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The year is 1950. The Soviets have just detonated their first nuclear bomb, while Communist forces have succeeded in taking over China. The Korean War may not end in American victory, and most alarming of all, Senator Joseph McCarthy reports that the U.S. government is riddled with Communists. In this crisis atmosphere, congressman Richard Nixon decides to try for the United States Senate.
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Opposing Nixon is Helen Douglas, a noted actress and opera singer. During the Great Depression Douglas had become interested in the plight of the "Okies" John Steinbeck had made famous. Her compassion led to involvement in politics, and soon Douglas was a close political ally of Eleanor Roosevelt.
While candidate Douglas tried to stick to the issues, voters did not warm up to her discussions of water regulation and off-shore oil drilling. Richard Nixon aimed to keep the voters' attention focused on Communism. This was an easy task, given citizens' hysteria over Soviet bombs, Chinese Communists, and our floundering policy in Korea. As for charges that there were Communists working for the U.S. government in Washington, Nixon could honestly tell voters he had worked to expose such Communists. No American was more responsible for the conviction of accused spy Alger Hiss than was Dick Nixon.
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This campaign was one of the dirtiest in American history, and is notable for showing the first example of Nixon's willingness to use political "dirty tricks." The key campaign item was a paper flyer called the pink sheet, so called not only for the color of the paper, but also for its content. On the sheet, Nixon compared the voting record of Helen Douglas with that of Vito Marcantonio, noted Communist who had been elected on an American Labor Party ticket. The sheet pointed out that Douglas and Marcantonio voted alike on 354 roll calls. The conclusion? There was a dangerous "Douglas-Marcantonio Axis," loyal to Communism, that must be stopped.
It was true that both Marcantonio and Douglas had opposed formation of the House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC). Douglas apparently believed the charges of men like McCarthy and Nixon were based on hysteria, and she saw no need for a serious investigation. That vote came back to haunt her in the 1950 campaign. But the real problem lay in explaining to voters why she and a known Communist had voted the same no less than 354 times. It was to no avail to explain that some of those votes were on the question of whether to convene at 9:00 a.m. the next day, or to declare October National Poultry Month.
As the Nixon campaign moved into high gear, voters began to get anonymous telephone calls late at night. "I think you should know Helen Douglas is a Communist," the unidentified voice on the other end would say. Nixon himself made a most ungentlemanly comment when he told reporters that his opponent was "pink right down to her underwear." Nixon went on to win with more than 59 percent of the vote, and congresswoman Douglas never ran for office again.
Nixon, on the other hand, would run for office six more times. Along the way he or his lieutenants would perpetrate a number of dirty tricks, showing that the lessons of the pink sheet campaign were not lost on the California Republican.
| © 1999 by Stephen Cresswell |