Nixon in New York: How Wall Street Helped Richard Nixon Win the White House

by Victor Li

Overview

Richard Nixon’s loss in the 1962 gubernatorial election in California was more than just a simple electoral defeat. His once-promising political career was in ruins as he dropped his second high-profile race in as many years. Nixon, himself, rubbed salt in his own self-inflicted wounds by delivering a growling, bitter concession speech that made him seem like a sore loser. In the months following his defeat and self-immolation, he left California to move to New York so that he could work for a prestigious Wall Street law firm. His new career only seemed to confirm what everyone already knew: Richard Nixon was finished as a politician.
Except, he wasn’t. Nixon’s political resurrection was virtually unprecedented in American history role, and he had his law firm to thank for paving his way to the White House. His role as public partner at Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander was the ideal platform for him as he looked to reinvent himself after his back-to-back losses in 1960 and 1962. Nixon’s firm gave him access to deep-pocketed clients, many of whom became donors when he decided to take the plunge in 1968. Furthermore, working for so many international clients allowed him to travel the world and burnish his foreign policy credentials – a vital quality that voters were looking for as the Cold War raged on and the Vietnam War showed no signs of slowing down. Nixon’s time at the firm also allowed him to build a formidable campaign staff consisting of top-notch lawyers, researchers and writers – a staff that did just about everything for him when it came time to ramp up for the 1968 campaign.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683930020
Publisher:	University Press Copublishing Division
Publication date:	09/13/2019
Series:	The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Law, Culture, and the Humanities
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.03(w) x 8.65(h) x 1.08(d)

About the Author

Victor Li is an assistant managing editor with the ABA Journal, covering the business of law and legal technology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1: “You Won’t Have Nixon To Kick Around Anymore!”
Chapter 2: “A Politician Does Not Change His Base.”
Chapter 3: “The Fast Track.”
Chapter 4: “I Have Never Asked Anybody For Business.”
Chapter 5: “There But For The Grace Of God, Go I.”
Chapter 6: “Mentally Dead In Two Years And Physically Dead in Four.”
Chapter 7: “Why Are These Men For Nixon?”
Chapter 8: “A Chronic Campaigner.”
Chapter 9: “I Always Knew I Wouldn’t Be Permitted To Win A Big Appeal Against
The Press.”
Chapter 10: “The Purpose Of This Group Is To Begin Planning, Now, To Win The
Nomination.”
Chapter 11: “He Wanted Prestige.”
Chapter 12: “The Word Is Out That Mudge Is In.”
Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

After losing the California governor’s race in 1962, Nixon announced the end of his political career, and he accepted a partnership in a prestigious New York City law firm. He became a valuable rainmaker for the firm, and he used his position to reconstitute his political base with wealthy contributors, a deep and talented campaign staff, and enhanced international experience. This culminated in his victory in the 1968 presidential campaign. The assistant managing editor of the American Bar Association’s trade journal, Li provides an excellent, straightforward narrative of how this transpired. The author places these transformational years within a quick survey of Nixon’s prior political career and a brief overview of his two administrations. The consistency of Nixon’s talents and flaws is evident in each phase of his career. The final chapter treats former colleagues and legal issues of the firm during Nixon’s presidency. The epilogue touches on recent presidential players’ engagements with prestigious law firms. Although this focused and manageable account relies more on interviews and printed sources than on extensive archival research, it deserves consideration in competition with John Farrell’s or Evan Thomas’s recent, massive Nixon biographies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice

After losing the California governor’s race in 1962, Nixon announced the end of his political career, and he accepted a partnership in a prestigious New York City law firm. He became a valuable rainmaker for the firm, and he used his position to reconstitute his political base with wealthy contributors, a deep and talented campaign staff, and enhanced international experience. This culminated in his victory in the 1968 presidential campaign. The assistant managing editor of the American Bar Association’s trade journal, Li provides an excellent, straightforward narrative of how this transpired. The author places these transformational years within a quick survey of Nixon’s prior political career and a brief overview of his two administrations. The consistency of Nixon’s talents and flaws is evident in each phase of his career. The final chapter treats former colleagues and legal issues of the firm during Nixon’s presidency. The epilogue touches on recent presidential players’ engagements with prestigious law firms. Although this focused and manageable account relies more on interviews and printed sources than on extensive archival research, it deserves consideration in competition with John Farrell’s or Evan Thomas’s recent, massive Nixon biographies.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

CHOICE

Victor Li’s “Nixon in New York: How Wall Street Helped Richard Nixon Win the White House” illuminatesRichard Nixon’s crucially important“wilderness years”as a Wall Street lawyer.Li provides new insight and understanding OF this period, from Nixon’s crushing 1962 defeat in the campaign to become governor of California – “You won’t have me to kick around anymore” – to his successful bid for the presidency in 1968. Well-researched and illuminating.

Thomas Byrne Edsall

After losing the California governor’s race in 1962, Nixon announced the end of his political career, and he accepted a partnership in a prestigious New York City law firm. He became a valuable rainmaker for the firm, and he used his position to reconstitute his political base with wealthy contributors, a deep and talented campaign staff, and enhanced international experience. This culminated in his victory in the 1968 presidential campaign. The assistant managing editor of the American Bar Association’s trade journal, Li provides an excellent, straightforward narrative of how this transpired. The author places these transformational years within a quick survey of Nixon’s prior political career and a brief overview of his two administrations. The consistency of Nixon’s talents and flaws is evident in each phase of his career. The final chapter treats former colleagues and legal issues of the firm during Nixon’s presidency. The epilogue touches on recent presidential players’ engagements with prestigious law firms. Although this focused and manageable account relies more on interviews and printed sources than on extensive archival research, it deserves consideration in competition with John Farrell’s or Evan Thomas’s recent, massive Nixon biographies.



Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

2018-03-21
A biography of Richard Nixon focuses on his years at a New York law firm before running for president.In this debut history book, Li examines one of the less famous periods of Nixon's professional life, from his loss in the 1962 election for governor of California through his political rehabilitation and his successful run for president in 1968. The work focuses on Nixon's tenure at the Wall Street law firm that was renamed Nixon Mudge when he joined, drawing high-profile clients and repairing his public persona. Li shows how formative Nixon's law firm years were, giving him the opportunity to build the relationships necessary for a national campaign and also introducing him to colleagues like Leonard Garment and John Mitchell, who became important figures during his presidency. The work concludes with a brief overview of Watergate and its effect on Nixon Mudge alumni and the story of the firm's decline in the '80s and '90s. Drawing on both primary sources and previous scholarship, Li brings a lawyer's perspective to this analysis of Nixon's career, going into detail about his argument before the Supreme Court in a First Amendment case that involved Time Inc. and Life magazine. The author employs an informed historical viewpoint, tracing the connections between Nixon's path and the careers of other presidential aspirants. The prose is solid, flavored by Li's taste for metaphor ("If Kennedy was Camelot, then Nixon seemed to represent Prince John from ‘Robin Hood' "), balancing analysis with substantial quotations from the principals involved. The book also does an excellent job balancing its particular focus with the need to provide readers with sufficient background, resulting in a solid overview of the time period and the political climate surrounding Nixon Mudge. Li approaches Nixon and the volume's other notorious characters with open eyes, acknowledging their strengths while pointing out the flaws that eventually led to crimes, convictions, and resignations. The author presents readers with well-rounded portraits of key figures in U.S. law and politics in the second half of the 20th century.An engaging and well-written book that illuminates Nixon through the exploration of the midpoint of his career.

Kirkus Reviews