John Fund: “There is another historical example that should prompt Democrats to want to test Hillary and consider the alternatives. The Republican party and many conservatives made a fatal mistake in 1968 when they nominated Richard Nixon despite ample evidence he was a political conniver, had been involved in various financial scandals during his career, and was at best only a ‘sunshine soldier’ when it came to taking up conservative causes…. (But) Convinced that Nixon was the most conservative candidate who could win in 1968, conservatives ranging from Barry Goldwater to Strom Thurmond to William F. Buckley endorsed him. Nixon himself cynically observed of his new conservative allies: ‘They don’t like me, but they tolerate me.'”
“Nixon’s rivals for the 1968 nomination, Nelson Rockefeller on the left and Ronald Reagan on the right, begged conservatives to reconsider. Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer, wrote that ‘both men shared a deep concern about Nixon; they saw him as a deeply flawed man who had the capacity to wreck the party.'”
