Nixon as VP Flashcards
nixon as VP
Nixon was elected to the House of Reps in 1946 and like many other Republicans suggested that his democrat rival had communist sympathies. Running for the senate in 1950, he called his opponent Hellen Douglas a ‘pink lady’ who follows the communist party line. Douglas nicknamed him Tricky Dicky. He was accused of using $18,000 of political donation for personal use. He exonerated himself by giving a televised speech explaining his actions during the Checkers Speech, he gained fame with his involvement in HUAC. He was used by Ike to balance the ticket.
work as VP
Historian Irwin Gellman credits Nixon as the first modern VP, he served Ike well and they frequently disagreed but was loyal and co-operative. They disagreed on the fight against communism at home - Nixon wanted a more aggressive pursuit of supposed communists in the government and abroad - he wanted to continue fighting in Korea in 1953. Ike entrusted Nixon with partisan campaigning, liaising with the Old Guard, civil rights campaign and good will trips abroad
partisan campaigner
Ike used Nixon to attack the Democrats as he can sometimes take positions which are more political than it would be expected that I take’. Sometimes Ike told him to tone it down, in 1953 he told him to stop the partisan attacks on the Democrats, because Dixiecrats were as conservative as Republicans and gave the administration vital votes in congress
liason with congress
Nixon was helpful with dealing with Congress and the press. He worked hard to smooth out differences between the white house and the Old Guard and to prevent McCarthy from damaging the administration but failed to restrain him
civil rights advocate
Nixons stance on civil rights was liberal by contemporary standards, some felt he sought the black vote but his speeches about discrimination felt genuine
good-will ambassador
Ike used Nixon as a goodwill ambassador to foreign nations and Nixon worked well. In 1958, Nixon made a tour of several latin american nations. He visited Venezuela and was met with angry mobs who shouted ‘kill nixon’. Nixon stopped those around him from shooting the mob
the end of marthyism
McCarthy was perhaps the greatest domestic problem that the Republican Party and Ike faced. Ike disliked and disapproved of Senator McCarthy, describing him privately as a ‘pimple on the path of progress’. McCarthy had considerable popular support at the start but he eventually lost support. He had become an embarrassment at home and abroad. Republicans had no further use for him as they were now in the White House, he attacked widely respected institutions such as the Supreme Court and the army which went too far for some Americans. The last straw was the Army - McCarthys hearings of April-June 1954 which was a televised hearing on communist influence in the Army, McCarthy self-destructed on television as he appeared drunk and disorderly and a bully. In March 1955 the senate censored him, though he continued to serve for the next two and a half years but was a pariah in Washington a situation Ike described as McCarthywasm. By 57, he was dead from Alcoholism, his replacement described him as a disgrace to Wisconsin to the senate and to America
why was Mccarthyism significant
Made it difficult for Ike to decrease cold war tensions
Inflicted misery on thousands of innocent Americans
Endangered the principles of free speech
damaged the Republican party
out of 159 people initially identified as spies by Mccarthy only 9 had actually been spies
