From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-Elect the President: the Olitp Ical Campaigns of Richard M
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East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2013 From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-Elect the President: The olitP ical Campaigns of Richard M. Nixon Niklas Trzaskowski East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Trzaskowski, Niklas, "From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-Elect the President: The oP litical Campaigns of Richard M. Nixon" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1139. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1139 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-Elect the President: The Political Campaigns of Richard M. Nixon _____________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of History East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in History _____________________ by Niklas Trzaskowski May 2013 _____________________ Dr. Daryl A. Carter, Chair Dr. Emmett M. Essin III Dr. Stephen G. Fritz Keywords: Richard Nixon, Campaigns, Elections, Campaign Strategy, Murray Chotiner, John Mitchell, 1968 Election, Watergate ABSTRACT From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-elect the President: The Political Campaigns of Richard M. Nixon by Niklas Trzaskowski From the Committee of 100 to the Committee to Re-elect the President: The Political Campaigns of Richard M. Nixon offers the reader a comprehensive biography of Richard M. Nixon through the lens of his political campaigns. This thesis illustrates how Richard Nixon became one of the fiercest campaigners in 20th century American political history. This thesis, furthermore, examines the key staff and strategy of each campaign Nixon waged. This thesis, additionally, presents to the reader insight on how Nixon often fought his campaigns independently from the Republican Party and how he relied on the help of a few dedicated men. 2 DEDICATION To my mother and father, Angelika and Frank Trzaskowski, who made my ‘American Dream’ a possibility. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people supported me throughout the process of writing this thesis. First off, I would like to thank my family, who always believed in me and were there during every step of my journey. I want to thank my mother and father, to whom this thesis is dedicated to, without their support, sacrifice, and unconditional love I could have never completed this project. When we first moved to the United States of America, I remember telling my mother how I was afraid of leaving my native country behind and living in an environment where almost no one spoke my native language. My mother told me that everything would turn out just fine. My mother’s faith in my ability to overcome the difficult challenges associated with studying and communicating in a foreign language allowed me to carry on and face my fears. I think that she always knew that a few years later I would complete a major written work in English. I am forever grateful to my father, Frank, who gave me the opportunity to accompany him to the United States. My father continues to serve as my role model. My father installed in me the mindset that nothing is impossible, and that hard work always pays off. My sister Luise and my brother Moritz always supported me and motivated me when I felt down and out. Although we live several thousand miles apart, my brother’s and my sister’s love and support knows no distance or barriers. I would like to thank the faculty and staff at the East Tennessee State University History Department. I would like to thank my advisor, mentor, and thesis chair Dr.Daryl A. Carter. Dr.Carter helped me during every step of completing this thesis. I was fortunate to have Dr. Carter serve as my thesis chair. Dr.Carter spent enormous amounts of his time looking over my writing and offering suggestions on how to improve it. When my research was stalled, Dr. Carter got me back on track by offering solutions to my problems. Furthermore, through discussions with Dr.Carter, inside and outside the classroom, I learned more about American political culture 4 than I ever thought possible. Dr.Carter offered professional and personal advice and helped me to further my understanding of what it takes to be a historian. Dr. Stephen G. Fritz tremendously helped me throughout my graduate career at ETSU and was kind enough to serve on my thesis committee. I will cherish what I learned in Dr.Fritz’s seminars, and I enjoyed the conversations I had with him about topics ranging from history to politics and sports. I am also thankful for Dr. Emmett M. Essin III for serving on my thesis committee and offering advice and guidance throughout my time at ETSU. I would also like to thank Dr. Brian J. Maxson, who as graduate coordinator, not only helped me maneuver through the massive amounts of paperwork associated with graduate studies but also offered invaluable professional advice to me. Moreover, this thesis started out as a project for Dr.Maxson’s historical methods course. I would like to thank the chair of the history department Dr. Dale J. Schmitt and executive aide Sharon Chandler for all their help and support throughout my time at ETSU. In addition, I am grateful that the history department funded a trip to the Richard Nixon Library last summer. Without the trip, I could have never completed this work. I was honored to be selected as a recipient of the Barbara Jaffe Silvers Memorial Scholarship and I am grateful for the help the scholarship provided. I, furthermore, would like to thank my fellow graduate students for their support. Besides my family, and the history faculty, staff, and graduate students at ETSU, I am thankful for a number of other people who helped me throughout the process of writing this thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Cecilia A. McIntosh, Dean of Graduate Studies, who allowed me to serve as a graduate assistant in the School of Graduate Studies. I want to thank the entire School of Graduate Studies staff for their help and support, especially Dr.Karin Bartoszuk, and Gail Powers. I cannot describe how grateful I was to have David R. Moore as my supervisor at the School of Graduate Studies. I want to thank David for his constant support throughout this 5 process and for balancing my workload so that I would have enough time to research and write. I would also like to thank the staff at the Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California for all their help. Furthermore, I would like to thank Drs. Michael E. Birdwell, Wali R. Kharif, and Jeffery J. Roberts, at the Tennessee Tech University History Department, who taught me important lessons on my way to becoming a historian and helped to positively shape me as a person in more ways than they will ever know. Finally, I would like to thank Julia Marie Dittrich for her help. Julia was with me from the beginning of this process. She diligently read every chapter and offered suggestions on how I could write clearer and explain my topic more concisely. Julia, moreover, listened to my ramblings about Nixon and 20th Century Political History. I knew I could count on Julia to keep me focused when I became distracted, and to keep me motivated during times of struggle. I am forever in her debt and hope that in the future I can continue to rely on her love, support, and comradeship as I progress in my career. Although I received a lot of assistance in writing this work, all errors that might remain in this work are my own. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 2 DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ 4 Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 8 2. Modus Operandi ...................................................................................................... 14 3. “There Comes a Point, When you Have to Go Up or Go Out” .................................. 46 4. “Nobody Could Get Through to Dick” ..................................................................... 81 5. “Gentleman, This is Not My Last Press Conference” ................................................ 112 6. The Recrudescence of the Modus Operandi ............................................................ 136 7. The Downfall of the Modus Operandi ..................................................................... 166 8. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 198 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 202 7 CHAPTER 1 Introduction When Aristotle