Historic Highlights: Nixon had widespread support in Illinois

In American political history, Watergates stands alone, for all the wrong reasons.

Aug. 9 marks 50 years since the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the culmination of a two-year saga that rocked the nation to its core. The scars still linger, as many Americans have not viewed their government the same way since.

Though many Illinoisans welcomed his resignation, Nixon actually had widespread support across the state in all three of his bids for the presidency.

Nixon was narrowly defeated for president in 1960 by John F. Kennedy and returned to California, where he proceeded to lose a race for governor in 1962.

Though he famously told reporters “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore,” he rebounded to earn the Republican nomination once again in 1968. Elected by a decisive margin, he won again in 1972 by one of the largest margins in American presidential history.

Nixon is one of the few men who were the presidential nominee of a major party in more than two elections. Many in Illinois, particularly downstate, voted for him all three times.

In 1960, Nixon made several campaign stops in Illinois, including some in small, rural areas. On May 27 he appeared in the tiny Ford County village of Melvin, where he delivered a speech on behalf of local congressman Lee Arends from the steps of the high school. Later, Nixon spoke for 20 minutes at a whistle-stop in Tuscola.

He also appeared at a buffalo barbecue at Wyman Park in Sullivan on Sept. 22. The crowd of 17,000 caused a crush for autographs that injured a deputy sheriff who was standing next to Nixon’s vehicle, causing various bruises and two broken ribs.

The Sullivan appearance was eight days after a speech in Peoria. Planned events in Bloomington, Champaign and Clinton in October were later canceled.

The 1960 election was remarkably close, as Kennedy won by less than 119,000 votes nationwide, edging Nixon 303-219 in the Electoral College. Until the 2000 campaign, Nixon was one of only three losing presidential candidates to collect over 200 electoral votes.

The margin in Illinois was even closer, as Kennedy won the state by a mere 8,858 votes. Nixon ran strong in nearly every part of Illinois except Chicago, the Quad Cities and the St. Louis Metro East. Kennedy carried only nine of Illinois’ 102 counties.

A key to Illinois for JFK was Cook County, where he won by a whopping 318,000 votes, nearly three times the national margin. Critics have since charged longtime Chicago Mayor Richard Daley with various shenanigans to ensure a Kennedy win in both the city and the state.

However, Kennedy would have prevailed nationally even without Illinois, as he still would have held the majority in the Electoral College.

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Nixon was back in 1968, and the voting patterns in Illinois were similar to 1960. The Democratic nominee, sitting Vice President Hubert Humphrey, was hamstrung by the fiery Democratic National Convention in Chicago that August.

Humphrey also espoused the party’s controversial war platform. He finally modified the stance in the final weeks of the campaign, giving him a significant boost in the polls that came too late.

Meanwhile, Nixon appeared in Springfield and Peoria on Sept. 19, 1968, as well as in Mt. Prospect exactly a month later. In the capital city, he was welcomed with banners that read “The Land of Lincoln is Nixon Country.”

The 1968 campaign was a three-man race, joined by American Independent candidate George Wallace, whose actions as Alabama governor solidified his racial views. Wallace, who won five southern states, collected just 8.46% of the vote in Illinois.

Nixon, meanwhile, rolled to victory in Illinois, winning 90 of 102 counties. Chicago and the Metro East were again his weakest points, while he also fared poorly in industrial centers like the Quad Cities and Decatur.

Of the 12 counties he carried, Humphrey only won a majority in two of them, Cook and St. Clair.

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Nixon was back in Illinois through his first term, at Schaumburg on Feb. 6, 1970, and again in Mt. Prospect that Oct. 29.

During another visit to Springfield on Aug. 17, 1971, Nixon and his daughter, Julie, appeared before an estimated crowd of 300,000 at the Illinois State Fair. While in the city, Nixon signed a bill to create the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

In 1972, Nixon was an overwhelming favorite for re-election, despite a budding scandal. Burglars had broken into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17 in a bungled attempt to install surveillance equipment.

That did not seem to matter to voters, at least before the scandal continued to grow. Nixon’s opponent, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, was hammered by revelations that his vice-presidential pick, Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, had undergone electroshock therapy for depression. Eagleton was replaced by Sargent Shriver, an in-law to the Kennedy family.

McGovern also never managed to build trust among voters. In an ironic twist, two-thirds of respondents in a Time-Yankelovich poll in late September – three months after the Watergate burglary – thought Nixon was more “open and trustworthy” than McGovern.

Nixon routed McGovern in one of the biggest landslides in American political history, winning 49 of 50 states. It was much the same in Illinois, as Nixon carried 101 of 102 counties. Only Jackson County, in southern Illinois, went for McGovern.

On June 15, 1973, Nixon was in Pekin for the dedication of a research library named for longtime U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen. By then, Watergate had consumed the Nixon administration, and 14 months later, he left the office in disgrace.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.