This is a sample section from my book, “The Best-Looking One Always Wins.”
When Richard Nixon beat Hubert Humphrey in 1968, he increased the Republican vote share by over 20%. They lost by 22% in 1964, the year before he ran. Then, they won by 1% in 1968. That’s hard to do. The list of presidents with a 20% increase is short: Lincoln, FDR, Harding, Lyndon and a couple others.
Then in 1972, Nixon did it again, jumping from a 1% victory to a 23% victory. Richard Nixon had increased the Republican’s share of the popular vote by 20% twice in a row. Here is an alphabetical list of presidential candidates who can make that claim:
- Nixon (1968 and 1972)
- Nobody else
In the Electoral Ranking Appendix in my book, I’ve got Nixon at #2, behind only FDR. I’m sorry about that, but what was I supposed to do? He had two wins out of three, and the loss was the 1960 contested election. His 1972 win was epic. He had a couple VP wins.
David Pietrusza wrote, “Nixon was our sky for five decades. A clouded, storm tossed, often lightning-scarred firmament, but one that nonetheless endured beyond all frailties and against all odds.” Indeed, when you’re ranking influential American figures, don’t sleep on Richard Milhous Nixon.
This is a sample section from my book, “The Best-Looking One Always Wins.”
The Best-Looking One Always Wins 