The Time Nixon's Cronies Tried to Overturn a Presidential Election

[steve2470]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/10/the-time-nixons-cronies-tried-to-overturn-a-presidential-election-428318

The part about Gore is true. But Nixon did no such thing. In fact, his top aides and the Republican Party, almost certainly with Nixon’s backing, waged a campaign to cast doubt on the outcome of the election, launching challenges to Kennedy’s victories in 11 states. Far from providing a counterexample to Trump, the 1960 election aftermath amounts to one more way in which Nixon, known for his contempt for the Constitution, furnished Trump with a playbook for thinking about political power. And let’s remember that in the end, it didn’t work: While Nixon’s gambit was cynical and disruptive, it went nowhere, suggesting it’s harder to overturn a presidential election result than doomsayers suppose.

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In fact, from election night onward, Nixon hedged his bets. As the vote totals came in favoring Kennedy, the vice president pulled back from a full-throated concession. He cagily couched his formal remarks in tricky caveats. “I want Senator Kennedy to know,” he said on television at 4 a.m., “and I want all of you to know, that if this trend does continue, and he does become our next president, then he will have my wholehearted support.” The wording was pure Nixon, leaving himself abundant wiggle room with that little if.

Nixon’s crew recognized that overturning an election result would be an extreme long shot. They often admitted as much to the press. But that didn’t stop them from trying. They calculated that even if they failed, it would still be possible to cast doubt over Kennedy’s victory, imbuing his presidency with a whiff of illegitimacy. This in turn would rally their base voters for future elections.

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Ironically, a recount did end up changing the vote totals in one state: Hawaii. When the state finally finished counting its votes, on November 16, Nixon led by 141 votes. Given the Republican challenges elsewhere, Democrats called for a recount, which began on December 13. Fifteen days later, a judge ruled that the state’s electors—at first awarded to Kennedy, then reassigned to Nixon after auditing mistakes were found—was rightfully Kennedy’s all along. The result of all the Republican lawyering and politicking had been a net loss of three electoral votes. “The recount in the one state the Democrats asked for turned from Republican to Democrat,” Kennedy press secretary Pierre Salinger noted dryly, as if suppressing the temptation to gloat, “and nothing happened at all in the 11 states that they were going to seek recounts in.

very long article, just chose the required 4 paragraphs to summarize

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

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