Last Act

Since Election Day, Vice President Richard Nixon had virtually retired--by his own wish--from public view. But with the convening of the new Congress, he was the public man again, presiding over the Senate until John Kennedy's Inauguration. One day last week, Nixon faced a painful constitutional chore that required him to officiate" at a joint session of Congress to hear the official tally of the Electoral College vote, and then to make "sufficient declaration" of the election of the man who defeated him in the tight 1960 presidential election. Nixon fulfilled his assignment with grace, then went beyond the required "sufficient declaration."

"This is the first time in 100 years that a candidate for the presidency announced the result of an election in which he was defeated,"* he said. "Those who lose accept the verdict and support those who win." Nixon thereupon offered his "heartfelt best wishes" to Kennedy and Johnson. When he had finished, House Speaker Sam Rayburn applauded, told Nixon it was the first speech he had ever applauded during his tenure as House Speaker. The Congress and the galleries exploded with the kind of ovation that belongs to a good loser who makes a gracious gesture.

In the waning days of his spectacular years on Capitol Hill, Nixon was bombarded with offers of jobs from three foundations, four universities and schools (including the University of Chicago), and "innumerable" corporations and law firms. He has declined them, will return to California to practice law, then ease back into the political scene in 1962, stumping the nation on behalf of G.O.P. candidates. As he sees things now, he probably will not run for Governor of California against Democratic Incumbent Edmund ("Pat") Brown. But Nixon will keep himself in the public eye by writing articles and making speeches--has, in fact, received hundreds of requests for both in the past two months.

With the endorsement of 34 million voters and the imminent retirement of Dwight Eisenhower from politics, Richard Nixon is the acknowledged leader of the Republican Party and the top candidate to be its presidential nominee again in four years. But, says a Nixon man: "Dick is a hell of a long way from deciding about 1964."

* In 1861 Vice President John Breckinridge confirmed the election of his opponent, Abraham Lincoln.

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