Nov. 5, 1964 - Former Vice President Richard Nixon attacked New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller today for not having worked for Senator Barry Goldwater in the Republican Presidential campaign. He charged that the Governor’s lack of activity had cost the Republican ticket many votes.
Calling the Rockefeller a “party divider” and a “spoilsport,” Nixon said at a news conference at New York’s Hotel Roosevelt that there now was so much antipathy toward Rockefeller among Republicans throughout the country that he could no longer be regarded as a party leader outside New York.
Nixon said that if Rockefeller led a movement to oust the Republican National Chairman, Dean Burch, it would be “the kiss of death” and might insure continued control of the party’s national organization by Goldwater’s supporters.
The battle among Republicans over that leadership spread yesterday to many state capitals and county seats throughout the country — and across the Atlantic to Madrid, where Rockefeller is vacationing.
The Governor, replying to Nixon’s criticism, insisted that the party should be recast along moderate lines.
The struggle for domination of the party machinery, which erupted immediately after President Johnson’s sweeping victory over Goldwater on Tuesday, is centered on the post of national chairman. The chairman controls all key positions in the party organization.
Newsweek magazine today quoted Nixon as saying:
“This is what’s going to happen. It will take a couple of months for the dust to settle. Then Barry will be dropped like a hot potato. Rockefeller, [Henry Cabot] Lodge, and [Senator] Cliff Case [of New Jersey] have had it, too. The party will never forgive them for dragging their feet.”
At the news conference, Nixon denied that he had told Newsweek that Goldwater would be “dropped like a hot potato.”
Nixon’s castigation of Rockefeller was the highlight of a 35‐minute news conference in which the former Vice President proposed a moratorium on criticism and “backbiting” within Republican ranks — at least until the national committee meets.
When asked to comment on a post‐election statement by Rockefeller that was highly critical of Goldwater and his associates, Nixon said:
“He has been a fine Governor of New York, and if he runs again I will support him.”
But “anyone who sits on the sidelines in a struggle” cannot assume a role of national leadership afterward, Nixon said.
At another point, Nixon snapped that Rockefeller “has had his pound of flesh” when Goldwater lost to Johnson.
Nixon, who was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for President in 1960, added: “Rockefeller ran against Goldwater [for the Republican nomination] very courageously; he lost. While he pledged to support the winner, after he lost he proceeded to drag his feet. He contributed to the Republican deficit.”
While accusing the Governor of being “a party divider in the campaign,” Nixon said:
“He can be a unifier now, and I hope he will.”
In his Republican unity plea, Nixon suggested a “cooling-off” period on “sniping” at the party’s defeated leader, Goldwater.
“I know as a loser what it means,” Nixon said. “So, I urge my fellow Republicans to take into account that Gold‐water deserves a cooling‐off before the great battle for leadership of the party begins.”
“I think Senator Goldwater waged a very courageous campaign against very great odds,” he said.
On the one hand, Nixon said, was “a massive [Democratic] assault directed by one of the master political tacticians of all time.” And on the other hand, Goldwater had to contend with “constant sniping from the rear” by dissident Republicans.
Nixon had high praise for President Johnson’s acumen as a political strategist, calling him “the Robert E. Lee of modern political warfare.”
He added that “unifiers” like Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton, who opposed Goldwater’s nomination but supported him after the nomination, must be looked to for national leadership.
He speculated that “this would have been a difficult year for any Republican” who ran against Johnson.
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