BOB DOLE : 1995 Clinton's Comeback

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On November 14, 2021,  on a Sunday, Horry County, South Carolina, lost a towering giant in the history of the region. Lois Eargle was a trailblazer, never politically correct, and never afraid to speak her mind. She was an unabashedly proud public servant for the people of Horry County and most of all a servant of her Lord, Jesus Christ. 

She opened doors for young people,  an especially women in politics, as the first woman elected to the South Carolina State House from Horry County and then the first woman elected Horry County Auditor. By the time her long, nearly 50 year career was through,  she retired this summer in July of 2021, Horry County had not only a female Horry County Auditor replacing her  but women held the Treasurer's Office, the Probate Judge's office, a former Chairman of County Council, another legislator from Horry County from Socastee was a woman and the Mayor's of Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Conway  were all women plus countless members of city councils all across the county, and a former Mayor of Atlantic Beach were women, and even a former Governor and prospect for President from South Carolina was a  women. 

In countless ways Lois Eargle led the way, she may not have always done it perfectly, but she surely did it in style and one thing everyone will agree on is that Lois Eargle won't be forgotten when they write the history of the Independent Republic of Horry County for the nearly 50 years she stood tall on her times. 

On a personal note, she was an enormous influence on my life and career from the time I met her when I was 13 years old and she was a candidate for the United States Congress. She would go on to be my employer, a mentor, an advisor, an occasional adversary but always a  friend and someone whom I could always count on for help if I needed it.  I was, as was almost everyone who ever knew Lois Eargle,  always, always  star struck. As the Carly Simon song says "Nobody Does it Better" and in our little corner of the world that song described no one in the political world better than Lois Eargle. 

So here is our tribute to her. 

(We would like to thank Greg Everett , Dianne Devaughn and Chuck Stokes for allowing us to use all of their available interviews to put this tribute together as well as WBTW, WPDE and the campaign commercial archives of Congressman Tom Rice. This show would not have been possible with out the use of their material ) 

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After President Nixon announced he would cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail and take military action in Cambodia, college campuses across the nation exploded. Riots and demonstrations shut down several colleges and led to a nightmare scenario at Kent State in Ohio. 

It was there that four young people would lose their lives when National Guardsman, themselves very young, fired on protesters at a demonstration against the actions in Cambodia and in opposition to the war in Vietnam. The country looked to be coming apart at the seems. At first President Nixon was defiant and in frustration called several  of the demonstrators "Bums", which only added to the already enflamed situation. 

As all of the tension built the tension began to show on Richard Nixon. He was struggling at how to get control of this war before it ended up being his war. As his advisor Patrick Moynihan said, years later, "If we stayed Lyndon Johnson's war would become Richard Nixon's war and by the time the year was through half the people seemed to think he started it."  Richard Nixon began to struggle to find sleep and his advisors began to report erratic behavior.

It was then that Richard Nixon decided to reach out to the young college age demonstrators that had descended on Washington D.C.  Late in the middle of the night, or better described early morning hours, of May 09, 1970, Richard Nixon went nearly alone except for his valet, Manolo Sanchez, to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a visit that has been heavily maligned by Nixon haters for years. It was called weird, crazy, and mocked, but in reality it was a genuine attempt to hear from his constituents, to understand their feelings and to convey to them that he really cared for their futures. 

It was a truly remarkable moment. 

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This episode opens at the dawn of the environmental movement in America. It may come as a surprise to you that Richard Nixon is considered second only to Theodore Roosevelt as the greenest of all our Presidents. Several historians consider Nixon's environmental record his second biggest achievement.

Nixon's secret to success was pretty simple.

He found good people and then let them run the ball down the field. As they have often noted he had little interest in the issue, and was not an expert in it, so he found those who were experts in it and then he supported their efforts. He founded the Environmental Protection Agency, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the list goes on and on. Richard Nixon  really set a high bar for commonsense approaches to environmental issues. Something we could all learn from today. 

Richard Nixon also had an enormously rare opportunity to appoint four Supreme Court Justices including picking the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Here you will hear him discuss this enormous opportunity to shape the laws of our land he was given and the two other appointments he made that ended in failure too.  It was a fascinating look at a rare opportunity for any President. 

Finally, Richard Nixon makes some very difficult decisions about how to deal with North Vietnamese supply chains running through neighboring neutral Cambodia.  Nixon finally decides to go after the Ho Chi Minh Trail and cut those supply routes in what was arguably the most controversial decision of the Vietnam War. He would cross the border and order military operations in Cambodia. It would be one of the most effective decisions of the war but lead to upheaval here at home. 

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On November 3, 1969, President Richard Nixon asked to address the nation to talk about Vietnam. 

He then laid out his strategy for bringing the War to an end. He also asked for the great silent majority of Americans to support his efforts. They did in record numbers. 

To piggyback on our episode on the Silent Majority speech which has a featurette with former Nixon aid Dwight Chapin, I thought I would include the Silent Majority speech alone for those of you who have never heard the speech. 

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This episode opens as the Apollo 11 Astronauts have returned from their mission to the moon. It was a moment in which the United States had finally found something to rally around as one united country. But that sense of national unity won't last, not because of events in the heavens, but due to a war here on Earth. 

In this look at the final 6 months of Richard Nixon's first year, we will listen to him answer questions about his thoughts on the war he inherited and why he thought it important that we hold the line in South East Asia.  Then we switch gears and discuss his hopes to restructure our Federal Government and make it more efficient for solving our domestic problems here at home. 

You will listen in as Richard Nixon addresses the nation on reforming Welfare and moving away from a policy that destroyed families and ran fathers out of the home. He will discuss spinning off power from the Federal Government and returning it to the State Government and to the people. He would foresee many of our national issues of today, a full half century ahead of his time.

Finally, he will rally the country on how to address the war in Vietnam and ask for the help of the great Silent Majority of Americans that he knew supported stopping the high water mark of communism before it would have a chance to take root in South East Asia and possibly spread throughout the world. 

His address that November night would be one of his most effective.

Finally, we will listen in on the first Christmas for the Nixon family in the White House and take a full view of the many traditions that our new first Lady Pat Nixon began in that first Christmas in the White House. 

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While researching the material for our podcast documentary we are currently presenting now on President Richard Nixon, I had one of those random thoughts cross my mind. Had we had any other Quakers serve as President?

 That led me into looking at a story that is featured on this show by CBS Sunday Morning titled "The Real Herbert Hoover", and I was fascinated by all I did not know about President Herbert Hoover's life. 

The more I looked at the life of this often maligned President, the more I grew to admire Herbert Hoover. Hoover was an orphan, turn mining engineer, turn multi millionaire, turn humanitarian, turn government volunteer and 31st President of the United States.  I had a book given to me by my brother and sister-in-law a few years ago titled "Herbert Hoover's Hideaway" by Darwin Lambert and I enjoyed reading much of his history and his enjoyment of the out doors.  I also thought about the example President Harry Truman set by reaching out to Former President Hoover and inviting him back to help him stave off a famine that was overtaking the entire World, outside of the United States. 

Hoover's work after World War 2 would mark the second time he had come to the rescue of a starving world and in doing so he is probably responsible for saving more lives than any other person in the history of the Earth.

  It is a story worth learning. 

So in this special edition of "Bridging the Political Gap" we put our focus on the other Quaker  President of the United States, and like Richard Nixon,  he is  often only remembered for a disaster that was largely out of his control.

Herbert Hoover may not be considered one of our great Presidents, however  it is hard  to hear his story and not appreciate, that he was one of the greatest Americans of any era. 

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On January 20, 1969, Richard Millhouse Nixon was Inaugurated the 37th President of the United States. He faced a country and a World in upheaval. It was as historian Jim Prado points out "A more complicated set of circumstances than had faced any of his predecessors, at least in the modern era." That is in my opinion an understatement. Our country was divided and under siege here at home, at war abroad, and involved in a dangerous dance with the other super power, the Soviet Union, all over the Globe. 

Richard Nixon would also face inequality at home, an environment in peril, an economy sputtering, a government that had tried to do to much in to many different directions, and an electorate that was tired of it all. Richard Nixon had to look out at the crowd that January day and wonder if he could actually get our nation out of the hole he inherited, could he save this Union?

In this look at his first six months in office you will see him planting the seeds for many of the accomplishments to come. In Civil Rights, the Environment, the Federal Court System, and overseas in Europe, in China, in dealing with the Soviets and most importantly in dealing with the 550,000 American troops then stationed in Vietnam. Here the journey to a generation of peace begins.

Finally, in July of 1969, an event happens that will, for just a moment, bring the country, and the World, together and it features a moment when Richard Nixon is actually able to pick up a phone and reach for the Moon. 

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This episode starts as Richard Nixon, at age 39, is taking the oath of the Vice President of the United States. 

On this episode we take you through his remarkable Vice Presidency, where he has to step in through two major illnesses of the President, a heart attack and then stroke. Then he is attacked by a violent, rock throwing mob as he travels by motorcade through the streets of Caracas , Venezuela, then has to hold his own at a trade show in Moscow when he is cornered for an impromptu debate with Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev. 

Then we move into the most examined Presidential campaign in history as Vice President Richard Nixon faces off against an old friend from Congress, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. It would be one of the closest races in history and Nixon would lose. Then to get back in the political hunt Richard Nixon goes home to California and attempts to run for Governor in 1962, only to lose a second time. It looked like his career had flamed out as meteorically as it had taken off to start with. 

Then a series of events would open more and more doors for a return to the national stage and a run for President in 1968. 

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The opening episode of Season 1  of "Bridging the Political Gap" is a particular thing of excitement for me. Richard Nixon is one of my political heroes and most responsible for my interest in public service. I have been a fan since I discovered a scrapbook saved by my Mother from a class she was student teaching in 1960. A full decade before I was born. 

 I have long felt that no full length , in-depth, look at the life of Richard Nixon has ever been done that did not attempt to paint the life, career, an administration of Richard Nixon in a negative light. That has, thankfully,  in recent years begun to change, with great books written by Conrad Black, Jonathan Atken, Evan Thomas, J.A. Farrell, and most recently several books by Historian Luke Nichter, especially  his book "Richard Nixon and Europe: The Reshaping of the Post War Atlantic World" 

This Podcast Documentary, that begins with this episode, will I hope contribute to showing the remarkable life of Richard Nixon with the appreciation he deserves. This Podcast series will span four seasons worth of shows. This first season will cover his career through the end of the Vietnam War in January of 1973. We will then comeback in Season five to look at Watergate and the other events of his final year and 8 months in office, and then an epilogue of events that shows what happened after he left, to both the country, and to him.  

I cannot say thank you enough to several sources of information that have made this podcast documentary possible.  They are:  the national archives for several oral histories, the television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, & CNN)  for historic coverage and , most especially, the Richard Nixon Foundation and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace, that have created many of the short features I used, and events where people talked about their time with, or their studies of,  President and Mrs. Nixon. 

I would also like to say a special thank you to Historian Luke Nichter for his work with chronicling and making accessible the Nixon tapes through the site NixonTapes.org. We use them extensively, especially as we drew closer to the end of the Vietnam War. This I hope will be an opportunity to hear President Nixon guide us through the end game, out of Vietnam. Most people have never heard these tapes and I hope you will tune in to those episodes most especially. 

This show begins at the end, on the night that former President Richard Nixon  passed away. We will look as the the world stopped to take a pause and reflect on his amazing life. Much to the chattering class and media elites amazement, Richard Nixon's passing led to an outpouring of grief from the heartland of America, the common people, the folks Richard Nixon had always represented and in whose interests he served. We then will take you through a two part tour of his amazing career from running for Congress, to the Senate, the Vice Presidency , his 1960 and 1962 losses, and then back to the 1968 election he won in our last documentary. ( see the shows  we just completed in Season 3 on Lyndon Johnson and 1968)  

Then we will move on to Richard Nixon's Presidency and what many have called "The Age of Nixon" 

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Eerie similarities mark our world today with the one Richard Nixon faced a half century ago. 

As we begin our Landmark Podcast Documentary Series on Richard Nixon we look at the world Richard Nixon faced as he stepped into office and how he had changed that world by the time he began his second term.

By January 29th, 1973, Richard Nixon stood with Abraham Lincoln as one of the two men who had saved the Union, and then......

Join us starting on October 21, 2021, for RICHARD NIXON, The Man who Saved the Union,

It will change everything you ever thought about Richard Nixon. 

Questions or comments at  , [email protected] ,  https://twitter.com/randal_wallace   , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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