Richard Nixon's November 1962 press conference
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The so-called "last press conference" of Richard Nixon took place on November 7, 1962, following his loss to Democratic incumbent Pat Brown in the
1962 California gubernatorial election The 1962 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962. The Democratic incumbent, Pat Brown, ran for re-election against former U.S. vice president and 1960 Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon. In his concession spe ...
. Appearing before 100 reporters at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, an embittered Nixon lashed out at the media, proclaiming that "you don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." Hill, Gladwin
"NIXON DENOUNCES PRESS AS BIASED; In 'Last' News Conference, He Attributes His Defeat to Crisis Over Cuba Nixon, Bitter at His Defeat by Brown in California, Denounces the Press as Biased SAYS CUBAN CRISIS COST HIM ELECTION Gives No Hint of Plans-- Asserts Others Will Have to Lead Coast G.O.P. Blames Cuban Crisis Changes His Plans"
'' The New York Times'', November 8, 1962. Accessed March 13, 2009.
"Last (and first) things", Mark Liberman, clarifies exact wording of quote from audio transcript.
/ref> Nixon's electoral loss in his home state, failing to capture what was then a traditionally Republican state that he had carried in the 1960 presidential election, combined with his actions at the press conference, was seen at the time as permanently damaging his chances at playing a role in national politics. While Nixon played almost no role in
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
's resounding defeat in the 1964 presidential election, Nixon won the presidency in the 1968 election, making a political comeback that seemed nearly impossible after the "last press conference."


1962 California gubernatorial election

At the time, California had been considered a reliably Republican stronghold. Following World War II, all of the state's governors and
US Senators The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
had been Republican until Pat Brown was elected
Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...
and Clair Engle was elected U.S. Senator in 1958, bucking the trend. US President
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
, with Nixon as his vice presidential running mate, had carried California in both
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
and
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
, and Nixon defeated John F. Kennedy there in the 1960 presidential election. Nixon was widely viewed by the
California Republican Party The California Republican Party (CAGOP) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the U.S. state of California. The party is based in Sacramento and is led by chair Jessica Millan Patterson. As of October 2020, Republicans repre ...
as its best hope for defeating the popular Brown to retake the governor's mansion, itself perceived as a prominent stepping stone for a rematch against Kennedy in 1964. In a hard and bitterly fought campaign, early polling showed Nixon winning by a significant margin. The polls showed Brown, who made a point of not beginning to campaign until late in the season, closing the margin in the days before the election, but Nixon was still favored to win. Brown won the election, and the 5% margin stunned Nixon and political pundits nationwide.


Press conference

As election results came in on Tuesday, November 6, Election Day, Nixon and his staff monitored results at a suite in the Beverly Hilton Hotel in what was becoming a tighter race than expected. Nixon's press secretary
Herbert G. Klein Herbert George Klein (April 1, 1918 – July 2, 2009Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
and San Diego County to overturn Brown's margin. As the night progressed, the returns showed a tide of additional votes for Brown, who had pulled 250,000 votes ahead of Nixon. By 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nixon sent a congratulatory telegram to Brown that read, "Congratulations on your re-election as Governor. I wish you the best in your great honor and opportunity which you now have to lead the first state in the nation." Klein appeared before the press and started his press conference with the announcement that Nixon would not speak to the media; 10 minutes into Klein's press conference, an aide notified him that Nixon would indeed speak to the media. A tired-looking Nixon spoke with a quavering voice, delivering what was described as a "15-minute monologue." He spent most of the talk criticizing the press, his remarks interrupted only by brief interjections from reporters, but he acknowledged well into his remarks that the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
in October 1962 did not allow his campaign to get his message across during the final two weeks in his election bid.Staff
"Transcript of Nixon's News Conference on His Defeat by Brown in Race for Governor of California"
'' The New York Times'', November 8, 1962. Accessed March 13, 2009.
Nixon began his remarks stating that "now that all the members of the press are so delighted that I have lost, I'd like to make a statement of my own." Nixon insisted that the press had attacked him since 1948 following the
Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in con ...
case. He said: "I leave you gentlemen now. And you will now write it. You will interpret it. That's your right. But as I leave you, I want you to know: just think how much you're going to be missing. You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore. Because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." He accused the press of printing articles supporting their favored candidates and stated that while they may "give... the shaft" to future candidates, they should have "one lonely reporter on the campaign who will report what the candidate says now and then." Nixon reserved praise for
Carl Greenberg Carl Greenberg (August 19, 1908 – November 4, 1984) was an American newspaper reporter who began as a police reporter; most of his career he was a reporter covering California and U.S. national politics. He worked for the ''Los Angeles Examiner ...
of '' The Los Angeles Times'', who he felt "wrote every word I said." Also praised was Edwin Tetlow of '' The Daily Telegraph'' of London.


Aftermath

Having seen Nixon's remarks, Brown was quoted as stating, "That's something Nixon's going to regret all his life. The press is never going to let him forget it." As described in his obituary in '' The New York Times'', Nixon's farewell-to-politics speech made him appear to be a sore loser violating a cardinal rule of US politics so that it seemed to indicate "that his political career was over."Herbers, John
"THE 37TH PRESIDENT; In Three Decades, Nixon Tasted Crisis and Defeat, Victory, Ruin and Revival"
'' The New York Times'', April 24, 1994. Accessed March 22, 2009.
Five days after the election,
Howard K. Smith Howard Kingsbury Smith (May 12, 1914 – February 15, 2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, political commentator, and film actor. He was one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as th ...
hosted a documentary, ''The Political Obituary of Richard Nixon'', broadcast as a half-hour special by
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
as part of its '' Howard K. Smith: News and Comment'' series. The panelists discussing Nixon's demise were
Murray Chotiner Murray M Chotiner (October 4, 1909 – January 30, 1974) was an American political strategist, attorney, government official, and close associate and friend of President Richard Nixon during much of the 37th President's political career. He ...
and
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
(one of Nixon's future Vice Presidents and a future United States President himself), who regretted Nixon's departure from politics.
Jerry Voorhis Horace Jeremiah "Jerry" Voorhis (April 6, 1901 – September 11, 1984) was a Democratic politician and educator from California who served five terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1947, representing the 12th ...
, whom Nixon had defeated in a 1946 congressional run, criticized Nixon's tactics in that campaign.
Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in con ...
discussed his bitterness at how Nixon had used him to advance his own career at Hiss's expense. While the program was on the air, angry callers clogged the ABC switchboard with complaints, many criticizing the decision to include Hiss, a convicted perjurer, to comment on Nixon. Ultimately, ABC received 80,000 letters and telegrams, almost all of which were critical of the network's special and its choice of panelists. Ambrose Stephen A.br>"Nixon: The education of a politician, 1913–1962"
via Google Books, p. 673, Simon & Schuster, 1988. . Accessed March 13, 2009.
The partisan nature of Smith's broadcast may well have been the beginning of Nixon's rehabilitation and ascent towards the presidency, with former
Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...
, the Republican presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948, writing to Nixon on November 15, "It seems to me that Howard K. Smith has been quite helpful, unwittingly." Noting that many people were outraged by the broadcast, Dewey went on to say that "Smith has proved you were right in your comments about the press". Nixon never showed any remorse for his remarks, instead feeling that the benefits outweighed any possible repercussions, noting in his memoirs:
"I have never regretted what I said in 'the last press conference.' I believe that it gave the media a warning that I would not sit back and take whatever biased coverage was dished out to me. I think the episode was partially responsible for the much fairer treatment I received from the press during the next few years. From that point of view alone, it was worth it."


As a political term

The "last press conference" has become a generic term for a politician's valedictory address, one in which all possibilities for future political activity are being abandoned. Alternatively, a politician speaking to the press after an electoral loss who does plan to continue in politics will state that it is not a "last press conference." In an editorial, '' The New York Times'' noted
Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out amid revelations of extramarital affairs. ...
's statement following his withdrawal from the 1988 Democratic Party presidential process, in which he stated that he was "angry and defiant" at a system that "reduces the press of this nation to hunter and Presidential candidates to being hunted," likening his remarks to Nixon's "last press conference." Dan Quayle, effectively conceding defeat to Republican rival
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
in the party's 2000 presidential primaries, noted his relative youth and stated, "I seriously doubt if this will be my last press conference."Purdum, Todd S
"Quayle Bids Farewell to the Presidential Race, and, Effectively, an Era of His Career"
'' The New York Times'', September 28, 1999. Accessed March 13, 2009.


References


External links


Video of Richard Nixon's November 1962 press conference after losing the California governor's race

Audio of Richard Nixon's November 1962 press conference after losing the California governor's race


* ttps://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/corpus/ Corpus of Political Speeches publicly accessible with speeches from United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, provided b
Hong Kong Baptist University Library
{{Richard Nixon 1962 speeches Speeches by Richard Nixon 1962 in American politics Politics of California 1962 in California Farewell addresses November 1962 events in the United States