During a 1958 tour of eight Latin American countries Nixon’s life was endangered by demonstrators. Nixon responded coolly and calmly. A year later Nixon opened a U.S. exhibition in Moscow, where he engaged in an impromptu public exchange with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev amid the exhibit’s display of U.S. kitchen appliances. On the final day of his visit Nixon made an unprecedented address on Soviet television.

Years of Defeat
Nixon was clearly in line to receive the presidential nomination in 1960, and he was nominated by the Republican National Convention on July 20, 1960. Nixon chose as his running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Nixon campaigned in every state. He asked the voters to continue the progress of the Eisenhower presidency. His Democratic opponent, John F. Kennedy, whose running mate was Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, assailed the Eisenhower record, calling on the voters “to get America moving again.” In an unprecedented action, the two candidates held four nationally televised debates. Appearance more than substance won the initial debate for Kennedy. Because of bad lighting, poor makeup, and fatigue, Nixon projected a stammering, washed-out image in contrast to the quick-witted intelligence displayed by Kennedy. That single debate was widely believed to have lost Nixon the election. Although Kennedy won with a decisive majority in electoral college, he squeaked by with a margin of only 120.000 popular votes.
Nixon returned to private law practice in California, although he kept up a strenuous pace of speaking and writing. In 1962 Nixon tried to unseat California’s popular governor, Brown, but was swamped by 300.000 votes. Nixon’s political career seemed ended.

The Road Back
In 1963 he moved to NYC to join a major Wall Street law firm. But he was soon on the stump again, this time campaigning relentlessly for the 1964 unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate, Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona. Over the next two years Nixon engineered the most spectacular comeback in U.S. political history. He campaigned for Republican candidates in 1966, when the Republicans made significant gain in the House. On Feb. 1, 1968, Nixon announced his candidacy for president. Despite challenges by governors G. Rommey of Michigan, N. Rockefeller of New York and R. Reagan of California, Nixon was nominated once again by the Republican National Convention, on Aug. 7, 1968. For his running mate, Nixon selected the little-known governor of Maryland, Spiro T.