Template:VB Approved
| “ | They're protesting a war against the goddamn Nazis!? | „ |
| ~ Nixon on protests for world peace with Germany |
Richard Milhous Nixon is a major character in the Hearts of Iron 4 mod The New Order: Last Days of Europe, serving as an anti-villain in the US playthrough, and either a minor antagonist or protagonist elsewhere. While certainly a morally good person, at least by the standards of TNO's horrific world, and having good intentions, Nixon is also a power-hungry and rude leader who commits several crimes in his attempts to stop the National Progressive Party in a mixture of believing them to be supported by Germany, disliking their opposition to his foreign policy, and wanting to discredit them in order to maintain power.
Biography[]
Early Life & Career[]
Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. His childhood was marked by hardships, such as the failure of his father's lemon business in 1922 and the death of his younger brother in 1925. In addition, he suffered from pneumonia as a child. As a teenager, things improved somewhat when he joined his high school debate and basketball teams, although his older brother, Harold, died of tuberculosis. In 1928, Nixon lost the election for student body president. Despite these challenges, he graduated in 1930 as the third in his class and received a scholarship to attend Harvard.
Nixon decided to attend Whittier College instead of Harvard so he could help out in his father's grocery store. He graduated in 1934 and then entered Duke University School of Law, where he graduated in 1937. After passing the bar, he began practicing law in Whittier, California, where he met his future wife, Pat.
In 1942, Nixon moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Office of Price Administration, but he didn't like the job and joined the Navy, where he served as a Naval Reserve officer until 1946. That same year, a family friend convinced him to run for Congress for California's 12th District on the Republican ticket.
Initially, Nixon had hoped to join the FBI, but his appointment was canceled due to budget cuts. In 1938, he participated in a local theatrical production, where he met Pat Ryan, his future wife.
During his military service, Nixon was promoted to lieutenant in 1943 and to lieutenant commander in 1945. He served with distinction and resigned his commission on January 1, 1946.
Road to the Presidency[]
Nixon and Kennedy during his presidential campaign
After being elected Representative for California's 12th District in 1946 and 1948, Richard Nixon was elected Senator from California in 1950. He remained in the Senate until 1961, when he resigned to assume the Presidency. During his time as a senator, he worked closely with Joe McCarthy in the “Grey Scare” campaign to root out suspected fascists in the federal government, earning a reputation as an anti-fascist crusader.
In 1960, the Republican Party convinced Nixon to run for president alongside Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy under the Republican-Democratic Coalition (RDC). This was the first time since 1864 that two candidates from opposite parties were running on the same ticket. The Nixon-Kennedy ticket defeated the National Progressive Pact (NPP) ticket of Henry M. Jackson and J. William Fulbright by a wide margin, with Nixon winning 424 electoral votes and 58.5% of the national popular vote.
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1960 presidential election results
"Dirty Tricks" campaign[]
Richard Nixon won the 1960 presidential election against Henry M. Jackson and the Progressive National Pact (PNP). However, his victory was not entirely fair. Using his ties to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Nixon ran a “dirty tricks” campaign that included sabotage operations against the NPP and its candidate. The Nixon campaign stole crucial information from NPP files and discredited the party by mocking its Nazi and Communist members, such as Francis Parker Yockey and Gus Hall. In addition, Nixon approved wiretaps at NPP headquarters and worked to divide the party in the election, which hindered his chances of winning and strengthened the Republican Party's position.
Presidency (1961-1964)[]
Richard Nixon assumed the presidency on January 20, 1961, being sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. During the ceremony, his wife Pat held open the family Bibles at Isaiah 2:4. In his inaugural address, which received rave reviews, Nixon stated that “the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker,” a phrase later inscribed on his tombstone. He continued the policy of “containment,” seeking to limit the spread of fascism rather than directly confronting the German-led Einheitspakt and the Japanese-led Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Nixon tended to make foreign policy decisions on his own, often ignoring his Secretary of State, William P. Rogers.
During his presidency, Nixon faced growing tensions between the African Reichskommissariats and South Africa, which led to an economic battle for dominance over South Africa and culminated in the South African War in November 1963. He also had to deal with the Hawaiian Missile Crisis, where Japan placed ICBM missiles on the Hawaiian Islands. Although he received recommendations to invade the islands in 1961, Nixon followed Vice President Kennedy's advice and opted for negotiations rather than an invasion. Although the U.S. reclaimed the islands in 1959, they remained under Japanese control.
In addition, the Nixon administration had to deal with the threat to Philippine independence. With a Japanese presence on the island of Luzon, Japan sought to eliminate U.S. influence in the Pacific, including the U.S.-backed Free Republic of the Philippines.
In-Game[]
Nixon is introduced in the midst of the Hawaii Misille Crisis, caused by the Japanese moving missiles into the still occupied Hawaii following America doing it to Australia. Kennedy helps(or arguably leads to) defusing the crisis and is applauded, something Nixon dislikes. After this, Nixon can make a choice of whether to sign the Civil Rights Act or veto it, which due to his previous policy of walking a middle ground results in either an exodus of right wingers to the National Progressives in the event of a signing, or left wingers if a veto is done. If Nixon does nothing about it in his focus tree, 89 anti-segreggationist rioters in Birmingham get killed by a Ku Klux Klan bomb, causing him to need to choose due to an event pop-up, and a rise in radicalism. Either way, Nixon is painted badly, with Kennedy being praised if the act passes and Nixon slandered if it fails, though given Nixon only does either opportunistically, Kennedy being praised is somewhat deserved.
Following this, Nixon can make several decisions, such as dealing with Guyana and establishing better relations with India, in his focus tree, being mostly successful, unless he deliberetly fails the invasion of Guyana. After Adolf Hitler dies and Germany falls to civil war, Nixon lends support to South Africa. Through all of this, Nixon continues undermining the NPP, setting up even more wiretaps, painting them as fascists, and looking into possible backers. He does eventually find out the NPP's fascist wing under Francis Parker Yockey is receiving funding from Germany, somewhat proving him right.
Despite Nixon's best efforts, his actions are eventually found out through a clerk being blackmailed, with an investigation uncovering huge amounts of wiretaps afterwards. Eventually, Nixon's allies begin abandoning him, ending with J. Edgar Hoover not holding up the investigation. After loosing the support of John W. McCormack, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Wallace F. Bennet, Nixon resigns, flying away on a helicopter making a "V for Victory" sign.
It is unknown what happens to Nixon afterwards, but it is likely he continued to lead a quite life for the next several decades, even in the event he isn't pardoned later.
Personality[]
Nixon is generally cold and distant to most people. He believes the media hates him, which is why he became corrupt going by his focus tree, and is generally disliking of conversations with other people. In cabinet events, Nixon is either quite or asking everyone to shut up so he can talk. He is also generally opportunistic, either supporting or passing the act only to gain a solid base, helping Emil Maurice secure Madagascar for the OFN, or supporting Albert Speer in the German Civil War to weaken the Reich.
Nixon is also generally power-hungry, the cause of his opportunism. He dislikes when people seemingly betray him, hating McCormack and the others when they plan to vote to impeach him, thinking angrily of Hoover when he abandons him, and wanting credit for passing the civil rights act. Nixon is also implied to be anti-semitic, as he believes Jew reporters will not give him enough credit for anything, if his locked out "Keep it Clean" focus is an indication.
For all his faults, Nixon does have good intentions. Part of his sabotage of the NPP is due to genuinely believing them to be in the way of his foreign policy against Germany, and he does prove his assumptions of Yockey being a collaborator correct. Despite his anti-semitism, Nixon helped purge fascists from the government in the 50s, despite taking none of the credit, showing he does have genuine ideals and honor. In addition, Nixon does seemingly love his family, adressing his girls affectionately when telling them at a dinner they will be going back to California, and them being the first ones he tells of his resignation.
Trivia[]
- Nixon is a foil to the other two starting superpower leaders, Hitler and Ino, as while they all start as world leaders who are replaced by someone else soon after ascending, Nixon shares key contrasts with the two.
- Unlike Hitler, who's focus tree is swapped shortly after the game begins, Nixon starts with a focus tree made before the game begins. In addition, Hitler's choices are all ceremonial besides small buffs to each faction, Nixon's one important choice determines the candidates for the 1964 election, and thus, potentially America's future.
- Unlike Ino, who's attempts to get things done promt a succession crisis anyway, Nixon, as mentioned before, influences the 1964 candidates.
External Links[]
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