1972 Nixon VS. McGovern

"Nixon the Man"

Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Nixon the Man," Nixon, 1972

MALE NARRATOR: The 38th President of the United States is Richard Nixon. Most of us see him only as a public figure. In this film, we can glimpse the private man, at work and in his relaxed moments, the man so few people know.

(Audience applause and cheers)

NIXON: Now ladies and gentlemen—

(Audience laughter)

Please don't go away.

(Audience laughter)

Duke, Duke was asking earlier if I would play, and I said I had never done so yet in the White House, but it did occur to me as I looked at the magnificent program you prepared for us that one number was missing. You see, this is his birthday. Now-

(Audience laughter)

Duke Ellington is ageless, but would you all stand and sing Happy Birthday to him and please in the key of G?

(Audience laughter)

(Nixon playing piano)

Audience (singing): Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear...

MAN: We don't have any assurance that if we put federal money into that reform that property taxes are going to go down in the localities.

NIXON: Well, then, we won't accept it.

MAN: But I want just-

NIXON: No. What's the matter with these clowns? The whole purpose of this is to get property taxes down, not to increase the budgets for local officials to continue to raise property taxes.

MAN: Well, that's what I thought you'd say.

NIXON: And, and unless you put the heat on these local officials, they'll just take the money and pour it into all their pet projects and not get the project that's-

MAN: Well, that's, that's what's happening-

NIXON: That's not the way it's going to be.

MAN: Okay. Good.

NIXON: That's not the way it's going to be.

(Wedding music)

(Wedding reception music)

NIXON: On that thing we were discussing this morning, I wanted to be sure that you got off a, a telephone call preferably, a message if necessary, to Connally. Right, what did he, what did he, think about the, the, the British action and so forth, and what did he think about the possibility of a European block? I suppose he went up the wall, no? ... The other thing, too, is, he's got to think of the Latin Americans. If he cancels his trip because of this little blip - it could be a very big one in the international monetary thing - it'll be again, well, here the Americans only care about Europe and don't care about us. I told him it would be a very grave mistake for him to cancel his trip or to postpone it at this point. He ought to go down there, and then if something else develops, we'll bring him back.

NIXON: I expressed my appreciation to my Chinese voice, to Mrs. Chang. I listened to her translation. She got every word right.

(Audience laughter and applause)

NIXON: No, you typed it. Come on. Mrs. Chang.

(Chang speaking in Chinese)

MALE NARRATOR: Richard Nixon, a man of compassion, courage and conscience, a man America needs, now more than ever.

[TEXT: PRESIDENT NIXON. NOW MORE THAN EVER.]

Credits

"Nixon the Man," Committee to Re-elect the President, 1972

Maker: The November Group

Video courtesy of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1972/nixon-the-man (accessed June 5, 2025).

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1972 Nixon McGovern Results

In 1971, President Nixon’s approval rating fell below 50 percent. Despite his 1968 promises to end the Vietnam War, the conflict was dragging on. At home, inflation and unemployment were rising. Nixon restored his popularity through several actions: he took unprecedented diplomatic trips to China and Russia; stepped up efforts to end the war by ordering the bombing of Hanoi; instituted wage and price controls; and ended the draft, partly because of the recent lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18. Nixon’s opponent, South Dakota Senator George McGovern, who won his party’s nomination with a grassroots campaign sparked by the antiwar movement, called for withdrawal from Vietnam and a significant reduction in military spending. McGovern named as his running mate Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton, who, shortly after the convention, revealed that he had been hospitalized for depression and had received shock therapy. McGovern dropped him from the ticket and replaced him with former ambassador R. Sargent Shriver. The incident created an impression of ineptitude. McGovern was also unable to convince the public of any connection between the Nixon administration and the June break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex.

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