Kennedy And Nixon
Both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were elected to Congress in 46, a
year in
which the New Deal took a serious beating as the Republicans regained
control of
Congress on the slogan "Had Enough?" Nixon of course, had
campaigned
against incumbent Jerry Voorhis on an anti-New Deal platform, but
it's often
forgotten that when JFK first ran for the House in 1946, he
differentiated
himself from his Democratic primary opposition by describing
himself as a
"fighting conservative." In private, Kennedy's antipathy to
the
traditional FDR New Deal was even more extensive. When Kennedy and Nixon
were
sworn in on the same day, both were already outspoken on the subject of
the
emerging Cold War. While running for office in 1946, Kennedy proudly told
a
radio audience of how he had lashed out against a left-wing group of
Young
Democrats for being naive on the subject of the Soviet Union, and
how he had
also attacked the emerging radical faction headed by Henry
Wallace. Thus, when
Kennedy entered the House, he was anything but
"progressive" in his
views of either domestic or foreign policy. It didn't
take long for these two to
form a friendship. Both were Navy men who had
served in the South Pacific, and
both saw themselves as occupying the vital
center of their parties. Just as JFK
lashed out against the New Deal and the
radical wing of the Democratic party, so
too did Richard Nixon distance
himself from the right-wing of the Republican
party. Nixon's support of Harry
Truman's creation of NATO and the aid packages
to Greece and Turkey meant
rejecting the old guard isolationist bent of the
conservative wing that had
been embodied in "Mr. Republican" Senator
Robert Taft. Indeed, when it
came time for Nixon to back a nominee in 1948, his
support went to the more
centrist Thomas E. Dewey, and not to the conservative
Taft. Kennedy
decided to go into politics mainly because of the influence of his
father.
Joe Kennedy, Jr. had been killed in the European arena of World War II
and so
the political ambitions of the family got placed on the shoulders
of
John. Nixon, however, got involved in politics by chance. While
celebrating the
end of the war in New York, he received a telegram from an
old family friend
indicating that they needed someone to run against the
Democrat Jerry Voorhis.
Nixon was excited by the proposition and so began
his political career. One
aspect of this book that really impressed me was
the detail that Matthews put
into describing the campaign strategies of each
man. Kennedy was a man who
wanted to practically buy his position. Relying
almost solely upon his father's
influence and money, he achieved any goal
that was put forth. By donating mass
amounts of money and even pinning
twenty-dollar bills to the jackets of
citizens, he bought his votes by any
means necessary. Also, Kennedy made good
use of his sex appeal. Knowing that
he was handsome, he won over thousands of
female voters by having
"tea-parties." On the contrary, Nixon did not
have an unlimited supply of
money, influence or good looks. He had to rely on
good campaigning and smear
tactics. Nixon too tried to use war stories and the
self-made image of a war
vet trying to build a life for himself. This did not
work as well as his
other ideas, though. Nixon hired people to dig up all of the
political dirt
on Voorhis that was out there. Once material was found that
claimed that the
NC PAC endorsed Voorhis, he resented it at a clutch moment
during a live
debate. This shocked both the crowd and Voorhis and gave the seat
in Congress
to Nixon. (pgs. 36-38) The careers of Nixon and Kennedy became
intertwined.
Both were young congressmen who had been in the war and both had
had no
previous political experience. When they were both elected to
the
Congress in 1946 they were placed on the Board of Education and Labor
together.
When Nixon was elected Vice-president in 1952, Kennedy was
elected a Senator and
the two were assigned offices directly across from each
other. Matthews does an
exemplary job of showing how the two politicians were
often grouped together. He
focuses on the fact that they were from the same
"class." He also
shows how they were elected for the same positions and
assigned to the same
projects and became friendly with each other. Having
offices adjacent to one
another makes a relationship grow. All this helped to
build the drama that
surrounded the election of 1960 for President. The two
men that came to the
Capitol together all of the sudden were running
against each other for the
country's highest position. The election became
the classic battle of the
popular kid versus the nerd. Kennedy portrayed the
all-American high school boy.
He was handsome, charming, and had love for
his country. Nixon, however, was the
typical outcast. He was not as charming
or handsome as Kennedy was. He had
relied on hard work and making his
opponent look bad as means of getting ahead.
In this case, popularity won
and Kennedy became the President. America made way
for the administration
that would be known as "Camelot." Every
American learns about the myth of
Kennedy and Nixon. John F. Kennedy is
portrayed as one who was one of the
greatest people that this nation ever
produced. He was loved by all and was a
president who only made good choices for
his country. He stood up to Nikita
Khrushchev and Cuba and saved the world from
nuclear destruction. He tried to
save the Cuban people from Communism and tried
to help the South Vietnamese
from the same fate. Richard M. Nixon, however,
remains a man that the United
States hates to admit that existed . He is
remembered as the man who appeared
ghastly next to Kennedy in the Great Debate
of 1960. His presidential
administration is one that stole and deceived to get
ahead. Nixon was a
leader that lied to his citizens, the ones that voted him
into office twice.
Matthews makes sure that all of these myths are disposed and
that no biases
are shown. He reminds the world of the Kennedy tactic of relying
solely on
money and looks to win campaigns. He tells of the ill-fated and
hardly
thought-out Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Kennedy was trying to give
the Cuban
people help that they obviously did not want. No one remembers this
though.
Kennedy was the man who okayed the United States sponsored
assassination of
South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem. This led the
way for a complete coup
and the eventual weak political position that forced
the country to succumb to
communism. The author shows that Nixon was not the
horrible man that he is
always remembered as being. He lets it be known that
Nixon was a hard worker who
loved his country and it democratic tradition.
Matthews remembers Nixon's fight
against communism and his attempts to rid
the government of its few communist
sympathizers such as Alger Hiss. He
suffered the coldness of a president who
thoughtlessly gave his
vice-president no respect or credit for any decisions.
With the common
bonds of age, and mutual sentiments on the New Deal, the Cold
War, and
their centrist positions within their parties, the two enjoyed a
friendship
that would endure until the 1960 presidential campaign destroyed it.
If
Matthews puts any bias at all, he makes Kennedy look worse and Nixon
look
better. He makes Kennedy look as someone who never really had any
political
talent. He looks as someone who was just relying on money from his
father. One
the contrary, Matthews shows Nixon as one who has gotten a bad
rap. He shows him
as one who overcame adversity to help his country and who
took a few downfalls
along the way. He was one who became tired of constantly
battling Kennedy after
Kennedy and the thought of fighting another
Kennedy drove him to do things he
otherwise would have not done. This book
did a tremendous job portraying and
inter-weaving two very important figures
of the century. Matthews put all the
information into a format that was easy
to read and enjoyable. In my opinion
this is a very relevant and intresting
story that needed to be told. The
American people deserve to know that
the man they hold with such a high regard
was not that great. Also, they
should know that the man they all hate was not
that bad a guy. This book
gives the american people a good idea of what went on,
and it may have been
to the suprise of many
americans.