Anonymous wrote:How could they have voted for the other candidate? After all, his party included those horrible racist southerners who believed in segregation and the poll tax. This was the most important moral issue of the day, and the Democratic candidate didn't even denounce these racists inside his own party.
Indeed, he was considered a bit of a flip-flopper, having been staunchly anti-communist during McCarthy then flipped on foreign policy--and had a mixed civil rights record. Blacks were suspicious of him and Nixon was fairly (for a republican at the time) progressive on civil rights.
No, I have to think my folks swallowed hard and voted for Nixon. Their moral fiber was just too strong to allow otherwise.
Your parents could have been afraid that Democratic candidate had a secret plan to impose his religion on the country. After all, the Republican Party had its own batch of racists and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had endorsed the Democrat.