Using 1960 to Inform 2020
Looking back over the 2020 election and President Donald Trump’s election challenge, there is something to be gained from looking back in history. Studying election results can help to bring perspective to where we are in our country today. If we go back to 1960, the election was between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. This election was largely overshadowed by the death of Kennedy and the election of Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964. A key player in the 1960 election was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater spent much of the election season traveling around the country and speaking on behalf of Richard Nixon. His desire was to unite the Republican party and get out the vote.
On Election Day 1960, Nixon lost to Kennedy by 112,827 votes. The Electoral College results were substantially different from the popular vote. Kennedy had 303 and Nixon had 219. At nine in the morning on election day, Barry Goldwater, who had been campaigning across the country for Nixon, got a call from Chicago that there was evidence of voter fraud in Cook County. By the time that Goldwater got through to President Eisenhower, it was too late to do anything about the fraud. Goldwater said that the morning after Election Day he got a call from Texas about voter fraud too. Stories began circulating that the election had been stolen from Nixon. With all the phone calls, newspaper stories, and other very public conversations, Nixon declined an effort to recount the vote. Nixon feared that the election would drag on for months and leave the United States without official leadership. Stating that it would be delusional to the American people and that it would weaken the Constitutional system, Nixon did not challenge the election. Goldwater stated in his book that he disagreed with Nixon and felt that Nixon should have challenged the election.
Stating that there had been “a great deal of tombstone voting”, Goldwater was adamant that Nixon should have challenged the vote. He also pointed out that in Texas, people who struggled with English would be shown a sample ballot to understand. If the person voted for a candidate that the ballot guy did not like, he would let the person know his vote was counted, when it was only a sample ballot. Situations like this in Texas had Goldwater concerned and his desire to see the fraud uncovered was his main reason for wanting Nixon to challenge the election results.
Goldwater talks in his memoir about his time after the 1960 election and how disappointed he was in Nixon. However, Nixon harped on the fact that even if the election were to be overturned, there would be distrust in the system and a lack of leadership.
Looking through the story of the 2020 election and comparing it to 1960 and Nixon’s decline to challenge that election shows how much truth there was to Nixon’s words. While Goldwater was determined that Nixon should have challenged the election, Nixon saw the potential sacrifice of both his political career and the Constitutional system. The lessons from 1960 show us that Nixon was correct in his assumptions about what challenging the vote could devolve
If you know anything at all about political history here in the U.S. you will note that Nixon went on to run again in 1968 and pulled out a win for the Republican Party. While Nixon’s presidency was overshadowed by the Watergate Scandal, Nixon was able to open up American trade with China and predicted that China would be a major player on the world stage in the 21st century.
While the 1960 election was not challenged, the words of Richard Nixon on why he did not challenge the election proved too insightful after watching the election of 2020 unfold.