Word: first
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...shrewdly planned, and the mere sound of the Rockefeller trumpets from afar worried many Nixon supporters. "A synthetic boom could easily be organized," warned Nixonite Thomas Pike in a Paul Revere letter widely mailed to Los Angeles Republicans the week before Rocky's trip. But as Rockefeller first arrived on the scene, his every move seemed to be in the wrong direction. Early morning smog forced his plane to land in Burbank, 25 miles from Los Angeles' International Airport and the official reception. After an hour-long trip in a rattletrap bus, Rocky finally caught up with...
Only when he threw away the script, turned on his famed charm and hand-pumped his way through crowded rooms did Rockefeller make the impression he sought. And in the most careful, subtle way, he limned the first faint outlines of his campaign strategy. Rockefeller, the independent, offhanded (and astute) winner of the 1958 New York campaign for Governor, is out to convince the party regulars that 1) he is a serious organization Republican; 2) he has no quarrel with the Administration, but the country needs new men for new and unprecedented problems; and 3) competition among candidates is healthy...
...Francisco reception for Republican leaders, ardent Nixon supporters all, Rocky finally permitted himself to lose some of his smiling composure and got in some telling licks. Margaret Leete, president of the Republican Women's Federation, needled him with a suggestion: "You've always been first man, but now you should be second man." Flushing, Rocky shot back: "But you don't know me." When a debate on the merits of being Nixon's Vice President for eight years persisted, Rockefeller turned on his tormentors and snapped: "Don't go selecting a President...
...said, would make a "wonderful" Vice President. And his feinting attacks moved closer to Dick Nixon. Following a speech at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, a student asked Rockefeller if he thought Nixon could get enough Democratic and independent support to win the presidency. Rocky, for the first time, expressed some oblique doubts. "I wouldn't know the answer to that," he solemnly told his 8,500 listeners...
...Rocky flew back toward New York -with brief but enthusiastic stopovers in Seattle and Boise, Idaho-he left no doubt that he was looking for a fight. Even the most devoted followers of Dick Nixon could no longer assume that their man can win without first meeting Rockefeller's challenge...