>>>
there's a classic tune. and when you think about this country's all-time
odd couples
, the top of that list has to be
dwight eisenhower
and
richard nixon
.
war hero
and then seen as the master of the political
dark arts
. let's call it a complicated personal and professional relationship that lasted nearly two decades from
nixon
's placement on the republican ticket to
eisenhower
's death, just after
nixon
finally won the presidency on his own in
1968
. politically, it made in nearly ruined
nixon
's career. perhaps the perfect example is this gem where
nixon
is running for president in
1960
and
dwight eisenhower
then president is asked about the vp's influence in the
white house
.
>>
i wondered if you could give us an example of a major idea of his that you adopted as the final --
>>
if you give me a week i might think of one. i don't remember.
>>
oh. ouch.
>>
imagine obama doing that if biden's trying to replace him. devastating. that was a
political ad
for jfk and nearly beat
nixon
that year and win the presidency and that is just the beginning of the story.
jeffrey frank
gone to great lengths to document and piece together this complicated relationship in "
ike
and dick." he is also a senior editor at "the new yorker."
welcome to the show
, jeffrey. i guess where i start is i grew up and i think most people have an instinctive impression, probably not that inaccurate of
nixon
as a master of the
dark arts
. we have a very negative view of him instinctively and we have instinctively a positive view of
eisenhower
but reading your book and reading up more on their relationships over the years i find myself feelingympathetic for
nixon
and as this guy that just longed for some sort of acceptance by
eisenhower
, some sort of a connection with him that was never there and you write at one point
nixon
saw in
eisenhower
a man to radiate kindness and acting with casual cruelty. can you explain that a little bit?
>>
a couple of things. you should probably give
eisenhower
credit still for being pretty good. he had great instincts of
war and peace
and looking at
nixon
, looking at
nixon
in this period, he wasn't yet the disgraced former president but a very intelligent, very ambitious and controversial senator and then a vice president. so, he was -- he's not the
nixon
we know today and quite different.
>>
i want to hear about how they brought out the worst in each other.
>>
i don't think i -- i don't think i ever say that but tended to bring out the best in each other in some way but
eisenhower
did make
nixon
unhappy.
nixon
was constantly feeling dissed basically. he felt he wasn't treated well, wasn't being respected for all he could wasn't being respected for all he could bring to the ticket and bring to the country.
>>
well, and you seem to indicate part of
ike
's disdain is he had a general disdain for politics and politicians in general. did that impact his ability to govern effectively, that sort of contempt for the game?
>>
i don't think -- you're talking about
eisenhower
now. i don't think
eisenhower
had contempt for
nixon
but he didn't think much of professional politicians. he was much happier with businessmen and his former military pals and people he could play golf with at the
augusta national golf club
and mixon really wasn't that sort. but he had lots of respect for
nixon
and his intelligence and loyalty. he didn't believe
nixon
had the maturity to be president.
>>
well, and professor, steve kornacki was telling me that also
nixon
's daughter was set to marry
ike
's grandson, and
nixon
thought this is finally going to seal the deal. we're going to be this one big happy family and he's finally going to get the approval that he wanted from
eisenhower
. did that work?
>>
no,
julie nixon
's younger daughter and
david eisenhower
's son were going to clem and they
fell in love
. when they were 20 they got married.
nixon
never thought it was going to seal the deal and
eisenhower
thought it was going to derail david's career. he thought david should be thinking more about being a lawyer and doctor and not getting married at age 20 which, in fact, they did.
>>
jeffrey frank
, thank you for joining us.
>>>
up next, the
supreme court
case on the docket this week that could change elections forever. [ coughs ] in
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