Richard Nixon: Difference between revisions

After being elected as the Representative for California's 12th district in 1946 and 1948, Nixon would go on to be elected as a Senator from California in 1950. Nixon would remain as a Senator until 1961, when he resigned his Senate seat to assume the Presidency. During his time as Senator, Nixon would work closely with fellow Republican senator Joe McCarthy in his Grey Scare to root out suspected Fascists within the US federal government. Nixon's role in the Grey Scare would give him a reputation as an anti-fascist crusader.

In 1960, Nixon was convinced by the Republican party leadership to run for the Presidency under the [[Republican-Democratic Coalition]] alongside Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy. The ticket would be the first time two candidates on the same ticket were from opposing parties since, Republican president, Abraham Lincoln ran with Andrew Johnson, a Democrat in 1864.

The Nixon-Kennedy ticket would defeat the [[National Progressive Pact]] (NPP) ticket, consisting of [[Henry M. Jackson]] and [[J. William Fulbright]], in a landslide. Nixon would win 424 electoral votes and 58.5% of the national popular vote. Nixon's landslide victory was aided by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who would help the Nixon campaign wiretap the NPP, blackmail influential opponents, and steal files from the NPP; actions that would help Nixon tarnish the NPP's national image.