And Now, God Help Us, Nixon

First an admission of error, and then a few analytical notes.

A few weeks before the Presidential election I began to recognize that I very much wanted Nixon defeated. That could only mean, Humphrey elected. I had written in Dissent that I wouldn’t vote for Humphrey unless he changed his stand on Vietnam; but by mid-October, watching both men campaign, I wanted Nixon defeated, period. I didn’t like Humphrey any more than before, but given this choice I hadn’t made in a world I hadn’t made, I wanted Nixon defeated, period.

It was right to work for Eugene McCarthy, to fight Humphrey straight down to the nomination, and to keep criticizing Humphrey after he got the nomination. But when it cam...