 This 1983: Doomsday page is a Proposal.
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Richard Milhous Nixon was an American politician and the 37th President of the United States. After resigning from office in the wake of the Watergate Scandal, Nixon first moved to a townhouse in New York City, before relocating to a home in Saddle River, New Jersey.
Nixon would attempt to stage a comeback of sorts by become an important figure in the early years of the New Jersey Skylands in the northwestern regions of the former state.
Pre-Doomsday Life[]
Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California in 1913, the son of Hannah Milhous Nixon and grocer Francis Anthony Nixon. Richard Nixon grew up in humble circumstances, an upbringing which deeply affected his outlook on life.
A scene from the 1960 presidential debates
Nixon would run as former General Dwight Eisenhower's running mate in his successful presidential campaigns of the 1950's. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the Eisenhower Administration, Nixon launched his own campaign for President in 1960. This election campaign was remembered for its pivotal debates (the first televised presidential debates ever) between Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, as well as for the narrowness of Kennedy's ultimate victory over Nixon.
Nixon would then attempt to run for Governor of California two years later and lose. In the aftermath of the loss, Nixon bitterly told the press (who he felt had been against him) "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."
Nixon would then make an unexpected comeback in 1968, launching another bid for the presidency. Campaigning on a platform of "law and order" against a chaotic backdrop of assassinations and urban riots, and promising an extrication from the Vietnam quagmire that would involve "peace with honor," Nixon achieved his long-awaited goal of the presidency, His first term saw the first Moon landing and the continuation of the Vietnam War. Nixon would win reelection handily, but the gradual confirmation of his involvement in illegal wiretapping and other unsavory activities during the 1972 campaign led to the infamous Watergate Scandal, one of the most notorious political scandals of pre-Doomsday America.
Doomsday[]
On that fateful night in September of 1983, Nixon's Secret Service detail was quickly alerted to the coming nuclear onslaught (similar to the situation simultaneously unfolding in Georgia with Jimmy Carter and his own detail). The former President's security detail quickly loaded him and his family into a limousine and sped away to the northwest. Correctly surmising that the nearby Paterson, New Jersey would be an eventual target (though definitely not in the first wave of Soviet attacks), the agents' priority was to get the Nixon family deeper into the sparsely-populated Skylands region of New Jersey.
Nixon's entourage eventually took shelter at a ski lodge in the area, where they remained for the next several weeks, as the Secret Service agents gradually attempted to piece together a picture of the region's current status.
Life in the Skylands[]
Early on, Nixon and his entourage took shelter in a small town in the northwestern corner of the Skylands.
A major priority early on for the New Jersey Skylands government was to build strong relations with nearby survivor states in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York to ensure that a repetition of the 1984 conflict wouldn't happen again. To that end, as soon as local analysts projected a surplus of produce, woodworked crafts, and other supplies, the Skylands government made a point to quickly open trade relationships with Reading, the New York Rangers Militia Protection Zone, and other nearby survivor states. Former President Nixon was heavily involved with advising Skylands leaders on the ideal content and wording of many of these treaties. Ultimately, it was Nixon who would urgently advise the various Mayors of the Skylands towns that it made sense to consolidate executive power into a Governor. The chaos and struggles of the 1980's made many local politicians inclined to agree, and another summit meeting was convened at Ringwood Manor to draft legislation to formally reinstate the Office of the Governor of New Jersey.
However, due to Nixon's pre-Doomsday scandals with executive power and privilege, Skylands leaders made sure to keep quiet about Nixon's involvement in this movement (until many years later) so as not to frighten Skylands voters into worrying about executive overreach. Though disgruntled by this, Nixon understood the political necessity.
Christine Todd Whitman, the first person to serve as Governor of New Jersey (specifically the Skylands region) after Doomsday. The Office of Governor was reinstated partially thanks to Nixon's urging of local leaders to do so. Whitman was also the first woman to serve as NJ Governor.
Nixon lived just long enough to see the local Republicans successfully nominate Christine Todd Whitman as the first post-Doomsday Governor, an accomplishment he proudly considered part of his legacy.
Legacy[]
Nixon's legacy has proven to be complicated to assess for historians. His genuine achievements in diplomacy and environmentalism as US President have earned him continued praise, especially with many historians speculating about whether Nixon's detente policy could have prevented Doomsday if continued (a view that Nixon himself avidly attempted to promote during the final years of his life). However, his actions leading up to and during the Watergate Scandal have, perhaps permanently, soured many on Nixon, and tarnished his legacy.
Nixon's role in shaping the early years of the New Jersey Skylands earned him a measure of praise, however, and Nixon himself seemed to hope that the residents in the Northeast might remember him for this.