Guest: The Honorable Richard M. Nixon, Vice President of the United States.
     Correspondent: Walter Cronkite, CBS News.
     Producer: Warren V. Bush.
     Vice President NIXON. Well, Walter, good to see you again.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Good evening, Mr. Vice President, good to see you, sir.
     Vice President NIXON. Would you like to sit down over here?
     Mr. CRONKITE. Thank you.
     Mr. Vice President, this marks the opening of the campaign for the Presidency, this day. During the next 57 days you and your opponent are going to be discussing the hard issues many, many times, but before you and Mr. Kennedy launch into that matter and get really locked with the issues, we thought we'd like to explore you gentlemen as men.
     You, Mr. Nixon, at 47, are the second youngest man to serve in the Vice Presidency, I believe; a Congressman at 33, a Senator at 37, Vice President at 39.
     We know what you have done and it's quite an impressive record, of course. But now we'd like to know you a little bit better personally, and I just thought that maybe I'd clear up one little thing that I read just recently, before we get into anything more serious, and that is that I read that this name "Nixon" generically is just about as Irish as Kennedy itself, is that true?
     Vice President NIXON. As a matter of fact, I believe it is. And, just to compound the situation, I think you should know that my middle name is Milhous. That happens to be my mother's maiden name, and that is an Irish name, too. My mother's parents and great-grandparents were all Irish Quakers. They came to the United States, to the Pennsylvania colony, from Dublin, so I have some Irish on my side, as well as Senator Kennedy.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Nixon, I think that the Nixon name itself has a meaning in Gaelic that might be rather significant. Do you believe it?
     Vice President NIXON. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Well, I read that it means "He wins," or "He faileth not," which is about the same thing.
     Vice President NIXON. Well, it has been pretty good up to the present time, but, you know, I never assumed that the name is the thing, it is the battle that we put on that is going to count.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Vice President, I know that you must be aware, have been told by your staff, perhaps, that there are some, percentage certainly unknown, who would say, "I don't know what it is, but I just don't like the man; I can't put my finger on it, I just don't like him."
     I'm sure that happens to all of us in the public eye - we have our percentage of people who have a dislike that they can't put their finger on.
     Would you have any idea what might inspire that kind of feeling on the part of anybody?
     Vice President NIXON. It is rather hard to say, and it is particularly, of course, difficult for an individual who is the subject of such a reaction, if there is such a reaction, to be an objective judge. I would suggest this: In my public life, I have been involved in many controversial issues. As a matter of fact, that is why I am where I am today. And whenever you become involved in a controversial issue, there are some people who are for you, there are also some people who are against you, so perhaps part of this is a subconscious reaction of those who may disagree with me on the issues. Then, of course, another thing might be the fact that when people take pictures of you, or when you appear on television, you may not make the impression that they like.
     Oh, I get letters from women, for example, sometimes - and men - who support me, and they say, "Why do you wear that heavy beard when you are on television?" Actually, I don't really try, but I can shave within 30 seconds before I go on television and still have a beard, unless we put some powder on, as we have done today.
     So, be that as it may, I just am not a judge, I can only say I hope that there are not so many who feel that way that they are a majority in the country, or that Nixon name isn't going to help me a bit this November.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Nixon do you think that among those who have any of this feeling perhaps because of past issues base it on the campaign that brought you to the Congress the first time, the Jerry Voorhis campaign, and the Senate campaign, Helen Gahagan Douglas? We hear from some of them that this was a dirty campaign. Do you have any feeling of any regret about any part of these campaigns?
     Vice President NIXON. I have always felt, Walter, that a campaign has to be hard hitting on issues. I will submit that both of those campaigns in 1946 and 1950, as a matter of fact, the other campaigns that I have participated in since then, have been hard-hitting campaigns on the issues. I have never engaged in personalities in campaigns, but I do believe that the people are entitled to know where I stand, where my opponent stands, and where we disagree.
     Now, as far as those campaigns are concerned, when you win, the people that lose don't like it, that is an obvious reaction, but I will stand on the record, as far as the campaigns are concerned.
     I checked personally, of course, everything that I said and everything that I did. I'm a pretty careful student of the whole area of political activity. I don't use ghostwriters, at least I have tried not to, and for that reason I do stand by what I've said in those campaigns and in this one.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Nixon, there is some talk of there being a "new Nixon." You have addressed yourself on this subject once or twice, but I'd like to put the question in a little different way:
     Doesn't that create any kind of resentment in you that anybody should feel there needs to be a new Nixon?
     Vice President NIXON. No, not particularly. I think that our people generally like to appraise their public servants and to detect, if they feel it is justified, any changes that indicate growth or change that they might approve. Now, as far as I'm concerned, when people say there is a new Nixon, that must mean that people who did not like the Nixon that they knew before, now like the one that they know now.
     Now, I happen to believe, myself, that perhaps many of those who discover the new Nixon may not have known the old one, but, seriously, may I say this: we all change.
     I certainly have had the most valuable experience in a capsule form in the past 8 years that any man could possibly have had. I have had tutelage by one of the great men of our century, I believe, President Eisenhower. I have leaned a lot, and it is very possible that I certainly do convey a different impression today than I did previously, because if I hadn't learned, I wouldn't amount to too much. So, I will concede that I have changed, and I hope for the better.
     Mr. CRONKITE. I'm going to look into my little black book here, which isn't so little - the eyes are getting dimmer as time goes on---
     Vice President NIXON. I have the same trouble.
     Mr. CRONKITE. And get a quotation here that I'd like to read to you.
     Someone once said, regarding a "New Nixon," - "No, he has always been exactly the same. I never knew a person to change so little. From the time he was first able to understand the world around him until now, he has reacted the same way to the same situations."
     Do you recognize the quote?
     Vice President NIXON. No, I'm afraid I don't.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Well, it's from your mother, who, incidentally, we all saw on television during the conventions, and is certainly a delightful person.
     Vice President NIXON. Of course, she would be prejudiced, I would agree.
     Mr. CRONKITE. I think she might have a little bit of prejudice there. I think you have got a vote in the family, anyway.
     Vice President NIXON. That's right.
     Mr. CRONKITE. I was just wondering about that quotation, though. It creates an interesting idea to me. What do you think has been the sort of central theme in your life, a single force which has gone all the way through, or can you identify any such force, since there has been so little change and reaction to things?
     Vice President NIXON. Well, my major interest ever since I came to Washington, and long before that, has been in the field of foreign policy and of foreign affairs. Now, this does not mean that I haven't had an interest in domestic affairs, as well, and haven't participated in many activities involving domestic issues. But, the reason that, to me the overriding issue of our times is foreign affairs, is where it comes right out of my whole background. I indicated, for example, that my mother is a Quaker, she is a very good one. I am not as good. But, from the time that I can remember, I know that she and my grandmother, her mother who lived to be 93, used to talk about their "concern," which is a Quaker way of expressing it, for peace, for building a better life not only for people in this country but for people everywhere. This humanitarian approach to the problems of the world, an approach, incidentally, which they have, my mother and my grandmother, more in their character than I have, but which I certainly have acquired from them to an extent; this is something that I think has affected my whole attitude toward public service generally. And, as I see the responsibilities for the next President, while he will have grave responsibilities in the domestic field, because we want better schools and housing and jobs for all of our people; to me, his major job will be to attempt to make a contribution toward building a world peace, with freedom for all people.
     And, the reason that I have an obsession on this point, and incidentally I am sure that Senator Kennedy has, also, for perhaps different reasons because his background is different, but the reason I have this obsession I think goes to the family background as much as anything else.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Vice President, you mentioned your Quaker background, and we certainly don't want to inject religion into this---
     Vice President NIXON. No, no.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Not talking about it as a campaign issue here, but as a background matter, do you feel any pangs of conscience in regard to the building of a strong military force, or the possibility of having to commit a military force with this pacifist background of Quakers?
     Vice President NIXON. No. Of course, I really, in effect, answered that question when I volunteered for service in World War II, and if you read the history of Quakers, you will find that some have felt it necessary sometimes to fight for freedom because they are concerned not only with peace but with peace with justice. The Quaker opposes peace with surrender just as would any American. As far as I am concerned, I feel very strongly on this whole issue, that we cannot have peace at any price. I believe that the moment we start thinking that way it will mean surrender of principle or territory in order to get peace. I think the way, in other words, to have peace is to be strong and be prepared to resist those who threaten peace, and that is why a strong United States, and with the determination to use our strength in the cause of freedom and peace, is essential if we are going to reach our goal of peace with justice for the world.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Vice President, in regard to your entering into politics, you have been quoted in one or two of the biographies regarding the fact that you were summoned, in a sense, by Republican friends in Whittier to come back, after you were getting out of the Navy in Baltimore, and run for Congress. And, you are also quoted as saying probably if that hadn't happened, or at least if they had accepted you in a Wall Street firm you would have ended up a corporation lawyer today rather than as a candidate for the highest office in our land. Did you really not have any thought about a political career at all up to that moment that you got that phone call?
     Vice President NIXON. No. As a matter of fact, before I entered the service, before World War II, in 1940 I had made a couple of speeches for Wendell Willkie, in 1940, and there had been some talk in my home community of my possibly running for the State assembly; that is, of course, the State Legislature in California. Then came the war, and those plans went out of the window. But, in any event, I would say this: that if I hadn't gotten the call, I couldn't possibly have run because I didn't have the money, I didn't have the support which would have enabled me to run, without getting some help of this type. So, this was one of those incidents which changed the whole course of a life. If that telegram had not been sent to Little River, Md., where I was stationed at the time, I would not be here today.
     Mr. CRONKITE. I would like to get back to that in just a moment, but moving on a little bit, what happened when you went home and told Pat that you had this - and I'm being very familiar - Mrs. Nixon
     Vice President NIXON. Certainly. She is always known as "Pat."
     Mr. CRONKITE. When you got home and told her that you had this phone call or telegram. Did this then become a matter of a career opening up ahead of you, or did you say, as some of us might have said, "Well, it won't hurt to spend 2 years in Congress; it might help the law career a little bit when I go home."
     Vice President NIXON. Well, first of all, we didn't figure at the time we were sure to win. We figured it was a gamble, but we always thought, or at least I did, and I am sure she agreed, that if we were to win that we would stay in. I never thought of going to Congress and then going back to practice law. As a matter of fact, when I went to Congress I severed my affiliation with my law firm at that point. I didn't feel that you could practice law and be in Congress at the same time.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Well, now, when you came to Congress, what did you conceive as your political future?
     Vice President NIXON. Being a Congressman, actually. I have always found that you have to do best the job at hand, and some of the jobs I first had in the Congress were not particularly pleasant. I had the investigation in the Alger Hiss case, which was a rugged experience. I was on the Labor Committee, helping to draft the Taft-Hartley Act. These were not my fields of primary interest because my major interest was foreign affairs, as I indicated, and my only chance in foreign affairs was to go with the Herter Committee to Europe in 1947. But, I find that if you take the tough jobs, the ones that you may not have asked for or may not want and do them well, that usually things work out for the best. I don't mean to sound Pollyanna-ish, but it's worked that way with me, and that would be my advice to young Congressmen today, that sometimes when they get these bad political committee assignments, take them, do them well, and something better will come along.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Well, now, I and a rather vast research staff at CBS have been doing quite a bit of reading, and we came up with another quotation, that you said that if it was in the stars for certain persons to be nominated and elected, that that's the way it's going to be. In other words, I have a somewhat fatalistic attitude toward the Presidency. Do you really mean by this that you feel there is sort of a predestination?
     Vice President NIXON. Well, let me say this: I am not an astrologist. I would say, however, that I do feel that America is a nation of destiny, and my study of American history, and incidentally, in that respect I'm like Mr. Truman, history is my primary avocation, and I like to read whenever possible, but my study of American history convinces me that the American people have usually elected as their Presidents the men, from either party, who at the time best, could serve the interests of the country. Some of our great Presidents leave been Democrats, for example, Woodrow Wilson in World War I, he was the man the country needed then; and some of them have been Republicans. I would say maybe Theodore Roosevelt, in his time. My point is that I don't think that we just sit back and expect the people to tap us for leadership. You must be ready for leadership, you must take these tough jobs, as I explained a moment ago, these tough assignments that come your way, but if you do the best that you can in the assignments that are given you, then you'll be ready for the leadership position, if it is intended that it should come that way. I think perhaps I can best summarize it this way: that people often say a President must lead the people and tell the people what to do. Now, a President must do that to an extent, but no President can lead the people unless he, himself, is of the people, unless he is representing the true aspirations of the people that they themselves may not be able to express.
     In other words, our great Presidents have really articulated what people felt at the time, and it was because they were representative of the tide of the times that they were President, and that they were able to lead as they did. And so as I look at the Presidency today, I think that Senator Kennedy or I will be elected, the man who will be elected is the one who closest represents the aspirations, the feelings of the American people at this time, and he, representing those feelings, will be able to lead the people effectively for that reason.
     Now, that doesn't mean we both won't campaign hard and try to move the people our way, but if it isn't intended for me to be President, I'm not going to be elected. That's the way I feel about it.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. President - Mr. Vice President, you almost convinced me there for a moment - I was putting you in office.
     Vice President NIXON. I'm President of the Senate.
     Mr. CRONKITE. We all know what a tremendous job, just plain job, is the Presidency of the United States, and of course already you have given so much of your time and effort, and Mrs. Nixon has been quoted as saying that it hurts to see all of this time spent away from the children, and so forth.
     How do you feel about that? Can any job, even the Presidency of the United States, be worth so much time away from your family?
     Vice President NIXON. Well, the answer has to be "No."
     The answer, of course, also has to be that we - we have to look at our lives and see what we want from life. If we could have our choice, we would like both, we would like the maximum time with the children, going to the beach on Sundays after church, for example, being able to spend evenings looking at television programs, and the like, and they often come in and try to get me acquainted with Dobie Gillis, and all these people that they are interested in, that I have never seen.
     On the other hand, we have the problem that we have the life of service and the opportunities presented in that of public service, and my answer is that, again, that a man or woman, for that matter, must do what he or she is called upon to do, and then he has to fit his personal life into his public duties as well as he can. It isn't easy, but it isn't a question of choice, it is what you have to do, and I don't want to sound too much as if all these things were planned in advance and we have nothing to say about it, but I do believe that anybody who goes into public life must be prepared to sacrifice the home life which he would otherwise have. He must be prepared, because he is going to have to do it if he is going to do well in public life.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Mr. Nixon, just one last question: What do you think is the single most important personal quality that you would take to the Presidency of the United States?
     Vice President NIXON. Well, again, I really am not the best judge of that. I would say perhaps the quality of being able to articulate the great issues of our time effectively, and of convincing people who may disagree with the position that I take that they should follow the leadership or accept the decisions that I believe are in the best interests of the Nation.
     This, in a sense, is saying the quality of leadership, but describing it in its aspects which I think I can best fulfill.
     Mr. CRONKITE. Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President, for spending this half hour with us.
     Vice President NIXON. Thank you. I've enjoyed being with you.