[uneasy music]
♪
- Get out of the middle of the street.
- Sir?
- I am aware of the intense interest
concerning developments over the last few days.
This has, of course, not been a diff--
Has been a difficult time.
Tonight at 9:00 Eastern Daylight time,
the President of the United States
will address the nation on radio and television
from his Oval Office.
[overlapping questions]
[low murmuring]
- People have begun to just sort of gather
outside the White House, just stand near the gate thee
on Pennsylvania Avenue and across the street here.
- This applause you hear-- what has happened
is that a moving van
has just pulled up, over at the White House.
[edgy music]
- But the hard fact is that no one really knows
what's going on in the president's mind.
One thing is certain: it's difficult for everyone
to live with this tension much longer.
[indistinct chatter]
- Is that really not getting anywhere that you can see?
I don't think it is. I gotta [indistinct], but it might.
- Okay, sir.
- Hey, you're better-looking than I am.
Why don't you stay here? Ha.
[chuckling]
[clears throat]
Let me see the--did you get these lights properly...
- Yes, sir. - My eyes always have--
You'll find as you get past 60--
That's enough.
Thanks.
My friend Ollie always wants to take a lot of pictures.
[chuckling]
I'm afraid he'll catch me picking my nose.
[laughs]
Well, you want a level, don't you?
Yes, yes. Good evening.
This is the 37th time
I have spoken to you from this office.
Need any more?
Each time, I have done so to discuss with you some matter
that I believe affected the national interest.
- That's fine.
- Okay.
[somber music]
♪
- We are standing by now
for President Richard Millhouse Nixon,
37th President of the United States.
- The explanation of this man and what has happened to him
I think maybe we won't all fully understand.
- Get out!
- You never knew really who he was.
- Good evening.
This is the 37th time
I have spoken to you from this office.
- It's as though he has needed enemies,
from the beginning, not only for political reasons,
but to give him his own identity.
[solemn music]
♪
[questing notes]
♪
[dramatic flourish]
♪
[wind howling]
[light music]
♪
- Now, my mother was a Quaker,
and my father was a Methodist.
But when they married, they compromised.
They both became Quakers, of course.
We were poor. We had very little.
We all used hand-me-down clothes.
I wore my brother's shoes,
and my brother below me wore mine.
When I was ten years of age,
we had the store and service station.
It was mostly study and work. Not much play.
- They knew that when their father told them
to do something, there wasn't any question about it.
When he spoke, he meant exactly what he said.
- We'll put it this way. He didn't believe
in any of the modern methods of raising children.
He said, "You spare the rod, you spoil the child."
It was a happy home.
A happy home--let me describe it another way.
Sometimes, I think we judge happiness, in these days,
as being a life in which there are no problems.
That isn't my estimate of happiness.
In our family, we had many great problems.
We had many great crises.
When I was in high school,
my youngest brother Arthur died
of tubercular meningitis very suddenly.
Within a week he was dead.
And then my oldest brother Harold had tuberculosis...
and my mother, for three years,
stayed with him in Arizona.
It was a rather difficult time, actually,
from the standpoint of the family being pulled apart.
- Me and Dick were real buddies,
but the tuberculosis got him.
Harold died.
I think when you lose an older brother,
you suddenly have to take on the role of elder son.
[emotional music]
♪
[bright music]
♪
- So I always had the drive of my father behind me
saying, "Now, look. I had to quit when I was
in the sixth grade, and so you're going to do better."
♪
- When we came in as freshmen,
Dick Nixon was something of an opportunist.
He wasn't athletic,
but he went out for the football team.
This, I feel, was deliberate,
because the image served him well,
since this would contribute toward his election
as Student Body President and as a leader on campus.
[marching band music]
♪
- I worked my way through college
and through law school.
In 1940, probably the best thing
that ever happened to me happened.
I married Pat. She was a beautiful girl,
and she was a very remarkable person too.
Her mother died when she was about nine years of age.
Her father died when she was 16,
and still graduated from USC with honors.
♪
In 1942, I went into the service.
I enlisted in the Navy.
I was convinced that with this aggression
that was sweeping across the globe,
that no one could stand aside.
[crowd cheering]
- How jubilant was the taste of victory,
how sweet the rewards of peace.
[crowd cheering]
- I received a wire from an old friend.
The banker in our hometown of Whittier, California
saying, "We're looking for candidates
to run for Congress."
I was off.
- Richard Nixon, from the very beginning,
had such a will to win
that anything he could use in the campaign,
apparently, was all right.
[dramatic music]
[anticipatory music]
- In the year 1946, young, bright,
but unknown Dick Nixon was given a chance
to run for Congress from his home district in California.
- Jerry Voorhis had been the incumbent for ten years,
in a relatively conservative district.
- By a whirlwind of charges and innuendos,
the anti-Communist Democratic incumbent Jerry Voorhis
was made to seem a pro-Communist.
- Of course, that first campaign
was the most exciting of all.
There's nothing like winning the first one.
As far as Mrs. Nixon was concerned,
she liked adventure.
She thought that it was very important
to live an exciting life,
and frankly, going to Congress would be exciting she thought.
♪
[dramatic musical sting]
♪
- Representative Nixon, what do you think
Congress can and Congress must do
to deal with this problem of foreign espionage
within our own government?
- I think the first thing that Congress must do
is to continue to expose these activities
through the Committee on Un-American Activities.
[uneasy music]
♪
The facts regarding the sinister Communist conspiracy
and other subversive activities
should be brought to the American public.
- I am not and never have been
a member of the Communist Party.
- Mr. Nixon, I urge that your committee members
abandon such verdict first and testimony later tactics.
- Hiss was good-looking, suave, sophisticated,
Ivy League manner.
He was a very effective witness.
- At the time, everybody was backing Hiss.
The committee wanted to drop it completely.
Everybody was advising Nixon to drop it,
that it would kill his career.
- But somehow I had a feeling.
I said, "There's something about that fellow
that doesn't ring true."
[uneasy music]
It is the intention of the Committee
on Un-American Activities
to pursue this investigation until we put the spotlight
on those high officials in the State Department
who are responsible for
selling this country down the river.
[music intensifying]
♪
I am holding in my hand
a microfilm of the most confidential,
highly secret State Department documents.
This microfilm was made for the purpose
of transmitting these documents,
in reduced form, to the Soviet Union.
We knew that we had there
the hard evidence that we had lacked before,
and this involved espionage.
[reporters shouting questions]
[dramatic music]
That was what eventually brought Hiss' indictment
and his conviction of perjury.
- Alger Hiss, one time high government official,
will lose all civil rights, after a year in prison.
- Mr. Nixon got a great deal of political mileage
out of the conviction of Alger Hiss.
[uneasy music]
♪
Had a great deal to do with his future career.
- I'm Dick Nixon,
one of your United States congressmen from California.
I am now applying for a new job:
that of United States senator.
- In 1950, Nixon ran against
Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas.
[edgy music]
It was a very rough campaign
filled with a certain amount of innuendo.
He called Helen Douglas a pink lady.
- Saying if I was against the Committee
on Un-American Activities I was for Communism.
Dirty tricks designed to avod a discussion of issue,
and anything was acceptable, if it guaranteed success.
- In California, Congressman Richard Nixon wins easily.
- I know of no person who could have been selected
for this high position and high honor
by the Republican Party of the nation.
- Is there any objection?
Here declares Richard M. Nixon
the Republican nominee for vice president by acclamation.
[crowd cheering]
[upbeat music]
♪
- It's a big day for the little town
of Whittier, California.
There she is.
[laughing] That's Mrs. Nixon.
He is a very personable young man...
[crowd cheering]
And will undoubtedly be a great asset
to the Republican ticket.
[indistinct chatter]
♪
- The whole Nixon family
considers it a great privilege
to work for the election to the presidency
of General Eisenhower.
And although Tricia and Julie are a little too young
for active campaigning,
Mrs. Nixon will travel with me throughout the country,
and I think you will find that she's
one of the best campaigners on record.
- Well, I certainly will do all I can.
♪
- After all, I was only 39 years old,
and to even be considered for vice president,
particularly running with General Eisenhower,
for whom I had enormous respect,
was to me something that you only dreamed about.
- A headline in the New York "Post" newspaper said...
[dramatic musical sting]
- The revelation that Senator Nixon,
the Republican vice presidential candidate,
was receiving what amounted to a private salary,
an extra salary from private persons in California,
is becoming a major political story.
Some Republicans are embarrassed,
and of course the Democrats are demanding
that Nixon withdraw from the race.
- In my judgment, men in government that are dishonest
should be punished and put out.
- To demand his resignation s vice presidential candidate.
- Everybody thought that I could not survive
on the ticket.
[dramatic music]
But you know something about miracles in politics?
Miracles don't happen.
They don't happen, unless you make them happen.
- ♪ Now the clock is striking 9:00 ♪
♪ But just before we sign off-- ♪
- Senator Richard Nixon has interrupted
his nationwide campaign tour
to be with you tonight for this important message.
- My fellow Americans,
I come before you tonight
as a man whose honesty and integrity
has been questioned.
[unsettling music]
♪
I want to tell you my side of the case.
Not 1 cent of the $18,000
or any other money of that type
ever went to me for my personal use.
I am going, at this time,
to give a complete financial history.
First of all, I've had my salary
as a congressman and as a senator.
I have received a total of $1,600 from estates...
approximately $1,500 a year
from nonpolitical speaking engagements...
we've inherited a little money.
We've got a house in Washington.
We have a house in Whittier, California
which cost $13,000...
I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car.
We have no stocks and bonds of any type.
My wife's sitting over here.
Pat doesn't have a mink coat,
but she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat,
and I always tell her that she'd look good in anything.
One other thing I probably should tell you,
because if I don't, they'll probably be
saying this about me too.
We did get something--a gift--after the election.
You know what it was?
It was a little cocker spaniel dog,
black and white spotted, and our little girl Tricia,
the six-year-old, named it Checkers.
And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog,
and I just want to say this right now;
that regardless of what they say about it,
we're gonna keep him.
And now, finally, I know that you wonder
whether or not I am going to stay
on the Republican ticket or resign.
Let me say this:
I don't believe that I ought to quit,
because I'm not a quitter.
And incidentally, Pat's not a quitter,
but the decision, my friends, is not mine.
And I'm going to ask you to help wire
and write the Republican National Committee
whether you think I should stay on
or whether I should get off,
and whatever their decision is, I will abide by it.
[anticipatory music]
♪
[music intensifies]
- All those in favor of Nixon
continuing as a candidate will say aye.
- Aye!
[cheering]
- He is not only completely vindicated.
I feel that he acted as a man of courage and of honor,
and so far as I am concerned, stands higher than ever before.
- Once you have fought the battle,
and once you have won...
- Last night, at Wheeling, West Virginia--
- Then you have a let-down.
- Eisenhower and Nixon in a high peak of emotion
that brought Nixon to tears.
[crowd cheering]
That was that, and a short time later,
Nixon was back on his chartered airplane with his wife
going back to the speaking tour in the West
he had interrupted.
- ♪ Ike for President
♪ Ike for President, You like Ike ♪
♪ I like Ike, Everybody likes Ike ♪
♪ For President, Bring out the banners ♪
♪ Beat the drums, We'll take Ike to Washington♪
- It was a landslide for the Eisenhower/Nixon ticket.
- ♪ Do that big job right
♪ Let's get in step with the guy that's hep ♪
♪ Get in step with Ike, bring out the banners ♪
♪ Beat the drums, we'll take Ike to Washington♪
♪ We'll take Ike to Washington ♪
[somber music]
♪
- We leave Washington on the midnight October the 5th.
From there, we go down through the Pacific to New Zealand,
then over to Australia, up to Indonesia, to Jakarta...
To Saigon, and then to China.
To Hong Kong. Formosa.
Korea to Japan. Then down to Manila.
For the sake of millions in the world
who depend upon our leadership,
we must never falter.
- Washington, D.C.
In a four-week goodwill tour of the Caribbean...
- This is Richard Nixon's 22-day
goodwill mission to eight African...
- Goodwill tour of eight South American nations,
its purpose to-- - The Communists are making
an all-out effort to win.
If they do, then the free world,
eventually, will be forced to its knees.
♪
- For four days, now, some of the 20th Century's
most extraordinary diplomatic maneuvers
have been taking place in Moscow.
- Khrushchev is a very, very capable, tough,
unpredictable leader who would test my mettle.
This, Mr. Khrushchev,
is one of the most advanced developments
in communication that we have in our country.
It is color television, of course.
- [speaking Russian]
- We wish you success.
You can show us American possibilities,
and then we can say...
- [speaking Russian]
- Says Mr. K.,
"The Soviets will overtake America
and then wave bye-bye."
[laughter]
- This indicates the possibilities
of increasing communication,
and this increase in communication
will teach us some things,
and it will teach yu some things, to,
because after al, you don't know everythin.
[crowd murmuring, light laughter]
- [speaking Russian]
- If I don't know everything, then I would say
that you know absolutely nothing about Communism.
- All that I can say, from the way you talk
and the way you dominae the conversatio,
you would have made a good lawyer, yourself.
[laughter]
[applause]
- I've seen Khrushchev in action many times.
I think that he felt that here, at last,
he met a man of his own mettle and worth arguing with.
- It was common for reporters who followed him to say,
"I hate the guy, but--"
and then would come a reluctant statement
that Nixon was representing his nation well.
Emerging from the long shadow of Eisenhower,
he became leader of the Republican Party,
and after eight long years,
Nixon's supreme chance came in 1960.
♪
[tense music]
- Gentlemen, could we bill this
as your first joint appearance?
The two leading candidates for 1960.
- I will say this: that at the present time,
Senator Kennedy is campaigning very effectively.
- I'm glad to return that compliment.
- Things are starting to pop
in this vital campaign of 1960.
[heavy chords]
[cheers and applause]
- The chair declares that Vice President Richard M. Nixon
has been unanimously nominated
to be the candidate of the Republican Party
for the office of President of the United States.
[cheers and applause]
- He's been downtown in his suite
at the Sheraton Blackstone watching on television,
looking at us looking at him looking at us.
- Could we have a word from Mrs. Nixon, please?
- Well, I still feel it's all a dream.
When I was teaching school 20 years ago
I never knew that this event would happen tonight.
- Mr. Vice President, why do you want to be
President of the United States?
- These lights are a little warm, if you notice.
I think this nation has a destiny.
I think every individual has a destiny.
- Richard Nixon.
- And I am convinced that,
if America does not give the world, the free world,
the leadership that it needs in these times...
- [chanting] We want Nixon!
- That the cause of freedom
will die forever.
- We want Nixon! - If you'll just be quiet,
you're gonna have Dick Nixon.
[cheers and applause]
- With faith in America and in her people,
I accept your nomination
for President of the United States.
[cheers and applause]
[uplifting music]
- It's the centennial convention
of the Republican Party.
100 years since the nomination of Lincoln.
It has come now from Abraham Lincoln to Richard Nixon.
[drum roll]
[jazzy music]
- ♪ Everyone is voting for Jack ♪
♪ 'cause he's got what all the rest lack ♪
♪ Everyone wants to back Jack ♪
- ♪ Jack is on the right track ♪
♪ 'Cause he's got high hopes
♪ He's got high hopes
- When I first met Kennedy, he was a congressman.
He was very intelligent. He was very personable.
However, I sensed that he was very shy, frankly, as I was.
I rather thought that we were alike, in that respect,
but we were very different, in many ways.
[sobering music]
♪
He, of course,
had all the money he needed for personal purposes.
He never had to fight his way up.
He never had to worry about losing in a campaign
for fear that he wouldn't have a job.
- It is time, in short,
for a new generation of leadership.
- He was one that attracted the people who wanted
a young, courageous man in the presidency,
and yet one who was suave, smooth,
debonair, and graceful.
Basically, that's the mark of royalty.
[heavy chords]
- The next President of the United States:
Richard M. Nixon.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you very much. - ♪ Go on and click
♪ With Dick, the one that none can lick ♪
♪ He's the man to lead the USA ♪
- The reason advanced by people
who intend to vote for Nixon
was that he's had more experience than Kennedy,
particularly in foreign affairs.
- ♪ But he knows how to fight ♪
♪ When he is sure he's right ♪
♪ So let's all click with Dick ♪
- Based on the record crowds,
and they have been record crowds, press please note--
bigger than any that anybody's ever had--
- ♪ He knows how to fight
♪ When he is sure he's right ♪
♪ So let's all click with Dick ♪
- Oh, no. This isn't a test of looks.
It's a test of what you've got upstairs. Thanks.
- Will you take camera two please, Roger?
[whistles]
- What the hell am I seeing? Is that the light?
Bill, what do you want me to do? This?
- Testing. One, two, three. One.
[laughter]
- We have met. - Sure. How are you?
Good to see you again. - Good to see you.
- Mr. Nixon arrived at the studios first.
- I got a little--
[overlapping chatter]
- But they're not gonna show the back.
Am I on this side? - Yes.
If he's agreeable, I think we just both
should stand here. In other words, you say the,
"We'll now have questions, gentlemen."
Then we move over here, right?
- Right. - Good.
- But the master tactician
made one major tactical mistake.
- David, will you hit the one minute button, please?
On the cut, please.
- Did you want it quickly, or how--
- Yes. Well, we figure when you see 30 seconds...
- Then try to make-- all right.
[overlapping chatter]
- Looking right at the camera here. Good, again.
- Shake again, Kennedy, and look--
- Nixon was famous.
He was the world-famous vice president.
Kennedy was a rather unknown senator.
- He was thought to be untested politically,
a bit of a political lightweight.
- One more time. - Thank you.
- Now.
- And Richard Nixon was the great debater.
- Can you hear me now speaking?
Is that about the right tone of voice?
- Looks like a brick wall.
- Good evening, and now, for the first opening statement
by Senator John F. Kennedy.
- We discuss tonight domestic issues,
but I would not want that to be
any implication to be given
that this does not involve directly our struggle
with Mr. Khrushchev for survival.
Therefore, I think the question before the American people is:
are we doing as much as we can do?
I should make it very clear that I do not think
we're doing enough, that I am not satisfied,
as an American, with the progress
that we're making. This is a great country--
- Kennedy was standing up there very comfortably...
- Now, if the United States fails--
- And I expected the tiger to come out of his corner
and rip apart this young challenger.
- I think it's time America started moving again.
- The things that Senator Kennedy has said
many of us can agree with.
There is no question but that this nation cannot stand still,
and I subscribe completely to the spirit
that Senator Kennedy has expressed tonight.
Our disagreement is not about the goals for America
but only about the means to reach those goals.
- Within the first two minutes, I was convinced
that Nixon simply was not going to fight back.
- He went in with the idea he had to come through
as the nice guy, not the tough guy.
- He was trying to be too polite.
He was afraid of the Tricky Dick thing.
- Senator, the Vice President, in his campaign,
has said that you are naive and at times immature.
He has raised the question of leadership.
On this issue, why do you think people should vote for you,
rather than the Vice President?
- The Vice President and I came to the Congress together.
I've been there now for 14 years,
the same period of time that he has...
so that our experience in government is comparable.
- I can only say that my experience
it there for the people to consider.
Senator Kennedy's is there for the people to consider.
- Nixon was not up for the game.
- I think one party is ready to move in these programs.
The other party gives them lip service.
- While Senator Kennedy says we are for the status quo,
I do believe that he would agree that my proposals
are just as sincerely held as his.
- He was soft. He was summating punches.
- He had a gray suit on against a gray background,
and he looked sallow.
- A two-term vice president, thoroughly wilted.
- I don't want historians ten years from now to say,
"These were the years when the tide ran out,
for the United States." I want them to say,
"These were the years when the tide came in."
- In one hour, Nixon elevated his opponent
to his own level of fame
that he had worked eight yeas to obtain himself.
- Silly damn thing anyways.
- It is interesting though.
I mean, it's as vivid as the light suit
and how much he stands out, then how much the dark--
- You see the other point is that it was--
If it had been in color, it would have been different.
A light suit in color is fine.
It's in black and white-- - It just fades into the gra.
- In black and white, always wear a dark suit.
That's something I should have [bleep].
Oh, well, hell.
- What's Jack got tht the rest haven't got?
The matinee face.
The bright, white teeth.
- It was rough, because of course,
many in the media are, more frankly,
suckers for style than average people.
- And his lovely wife Jacqueline.
[dramatic sting]
- But the media being, shall we say,
not particularly in my corner--
generally speaking, they're just against me.
- Mr. Vice President, there are some who say,
"I don't know what it is, but I just don't like the man."
- Mr. Nixon, in that first debate,
a great deal was made of your appearance on television.
- Well, I've often said that there wasn't much
that can be done with my face.
Sometimes, it's very importat for a potential leader
to go through the fire.
That's how you learn how to win.
Whatever has happened, up to this point,
you haven't seen anything yet. Now is--
[drowned out by cheering]
- This election is still wide open and could be close,
or it could be a landslide either way.
- I do not believe that we can afford
to use the White House as a training school
to give a man experience
at the expense of the American people.
[crowd cheering]
- 65 million Americans or more
will step into booths and secretly vote their choice.
- I run against a candidate
who reminds me of the symbol of his party:
the circus elephant.
- Whom will the voters choose?
- It's a tremendous decision.
It might well be the most crucial one they'll ever mak.
- The people of the United States realize
that it's a pied piper from Boston,
and they're not gonna go down that road!
[tense escalating music]
[patriotic music]
- Tuesday, November 8th, is Election Day
all over the country.
Everyone has said this would be a close election.
- Across the United States, it's been a very calm day,
despite this record turnout across the entire nation.
- It's been one of the most arduous campaigns
we have ever had, and Vice President Nixon,
when he ended it, was gray with fatigue.
He said he hoped sometime he would write a book
about running for president,
and he said the title of it should be
"The Exquisite Agony."
Now begins the exquisite agony
of waiting to see how it all turned out.
- The very first returns
are now beginning to pour in substantially.
- And it is a very close rac, indeed,
as you see on the board. 415,000 votes for Nixon
with 2% of the nation's precincts counted,
and for Nixon, he's leading in states
that would give him 173 electoral votes.
It is just neck and neck.
Let's see how the IBM 7090
is looking at these returns this early in the evening.
Going over to the IBM data center and Howard K. Smith.
- The first forecast that we can make
is with 1% of the nation's precincts reporting,
the trend indicates that Richard M. Nixon
will be elected tonight.
- Suppose we direct your attention now
to the National Recap Board.
First, to the popular vote, as it now stands.
- Now, Kennedy has moved ahed in the popular vote.
On the electoral board,
Nixon is still holding on to the lead,
but it is so narrow at this point.
- In Maryland, Nixon has jumped into a lead.
- New Hampshire a surprise.
Kennedy ahead with 10% of the votes in.
- Missouri has flopped over into the Nixon column,
and that state was expected to be for Kennedy.
- Not 100% of the vote,
but Kennedy has a slight lead in Texas.
This will be important.
- This turns into a seesaw battle
in quite a few of the states, all night long.
- The vote has now reached roughly 14 million.
- Kennedy in the lead by about a million.
- We have, now, about 60%... - The board now
shows Kennedy ahead.
Very close still.
- Charles, we just heard from Los Angeles,
from Vice President Nixon's election night headquarters,
that his aides say he remains confident of victory.
[cheers and applause]
- I have a philosophy that
this country is a country of destiny.
I happen to believe that through the years our people,
some way, know how to select the man for president
that the times need and that the country needs.
all: We want Nixon! We want Nixon!
We want Nixon!
We want Nixon! - A hundred hands go up
in a peace sign which Nixon himself
has been using during the campaign.
[crowd whooping] all: We want Nixon!
- Our great presidents have really articulated
what people felt at the time,
and it was because they were representative
of the tide of the times that they were president.
- Mr. Pres--Mr. Vice President,
you almost convinced me there, for a moment.
[dramatic music]
[applause]
- John F. Kennedy becomes President-elect
of the United States.
- Just think how much you're going to be missed.
You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore.
♪
We see cities enveloped in smoke and flame.
[overlapping yelling]
We see Americans hating each other,
fighting each other, killing each other at home.
[overlapping shouting]
A long, dark night for America is about to end.
[end chords]