Party congressman Vito Marcantonio, who was widely regarded as pro-Communist. Nixon won the election by 680,000 votes. In 1952 Nixon was selected to be the running mate of General Dwight Eisenhower, who had won the Republican presidential nomination. Shortly after Nixons vice-presidential nomination it was reported that a fund had been collected to meet his expenses as a senator. No evidence was produced that Nixon had misused the fund or given special favors to contributors, but many of Eisenhowers advisers wanted Nixon to resign his candidacy. In response Nixon made an impassioned reply on national television in a speech known as the Checkers speech, because it contained a sentimental reference to Nixons dog, Checkers. Eisenhower then kept him as his running mate. In the campaign that followed, Nixon once again attacked the Democrats and their presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson as being soft on Communism. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket won a resounding victory. In 1956, Eisenhower an Nixon were reelected, after Nixon survived an attempt by some Republicans to replace him. Much of Nixons time as vice president was spent in representing the president before Congress and on trips abroad as goodwill ambassador.As President Eisenhower neared the end of his second term, his vice president emerged as his logical successor, and the president indorsed Nixon. Nixon received an impressive vote in the party primaries. Nixon chose Henry Cabot as his running mate. There was a series of face-to-face discussions between Nixon and hi opponent John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was regarded as the winner of the debates and ended up winning the elections by 112,803 votes. After losing the election, Nixon returned to California and in 1962 became the Republican candidate for governor opposing Edmund Brown. Again the campaign involved Nixons argument that democrats were not concerned about Communism. This time it didnt work and Brown won easily. ...
