The visit took place only months after the overthrow in January of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who in 1954 had been awarded the Legion of Merit and was later granted asylum by the United States, and the incident may have been orchestrated by the Communist Party of Venezuela.

U.S. Navy Admiral Arleigh Burke mobilized fleet and Marine units to the region, compelling the Venezuelan government to provide full protection to Nixon for the remainder of the trip.

The attack was denounced by all major Venezuelan presidential candidates standing in that year's election, except for the incumbent leader Admiral Wolfgang Larrazábal.

Nixon was generally applauded in American press reports for his calm and adept handling of the incident and was feted with a "hero's welcome" on his return to the United States.

According to Nixon, he decided to make the unannounced stop because he felt that average Uruguayans would be receptive towards him, while scheduled and published visits were likely to attract organized demonstrations.

In an event foreshadowing his famous visit to the Lincoln Memorial to meet anti-war protesters some years later, Nixon waded directly into the crowd of demonstrators, attended by only two staff members.

[8][9][3] Eisenhower cabled Nixon at his next stop, in Quito, Ecuador:[10] Dear Dick: Your courage, patience, and calmness in the demonstration directed against you by radical agitators have brought you new respect and admiration in our country.

The United States' earlier decision to award Pérez Jiménez the Legion of Merit on 12 November 1954[12][13] and after his overthrow to grant him asylum combined to create a charged atmosphere leading up to Nixon's arrival.

According to a U.S. Secret Service report of the incident, a crowd of demonstrators at the airport "purposely disrupted ... [the] welcoming ceremony by shouting, blowing whistles, waving derogatory placards, throwing stones, and showering the Nixons with human spittle and chewing tobacco".

[17] For the first time on the South America tour, the Nixons traveled in closed-top cars as opposed to convertibles, a decision later credited with saving their lives.

[c] Life's Wilson wrote that a crowd of several hundred "raced toward their quarry and engulfed Nixon's car",[21] stoning it and banging on the windows with their fists.

When the mob began rocking the car back and forth in an attempt to overturn it, U.S. Secret Service agents, believing the vice president's life was in jeopardy, drew their firearms and prepared to begin shooting into the crowd; in an act described by historian Rick Perlstein as "the kind of presence of mind for which battlefield commanders win medals", Nixon ordered Secret Service agent-in-charge Jack Sherwood to hold fire and shoot only on his orders.

[20] In Nixon's remembrance of the incident, Associated Press photographer Hank Griffin at one point had to use his camera to beat back a protester who tried to mount the truck.

[4] According to a second account, soldiers of the Venezuelan Army arrived and cleared the traffic, thereafter moving the mob back at bayonet-point to allow Nixon's car to pass.

[21] Shortly after the Nixons arrived at the embassy, the Venezuelan army surrounded and fortified the chancellery, reinforcing the small U.S. Marine guard force.

The union leaders apologized for events of the preceding day and disclaimed involvement, though, United States Air Force officer Manuel Chavez[d] – at the time attached to the embassy – wrote in 2015 that "they probably were the instigators or at least encouraged the actions".

[27] Nixon was shocked after learning about the mobilization and wondered why they were not consulted, but later found out that communications between Caracas and Washington had been cut for a critical period immediately after the riot that afternoon.

Eisenhower ordered that Nixon should receive a "hero's welcome" on his return; all U.S. government employees in Washington were given the day off work to turn out for the arrival of the vice-president.

[8] While Life surmised that the trip "had added immeasurably to the stature at home of a man most likely to run for President in 1960",[21] The New Republic claimed the attack was a hoax set up to help Nixon's chances in the election.

[4] In Venezuela, all major presidential candidates standing in the 1958 general election denounced the attack except for the incumbent president, Admiral Larrazábal.

President Betancourt pre-deployed significant Venezuelan military forces into Caracas in advance of Kennedy's arrival and ordered the preventive arrest of suspected ringleaders.

[2] Contemporary and later sources described the attack as one that nearly led to Nixon's death[21][3] and, though it is generally agreed he acted with remarkable composure throughout, the incident had a lasting impact on him.

[34] On the eve of Walters' retirement from government service, in 1991, Nixon explained his longtime patronage of the general, writing him that "you and I have faced death together and that gives us a special bond".

In fact, he would later privately list several nations whose populations, he believed, were too immature for democratic government and would be better administered by authoritarian regimes, specifically citing France, Italy, and all of Latin America "except for Colombia".