November 13, 1968

Wilt Chamberlain May Portend Nixon Strategy

Thank goodness we've got another "minority" president.  I don't think the country could survive another "land-slide" chief executive so soon after the last one.

Richard Nixon becomes the 37th president of the United States with a plurality of something over 303,000 popular votes and an Electoral College total of 302 votes.  This compares with John F. Kennedy's plurality of 118,263 popular votes and 300 electoral votes.

The Democrats contend Kennedy was a great president DESPITE his thin margin of victory.  I propose that Nixon will be a great president BECAUSE he will have to lead by persuasion instead of mandate.

The administration of President Lyndon Johnson demonstrates graphically the mischief an overwhelming majority can wreak on a republican democracy.  With a solid phalanx of party faithful in Congress, Johnson escalated the Vietnam War and the domestic economy to near disastrous proportions.

What this country does not need during the next four years, for sure, is another rubber-stamp congress — Democratic or Republican.

It will be interesting to see during the next few months the direction Nixon's administration will take.  It is certain to be moderate, for that is the prevailing mood of the electorate.  Yet there is much room for movement within this broad spectrum of political ideology.

General Dwight Eisenhower was a moderate but slightly on the conservative side.  He ended the Korean War and kept the peace.  He balanced the budget and stopped inflation.  He established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that started us on the race to the Moon, and he inaugurated the interstate expressway system which is proving much more meaningful to us Earth-bound creatures.

However, Ike's achievements were not the kind to capture the imagination.  They provided a strong base for social progress and a sharp upsurge of prosperity in the Kennedy-Johnson administration.

Nixon is handicapped in that he has to lead from a period of instability and a shaky economy.  Instead of a harmonious citizenry he has inherited dissension and division.

The new president will have to build his economy and social progress on proven principles of government.  He cannot risk bold new theories at this time.  In the long run this will result in more solid, lasting results, in my opinion.

I have been led to believe, by certain events at the, Republican convention in Miami, that Nixon will move left of center.  His political philosophy is ORIGINAL Republicanism — if a conversation I had in Miami with one of Nixon's aides was not just a big "put on."

As a member of the uncommitted Ohio delegation to the convention I got in on some plain and fancy wooing by the half dozen presidential contenders.  A Nixon aide set up shop in our hotel one day to arrange a moonlight cruise aboard the yacht of millionaire Huntington Hartford who was campaigning for him.

The aide was alone when I went by to make a reservation so we had a long, private chat.

I allowed as how the Nixon image then being displayed to the convention seemed a little too conservative for my taste.

"Not so," the aide protested, eyeing my delegates' badge nervously.  "When elected, Mr.  Nixon will follow the principles on which the Republican party was founded — such as fair wages for the workingman, help for the small business man and social justice for the Negro."

"These groups were captured by the Democratic party as the Republican party became the caretaker of a rich establishment.  Since World War II the Democratic party has become the establishment and by necessity must protect and encourage big government, big business, big labor and big agriculture.

"We can't go back to ‘the good old days,’ but Nixon will make his administration one ‘for the people by the people’," he said.

"The Negro, for example, will find a better friend in Mr. Nixon than any of the Democrats since Franklin Roosevelt.  The black citizens will get a free ride in this election.  They won't vote Republican under any circumstance, yet they will benefit from realistic application by Mr. Nixon of the many civil rights laws already on the books.

"Mr. Nixon believes there is plenty of legislation but not enough encouragement of private enterprise.  He believes it has been law AND capitalism that made this country great.  He believes we have relied too heavily on government and not enough on the private sector.  He will bring the two back into balance.

"The Negro might find it harder to get a welfare handout, but he will find it easier to get a job.  Mr. Nixon believes tax credits to industries training hardcore jobless will enlist the skill and energy of the real experts in this field."

When Nixon visited Cleveland during his campaign, it was reported that he had a private meeting with representatives of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the militant black power group.  I asked Nixon's aide how that meeting came out.

"CORE came pretty close to endorsing Mr.  Nixon," he said, "but it finally fell through.  It is an example, however, of how similar the so called ‘new left’ politics are to original Republicanism.  The minority groups, the young, the intellectuals are tired of regimentation and paternalism.  They want to be individuals and to take care of themselves.  They will find, to their surprise, that 'Nixon's the one' after all."

There is an interesting sequel to this interview, so bear with me a little longer.

That night, on the cruise down Biscayne Bay, we Ohio delegates were living it up on caviar and champagne (no kidding) while a yellow moon hung low over Miami and tropical breezes lifted our spirits.

Suddenly, out of the night, roared a little speed boat.  "Hallo theah," a deep, Negro voice called, "We's comin' aboand!"  I had visions of a racial incident on the high seas for the Miami race riots were simmering that night.

Over the rail, however, climbed the tallest man I ever saw outside a circus — Wilt Chamberlain, the greatest basketball player of all time.  Behind Chamberlain came Frank Fontaine, character comedian and singer for Jackie Gleason.

Chamberlain and Fontaine were out campaigning for Nixon and they made the evening memorable.  Fontaine held court in the aft cabin with songs and dialogues, while Chamberlain — too tall for a cabin — talked politics on the forward deck.

Inevitably we got onto racial problems with Chamberlain.  He was dressed in a turtle-neck shirt, with a string of love beads around his neck.  On his face he affected the Black Muslim mustache and goatee.  Incidentally, he was extremely intelligent, articulate and poised.

"How can you talk and act Black Power and yet support Nixon?" one delegate finally blurted.

"It's a shame Republicans don't understand Black Power and that Negroes don't understand conservatism," Chamberlain replied.  "The two are really quite close together."

How close Nixon's aide and Nixon's friend came in their analysis of, Nixon's approach to solving the basic problems of today.

Perhaps the closeness of the election, in which Nixon owes nothing to any big power group, puts him in a unique position to do what is right rather than what is expedient.

Author: Lindsey Williams