American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 37.1 Richard Nixon

Episode Date: July 30, 2022

So we come to Tricky Dick. Well known for a long time for being the stain on American presidential history - but is that deserved? Well, let's start with his pre watergates/presidential life shall we...

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, Richard Nixon. Part 1. Hello and welcome to American Presidents. So tell us, Rankium, we're in for a good one. I'm Jamie. And I am Rob. And this is episode 37.1. It is the tricky dick himself.

It's Richard Nixon. Yay. You looking forward to this one, Jamie? I am. I've got good vibes for this one. I assume he's a great president. Well, we'll find out. Yeah. We will. We will. Oh, no, I completely forgot about an introduction, but that's fine. You start us off.

Yeah, do what we normally do. Start with a very lifelike, as in it's not CG, it's not in a film, not a cartoon. You're in a forest and there's a wonderful unicorn. Go. It's just funny, the look of panic and trying to see, I'm seeing the cogs whirring in your head, it's great. Okay, well, open on that unicorn then. Yeah. I say, having no idea where this is going.

It's a very realistic, not cartoon, unicorn. It's grazing on the grass. Yes. Yes, that's what it's doing. And then it suddenly looks up, shocked, like a startled deer, because there's a loud noise. And all this unicorn can hear is, I'll get you next time, Kennedy, from the distance.

And the unicorn looks shocked and then runs off into the bushes. And then it pans down and you see the unicorn's been munching on the grass. So some of the grass is shorter, in fact, like eaten right down to the mud. And it just now spouts out in the grass, Richard Nixon, part one. That was genuinely pathetic. We'll roll with it. It's fine. I like it.

Do you want to do better? I can try. Go on then. So fade in, pan in to a unicorn grazing in the forest. Just panning in. And it's a beautiful unicorn. It's very white, almost glowing, almost ethereal kind of thing. Then suddenly you hear the loud gunshot.

Bang! Are you killing off the unicorn? Well, the unicorn doesn't know because it's dead. So, yes, it's been shot right in the head. Oh, no, you Bambi-mummed this straight away. Yeah, and this unknown person walks up to the unicorn and just saws its horn off you can't see from behind him like a long coat kind of thing rifle slung over his left shoulder

pockets the the horn and as the the walker walks away just a leaflet drops out of his pocket onto the floor and you pan in it's got that kind of old typewriter style writing. Half it's been sort of like, half it's folded over, you can't really see anything, it just has X-O-N on it. And at the top, Gent. So it says Gent. If you unfold it, it'll say Urgent, and say Richard Nixon has been folded. You can't see that, so I've kind of given that away slightly.

Like a Marvel advert, like a Marvel trailer. trailer um and and um and uh and um someone shouts out something like uh fancy to stay at the water gate hotel the hunter says the other hunter and he's like no no that's the next episode we're far too early for that now what's what's the water gate oh oh well Let's go and have a cup of coffee. Okay. Richard Nixon. I'm going to say that started very strong. It's tricky to do this, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to comment on the second half, but you know

what? That was good. Let's combine the two, shall we? Let's have your first half. Yeah. And then the hunter looks up and hears the I'll get you next time Kennedy shout from the distance. There we go. And the hunter runs off. Yeah, we'll do that. Alright. Okay.

Compromise. Great. Okay. Okay, right. Well, let's jump in after that elongated start because we're starting in January of 1913 in the sunny lands of California. California-y. That's right, and

this is where, on the 9th of January, little Dick was born. Oh, what a dick. Great idea. Richard. Now, to save you from giggling all the way through, I will be calling him Richard, even though everyone called him Dick. Thank you. That's very kind.

So Richard was born on a lemon ranch. Do they, what, herd lemons? That is literally in my notes. Do they herd lemons? I am confused by this. I thought it would be a lemon farm, a lemon grove, but no, apparently it's a lemon ranch. a lemon farm a lemon grove but no apparently it's a lemon ranch so i can only assume they grow them on lemon farms and then they like keep them in pens until they're needed and they herd them and stuff on the ranch like a little young nixon on a horse like come on lemons we gotta get you rounded up here in his california accent yeah yeah yeah so um i i didn't do any more research into the difference between a lemon farm or a lemon ranch because i didn't think i needed to this is clearly where they heard lemons

yeah cool right he was born to hannah millhouse nixon and francis nixon this was a family of quakers and uh they observed the quaker way. No drinking, no swearing, no gambling, no fighting, no dancing, no fun. So not herding animals, we're gonna herd lemons. The bitterest, the fairest of fruit. They were also dirt poor. Not much money in herding lemons. Who'd have thought? No. So it was a cheerful childhood for little Richard. He was the second child after Harold. And soon enough, three more boys were around. There was Donald, a younger brother, and then two cousins moved in as well. So it was a crowded house.

And apparently his elder brother Harold was the brightest, I'm quoting here, the strongest, the handsomest, and the best. Nice. Guess who I'm quoting here, Nice. Guess who I'm quoting there? Mum? Dad. Oh, dad. Oh, okay. Yes, but essentially, yes, one of the parents.

It's not really what you want to hear as you're being tucked in every single night. Good night, honey. Your brother, by the way, is. I mean, look at him. Whoa. Come on, say it with me, Richard. Your brother is the brightest, the strongest, the handsomest, the best. Yeah, apparently, little Donald, so little brother, was always cheerful, always smiling. He was just a happy little runabout. He'd frolic with the lemons in the field.

Richard, however, apparently he was the hard one to love. Yeah, well. Richard however apparently he was the hard one to love his own babysitter would later say this and I'll quote he was not one you wanted to cuddle though he may have longed for it oh yeah oh

sleep well little Dickie you're so hard to love I'm so hard to love i know i want a hug i know you do but you're not getting it you'll never feel love good night it doesn't really go into a huge amount of detail of why this might have been true when he was really young maybe it's because he was a sickly child. In his first six months, he caught measles and cholera, and then later caught pneumonia. So, yeah, not a great start.

And then one day when he was three years old, he was thrown from his cart, dashing his head against a metal wheel. Oh. Yeah, blood was everywhere. His mother feared he was dead Because he was just unconscious Bleeding profusely from his head But he pulled through It's alright

Had the scar for the rest of his life He'd comb his hair over it But he lived And then he'd grow older As people do He realised his father had a bit of a temper Shall we say A bit of a volcanic personality.

In fact, he was described as explosive. Richard soon figured out what to do about his father, though, advising his brothers, just stop arguing with him. That way, he won't blow up. But apparently his brothers, although being better in every way, according to his parents, also took after their father and quite often got drawn into arguments. So you get a feeling it was a bit of an argumentative house.

Richard, however, took after his mother, apparently, and avoided any signs of confrontation. Just stay quiet and step back from it all. That said, that doesn't mean he was always calm. He was apparently an awful loser as a child. He would have massive tantrums if he ever lost a game. Like massive tantrums as in the neighbours could hear the tantrums.

And they don't have enough farms. The neighbours are probably like a mile away. Yeah, exactly. You could just imagine it. He loses a game of Monopoly and all of a sudden all the heads of the lemons suddenly just look up. Look towards the house and then scatter. Over this time, another boy was born into the family.

This one was called Arthur. Notice something about the names? Harold, Richard, Arthur. Kings? Yeah, yeah. Donald? Yeah, the famous King Donald. Do you not remember famous King Donald?

No. No, Donald's a bit of an anomaly. I'm not entirely sure what happened with Donald. But yeah, they do have a kingly name, this family. So there's another brother on the scene. And then, when Richard was nine years old, the Lemon Ranch failed. Oh.

Yeah. I mean, it had been struggling for years. Well, yeah. People kept telling Frank, it's like, seriously, you're meant to just sell them once you've cut them down. What are you doing? But no, it wasn't working. Frank gave up on his lemon ranch

and instead decided the future was automobiles. Far more reliable than lemons. Lemon cars. Yes. Well, he was going to open up a gas station. Yeah. So, yeah, he bought some land with a gas station on it he he moved his family down there uh and what lemons he's had left i assume and yeah it did okay to begin with but

then things really improved when the local quakers moved to a new church building frank decided to buy the old church building set it on rollers and wheeled it down to his gas station. Like you do. Yeah. For a surprisingly poor family, they're spending a lot of money. I can only assume that Land's cheap. He must have got some money for selling his lemon ranch, I'm guessing. Yeah, instruments. Thor would have used that.

Yeah. Anyway, he used this church on Rollerskates as a grocery shop. And this shop soon was doing much better than the gas station itself. The Nixon boys, when not in school, were working in this booming shop. So that was good. When Richard found time between being at school and working in the shop, he started to learn the violin and piano. Becoming very good at them, apparently.

His love of music would endure. Later in life, he said if he didn't become a politician, he would have wanted to be a musician. Which is an interesting side of Nixon I've never come across before. No, I had no idea. No, me neither. So, I mean, that sounds quite nice, doesn't it? Yeah.

They've got their grocery shop on wheels. Yeah. They've got a few wild lemons out the back still. Pets. They're pumping gas. Yeah, as pets. Yeah, but it's not all good times. In 1925, Richard's little brother, Arthur, whom Richard was very fond of, apparently, said he was tired.

Oh, no. So he went to bed early. Yeah. And that's it. That's it in that story. How long did Arthur sleep for? Not long. He woke up the next day.

It's fine. Oh, okay. Good. Yeah. However, the doctor was cold just in case. Yeah. Yeah. Tubercular meningitis.

What? That's like two of the worst things combined. Yeah, I had to look that up. It's like, what? Sorry. Apparently, this is TB that affects the nervous system oh so instead of coughing into your hanky on a train station looking into it with horror i don't know i suppose you you did that but then your eyes twitched a lot as well it was uh not good he was dead within days oh. Richard, 12 years old at this point,

apparently reacted to the news by sitting in a chair, dry-eyed, and just staring into space for hours. Oh. He had a healthy way to process emotions, apparently. Yeah. Bottle them up. Die at the age of 40. Bottle them up good.

Good and deep. Yeah. That's what he did. But the tragedy did not end there. A couple of years later, his brother came home from boarding school, coughing into a tissue and looking slightly horrified. Oh, no. Yeah. The family braced themselves.

But Harold did not die immediately like Arthur. Good. Yeah. There's some theories that it was the family cow that was killing them off. Like a really bad, a cow with bad intent in the background, just like sharpening your life. Shink, shink. Yeah. Jealous of all the attention the lemons got. Yeah.

Apparently, Frank didn't have much truck with these modern newfangled things like pasteurised milk. No. Yeah. Yeah, and there's a good chance the cow had TB, and that's where they were getting all their TB from. Oh, no. Yeah, not good. So Harold's parents first sent Harold to a sanatorium, like you do,

but he didn't do much. No, why would I? No. sanatorium like you do but it didn't do much no why would it no no so it was decided hannah would take her eldest to a tb camp in arizona that sounds fun doesn't it that's it's just gonna be a lock of an offensed environment isn't it i like to think that it is full-on summer camp with all the activities but everyone's got TB, so no one's doing very well. No. Come on, climb the rope, climb the rope.

You're absolutely right. It was not a fun place. Hannah stayed with Harold and two other young doomed boys looking after them. So, yeah, if it was miserable at TB camp, it was also miserable at home. Richard, Donald and their father just sat alone, mourning the death of Arthur, the upcoming death of Harold and missing Hannah, basically. Fun.

And Richard was still in that chair, just staring. Yeah, just staring, staring away. Been there for years. One lemon nuzzling up against his ankle. One on his lap remaining unstroked. Despite all this, Richard was doing well at school. He became class president in eighth grade. Some have surmised that it was survivor's guilt that was pushing him on at this point.

He was described as a bit of a loner. Apparently he ironed his shirts and refused to follow the latest fashions of his peers. So he stuck out a little bit. One classmate described him as, I quote, a brain, which I can only assume is that day's equivalent of calling someone a geek or a nerd. One cousin said that most of his classmates and I quote here couldn't stand the guy oh yeah you get the feeling he came across

as priggish and sanctimonious yeah he's not having the best upbringing you know a lot of tragedy a lot of social problems apparently he's unlovable I know what he wants is a hug well one story at this time

really shows what he was like as a person. A cousin came to visit, which was nice. This cousin was held in high esteem by the family because she was very good at music. Now, obviously, Richard also really enjoyed playing music and Richard being Richard

completely ignored her when she came into the house and instead immediately walked up to the piano and hammered out Flight of the Bumblebee just to put her in her place. Did he start playing once and played again a little bit faster and a little bit faster and so every time he's playing he's just getting faster and faster while staring

at her in the eye. Yeah, probably. And then he just slams down the piano lid and just walks out. So that kind of gives you a sense of the kind of kid he was. Yeah. She's just standing there clutching her penny whistle. That's a good point. I didn't actually check the age of her cousin.

Maybe this was a three-year-old who'd just been praised for the Pennywurst. Yeah. He was sent to a different high school to where his brother had gone. It was a bigger high school. And there he discovered the ladies. He discovered that he did not care for them. He told one friend that he was going to be a bachelor for his whole life. I mean, we all know girls are horrible.

Yeah, they have cooties, yeah. Exactly. So that's it. No girls for him. I think the most unrealistic thing he said in that sentence was he told a friend. I'll be honest,

I did pause at that line of my research and I did do a little bit of looking around to see if he had a close group of friends at this point and I couldn't find any evidence of it. So, I don't know. A lemon lemon told a lemon yeah lionel lionel went with him everywhere the last of the lemon ranch uh yeah anyway this aversion to girls didn't actually last long however because soon he met ola ola yeah guess where he met ola what is the geekiest thing you could be doing at school? Chess club. Better.

Oh, what's editing club? Reading club. You're getting closer. They were both playing leads in the Latin club's production of the Iliad. Oh, fantastic. That is wonderful. Yeah, that is perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Yep, rock and roll oh calm down Nixon my goodness do you think he acted completely deadpan no emotion absolutely no expression at all

I think so yeah the love of their characters soon spilled into real life and the two started dating apparently Ola was said to be

bubbly and happy and Richard somehow had managed to come across at least to some as brooding and mysterious rather than just being rude and shy. He just sits in the corner and stares stroking a lemon. He also joined the debate team and did very well generally being a straight-A student he's doing very well. In his final year Harvin Yale came through looking for the brightest of the bright children, looking to give out some scholarships.

But this wasn't an option for Richard. His family couldn't afford the rent for him to go to Harvard or Yale, even if the fees were covered. So it just wasn't going to happen. It didn't help that Richard now had a new baby brother. That's nice, isn't it? Yes. Yeah.

Who needed to be looked after. Harold is still alive, by the way. Oh, cool. But he's on death's door. Oh. But now we've got a new baby brother. Guess the name. Charles Edward Henry.

You got it. You said it. You said it. Yes. It's Edward. Edward. Edward. Edward Charles Henry Nixon.

Love it. Yes, that was his name. So instead of going off to Harvard or Yale, he went to the local Whittier College. Here, despite the Great Depression kicking in, he started to finally come out of his shell, so what you'll be pleased to know. Oh, good. Yes, he bought himself a Model A Ford, and he joined the debate club there, and they went to a local speakeasy. Ooh. Yeah. For a Quaker, that's, ooh, no, that's fun.

That is bordering on fun, isn't it? Now, he wasn't allowed in the select society in the college that were called the Franklins, because, to put it bluntly, he was poor, and the Franklins, because, to put it bluntly, he was poor, and the Franklins weren't. But he was part of the organisation of a different society. They called themselves the Orthogonians, and they went out of their way not to be the posh Franklins. They didn't dress in fancy clothes.

They didn't have fancy dinner parties. They didn't restrict membership, even to, and shock craziness here, even to the black people on campus. Wow. Yes, look at that. How liberal. Racial equality. Yes.

Shocking. So yeah, I mean, that's positive. But before you think Richard was one of the popular leaders of this group, no debasement yourself of that notion. No, I mean, he was better than he had been, but he was still a bit of a social outcast. His relationship with Ola continued, but apparently it got a bit stormy by this point. They'd quite often split up,

date other people to make each other jealous and then get back together again. But things worked out in the end, because eventually they decide to get engaged. That's nice, isn't it? Yes, but just in case you're feeling Eventually, they decide to get engaged. That's nice, isn't it? Yes. Yes, but just in case you're feeling too happy about Richard's life finally, Harold then dies.

Oh. Yeah, again, Richard reacted by shutting down and staring into nothing. Life continues. Richard graduated, so what to do next? Lawyer. Yeah. He joined the new Duke University School of Law in 1934 under a scholarship. And pretty much just like every single president we've ever covered who studied law, he absolutely hated it.

If there was one thing I've learned during this podcast, it's never study law. No, it sounds really boring. But that didn't mean that he slacked off at all. He finally found an educational setting where he wasn't flying above the others automatically. He was terrified he was going to fail educationally for the first time in his life. So he started studying six hours a day and around that working menial jobs just to make money. Now, if he feared he was going to fail, he didn't need to fear. He was actually doing very well. Well enough that he ran for the position of the student body president. Now, Ola recalled that Richard felt

very down and depressed while running for his first ever elected post. He assumed he'd fail. He had a very low opinion of himself, but he won. And he rode a wave of confidence for a while. Nice. He must have won people over with his charming personality.

Well, exactly. This new confident Nixon found that he could start talking to other girls a bit more confidently. Oh, dear. Yeah. Ola found out and wasn't too happy, so they split up again.

She started dating someone, so he phoned her and shouted down the phone that he never wanted to see her ever again. Hmm. Reasonable. Yeah. He then soon regretted it and started sending self-deprecating letters. But this time it really was over. Ola later said that she was never sure

if she ever really knew the real Richard Nixon. And she was the closest to him than anyone at that time. Wow. Which, again, gives you a sense that he doesn't let people in. No. Anyway, Richard graduates third in his class in law school, so he does well there. He didn't enjoy himself, like I said,

so instead he decided to join the recently formed FBI. Oh, cool. Yeah. And this is where the recipe episode is a really cool, interesting episode because it's all stories about him doing daring fun stuff in the FBI as it was formed. All the intrigue, all the corruption. Oh, it's all really exciting. Oh, no, sorry, he didn't get a reply after he applied.

Oh. Yeah. Right. That's a shame. He later learned that he had actually been hired. They decided to recruit him, but then, like, literally the next day, some budget cuts came down, so his position got scrapped. So, yeah. Oh, well.

No FBI segment in this episode. Oh, well. So if you were imagining the dynamic openings to an FBI show, that's what we could have had to start this episode. Oh, yeah, they'd be investigating the dead unicorn. But no. Yes, exactly. No such thing. So frustrated that he wasn't in the FBI,

Richard was forced to look locally for work. He passed the Californian bar, and he got a job with a local law firm, Wigart & Bruley. Wigart & Bruley? Yeah, this is, on average, at least a thousand times less exciting than joining the FBI. I'd say so, yeah. Yeah. And it didn't start well.

On his first case, Richard, obviously new to all this, asked the opposing attorney for some advice on something. Right. The opposing attorney used this to devastating effect and uh richard lost what should have been an open shut case ah so it's like a hazing kind of thing oh no it was just richard being very bad at his job oh okay fair enough i can only assume richard said so how should i open and the opposing attorney handed him a note saying, just say this. And the note just said, my client pleads guilty.

Yeah, the client was so outraged at the mishandling of this case that he sued the law firm for malpractice. Wow. And the firm were forced to shell out the equivalent of $60,000 in modern day money. So about $ dollars at a time yeah not the best start no not a good way to ingratiate yourself no no however they didn't abandon richard he was hard working and these things happened in law so they attempted to

loosen him up a bit they took him to the races and they took him out to restaurants, but apparently he never really relaxed. But he did soon start to find his feet, and he did well on anything to do with tax. He became a good tax lawyer. Excellent. Yes. All the fun things. His weakness. Yes, his weakness was as soon as the cases became in any way interesting.

For example, he had a huge weakness for divorce cases because they often had a sexual element to them. Oh gosh, no. Yes. He still very much had his mother's attitudes towards sex and the Quaker opinion that, no, no, we're not talking about it. We're not discussing it.

It doesn't happen. Yeah. You're guilty. Your brothers? Your brothers? I don't know where they came from. Yeah, apparently he literally blushed away whenever he had to deal with the concept of sex during a case.

Wow. Which is not a great look for a lawyer. However, despite this, he had met a new lady. Uh-huh. Guess how they met? Tax dodger or some shit client? No, Richard had perfected his way of meeting the ladies, and he wasn't going to let his method abandon him. Oh, the Iliad play.

Yes, he joined the local theatre group. Oh, yeah. And he and the female lead, Patricia, had scenes where they flirted and once more it spilled into real life. So, there you go. This is how you pick up the ladies, clearly. Yeah.

Drama. Yeah. Unfortunately, however, I say it spilled into real life. It was very one-sided. Oh. Richard was very one-sided. Oh. Richard was attempting to woo Patricia, invite her for walks, for example, which, that's quite nice, isn't it?

Would you care to come with me and walk my lemon? Yes, things like that. An ageing Lionel just looks up. So, yeah, that's good. Other tactics included just showing up at her house. Slightly less nice, that one. Slightly creepy. Yeah.

And didn't knock or anything, just stood there staring at night through a window, wide-eyed, holding a lamp. It really does come across a little bit like that, because one time she closed the door in his face. And instead of leaving it, he slipped a note under the door saying, I quote,

Yes, I know I'm crazy and that I don't take hints, but you'll see me, Miss Pat. I like you. Boo. I mean, it's full on reads like a stalker. A little bit. It really does. A little bit. Really does.

Especially when after this she moved house without telling him the new address. So instead he tracked down what school she worked in because she was a teacher and sent a letter to the school begging her to see him. Eventually, she relented. And remember, it's only stalking when it ends in legal action. It's romantic when you actually end up with the person. Yeah, when you wear somebody down so much,

they have no option but to say yes. Yeah. There really is a fine, fine line between romantic gestures and stalking I found when looking through history. And it would appear Nixon really trod that line very finely. But it worked out because two years after their first meeting, they got engaged. Oh, wow.

And they married in June of 1940. Witnesses of the wedding say she was crying. It was a small affair, apparently. They didn't have much money. And it was here that Richard learned that Pat's name was actually Thelma. Oh. Patricia wasn't actually her first name. It's nice.

It's that kind of wedding where it's like, do you, Thelma, Oh. Patricia wasn't actually her first name. It's nice. It's that kind of wedding where it's like, do you Thelma take, sorry, who? What? Anyway, soon after this, Richard caught a break. One of his old law professors offered him a job in Washington, working for the Office of Price Administration. Oh, that sounds juicy. Yes, this office was created in an attempt to control money and rents during World War II, which has just started. Oh, that sounds juicy. Yes, this office was created in an attempt to control money

and rents during World War II, which has just started. Oh, okay. So they prepared to move east. News of Pearl Harbor hits and it became clear that the country would indeed be entering the war. By the time Richard Nixon arrived in Washington, the job he had been given had changed. It was now all about rationing

and he was assigned to work on rubber and tyre rationing. Oh, hell yes. I mean, you read that and you can only imagine any sane person would go, oh, but I can't help but feel Richard would have been like, yeah. Just calm stoicism. This is good. Yeah. Can't wait for this. Yeah. But no, no, he didn't work out. He lasted three months. He hated the job. Oh, wow. He did not like the New Deal flavour of politics going around either. It was all a little bit lefty for him. So instead, he decided what many young men did at the time.

He was going to sign up to a fight. His application to the Navy was accepted, and he entered as a lieutenant junior grade in the state's National Reserve. So how did they decide that? Is it because you're a lawyer? You obviously know stuff. Yeah, I'll make as a lieutenant junior grade in the state's national reserve so how do they decide that is it because you're a lawyer you obviously know stuff yeah i'll make you a lieutenant yes oh fair enough you got it in one uh he was soon in iowa working as an aide to a navy commander and while there he hosted a radio show wow i tried to find more out about this radio show. Wow. I tried to find more out about this radio show, but I couldn't because I really hope it was wall-to-wall Bee Gees. Just reading the Iliad cover to cover. Yeah, I don't know. Who knows? But this wasn't what he signed up for. He was no disc jockey, damn it. He was going to go

and fight, so he requested sea duty, and it was granted. Nixon was off to war in the Pacific. He arrived just after the fierce fighting on Guadalcanal took place. So fortunately for him, he missed that hell that happened. If you've watched the series The Pacific,

it's depicted in that. And also if you've read history books as well. I've done neither right okay so well do one of those he was supporting the logistics of operations essentially it was his job to supervise the loading and unloading of equipment onto boats one of those jobs you don't think of when you think of war in the pacific but obviously it had to be done yeah like put that box over there keep the keep the oil and gas away from the explosive things. Yeah.

Stop putting everything on the left side of the boat. It will tip over. Yeah. Yeah, things like that. Yeah, and also just organising where things can go. I mean, logistics is vitally important in war. It's just not something people write books and make movies about. So, but yeah, that's what he was doing.

So generally not on the front lines. Although he did get a taste of action when his station was showered one day, he and his fellow men had to hide in a foxhole as their tents were shredded to bits. The next bit of danger Nixon faced was when he woke up one night with an eight inch poisonous caterpillar

crawling on top of him. Yeah, he sat bolt upright with a shout and threw the caterpillar across the room where it landed on his bunkmate, who was severely bitten, and rushed to hospital in incredible pain. Yeah, wow. That's quite exciting. And then at one point, Nixon was actually going to be on the front line of a beach invasion, just the way things worked. But when they arrived, the enemy had already moved on. So that didn't happen either. So, yeah, all in all, it's not the most exciting of war accounts.

It's like he got on with the job assigned to him. And yeah, it was an important part of the war, but that's not much we can really talk about. When a caterpillar is one of the highlights of your war, you know you got lucky. Yeah, in a comedy sketch. Yeah. He was promoted to full lieutenant at one point

and then given orders to go back to San Francisco to become the administrative officer for an air station. And then in January of 1945, he was transferred to Philadelphia, where he helped to negotiate termination of war contracts, and then transferred to Baltimore and promoted to lieutenant commander. So general admin stuff. Yeah. And it's here that he would receive a letter that would change his life. It was a letter from Herman Perry.

The Herman Perry? The Herman Perry, although not the Herman Perry, because if you Google Herman Perry, it comes up with a different Herman Perry, because this Herman Perry is not well known to history. Yeah, but it's Herman Perry. I mean, I'd love a letter from Herman Perry. It was Herman Perry,

the manager of the Bank of America branch back home in Whittier. Right. The reason why this was important is because Herman Perry was asking Nixon, was he interested in running for Congress? Ooh, politics. Yeah. The Republican Party back home were looking for a Republican to go to Congress, and they needed some candidates. They were struggling against the Democrats in the region because the Republicans were split within factions. We've seen this kind of infighting many times before. But sensible heads in the local party had prevailed,

and they decided to find a compromise candidate that all factions within the party could get behind and hopefully win the seat. So they needed someone brand new, someone without affiliations, preferably a war hero who, I don't know, had a law degree.

And Perry, who was an old family friend of the Nixons, had thought of Richard. He could do. So Richard and Pat discussed it for an evening. And then a letter was sent to Perry stating, yes, I am interested. So he was relieved of duty in the Navy. And then the Nixons headed back home. He was selected by a committee of Republicans.

And then the Nixons spent a year campaigning. Put a whole year into this. So with the United Party behind him, it was more likely he would defeat the Democratic opponent. But just to make sure, a strategy that would prove to be very effective was used. Accuse his opponent of having ties to communism. Oh, of course. Of course. Yes, the Red Scare is up and running.

The United States had entered the atomic age. And as we've seen a couple of times now, it's very easy to use this to your political advantage so nixon wins this with 65 000 votes to 50 000 votes so a nice comfortable win nixon's back off to washington but this time as a congressman and this isn't the only big change in the life of nixon's because they had a daughter oh yes trisha is born Oh, so he learned then Yes You know, how to Well Well, possibly He either learnt or he still had absolutely no idea Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, it's one of those two Yeah So, upon arriving in Washington, Nixon settled into his job very quickly He was very pleased with his committee assignments He was put on with his committee assignments. He was put on the Education and Labour Committee, where he joined his fellow congressmen from both parties in attempting to curb the power of

the labour unions. We don't want the workers getting rights or anything. That would be harmful to the economy. Hell no. And then perhaps more excitedly, he was put on the House Un-American Activities Committee. Is this the kind of the linking to the communism thing?

Oh, yes. Oh. Very much so. Now, Nixon's first major role when he was a congressman was him and 19 others were selected to go to Europe to speak to leaders and try and assess the need for the Marshall Plan. Do we actually need to give Europe money? This was a whirlwind tour of post-war Europe. Nixon and his others had tea with the Prime Minister Attlee in London.

And then it was off to Paris, Berlin, Athens, Rome, Naples, Venice. All the while they were treated like the VIPs they were. Right, of course. And I can imagine every meeting is like, yes, we need money, please, please. Oh, yes. But yeah, very much so. It's like, like, yes, we need money, please, please. Oh, yes. Please. But yeah, very much so.

It's like, yes, yes, we need money. Desperately, desperately need to. Like, people are literally starting, look out the window. Someone's just dropped dead, starving. Yeah. Yeah. Nixon wrote home often, telling his wife of all the things he was seeing, which must be nice for her. The group did not linger in any place for long, however, as post-war Europe wasn't necessarily the safest place

for a group of really rich American politicians. Yeah. There were still some bad feelings in various places in Europe. Something to do with losing the war and, yeah. Yeah, who can say? Who can say? Yeah. Ultimately, Nixon and the group saw that Europe was, and I'm paraphrasing here, a mess.

And unless it was propped up, it could well fall to the Soviets. So with this conclusion, they headed home. Richard was reunited with Pat and it was apparently a happy reunion because nine months later, their second daughter, Julie, was born. Nixon then spent his time crisscrossing his region, giving speech after speech about the dangers of communism and how they needed to prevent Europe from falling to it.

The United States needed to support the Marshall Plan. And the plan was, as I'm sure you know, indeed adopted. Nixon, finding himself on the right side politically here, easily was re-elected. He's riding a wave of popularity

just as the McCarthy era kicks in. Yay! Yes. Now it's here that Nixon really starts to become well known nationally because of his work on the Un-American Activities Committee, or as this committee became known simply, The Committee. That doesn't sound ominous at all. No, not at all. As we've seen, The Committee acted in underhand ways in an attempt to root out communism. What started as looking into foreign nationals and Fifth Column soon turned into an attempt to root out reds in labour groups

and theatres and the film business. To those high up in Washington, The Committee was at first seen as something as a joke. I'll quote here, the committee's members were the least intelligent in Congress because no decent man wanted to serve on it, wrote an editor at the time. He was swiftly arrested. Well, the committee showboated and accused people of being read with no proof whatsoever. It got to the point where if you were accused by the committee, you were seen as guilty. One member, a Democrat called Rankin, was a particularly horrible man who refused to let the committee look into the actions of the Ku Klux Klan because it was, and I quote, an old American institution. What a ****. Yeah. He also institution what a yeah he also stated that although all jews weren't communists he wasn't

saying that 75 of communists in the country were jews i believe he found that statistic out of his racist ass i i i think so yeah is no one just pointing to europe and going can you see what happened with that kind of ideology can you look look over there look over there yeah the committee was getting so awful that nixon started to worry especially when the committee set its sights on hollywood i mean hollywood is big business in california he did not want to be seen as going after hollywood so he started to try and distance himself slightly from some of the actions, but not completely.

He still was happy to leak reports, as did pretty much everyone on the committee, to accuse people without having to accuse them, particularly Democratic opponents. Just suspicions. I suspect that perhaps, maybe, he wore a red tie the other week. Exactly. In 1948, Nixon co-sponsored a Muntz-Nixon bill,

which is, I quote, a new approach to the complicated problem of internal communist subversion. It required all Communist Party members in the country to sign a register, because it's always fun when people have to sign registers, as well as all printed and broadcast material as well. country to sign a register because it's always fun when people have to sign registers yeah as well as all printed and broadcast material as well as the bill passed the house but then died in the senate the committee continued accusing anyone they wanted essentially of treason then going after the scientific community now public feeling was really starting to turn against

them here uh they They just became more of a group of bullies. Nixon found himself the target of a political cartoon for the first time in his life. He and a couple of others on the committee were depicted burning Lady Liberty at the stake to, I quote, to burn the evil spirits out of her. Yeah. Not a great look. No. This was all during a particularly high profile case during the committee, which Nixon was leading. It didn't go well. But all this, if it proved anything, it did prove that Nixon was now a national figure. Yes, he'd angered a lot by his actions in the committee, but there were many in the country who really supported him for it.

The Red Scare was, after all, very effective. many in the country who really supported him for it. The Red Scare was, after all, very effective. So Nixon thought, maybe, since he's getting some national attention, it's time to run for Senate. Yeah. After Truman unexpectedly won the election and the House didn't go Republican, Nixon feared that his rising popularity would fade and he'd just become a backbencher in a dying house. So after several meetings with several high-up Republicans and newspaper editors, it was decided that California could do worse than this rising star. So he was set up with a man named Murray Chotiner,

if I'm pronouncing his name correctly. Yeah, why not? C-H-O-T-I-N-E-R. Chot-iner. Yeah. Chotiner. Chotiner or Chotiner. I don't know.

I'm going to say Chotiner. Chotiner. Chotina or Chotina? I don't know. I'm going to say Chotina. Chotina. Chotina's going to win his campaign. He believed in the idea that the best defence is a good offence. And a good offence was anything that would win. He wanted to fight dirty. Yeah. I'll quote him here.

There are many people who say they don't want that style of campaign in this state. I say to you in all sincerity, if you do not deflate your opponent before your campaign begins, you are doomed. It's all about winning, no matter how. All about winning. Chatter got to work. He toured all the papers of the state

asking about advertising. Just normal advertising. But whilst there, he got to talk to the editors and the political journalist and just made a note of their political opinions. This was then all passed on to Nixon, so if and when he met said editor or political journalist, Nixon would know exactly what to say to get a good write-up.

I mean, that's quite savvy, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's not fighting dirty. That's just some good, clever campaigning. Yeah. That's good. Two separate campaigns were set up in north and south california because at this time the north and south tended to have slightly different political views so let's just highlight two different things that nixon's standing for in two different regions yeah why not slight slightly underhand but yeah okay fair enough Tottenham also realised that the Republicans had a huge weakness at this time,

and that was the fact that Truman was talking about a national health insurance plan, and the Republicans were all saying that this was socialism. And the trouble was, yes, it might be like a very weak version of socialism, but it was also a really good idea. It's like most of the developed world were making strides towards a version of socialism. But it was also a really good idea. It's like most of the developed world were making strides towards a version of it because it meant that lots of people didn't have to worry about becoming bankrupt if they got ill. It was just a vote winner. It was something that a lot of people wanted. And so far, the Republicans were just shouting, no, can't have

that. So they needed to provide something, some kind of alternative. So they put their heads together. Nixon and some other moderate Republicans proposed an idea where the state and national governments would subsidise the purchase of insurance from private companies. So there you go. Look, we've got the private sector involved. It's not socialism anymore. It's great.

It's capitalism. Wee. Wee. Now, this meant that Nixon now had something to actually say when people talked about healthcare instead of just, nope, which is what he could say before. So, yeah, I mean, all in all, pretty good. Yeah?

The campaign is ready to go. He formally launches his campaign. A few days later, incidentally, McCarthy stood up and claimed that he had a list of 205 communists working in the State Department. And this is when the McCarthy era truly starts. Oh, yeah. Now, this fed directly into Nixon's hands.

Although he was, as ever, slightly worried about getting tarred with this volatile extreme wing of his party, he couldn't deny the results. In Florida, for example, a red-baiting Democrat candidate had been able to destroy a popular opponent in their primary by accusing them of being a secret communist. Letters started to pour into the Nixon campaign supporting him for his work on the committee. Many in the country still saw the un-American committee as a stain on the government and the country. But there were also a lot who liked the idea of their politicians

sticking it to the communists, even if the communists were mostly made up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a detail. Yeah. In the end, Nixon decided to go in hard with this. I'll quote here, There's no point talking about anything else.

It's all the people want to talk about. So they had a really strong campaign set up and ready to go. And in the end, pretty much all got thrown out the window and they decided to just go full on Red Scare. Nixon was, by the way, up against something we've not really seen in this podcast. And I might remind you, we are post-World War II here. Guess what he's up against? Post-World War II. I don't know. Are you clear? No, we've done it that way. Jamie. Yeah what he's up against? World War II... I don't know. Nuclear? No, we've done it that way. Jamie. It's a woman.

Oh. Oh, what? Like a politician? Yes. Are they allowed? Well, yes. It's crazy, I know. Absolutely crazy. This is Helen Douglas, a successful actor, now politician. Now, obviously women have been involved in politics formally for quite some time in this podcast,

and informally they've been involved since the very start of the podcast, obviously. But this is the first time we've properly stumbled across one actually actively going against someone we're covering. Wow. Well, she's not going to win, obviously. Well, it took till post-World War II. How depressing is that? Oh, my goodness. Wow. Well, she's not going to win, obviously. Well, it took till post-World War II. How depressing is that? Oh my goodness. Yeah. Chautenay outlined a line of attack against Douglas, that included the fact that obviously Douglas was a woman. Chautenay told Nixon if he was to abolish the World War II luxury tax that covered cosmetics and handbags, the women of the

state would naturally start voting for Nixon. On our quote, Chautenay, women can be counted on to wax enthusiastic about a man who lets them know, in a dignified way of course, that he likes his women pretty and he likes them feminine and understands that women have found that cosmetics are a necessity if they are to keep their jobs. And men. Right. Yes. that cosmetics are a necessity if they are to keep their jobs and men right yes this is the kind of

this kind of guy chotner was yes what a guy he was also convinced that uh the women of the state would see helen douglas uh running for senate almost as a traitorous act against womankind, as a rebuke of their lives as housewives. Right. Destroying the family unit. Yeah, exactly. However, I mean, as much as obviously they're on to a winner with this incredibly sexist attack, they decided, no, let's stick with the Red Scare, shall we?

That's what everyone's talking about. So Douglas went on the attack talking about Nixon, talking about the Korean War. Nixon's campaign released the Pink Sheet. The Pink Sheet was printed on pink paper. Pink also a colour being described a lot at that time to describe people with communist sympathies. They're not necessarily red because

they're not part of a communist party, but they are distinctly pink. Yes, exactly. And also, you also had the nice little sort of subtle sexist flair to it as well. Yes, this was a list of voting records by Douglas in Congress set against those of a congressman veto mac antonio now mac antonio was reputed to be a communist so and stick with me here so if douglas was voting in the same way as someone who was reputed to be a communist oh no she therefore also must be a communist. Well, that's logic for you. Yes, she was dubbed the Pink Lady. I'll quote here,

pink right down to her underwear. Sorry, did I say they abandoned the sexist attacks? Of course they didn't. They just combined it into one. Wow. That's... Yes. Oh. What?

Yeah. What? But let's not stop there because if you've got sexism and you've got the Red Scare in, we might as well bring some racism in, because Douglas's husband was Jewish. Oh. And Chotner and Nixon's campaign let it be known that Douglas's husband was Jewish. Not officially, of course. I mean, Chotner himself was Jewish. Not officially, of course. I mean, Chotner himself was Jewish. But they did

let it be known enough that any voters who happened to be anti-Semitic would hear about it. In the end, the campaign has gone down as one of the most vicious in Californian history, full-on character assassination of a woman who did not deserve it. She later said that Nixon did not need to assassinate her in such a way because she probably wasn't going to win anyway. She was behind in the polls before this started. But as Chutner often said, I'll quote, the purpose of an election is not to defeat your opponent, but to destroy him. Oh.

Cheerful stuff. Yeah. So Nixon won this election with 59% of the vote. He's off to destroy him. Oh. Cheerful stuff. Yeah. So, Nixon won this election with 59% of the vote. He's off to the Senate. He's also given a nickname at this point, Tricky Dick, for his underhand tactics. The Nixons head back to Washington, but his tactics had not gone unnoticed in the capital.

Upon arriving and being sworn in, he was invited to a dinner party. However, at one point, early on, a guest arrived who was close friends with Helen Douglas. I'll quote, I will not break bread with that man. The guest cried out and insulted Richard and Pat left. Fair enough. Yeah. Around this time at another dinner party,

McCarthy got into a debate with a journalist who was also a guest. The journalist left in a huff. McCarthy followed him into the hallway, kneed him in the groin, and was about to start beating the guy whilst he was on the floor, and Nixon had to break them up. Wow. Okay.

This is the kind of stuff that's going on. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Can you imagine that happening now? Yes. Unfortunately, yes. And that's the problem. So as per usual, there's actually very little to report on his time in the Senate.

He opposed the firing of MacArthur, who was leading the war in Korea, if you remember. MacArthur had gone off the deep end, but the Republicans quite liked that. He supported statehood for Alaska and Hawaii. Oh, they're still not yet. That's exciting. I thought Alaska was a state earlier, didn't I? No, no, it's happening now. So there we go. We're about to have all our 50 states.

Ah, I can update the flag. Yeah, update the flag and soon, obviously, to be 51 because they're not going to leave Puerto Rico hanging in the wind, are they? No, of course not. That would be horrible. Yeah. I only realised, I think it was yesterday or the day before, how big Alaska is. Oh, it's huge.

Absolutely huge. It makes Texas look small. Yeah, if you put it on, it covers most of the US. It's that big. Yeah, yeah. It's gigantic. If you shoved it in Europe, it'd take up, you'd struggle for space. But there you go.

They've got it. They've got that and Hawaii. Because if you're going to get a cold one, you've got to get a hot one to balance things out. Yeah. Holiday resort. That's what I out. Yeah. Holiday resort. Maybe that's why they've not got Puerto Rico yet. They need another cold one to balance things out. When was Obama born?

Was he born in the 60s? 62 off the top of my head. I will keep that in if I'm right because it will make me look clever. So when did Hawaii officially become a state? 59 off the top of my head and i'll keep that in if i'm clever those dates might be off by a couple of years but yeah

so it was a state before obama was born yes yes that's what i was just checking okay uh editing rob uh i didn't do too bad there um uh obama's birth date is uh 61 not 62 at least i got the hawaii bit right so i think i deserve half a ranking point there for those of you keeping track anyway back back to the episode anyway more important than alaska and hawaii uh the republican primary was coming up and eisenhower had just declared himself a Republican and was looking like a vote winner. Never happened. However, if you remember,

Robert Taft, William Taft's son, was also going for it at the time. But what we didn't cover in Eisenhower's episode is that a man named Warren from California was also going for it. Now Nixon, realising that he couldn't openly oppose the Californian candidate because he was from California and just the political ties were

to make him an outcast, but actually supporting Eisenhower, joined the Warren train to the convention. Like literally it's a train. I'm not talking figuratively here. He got on a train with Warren and all the other Californian politicians. Fantastic. Nixon and a couple of his aides got working on the train immediately, secretly showing a poll that indicated that Eisenhower was going to be the clear winner over Warren. They left out the part of the poll though that said that Taft actually had some more support than both of them yeah i'd like to think they were holding up the pole with just their hand over the top of the piece of paper so they couldn't see the top person yeah slowly as the train drew

closer to the convention nixon was undermining warren's Yes, this got dubbed as the Great Train Robbery. Warren found out about halfway through the journey and was absolutely livid, as you can imagine. This is meant to be a party train where everyone is supporting. They were literally singing songs about how he was going to win, and there's this tricky dick on this train just worming his way through his supporters. Warren was even more angry when he arrived at the convention

and found none other than Chotiner was working with Eisenhower's team. So this was all pre-planned. As we've seen, Eisenhower won the nomination. And if you remember, when he was asked about his vice president choice, he picked someone he thought would be good at the job. And then he was corrected by his aides so you're really not a politician are you you don't want someone good for your vice president you want someone opposite you to win you votes that is literally their only

job unless you happen to die but let's not talk about that yeah i'll never that's fine no so you need someone young preferably from the west coast it'd be good if he flirted heavily with the far right of the party, but also with the moderates of the party, enough so that they're not scared away. To put it bluntly, Nixon, after doing some campaigning work, we could do worse than him. So Nixon was approached, and after a night of thought, he agreed to run with Ike. The campaign started off, but soon ran into trouble. After rumours started floating around that Pat was getting a maid using a secret slush fund, a reporter started looking into it. It turned out for years now, contributions from rich donors had

been pouring in, in order to keep Nixon afloat. Remember, Nixon's not rich. He's never been rich. I mean, he became a lawyer, so he was able to get a decent income. But in higher politics circles, he is dirt poor. So yes, donors have just been keeping him afloat. Now, there was nothing illegal about this. That should be clear to note. And the fund was also self-limited to a set amount to avoid accusations of the money being used to pay it for favors yeah but it didn't look good and this limit was self-set by like rich people yeah yeah and they didn't quite understand that having the modern equivalent of 180 000 dollars just gifted to you and kept it a steady 180,000 if it ever dropped.

Apparently that didn't look to the common person like not much money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Apparently these poor people don't have that much money. What? I was shocked, shocked to learn the other day, old fellow. Yes, I mean, I think let's just work harder. A headline rang out in a bizarre mixing of metaphor. Secret rich man's trust keeps Nixon in style far beyond his salary.

Nixon, to begin with, when he heard this, wasn't too concerned. I mean, what politician didn't have a fund from backers? Oh, yes. Just what happens. However, Ike wasn't happy. His whole campaign was going against the idea of political corruption, going against the idea of, well, that's just politics, isn't it? It didn't look good for his campaign.

And as the story gained momentum, some started asking Ike if he was going to fire his running mate. Nixon got wind of this and was furious. When a heckler challenged him about it when he was out and about, he lashed out and fell back on his usual tactic he blamed the communists for smearing him of course so i would say yeah this was not a good move oh because the story now had legs because the story probably would have died away fairly quickly because all politicians had a slush fund like this it wasn't illegal no it didn't great, but it wasn't too bad.

But now Nixon was accusing communists within the government of trying to bring him down. Yeah. Well, that's a story, isn't it? Yeah. So those around Eisenhower really started piling the pressure on, get rid of him. He's a liability, seriously. We made a mistake when we recommended him. He's a loose cannon. Yeah. Several newspapers voiced their opinions that Ike should be shot of Nixon. And when Nixon talked to Ike, Eisenhower refused to reassure

him that he would stand by him. Which is not what you want to hear. No. So Nixon decided to go on the attack, as per usual. Yeah. He cornered, bite back. Yes. He gave what became known as the checkers speech i've heard of that but i don't know what it is have a guess why it was called the checkers speech some sort of black and white chess was it just literally a game whilst playing checkers no no

i'll go through it and and i'll let you in on it when it comes up so the speech comes in three parts part one was the technical side of things. He went over the fund and why it wasn't illegal. Okay. This is the fund. This is how it was organized. It's not illegal. Yes.

Part two was the heart of the speech though. This was far more important. He went over his personal history, talking up his humble origins and his war service. At one point he admitted that he did get a gift after the election, and he looked pained when he said it, as if he was about to reveal some awful secret. And then he announced that his little girl, Tricia,

had received a dog called Checkers. And that was the only gift they got, and he wasn't going to give it back Oh Because you couldn't say that away from a poor little girl Could you? I know, I know Yeah, I can only assume he went on to say

That Chequers was a seeing-eye dog Who helped grannies across the road And had saved at least five Well, fifty orphans Yeah From A burning building Communists

Oh, yes, yes this was a blue dog through and through yes communists in a burning building so that was good uh part two was a roaring success and whoever came up with that wow i just wish i was in the meeting it's like what could we say people like puppies interesting where Where are you going with this? I can just imagine after the speech as well, Nixon quickly dashing a car and buying a puppy. Yeah. Right, this dog is now called Chequers.

I don't want to call it Chequers. Tough. That's its name. Now, the third part was the political bombshell. He had, after all, come clean about his financial records. So it was time that others did also. everyone else in the race needed to come forward and come clean about their financial records not just the democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates but ike also nixon fighting back against his own running mate here nice it's calling the bluff, I guess.

Yeah, yeah. If he was going to be dragged through the coals, then so would everyone else. So is this kind of where the whole tax thing came out? Oh, when, yeah, financial records need to be given. And yes, we're starting to see this now. Yeah. Because it's not a legal thing, is it?

No, it's not. You don't need to declare tax records but it's just presidents have since roughly this time just to show that they're squeaky clean or rich enough to look squeaky clean by hiring very good accountants yes yes i spent three and a half million pounds on baked beans or you can just do what trump did which was not do it it turns out when something's um not written down in law you don't have to do it. So anyway, with these words on how the Democrats were letting

in the Communists and how the press were helping them, he finished with I don't believe I ought to quit because I'm not a quitter. Brilliant. The speech worked. Nixon had played the victim and it worked incredibly well. The public felt sorry for him and support for him rose, went through the roof.

Eisenhower decided to keep him on. And as we've seen, Ike and Nixon go on to win the election. Richard Nixon is now vice president. Now, some have argued that Nixon was the first modern vice president. Eisenhower gave Nixon arguably more power and responsibilities than was usual for a vice president but don't think he was in the inner circle here as per usual the vice president's job was out of the main loop he didn't socialize with the president he was not called upon for advice Eisenhower to put it bluntly didn't particularly like Nixon and didn't want him

around one of Nixon's first moves however was to try and convince the president to use the powers they now had controlling both houses of Congress to go in hard, proving the Un-American Committee had been justified making the accusations that they had. Now, McCarthy is at his highest point at this point, and many were calling for it. Eisenhower, if you remember, however, despised McCarthy, and this wasn't going to come from him. Nixon then was sent on an international tour in the hopes he would gain some foreign relation experience, or perhaps just to get him out of the country. He visited the Middle East, Asia, Australasia. Richard and Pat stayed with kings, prime ministers, dictators. It was quite the tour it was. When he returned, he attended McCarthy's wedding

to a 29-year-old political aide. That doesn't sound seedy. And then things start to go wrong for the cause that had helped his career for so long. Because McCarthy, as we have seen, started to come unstuck. He'd lost pretty much all goodwill in Washington due to his bullying behaviour. In the wider country, people were starting to wake up to the fact that these accusations he kept flinging around

were probably all made up. He kept saying he had proof, and yet it never materialized. There's only so long you can string that along. When McCarthy went after the armed forces, it was too much for many, and he was eventually brought down. Nixon attempted to keep out of it, understandably. A lot of his friends were McCarthy's friends, and he was eventually brought down. Nixon attempted to keep out of it, understandably. A lot of his friends were McCarthy's friends, and he did not want to anger the right of the party. Eisenhower, however, despising the demagogue, wanted his vice president to do more to discredit McCarthy.

Yeah. Something Nixon only played lip service to. He really did not want to get involved in this at all. Openly, he attempted to stay neutral, but, as ever, he was worried that his friend would damage his career, so he did secretly leak some information that would damage McCarthy, bring him down a bit quicker just to get this all out of the way. This was found out, and Nixon's popularity suffered a bit in that wing of the party.

And as we saw, the Senate voted to condemn his actions in December of 1954. And then, in September of 55, Eisenhower had his heart attack, if you remember. Yes. It looked bad. Nixon received a phone call and it dawned on him that he might become president. In a state of shock, he started answering calls. He felt the pressure building. And in a scene that I wished I was privy to,

he asked his friend, the Deputy Attorney General, what the Constitution said about this situation. The Attorney General was out of the country at the time, so he wasn't involved. So Rogers, who was the Deputy Attorney General, replied that he didn't actually know, and suggested that they contact a constitutional scholar. Nixon stopped him and said, we can't do that if the vice president and the deputy attorney general don't know what the constitution says, we'll look like a couple of idiots. True, yeah.

Which is quite amusing. Eventually, after searching their houses, they did find a copy of the constitution tucked away somewhere. I imagine a massive panic dash like yeah tables being pulled out drawers being thrown across the room but this dude that's the wizard of oz um yeah now this before the 25th amendment so there's no formal way forward uh so nixon just stepped up he took control when i could not he presided over cabinet meetings and he kept the ship afloat basically some historians praise him this period, saying that he was the model vice president.

However, Eisenhower himself wasn't happy. It wasn't that he thought Nixon had done a bad job, but as he recovered, it dawned on Eisenhower that the country was very close to having Nixon as president. And Ike did not think Nixon would make a good president. Well, we'll see, won't we? president and Ike did not think Nixon would make a good president. Well we'll see won't we? Well due in part to this he went to Nixon with a suggestion don't run again as my vice president take a cabinet job instead get some cabinet experience. Now Nixon was tempted that was the usual route to presidency vice presidents tend not to become presidents. But he was worried that this would look exactly what it was. Yeah.

Ike trying to remove Nixon from any chance of becoming president just in case something happened to him. Now, Nixon was too popular with sections of the public and the party for Ike to easily remove him, so Nixon ran again and again became vice president for the second time. Eisenhower, damn it! Yep. Now, not a huge amount happened with Nixon during Eisenhower's second term.

He and Pat toured South America at one point. Nice. It was not fun. There was a lot of anti-American feeling in South America at that point. Something to do with the US just economically dominating and ripping through the economies of the South American country. Well, you can say. Something to do with that.

Yeah, so they had a lot of protesters throw things at them. It was not fun. No. But the most important thing he did as vice president during this time was when the Civil Rights Bill of 1957 was going through. Now, Nixon, a man of his times, was far from perfect in terms of his racism. But for his time, and for all his other faults, he wasn't actually very racist. Just a little bit racist, like a pink racist.

Yeah, like a racist in the same way that everyone was a bit racist back then. But for his time, he really wasn't too bad. He pushed for the bill to be passed. He encouragedisenhower to support it uh martin luther king was reluctantly impressed i'll quote king here i must admit i was strongly opposed this is uh my best martin luther king accent by the way it's indistinguishable i must admit i was strongly opposed to i must admit i was strongly opposed to vice president nixon before i met him personally.

I remembered his statements against Helen Douglas, and also the fact he voted with the right wing of the Republican Party. However, I must admit my impressions somewhat changed after meeting him. I am coming to believe that Nixon is absolutely sincere about his views on this issue. Now, I'm not saying that Nixon was pivotal to the passing of the civil rights bill, but he certainly helped rather than hindered. So that's a tick in the win column. Well done, Nixon, there. Now, before long, it was time for Nixon to, as he was one to say, **** or get off the pot. Ike was coming to the end of his second term. After FDR, remember,

they'd written very quickly into law That's it, two terms, only two terms So he's got to go He's got to go So what is Nixon going to do? Is he going to go for it? Is he going to go for the big job? Now by this point he wasn't really opposed by anyone in the party from a nomination

The New York governor, Nelson Rockefeller, was thinking of running for a while But it became clear his support wasn't good enough. So the nomination was easy. If Nixon wanted to run for president, he could do it. So he does. Who's he up against? What's the year? 1960.

Oh, I'd imagine JFK then. Oh yes, it is JFK. The young, meteoric rising star that was JFK. Nixon knew that this was going to be a tough fight. Kennedy was young and inexperienced, and by all accounts of those who actually knew him, mediocre at pretty much everything. I agree.

Yeah, very much the opposite of Nixon, who was a fair bit older, very experienced by this point, and generally, if he put his mind to something, he was pretty good at it. However, they were also opposites in other ways, because Kennedy was handsome and charismatic, whereas Nixon was... Grotesque. Nixon. Yes. Kennedy, obviously, Harvard-educated, and as we've discussed before, all the silver spoons in all of the holes. and as we've discussed before all the silver spoons in all of the holes and you've got Nixon

not Harvard educated and humble backgrounds really polar opposites here yeah you can play that to your advantage in quite a lot of ways yes exactly both sides could

it was going to be a tough fight now Nixon and Kennedy had worked together several times in the past remember Kennedy in his early political days also flirted with the anti-communist movement, and the two of them had gone on fairly well at that point. But that's not going to stop the campaign from becoming very tense. It didn't start well for Nixon. When Eisenhower was asked for an example of something Nixon had done to influence the president,

the president replied, If you give me a week, I might think of one. Ooh, that's harsh. Yeah, that's coming from your own side. Not great. He then banged his knee on a car door. Ow. Yeah.

And then caught a staph infection from it. Bloody hell, really? Yeah. Which landed him in hospital for nearly two weeks. Not what you want during a campaign. No, it's like the whole bacon sandwich thing all over again, isn't it? Yes. He banged his leg on the door. Oh, he's in hospital for nearly two weeks. Not what you want during a campaign. No, it's like the whole bacon sandwich thing all over again, isn't it? Yes. Oh, he's in hospital.

Yeah. Yeah, if you're not in the UK, the reason why we have Brexit and our economy is falling apart and everything's awful over here is because Ed Miliband once ate a bacon sandwich and looked a bit funny when he did so. And his popularity fell and he lost the election. Cameron got in. Brexit happened. Huzzah! Seriously, the most important bacon sandwich in this country's

history. I'm just going to say it. It is. I haven't eaten one since. No. Anyway, the main event of this campaign was the first ever televised debate between candidates. Oh, wow. Now, we've covered this in Kennedy's episode, but let's look at it from Nixon's point of view. Ultimately, Kennedy comes out of this the better. But both men answered questions well. Don't think that Nixon bombed. And actually, if you remember me saying this before, on radio, most people polled said it was a draw.

If you only listen to them they're about the same as each other in fact um in some polls nixon came out ahead but on tv where most people were watching you get eaten that bacon sandwich it's not a good look well yes it was the appearance of a confident young jfk against this older man with slight stubble still recovering from the staph infection who had refused studio makeup in fears that it would make him look feminine so uh that meant he was sweating profusely and you don't want your politicians to sweat no it's one of those weird quirks of uh modern politics it's like you you sweat like a natural human being. No way I trust you. I want a robot. So it was the turning of the election.

Nixon went from a few points ahead in the polls to a couple behind in a move that foreshadowed Watergate. J. Edgar Hoover, no fan of Kennedy, had his FBI agent spy on the candidate and funnel information to the Nixon campaign, giving the Nixon campaign a taste for espionage shall we say a little teaser a little tongue lick yeah but it wasn't enough in the tightest race in american history jfk won 34.2 million votes to 34.1 million votes that's quite close very close the electoral college has it uh not quite as close, 303 to 219, but many of those states went down to the wire.

It was a very, very close race. Nixon, emotionally drained and angry at having lost someone he considered far inferior than himself, headed back west. Yeah. In what's known as his wilderness years. in what's known as his wilderness years. Although, unfortunately, remember Teddy Roosevelt did the same when he lost political support and he went west to his wilderness years

and he became a cowboy. Yeah. Yeah, Nixon didn't become a cowboy. Oh, did he open another lemon ranch? No, that's what I wanted to see. Lionel, by the way, he's just got a little lemony white beard by this point. Has to be carried everywhere.

You know, like an old dog with big jowls. Imagine like a lemon, a really old looking lemon. Yeah. And the lemon is just like starting to like prune a bit. Just shrivel up. You have to walk it around like a little buggy, like you do for old dogs kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So what he did do was get a cushy job at a friend's law firm,

earning him, at the time I've not made this modern, $350,000 a year. Wow. For not doing much, just for being Nixon in a law firm. I guess the name alone is enough to warrant that, I guess. Yeah, the poor humble thing's definitely gone out the window by this point. He also wrote a book at this time, a memoir called The Six Crises, about six crises he's faced in his life. He found writing very hard. He called the book itself his seventh crisis. He went from friends' houses to hotel rooms to beaches in an attempt to

focus. At one point, he was so focused on trying to think of his memoirs That he lost checkers and had to go and look for them Oh Yeah, by checkers I assume it's actually Lionel And he, yeah, that's just been Rolled out onto the beach Yeah, and it's no wonder he found writing really hard Because he was doing it the old-fashioned way Yeah

With a team of researchers getting the detail, then he dictated some words, and an entire team of ghostwriters polished it up for him. So, tough stuff. It is, yeah. That's the original way to write your memoirs, it is. Yeah, I mean, that's almost 10 to 5 minutes of work a day

on that. Yeah, must have been tough. Between that and getting all the money in the world for having your name in a law firm, it must have been tough. Between that and getting all the money in the world for having your name in a law firm, it must have been tricky. When it was published, he ordered a thousand copies be purchased from certain shops from across the country. Those were shops that reported their sales

figures to the New York Times. Wow, number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Odd that, yes. In fact, I didn't even bother looking up if it got to number one, but it definitely got on the bestseller list. Odd that, yes. In fact, I didn't even bother looking up if it got to number one, but it definitely got on the bestseller list. Then, in 1962, two years after the election defeat,

Republican leaders convinced Nixon to run for governor of California. Nixon brought together a group of young professionals to run the campaign. Names, incidentally, that would, in a few years, become very well known to the public in a series of committee showings. Nixon saw this as his chance at a comeback. He was going to show the country he wasn't finished. He was going to become the governor of California,

stay in the limelight, and then back into national politics. He was up against a man named Pat Brown, and he took campaigning seriously. He ordered a creation of a separate group that ran separate from his main campaign, who would run counter-attack and counter-intelligence. I'll quote Nixon here, We have to get some of these other candidates tailed and tapped. So, uh... Legit, yeah. Yeah, let's see if that leads that leads to anything however things went badly from

the off so used to campaigning nationally nixon kept falling back on talking about national issues rather than californian ones nixon also decided to fall back on the old practice of accusing brown of being soft on communists his campaign doctored photos of brown to support this. Oh no. Yeah, and got caught, and were taken to court. The campaign turned very nasty on both sides, to be fair, but it was Nixon who was polling better. It looked like he was going to win, comfortably enough, in fact, that he decided to discard the support of the very far right fringe of the californian republicans known as the john birch society now nixon and his supporters viewed this as a lunatic fringe of neo-fascists that were a danger to the gop i mean god forbid a wing like that ever take control of the republican party

that would be awful i don't need these people n Nixon said. But then, in awful timing for Nixon, the Cuban Missile Crisis happened in the middle of the campaign. Brown whizzed off to Washington to be photographed helping advise the president. Nixon immediately realized this would lose him the election. And it did. He didn't just lose, he was wiped out. A humiliating blow. In an impromptu press conference the next day, an awful looking Nixon lashed out at the press. I'll quote him here. For 16 years, you've had a lot of fun, a lot of fun, that you have had the opportunity to attack me. But as I leave you, I want you gentlemen to know just how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.

And then he stormed off. Graceful. Not a good look. Yeah. Meanwhile, just pan over to the Oval Office. Oh, hello. It's a large pan. Yeah.

There is President Kennedy, I'd like to think, with his feet up on the desk. We actually have recordings of the phone call that happens. We know exactly what was said. I'll put it. Because Kennedy phoned Brown up to congratulate him and said, I killed him. All you had to do was bury him.

I'll tell you this, you reduced him to the nuthouse. God, that farewell speech of his. And then Brown replied, I don't see how he can ever recover. This is a peculiar fellow. I really think he is psychotic. He's an able man, but he's nuts. And then pan back to California, where an angry, defeated Nixon is just sat in a chair with a very aged Lionel on his lap. And Nixon's just staring out the window. And that's where we're going to end it today.

Oh, nice. It's a bit of a rollercoaster, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Is that what you're expecting from Nixon? No, to be honest. I didn't really know. The only thing I know about Nixon, obviously, is the, you know, snooping. Yeah, I'll be honest. I was expecting worse.

I mean, don't get me wrong. He certainly does come across as a great guy and he certainly is not pleasant when it comes to his politics. No. But we've certainly seen worse. So yeah. American candidate?

I mean, no, but... Well, we'll have to see what he does in his presidency. Yeah. As long as he doesn't mess anything up, I'm sure he'll be fine. As if he'll redeem himself slightly. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Okay, then.

Wow. Thank you very much for listening, everyone, as per usual. Yep. Thank you for downloading some Popbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Amazon, wherever you can download us from. Spotify. This series is now on Spotify. Hey, there we are on Spotify. Thank you.

Yeah. And I suppose all that needs to be said is... Goodbye. Goodbye. Oh my god, he's gone off the deep end. He's saying it, he's saying it. Oh, it's embarrassing though, isn't it? He lost, he's not even governor.

No, I mean, what's he saying? That's the second rue of the day in two sentences. Oh my god. I mean, to lose the presidency, but then the governor straight afterwards. I mean, no wonder he's furious. I know. Did he just try and pretend to strangle the microphone? I think so.

He was saying something about crushing spines. It's not a good look. Oh my god. He's just... Why is he mentioning Poseidon? What? He will bring the weight of the ocean and crush his saboteurs? What? Bloody hell. He's pointing

at you. He's pointing at you. Stay still. Stay still. Move past. He's gone. That's okay. He's on someone else now. Wow. He is. This is doing him no favours.

He is going to wake up in the morning feeling quite embarrassed. Yeah, it's like a regret hangover. Especially this mime he's doing now. I'm not entirely sure where he got the ketchup on, but it's really adding to the idea that the stabbing is real. Oh, I mean, just look at him. the ketchup on but it's really adding to the uh the idea that the stabbing is real oh i mean just look at him he looks exhausted just quite old so does lionel i'm just as angry