at that time. so, graham at the time, we're going to go back to graham. graham at the time was really closer. to two lbj. that was the next photo here. i skipped over before. this is graham and johnson's oval office in september 1968. they were similar in lots of ways. and we talked about johnson before, not really being a true southerner, really being in the family, concern of being more

southwestern. and when he was born in 1908 in gillespie county and in texas that was a weird place in the south to be from high german men, it was less baptist than the rest of the south. it also meant it was open to outsiders and foreigners and people who are not southern. it was not pro confederacy or pro slavery. it was it tried to stay out controversy, but really it was against those things. i mean, it's a sort of unique enclave johnson came from and made him than a typical democratic southerner. going to be easy for us to stereotype what it means to be a democrat from the south, the conservative and johnson doesn't quite fit that very well. and that's similar to graham graham's from north carolina. so also sort of the fringes of the south part of the country. remember eisenhower. nixon got virginia twice and louisiana, both parts of the fringes of the south that were beginning to come into play politically and possibly shift to republican side.

graham considered himself to be a lifelong democrat, but that didn't mean that's how he voted all the time he probably was a split voter. he talks about voting for eisenhower, but maybe would have gone democrat down the of the ballot and so graham graham really voted the person and not the party he wasn't loyal to a political party and of course he in and he tried to stay out of politics as much as and here shown you pictures with politicians. but graham didn't want to affect his ministry. i mean as a real his real goal was to expand his ministry. and so he tried he might do political things, but he really avoided partizan things, which is slightly different. and so graham never really graham would would suggest kind of who he preferred, but he never out and would use the word endorsement. he kind of he tried to avoid that. and so in 67, according to graham's diary, johnson told graham, graham was on only ones. apparently, johnson told that lbj was not likely to run again

in 1968, and apparently, from what you can tell, graham, pass that along. nixon so imagine take that at consideration in terms of do you want to run and who are you likely to face? in 1968, nixon didn't believe him. i think nixon was like like what i have suggested the cynic who says no one gives up political power until they have to. and there's been no precedent. harry stepped down voluntarily in 1952. one faced with running against general eisenhower. so i guess that's the closest analog that was. that was a little bit different. so graham and johnson were similar. and because of that, in 1968, graham knew the players and he had been longtime friends with johnson. he'd been longtime friends with nixon. i think he met him in the senate dining room in 1950. he had known hubert humphrey, vice president for a long time because graham's ministry actually started minneapolis when humphrey was mayor. i mean, really, the stars were aligning for graham to be important. he knew who was in retirement.

still, he dies in march of 69. so he is his week in 68 and living most of the year at walter reed hospital in washington. but his endorsement is still extremely powerful because eisenhower was a really popular and beloved figure. so graham in 68 knows all of the key people involved. i would say almost an average of 20 years, 68. he's a unique figure in the country who can be a liaison between them and messages and see what they're thinking. he even knew george wallace, the third party candidate in 68, and thought he called in his diary, called wallace. one of the greatest orders of the 20th century. his ability to sort of attract followers. we'll talk more about wallace and kind of his anti-elite, anti-state push, my candidate, which i think both parties have mimicked since then, but especially on the republican side of the aisle, because of donald trump, is really making a similar kind of anti elite, anti establishment kind of blue collar or middle class outreach, you know, to those voters. so graham is a fascinating

figure. so i'll show you a couple of pages from the diary. don't feel the temptation to try to read it. i'll draw your attention to a couple of passages that i want, that i want to talk about. so graham had a long dictation about this time period. again, reset the scene he's done and keep this gain with nixon and trying to help nixon answer the question what do i do? do i run or not? who am i going to run against and what am i getting myself into, you know, a third time. and so this is all new information that's in the book that that was from the graham diary. and. going ahead to 68. so nixon, nixon begins to nixon decides sort of begrudgingly he's going to run. but what i want to show you here is role that graham played in 68. and i think i think my conclusion that graham was the most important person in 1968, except for some those who were on the ballot in 68 and maybe outgoing president lyndon johnson. i mean, he played a very important role back and forth. so i'm getting forward a little

bit. june, robert kennedy, senator kennedy is assassinated in june. has the funeral mass at saint patrick's in new york city, a huge gathering of the political class, celebrities and even people who didn't know and necessarily i mean, it was a real occasion of national mourning. and johnson of course, is going, i believe jack johnson's i think entire cabinet went probably a quorum. the senate, they probably could have had a senate session there if they wanted to. and a huge maybe a third of the house of representatives. i mean it was a huge gathering. i'm not even sure if such a gathering today with secret service would possible. they would want that many people all in one place. and so graham attends graham. graham didn't know robert kennedy, but he knew teddy. teddy kennedy, the younger brother, and he was fond of the kennedy family and obviously understood that that's two kennedys who were killed in five years. john f in 63 was assassinated in dallas and then robert kennedy. then they failed in the california and the ambassador hotel and angeles in june of 68.

but what i'm trying to show you here, these pages is the role that graham throughout that year. so graham sees johnson at the funeral at st pat's and johnson says after you're after we're done here, would you mind coming down to the white house to advise me to and to hold some kind of a, a service the staff who are really affected by this as as americans were. and so graham says, of course so the graham diary talks about i came down washington right afterwards from new york. he says in his diary, something like it, one of the most depressing flights i've ever taken, because it was full of robert kennedy's former staffers. i got to the white house, i checked my usual room at the white house. i mean, who has a usual room at the white house, as i believe his diary says, three or four. so the third floor of the mansion now shows you how close he to the to the johnson's. and he was a regular guest at the white house. and then the passage i'll pick up is next morning. so he gets down on the eighth

and the next morning, sunday, june he so he is lbj he called on the telephone rather early and invited me to come down to his bedroom. i've been in h bedroom at the white hoe d at the ranch on a number of occasions. it was here in the quietness of early hours that i'd learned a greatabout president johnson and the state of the world. many times he gave me confidences and secret state. he knew from past experience i would not pass them on. it had been my policy always, never to quote the president, he understot one of his secrets was safe. with me. many times he did not ask my advice on the mathat he'd discussed with me. he was either just trying to tell me his point of view on a certain issue or he just wanted someone to talk to. and this particular morning he mentioned politics, which was very rare in conversations with me, he said that he thought richard nixon was going to be elected the next president united states. this is june of 68. so about five months before people voted when it was anything but clear, the nixon

was going to win, he said nixon is probably the best qualified in america to be president. he said, i don't always agree with him, but i respect him for tremendous ability. i told him if he gave me freedom to tell mr. nixon just what he had said, that it would be of great encouragement to him. he said, by all means, tell him so. beginning in june, graham effectively a massive mess, a secret messenger between lbj and nixon and someone that never would have been suspected by west media or press. he was kind of the ideal spy, you know, if you want to use that word, you know, not not as a pejorative, just johnson and johnson. nixon came to realize they needed each other in 1968, as much of america watched the chaos that year unfold on their televisions. the surprise tet offensive attack in vietnam against. our our forces at a time when americans were told the war was going better. how could this simultaneous

coordinated attack be possible? the north korean seizure of the uss pueblo crew held captive and being negotiated for another year. you had eugene mccarthy's senator from minnesota. stunning entry into the race to challenge lyndon johnson. the first occurred to challenge johnson almost winning the new hampshire primary against lbj and then shortly after that, the entry of senator kennedy, the second major challenger from within johnson's own party. so that's a difference. six there are a lot of similarities with 68 that that would be a difference for today terms of, you know, one that sort of the senator level, a prominent challenger, you know, other than dean phillips and some lesser candidates have really come forward to challenge johnson. and and so the primary is kennedy's 100 day campaign you have then the twin assassinations of that year which i just started to allude to. and now talk about it more

fully. martin luther king assassinated on the balcony outside of his hotel room in memphis at the lorraine hotel, is now a national park service. it's a great to visit, if you like. so civil citing his it's a historic site king is assassinated in april and it stuns the nation that this figure who could for moderation and nonviolence or we talked about king being to pastor a church montgomery, alabama because he was moderate. he wasn't one of the ones. he wasn't a black panther. and he wasn't encouraging violence. he did become a little more interested in direct action. and in the last couple of years of his life, but had always been kind of a figure for moderation, someone who could work both sides since his i have a dream speech in 1963 at the wall in of the lincoln memorial. so is assassinated in an and it stuns the nation kennedy's assassination in june stuns the political class. and so while while king's is the

precursor to arson and looting and violence in 100 american cities that summer in 68 after kennedy's it was almost sort of an eerie calm descended the nation and johnson in the midst of this is trying to figure out johnson had withdrawn from the race on television march 31st. he had given a speech that otherwise was about vietnam. and at the very end of, it he had a final couple of lines which he'd been carrying around in his jacket pocket since the beginning of the year, but had not had the courage to use those final lines. he actually was planning use them at the end of the state of the union and he had these final lines ready that i will not accept. he not accept the term of office he will not accept the nomination of his party in 68. he'd had that ready to use at the end of a speech. he out for various reasons and the state the union but he used it on 31st and a speech that was otherwise vietnam and responding to the tet offensive and a general sort of assessment about vietnam. he has this stunning ending that

he only notified a few people about an hour before. he was giving the speech. his vice president humphrey was in mexico signing a treaty the next day and he was called just before and told you, you better turn on the radio and listen for this. and so johnson johnson is out and we haven't had that sense. and a lot of people today are asking, you know, could president biden do something similar happened in 68 with johnson, happened in 52 with harry truman. so there are a lot of similarities, but there are also differences in 68 when a president withdraws, it's a wide open election. it's pandemonium first thing first, incumbent president is immediately considered a lame duck. all the spotlight shifts to everybody else. you have very hope to do anything in your remaining ten months of office or, whatever it is, all the excitement shifts to the challengers and what i document the book is something different. for 50 years, people assume,

johnson was a lame duck and not important. after that, the graham diary and, some other records that are in the book show otherwise that johnson has simply shifted his energies from the ballot, which had withdrawn from to influencing the choice of his successor. ultimately and so the most controversial argument, the book, is documenting a pattern of activities where johnson actually came to prefer nixon, a republican, as successor. and so, you know, so it's very different story than what's been written before. i think. well of of get out of that. so the one more message i'll talk about graham then we'll get back to talking about the 68. this is a little bit faded again don't don't have the temptation to try to read it. i'll tell you what's on the page in. just a minute. so this message is continues starting in june between johnson and nixon nixon also goes to has graham. go down and see wallace in alabama the head of the republican delegation in north carolina is wavering a little

bit on nixon and graham is again used to twist his arm a little bit and stay loyal to nixon graham is very involved, you know, throughout campaign and these messages continue to be passed back and forth between all the major. this is a second one there's more we could talk about, but we just don't have time. this is the second one i want to talk about in september. so september is the traditional kickoff for the campaign back then. can we lose this distinction today when campaigns are going on all the time? but campaigns back then would kick off labor day, like the monday after labor day, you'd have a big opening rally. you're kind of throwing it into gear. you know, and you'll stay in that gear all the way until november on day. so right after labor day and 68. graham, is that that i showed you, we'll go back to that for a minute. that rally in pittsburgh was.

this is just after labor day. graham as far as i can tell, this was just coincidental, is in pittsburgh for a series of rallies and nixon in town for another reason he has a political there staying at the sa hotel the pittsburgh held and nixon is one floor above ground in the same and they have breakfast on sunday morning at the hotel and during ri the meeting nixon says, would you be lling to pass another message? johnson and graham says, sure, let me take out a piece of paper. and nixon says, you're the only one that can do this, you know, to go to the white house. graham had been to the white house many times i don't know if he'd ever asked a meeting with the president, like, can i come in on friday? well, in fact, graham was asked, well, what's the purpose of the meeting? i can't tell you. i mean, imagine trying that out, like try calling the white house. i need to see president on friday for let's say, a half hour. well, what's the purpose? it's private. i can't i can't get into that. that's what graham did. and that shows the access he had to both unique.

i don't know that there's another figure like graham today, you know, in america there might be. but we don't we're not aware of it because we're this we only became aware of this, you know, many years later. and so the previous image that i you was. was the notes that that graham took. there we go one more these are this is an image from the graham of the notes that graham took when meeting nixon at the pittsburgh in september that he carried into the oval office to see johnson that friday. so they set down that was the photo that i showed you, lbj and graham sitting together and graham says, i something i'd like to read you from from and i'll try to i'll go through the points here. so you have one, two, three, four, five, six points. and his is written in kind of a shorthand. his handwriting is even worse than mine. like i can barely read my own handwriting. so i'll help you through this. so this is from nixon to lbj.

this is in graham's delivered to johnson in the oval office. that photo i showed you that, you know, johnson knew enough to know the photo was the meeting important with graham? he had a whole roll of film taken at, a private meeting. interestingly enough johnson's white house taping system was turned off during the meeting. so we don't as far as we know, there's no recording of even though we had that capability the closest we have to a transcript is these notes. so point one, this is nixon writing the first person i will never embarrass him after election. i respect him as a man and as a president. he is the hardest and most dedicated president in 140 years. and so that was a direct appeal for nixon, one of lbj's heroes andrew jackson in the late 1820s, because 140 years would have been 18, 28 before 1960 8.2 from nixon. i want a working relationship

with him, dash and will his advice constantly. three want you to go on special assignments after election dash to foreign countries for must point out some of the weaknesses and failures of ad and abbreviated administration, but will never reflect on mr. jay personally. 0.51 vp in vietnam is settled. he lbj and nixon. nixon give you lbj a major share of credit because you deserve it. point six will do everything to make you great in history because you deserve it. and i think this day i can tell you there's another time in us history that this activist occurred between an outgoing

wounded president and, an incumbent who wants his job. i mean, i need you either configuration of parties, either within the same party. i don't know. this is a fascinating story. and to me, one of the lessons of this book and of the class today is really an underlying question. i mean, we as are conditioned to learn what political behavior, normal political behavior looks like now you could argue in recent years we haven't seen lot of normal political behavior on side of the aisle. but we learn, you know, democrats stick with democrats or republicans stick with democrat republicans. we assume they don't they aren't really friends anymore. i mean it used to be i write a poll years ago of americans who said, what's the one thing you wouldn't want your son or daughter do growing up? and it's, you know, marry someone of the other political party is high in the list.

so we've become i wouldn't say we're as divided as 68 vietnam the draft was tearing apart college campuses, a half million soldiers serving in southeast asia, including those who were there, really against their will and compliance with the draft we don't have today the degree violence the assassinations we had kind of the summer of george floyd in 2020 but not quite in 100 cities in 68. so it's close. i hope we don't get there, but i don't think quite as divided. but in some ways we as divided. i mean, that poll that i refer to now, i don't think people would have said that back then that that i don't want my son or daughter to someone of the other political parties. so in some ways, we are as divided or more. but there are differences is what trying to say. i don't know of an example like this from u.s. history. and to me the question is fascinating, as we've all learned or just absorbed, what normal political looks like is what happens at key moments in

us. if politics is not. we've been told and that's a fascinating idea that you can project lots of other periods of history. and i think what you have in 1968 is that americans, this chaos from their living rooms play out on tv, the assassination, the war, the nightly news had gone from 15 minutes to 30 minutes in 1963, leaving out news was still 30 minutes, but really it wasn't pretty to watch and much of 1968 at the democrats went chicago for their convention that year and the violent protests in which daley's police participated in the violence and whichever democrat this year thought it was a good idea to go back to chicago, which they doing later this year. either you're going after the history or you're unaware of it. it's like i don't think there's really any between position there, but it's going to be a fascinating convention watch. it might not be violent, our tv screens, but it be pretty, you

know, energetic, you know, behind the scenes. so americans watch this and 60 on their television screens. but i think lesson of 68 is what happens if the chaos of year reaches even the highest echelons of the political establishment? well, my answer is that the upper echelons of the political establishment alter their normal political behavior. in the case of johnson, coming to prefer nixon. so let's talk about a little bit else. we haven't mentioned many. we've just briefly had cameos or mentioned others that kind of sets up the dynamics of the year. it sets up the johnson nixon relationship, johnson's withdrawal it sets up the role of graham. but let's talk about other aspects of campaign on the republican side, you've got a pretty deep of people who oftentimes just a few years later, we forget who they also rans were as we kind of dismiss them as this the case of 68

where i think they were more than also rans. these are people who really could have been president they either had the good looks a president that we expect them to have the money, the resources, the the right background and you can go any one of these i think had a real chance you know the early frontrunner the republican side was michigan governor george romney athe time. michigan was one of the most important places you could from considered a large industrl state. the auto workers in the unions were a much biggeractor back then, even than th are today. it's still a good base run for politics. much better than george romney in the middle asovernor. there's a lot of pictures i could have chosen, but i chose this one because this is a son, mitt romney on the left hand side. so i it's hard to know whether are they from michigan or are they from massachusetts? are ey from utah? george romney was actually born in mexico because he was born during a misonary work that from the mormons mexico. so romney is the first one. again, good money connected but

but really makes the mistake a candidate of peaking too soon if you kind of come out too early it gives the media a chance to really feast you and really study you and do a lot opposition research against you. so romney was really had fizzled out even by the time of the new hampshire primary, had withdrawn and was was gone by hampshire. then you have and you know, we always talk about the republican party sort of the conservatives and it's because more conservative democrats are coming over to the republican party. but romney, like nixon was from that sort of moderate to liberal internationalist side of the party. i would put romney just a hair to the left of richard a little bit more to the left than that is a new york governor nelson everything. i said about romney double it nelson rockefeller new york city sorominent governor of an even bigger state. a more important even more

resources to run major political brand name. a lot of repubca were kind of turned off to him because he'd had a divorce is actually controversial back and also becae in 1960 some republicans believe that nixon and rockefeller had arranged a kind of backroom deal called the compact fifth avenue, it was called, and the history books. so you can look that up later. but so conservatives weren't thrilled about about rockefeller, but no question, had he had the resources to go all way, the trouble is he never did. his pattern was he was sort of in you know, he was in he was out, wasn't really committing to a campaign the way through, whereas nixon was in all the primaries beginning in new hampshire and the only primary, nixon didn't and was in california. and the reason is because of the next picture i'm going to show you. i had a reporter call me maybe two weeks ago. actually, i was going up to the reagan library to do it. they're just starting to open up

the 84 campaign files. and a reporter called me and said, if gavin newso read your book in 1968, what would you say him if he calls you? and i saii would i would say to the california governor that you should do exactly. e california governor didn 1968, which is interesting. another great parallel between the years. cafornia governor ronald reagan ever nixon lost. nixon couldn't win in lifornia, but more coervative, ronald reagan did after becoming a republican in 64 and being elected in 66, reagan was a popular one to to appear with four for nixon. but nixon didn't want to take him head on. so the california, thenl primary that nixon didn't eer because it would have forced republicans take sides. so that's note you try not to that against popular challengers. reagan 68 i think probably like although we don't know and might know for a long time, why newsom's arrangement is with president biden. reagan's arrangement with nixon. as far as we can tell, was that

if nixon didn't have the nomination locked up by wisconsin, then reagan was free to move in and challenge him. so reagan had basically this red line that he had, that he had committed to a kind quid pro quo with nixon and reagan never had cross that red line because nixon was so dominant in the early primaries that there was hereby wisconsin. he he did have it locked up. but this was largely where reagan sat. and if you think about it in a way, i say the reason i say reagan is the model for newsom is because what what you don't want to do if you're reagan in 68 or newsom in 2024 is you don't want to mortgage your political future one because you might have another chance wait choose your time timing you don't need to be in a hurry although things can change and you might regret running. and secondly, whatever you do, whether you leave the sidelines and join the race or whether you decide not to what you don't want to be is to be blamed by your own party for dividing the

party. so those are the two cardinal rules. 1968 for reagan and for newsom today in terms of you've got to have your you've got to have your red line and you don't want to mortgage your political future, whatever that red line is. and you do not want to be blamed for dividing your party. and that year, if things come up. so reagan ultimately is never a challenger. and i think i think probably reagan played it right. he wasn't hurt a nixon victory. he ultimately wasn't hurt by nixon's resignation or by watergate. and he waited for his timing and ran again in 80 and won. so probably in hindsight, it looks like reagan probably did the right thing by not running. and i think that's one of the lessons to newsom is the right thing might be not to run, but see, he hasn't called me. if he does, i'll let know. nixon on the issues. nixon on the issues. again, i would call him a kind of a moderate to liberal, moderate to liberal wing international of republican party. i think he was probably in terms of what was he politically i think he if you take nixon in

large and 60 and you take goldwater the right in 64, nixon was somewhere in between the two. i think nixon felt in 60 he drifted a little to left. never. he promised the first african american in the cabinet nixon lodge one. i mean really bold declaration on civil rights at a time when that was still controversial before the 64 civil rights act, goldwater showed the pendulum went the other way and republicans got wiped out. so nixon, i need to be somewhere in between those two lines. this is where i need to be. so nixon was really a centrist in 68, the way i look at it and that rockefeller and romney to be on his left, it allowed reagan to be on his right, conceding nixon the big in the middle and the party to reach out to both sides. nixon wasn't loved by liberals in the party, and he wasn't by conservatives in the party. but he was acceptable to each and 68. whereas, you know, the press, i think, fantasized about of reagan rock afl or dream team running in eight. the problem was their supporters

hated each other. you know, they were on opposite ends of the political spectrum, whereas nixon was except able to each, you know, as an ambassador not really considered one of each plus he'd been out of office for several years as you know in the wilderness. but nixon was acceptable to all parts of the party. it can unite. it. and to give you an example, his you know, he was johnson viewed nixon. so if you're johnson why would you prefer nixon why would this make sense? well, a lot democrats in johnson's own party were pledging to get out of vietnam within six months sort of to withdrawal to end the war and pull troops out. johnson feared he would be the first president to be blamed to lose, to lose a war, and he didn't want that part. he felt a lot stronger on the domestic part of his legacy. the great society rights voting act, the the lbj used to sell a t shirt. i think it still does in the in the gift shop when you leave it has just these words over the front and back of the shirt and look carefully. it's the name of all the

legislation that was passed, you know, during the great society whether it be the environment, whether it be education, it be higher education or public schools or medicaid and medicare. i mean, the range of legislation was was unprecedented and really terms of quantity had surpassed even fdr as new deal. i mean, johnson think felt that his only johnson could set a goal this high that as president he wanted to complete not only kennedy's unfulfilled legacy, which course is what he did becoming president after kennedy's assassination, but also in a way completing his hero, fdr unfulfilled legacy that johnson felt he could do both during his time in office. and so as an incredible period and nixon in 68, you would expect the republican campaign against a lot of that domestic legislation. nixon really didn't act for example, after after king's assassination on april, nixon gave a prominent speech where i would say the way i interpret it

is he's he's he's not saying he's going to dismantle the great society he's saying he just wants to shade it in of a republican direction. so of big welfare programs he's talking about he's talking about tax cuts and investment in cities instead of big spending bills for education he's talking about improving schools and cities. he's talking about community policing. mean a lot of later look back at nixon's rhetoric in this chamber as surprisingly liberal and of course when nixon becomes president i don't want to get to where he is now he's president. so i don't get ahead of myself. nixon no more ends. lbj's great society than eisenhower did. fdr, new deal. i mean, much to the consternation, conservative republicans, they didn't i mean the size of government under the nixon grew it didn't shrink and a lot of what nixon did as president upset conservatives, which is a theme. we'll leave that with you right now. we're to come back to that later in the presidency. so on the issues, he was surprisingly moderate.

the convention in miami beach is actually where actually where the democrats wish they had moved. johnson had locked in chicago as the site of the convention for the democrats, which we'll talk about more in just a minute. whereas the republicans were in miami beach so near key biscayne, it was comfortable for nixon. it was a lot easier. when you choose a convention city, it's huge questions about security. and when you're in south florida, it's like miami beach, you can seal off the whole area. closing a couple of causeways, you kind of know that area. so miami beach was a much better site the democrats after johnson withdrew, actually wanted a switch to miami beach so they would both there. but i think johnson felt he committed to his friend, mayor richard daley. chicago, that was when the site was selected, it it was intended to coronate johnson for another nomination. and johnson thought to be too disruptive to change a convention. so in miami beach is nominated again the only candidate in the race on both sides who goes all the way except the california

primary. but from the snows of new hampshire, all the way to to election day in november and he chooses and his running mate, that was at the time controversial and people question nixon he chooses maryland governor spiro agnew who only a few years had been a county commissioner in maryland and been governor for a couple of years. but actually, you know, in hindsight, it was a it was a good choice. and i' tell you why. e general thinking i think it's the same today among nominees is that the your running doesn't really help you people vote the top of the ticket much more than than a running mate but a running mate can hurt you if u don't choose carefully. you want you really want someone who's kind of neutral and secondly, you want someone who take the spotlight away from you. you are supposed to be the spotlight on the ticket. and in 60, i think nixon learned the lesson. lodge lodge was flashier. he a better dresser. you know, he didn't have the constant 5:00 shadow.

i mean, he looked kind of like a kennedy in that sense. yeah. the chiseled good looks of like a romney or a rockefeller and lodge did take the spotlight from nixon and that's politically threatening. so you also certainly want to choose someone who's not politically threatening who's, not going to take not just the spotlight but not going to challenge your agenda. and so agnew was enough of an unknown that he really didn't add to the ticket. he also wasn't seen to really subtract from it either, you know, lodge added. but lodge also subtracted and the of the top of the ticket so i think that's probably why nixon won for agnew another another reason i would say to is agnew was a major booster of rockefeller. and rockefeller kept threatening to come back in the race. agnew was on kind of that moderate to liberal, really even more like liberal side. but was tough on crime because he was he was from baltimore. baltimore was one of the cities after the king assassination that had a lot of unrest and so agnew was kind of a liberal republican who was tough on

crime and looting and arson and unrest and. that's what nixon he was sort of the whole package. he just was still kind of a political unknown. but again, that wasn't bad in the in the eyes of nixon. so that was the republican side of the aisle. and then you get into the fall campaign. what's going on on the democratic side, the convention in chicago, which is largely overshadowed by by the violence and what's going on in grant park and other places in chicago outside of the convention, the international amphitheater, the incumbce prey, ve president hubert humphrey is the one who has the easiest path to the nomination. and why is that? hrey was it was committed liberal from that side of the party more than johnson. i mean, the 48 convenn philadelphia humphrey boldly declared civil rights kind of the n's nextaj that we should take on andaud pandemonium back in 1948 to say that he said that is the mayor

of. running for the first time for senate. he wasn't even in washington yet and as johnson's vice president becomes wedded to, the unpopular war in vietnam and i would the way i would put it is that he he vice president, he didn't have johnson's political assets, but he had his live melodies by the end of of that term of office. but humphrey is in the best situation to run as a kind of surrogate for for johnson because back then the rules were different for nominating democrats didn't change the nominating process until the results of the mcgovern commission started in 1972. so back in 68 it was really something more like backroom deal you didn't need to enter primaries. humphrey didn't enter in 68. you didn't need to debate. there weren't any major debates in 68. all the only debate there was was mccarthy and kennedy before. the oregon primary. no other debates that defined this year. again, we might not have any more debates. we might be done for the year. it's going to be a little different this year. but there is historical for

that. humphrey also johnson almost every state or county chair chairman back then would have older to the administration. so once johnson withdrew and humphrey is running that most of that loyalty would shift right to humphrey. so humphrey had almost all the delegates he needed without even campaigning know before he even took a single hand in 68. and sometimes people always say, you know, could robert kennedy have won in 68? how do you have an assassinated? he have gone to the convention like this year again they're talking about could there be an open convention on either side and i mean possibly i mean historians aren't to entertain. what if because that's not what happened although they're fascinating to think about but i would go back to the rules the democrats the rules in the democratic to nominate 68 were really designed to coronate johnson for another term, not reward insurgent like a kennedy or mccarthy. so he might have made it interesting, but it would have been pretty long, long odds. even with johnson out of the race to topple humphrey.

so humphrey chooses senator edmunde of maine as his running mate, and muskie is seen as someo sorof call them doesn't have a lcalm orat stability. you kind turns the temperature down. he's from maine which is kind of storically even this day, kind of an independent republican state, dnt than conservative, kind of as a traditional new england republicanism. and so he's so he's considered kind of a swing state. look could be strategic. humphrey also liked him because he said that muskie looks kind of like abraham lincoln and. he thought that might be good. i mean, i don't know. you sure. on judgment on that one. so that was the match up there on the democrade of the aisle here at the picture of the in chicago and just got a couple more points here and we'll we'll wrap it up today. 68 was also got to get my. cursor in the right place here

68 was also one of the only campaigns where we had a strong third party challenge. another theme of today and we don't see this often as americans. i don't know you, but when i go vote, usually the top candidates are somewhere at the top. they make it easy to find out, you know, one side or the other. and i usually at least take a scan. i feel like it's my civic duty to kind of look at who the other candidates are. and i tell you, a lot of times outside of like the greens or the libertarians or one of the more prominent third parties, i don't know. a lot of them are. and maybe you feel the same way, but at least kind of at least take a look at who's who is down there. we don't see very often that somebody from down there know becomes a major candidate who kind of pushed up in the public light. the last time we had this was probably ross perot in 92 or 96 who polled as high as 39%. but but that didn't win any electoral votes over our elections or settled in the electoral college. wallace was the last major challenge where. somebody ran and got on the ballot in all 50 states and one

electoral votes. wallace poll as high as 23% and 68. and he won 10 million votes and d n eleoral votes enough to kind of change the outcome. and so we have a third party candidate, i think most of the time you're not going to you don't think you have a cnce to win, but you want to play spoiler. you might be able to cut a deal with one side or the other. you have to be able to deny a victory. in some stat, at might be enough. overall as a goal. and so i think while it was really walla's strategy, what reason? the second reason wallace is important today is because if you're running a third party candidate or no labels or whatever it becomes, you really to stay in the wallace playbook. wallace got the ballot in all 50 states. he everywhere the district of columbia kept him out. and i always joke there's not lot today that brings republicans and democrats together. in a moment in washington, probably concern over china concern over social media and concern over third party challenges in your state is going to bring those two

parties. there's one thing they can agree on is neither side wants party challenges because you never know who are they going to draw more from? is it going help you or hurt you? and that's a real gamble. but better off, just not to have them is what both parties collude in. most states. wallace is really the first modern candidate to run in all 50 states who ran effectively anti-elite, anti-establishment anti-media campaign. and so that has huge resonance to recent politics, as far as i know the phrase drain the swamp never occurred to george. but if it did, he would have used i mean, that was etty much hisampaign know stand up for the little guy you know against the power structure he was he was at that point hwas a lifelong democrat he had made clearly kind of racist statements in 1962, threatening to personally block integration of the university of alabama when when that were to occur in. 63 in hiingural address, he stood in the same spot where jefferson stood in montgomery and, proclaimed segregation today.

tomorrow and forever. but by 68, the version here he was really more of a kind huey long inspired kind of southern populist who was trying to develop a national message that would work beyond alabama and beyond the south. and so wallace is fasting. lots of reasons. he ran as a third party in 68 because he wanted to be free to criticize both major, both parties and later becomes a like like millions democrats inhe south and running mate is curtis lemay, who is criticized as running nickname bombs away lemay for his casual suggestion of the use atomic weapons. he was probably st famous for the firebombing of tokyo and other japanese coastal cities in wod war two, but actually probably during the cold war had done more than anyone to keep us out of a world war three being in charge of strategic air commanand kind ofeing in charge of really those weapons are in the kennedy and johnson years.

so lemay is an odd choice to be drafted to run. he he said he was probably to vote for for nixon but but that that's the way he configured his considered kind of a style of wartime hero and bolster the foreign policy credentials of the wallace side. yeah go ahead. do you think choice of a vice candidate, muskie or agnew, were in any way important to address shortfalls at the south to pick up those votes? i mean, possibly except wallace had made the selection of may lemay after the other two parties chose theirs. so wallace was really the last one to decide and choose his own. wallace had trouble finding anybody who wanted to run with him, and so he went through several before he finally got to lemay. and lemay resisted. but the the republicans had had their convention and then just as this year, typically the incumbent party goes second on the conventions. so even this year, republicans

go first. in july, democrats go until about the third week of august. this year. and where wallace came out, wallace didn't didn't come out announce lemay until october 3rd in pittsburgh. so he was he was much much later than the others. so there might have been little concern about that. but wallace actually was the one that had the final say. you know, i can't campaign. and the last time we'll talk about and then wrap up the election much has been written about 68 as as the question has been raised you know did nixon collude with south vietnam to steal the election from lyndon johnson? peace talks have been going on in paris since may, which really hadn't gone anywhere. and the figure in all of this is a woman named anna shenault, a chinese american whose family had lost everything in china in the late 1940s during the communist takeover, when the prc began on october 1st, 1949, pictured here her watergate penthouse, which is where met her in 2017, to talk about this.

and there's this part in the book and the story is that she a go between between nixon and south vietnamese president when van chou that that she had promised hugh under a nixon presidency vietnam would get a better deal. we wouldn't cut and we wouldn't abandon you. and it makes for a pretty good story. the problem is the evidence is actually pretty thin of all that. so i kind of i have a whole appendix in the book where i go through that. what's we know and what we don't know. but at the very final weeks of the campaign were allegations that chanel had acted as a go between between then candidate and nixon to undermine johnson's peace talks, to get the cooperation of an south vietnam to its preference for nixon or to refuse to take part in johnson's talks. and it's a a it's a story that had new legs after 2016 when allegations of did did trump did the candidate trump collude with russia to so that putin could signal his preference for trump

and effectively steal an election. so this is not the first time this has happened. in 1980, there was a similar version. reagan did reagan did reagan cooperate with iran behind the scenes to make sure the hostages weren't released right before. the election, which would have given a boost to carter. again, the evidence, i would say pretty thin, the election result, it was a close election. nixon won by about a half million votes in 1968. the electoral college was a little more decisive, not a landslide but a little more decisive, especially when you factor in wallace's 46 electoral votes that he got that year. so in effect, if you kind of add nixon plus wallace and interpret that to be kind of the anti incumbent vote it's a much more decisive election that year. but what i leave you with is one final thought nixon might be the winner, but nixon, millions of people voted for nixon, not they loved him, but because go back to what i said before, because he was acceptable. he was the bad of the alternatives. he was a way to kind of rewind

the clock and choose someone who whose political office and career was before vietnam, before the unrest and chaos of the country and. so nixon was really the best of the alternatives. but nixon coming into office in 68, not owing any political favors to anybody because he was out of for six years what really have to try to build a majority and a base of support that most candidates have automatically on january when they're sworn in and they want to have to work really hard to have that. and so right from the beginning of nixon's presidency, the idea of living with you, there's sort of tension in the oval office. the first president since 1840, not to have the house or the senate controlled by his own party. so all five and a half years of nixon's presidency would have to involve cooperation and so he is the he'll the president and we'll pick that up next time. but but again, right from the beginning, a lot of tension in the country. and it's also not clear exactly how he's going to govern with a majority for