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This Happened

This Happened — November 5: Before The Fall, A Rise To The White House

Some say this was the day the 1960s ended (or really began...)? The man who would eventually bring shame on the White House, resigning after the Watergate scandal, was already dividing opinion when he ran for President for the second time in 1968.

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Richard Nixon wound up squeaking past his Democratic rival Hubert Humphrey to become the 37th President of the United States.

How did Richard Nixon become President?

Having served eight years as vice president alongside President Dwight Eisenhower, Nixon was the presumed Republican candidate in the 1960 election to succeed Eisenhower. His Democratic rival was John F. Kennedy. Nixon performed well in radio debates, only to be humiliated on television, where the juxtaposition between his sweaty, unpresidential appearance and Kennedy's sharp presentation made a serious blow to his candidacy.

After being defeated on the national stage, Nixon ran in 1962 for California governor, and lost again. But he would finally triumph in 1968's run for the White House. Running on a “Law and order” platform, Nixon also pledged to end the draft, which he hoped would also stop affluent college-aged men from protesting the war in Vietnam, since it would no longer concern them directly.

After third party candidate George Wallace split the Democrats’ New Deal coalition, Richard Nixon was able to win the electoral college, as well as the popular vote by a small margin over Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

What is Nixon best known for?

Nixon went on to win a second term four years later, in 1972, though it would plant the seed for his demise. Perhaps the most detested president in the 20th century, Richard Nixon is mostly remembered for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, which began with a break-in of Democratic party headquarters during the 1972 campaign.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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