Summary: A critical mistake, historic sabotage, and a fractured Democratic Party lead to an electoral landslide and a seismic change to the make-up of the American political parties.
Episode Bibliography
Books:
Richard Nixon: the life, by John Farrell, 2017
Grassroots: The Autobiography of George McGovern, by George McGovern, 1977
The Liberals’ Moment, by Bruce Miroff, 2007
Nixonland, by Rick Perlstein, 2008
Almost President, by Scott Farris, 2013
The Eighteen-Day Running Mate, by Joshua Glasser, 2012
Right from the Start, by Gary Hart, 1973
The Long Shot, by Gordon Weil, 1973
Political Legacies of Barry Goldwater and George McGovern, by Jeffrey Volle, 2010
Articles:
POLITICO Magazine, “When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election,” August 2017
POLITICO Magazine, “Anna Chennault: The Secret Go-Between Who Helped Tip the 1968 Election,” December 2018
New York Times, “Vietnam Breakthrough,” October 1968
New York Times, “Thieu Says Saigon Cannot Join Paris Talks Under Present Plan,” November 1968
New York Times, “Nixon Tried to Spoil Johnson’s Vietnam Peace Talks in ’68, Notes Show,” January 2017
Miller Center at the University of Virginia, “Richard Nixon: Foreign Affairs”
Miller Center at the University of Virginia, “Vietnamization”
State Department Office of the Historian, “Strategic Arms Limitations Talks/Treaties (SALT) I and II”
POLITICO, “U.S. military draft ends, Jan. 27, 1973,” January 2012
Vanity Fair, “Fresh from the Archives: More Dirty Tricks,” September 2009
Washington Post, Watergate Coverage, June 1972 – August 1974
New York Times, “’We Have A Whole New Can of Worms,’” October 1973
Washington Post, “George Meany, 85, Giant of U.S. Labor Movement,” January 1980
Salon, “George McGovern, He Deserved Better,” October 2012
New York Times, “Eagleton Says Allegation of Drunken Driving Is Lie,” July 1972
New York Times, “Hasty and Ruinous 1972 Pick Colors Today’s Hunt for a No. 2,” July 2012
The New Republic, “‘Acid, Amnesty, and Abortion’: The Unlikely Source of a Legendary Smear,” October 2012
New York Times, “McGovern Names Jet The ‘Dakota Queen 2,’” September 1972
New York Times, “McGovern With Tears,” November 1972
Washington Post, “When Did Black Americans Start Voting So Heavily Democratic?” July 2015
New York Times, “Desertion Rate Doubles,” November 1972
New York Times, “Renewed Strife of the Democrats,” December 1972
Cato Institute, “Was Clinton More Conservative Than Bush?” July 2002
Christian Science Monitor, “Why Bill Clinton Could Never Be the Democratic Nominee Today,” February 2016
The Atlantic, “The Emerging Democratic Majority Turns 10,” November 2012
New York Times, “Nixon's Popularity in Gallup Poll Declines to 31%, the Lowest Point for an American President in 20 Years,” August 1973
New York Times, “George McGovern Dies at 90, a Liberal Trounced But Never Silenced,” October 2012
Studies and Other Primary Sources:
Gallup, Iraq Vs. Vietnam: a Comparison of Public Opinion, August 2005
History in Pieces, Nixon’s Presidential Approval Ratings
White House Memo, Dividing the Democrats, October 1971
Committee for the Re-election of the President Memo, The McGovern Campaign, by Ken Rietz, June 1972
Arthur Miller, Warren Miller, Alden Raine, Thad Brown, American Political Science Review, A Majority Party in Disarray: Policy Polarization in the 1972 Election. American Political Science Review, 1976
Brookings Institute, Average Ideology of the House and Senate 1947-2014, July 2013
Center for American Progress, State of Change, June 2019
David Knoke and Michael Hout, American Sociological Review, Social and Demographic Factors in American Political Party Affiliations, 1952-72, 1974
Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, Gender Differences in Turnout
Oral Histories:
Miller Center, George McGovern Oral History
Historical speeches, news footage, and other archival tape excerpted in the episode were gathered from:
Alexander Street Media
Center for Sacramento History
CSPAN
LBJ Presidential Library
Miller Center at University of Virginia
Museum of the Moving Image
Ronald Reagan Library
UC Berkeley
Vanderbilt Television News Archive
Washington Post
YouTube