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A Puppy Tale
It's September 23, 1952. The U.S. presidential election is only a few weeks away. Former General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican nominee, has chosen a bright, up-and-coming young senator named Richard Nixon to be his vice-presidential running mate.
But a growing controversy is about to destroy Nixon's political career and remove him from the ticket. During the previous month, a furor has erupted over use of an $18,000 campaign fund. Nixon's opponents claim it was illegally used to pay for campaign and possibly personal expenses. It wasn't, in fact. In this case Nixon is innocent of the charges. His candidacy, however, is all but over.
You probably aren't going to like the protagonist in this story. You may even object to my using him in this book at all. And I don't blame you for feeling that way—when he became president, Nixon lied and committed crimes. But the lesson—the Relationship Law—is so powerful that I want you to remember it and use it. This example will make it hard to forget.
Back to Nixon.
Even Eisenhower, sensing the tide has turned against his running mate, is pressuring Nixon to quit. He sends word that Nixon should announce he is stepping down as candidate for vice president. It could very well be the end of Nixon's political career.
Nixon chooses instead a high-risk strategy: He decides to go directly to the American people on television and plead his case. He seeks to shift the court of opinion from the media to the people themselves. Sixty ...
