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Obligations of Office
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12681 |
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Section : |
BOOK WORLD
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1994 |
1,559 Words |
| Author
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Robert H. Finch
Robert H. Finch is an attorney in California. He was Richard
Nixon's national campaign manager in 1960, was elected
lieutenant governor of California in 1966, and served as HEW
secretary and counselor to President Nixon until 1972. |
After Nixon decided not to contest the 1960 race against Kennedy and returned to California, I along with his family opposed his decision to run for governor. For that reason and because my mother was suffering from a terminal illness, I played only a modest role in that campaign, which Bob ran very well despite extreme difficulties.
Two years later, I ran for lieutenant governor in California with a candidacy geared toward pulling together the Republican Party. I was fortunate enough to win the nomination and run with Ronald Reagan in the 1964 California gubernatorial campaign. I made it clear to Reagan after our election that, because of our close friendship and Nixon's knowledge of foreign policy, I would be supporting Nixon in 1968 but urged a "favorite son" candidacy for Reagan in the state presidential primary to retain party unity in California.
In the 1968 presidential campaign, resulting in Nixon's close victory over Hubert Humphrey, I headed the California election effort and occasionally traveled with the candidate and Haldeman, his campaign director. Given the national unrest that characterized the 1968 presidential election, Nixon concluded his campaign on a "bring us together" theme and set a very positive note to that effect with his remarks the morning after the election. The following day, we all flew down to Florida for a brief vacation, but at Lyndon Johnson's request, we made a stop in Washington, D.C., and visited the White House. While Nixon went with Johnson into the Oval Office, I was joined by an aide who told me that Johnson had taping devices in his office, the Cabinet Room, and other locations, which he could initiate whenever he deemed appropriate. The aide requested that I find out from the president-elect
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