Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer Page B

beginning, and it was Nixon at the end. By the time Alabama, the first state, voted, 14 for Nixon, 12 for Reagan, the next to last doubt was dispelled, for The New York Times on Sunday had estimated only 9 solid for Nixon. When Florida came in with 32 out of 34, and Georgia with 21 where only 14 had seemed likely a few days before, there was no need to worry the issue. Wisconsin with 30 votes for Nixon carried it over—the total was 692. The rest had gone: Rockefeller 277, Reagan 182, Rhodes 55, Romney 50, Case 22, Carlson 20, W. Rockefeller 18, Fong 14, Stassen 2, Lindsay 1.
    Filing out of the hall, there was the opportunity to see Nixon on television. Where in 1960 he had said, “All I am I owe to my mother and father, my family and my church ...” he was considerably more of the professional strategist tonight as he spoke of his efforts to win the nomination while unifying the party. “You see,” he said to the cameras, “the beauty of our contest this year was that we won the nomination in a way designed to win the election. We didn’t make the mistake of breaking up the California delegation or breaking up the Ohio delegation or raiding the Michigan delegation. And in the State of New York also we respected the Rockefeller position, being the candidate for New York. And I think this will pay off in November. We’re going to have a united party. Sure we’ve had a real fight ... but we have won it in a way that we’re going into the final campaign united.” He was lucid, he was convincing, he said he felt perfectly “free” to choose his Vice President. “I won the nomination without having to pay any price, making any deal with any candidate or any individuals representing a candidate.... I [will] meet with delegates from all over the country ... Southern delegates, the Northern delegates, the Midwestern delegates and the Western delegates. But I will make the decision based on my best judgment as to the man that can work best with me, and that will, I think perhaps, if he ever has to do that, serve as President of the United States.”
    In the old days, he had got his name as Tricky Dick because he gave one impression and acted upon another—later when his language was examined, one could not call him a liar. So he had literally not made any deal with any candidate, but he was stretching the subtle rubber of his own credibility when he claimed he would not have to pay any price. The rest of the night at the Miami Hilton would belong to the South.

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    But let us leave the convention with a look at Reagan. He had come forward immediately after the first ballot was in, and made a move that the nomination be unanimous. Reagan was smiling when he came up for his plea, he looked curiously more happy than he had looked at any point in the convention, as if he were remembering Barry Goldwater’s renunciation of the nomination in 1960, and the profitable results which had ensued, or perhaps he was just pleased because the actor in his soul had issued orders that this was the role to play. For years in the movies he had played the good guy and been proud of it. If he didn’t get the girl, it was because he was too good a guy to be overwhelmingly attractive. That was all right. He would grit his teeth and get the girl next time out. Since this was conceivably the inner sex drama of half of respectable America, he was wildly popular with Republicans. For a party which prided itself on its common sense, they were curiously, even outrageously, sentimental.
    Now as Reagan made his plea for unity, he spoke with a mildness, a lack of charisma, even a simplicity, which was reminiscent of a good middle-aged stock actor’s simplicity—well, you know, fellows, the man I’m playing is an intellectual, and of course I have the kind of mind which even gets confused by a finesse in bridge.
    They cheered him wildly, and he looked happy, as if something had gone his