These victories, along with pledged delegate support from states not holding primaries, secured Nixon the nomination on the first ballot of the Republican National Convention, where he named Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland as his running mate.

"[8] In September, the New York Post published an article claiming that campaign donors were buying influence with Nixon by providing him with a secret cash fund for his personal expenses.

[8] He moved to New York, joining the Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon law firm,[9] and regrouped, considering (but deciding against) a run for president in 1964, and beginning to plan for a 1968 presidential campaign.

[10] On January 7, 1967, Nixon held a secret meeting with his closest advisers to discuss a potential campaign, brainstorming strategies to obtain sufficient delegates to win the Republican nomination.

[12] At this time he quietly began efforts to organize in Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wisconsin, positioning to secure victories in those states' primaries the following year.

[19] The next week, five staff members were fired after private investigators determined that information had been leaked to the campaigns of potential primary rivals Governors Rockefeller and Reagan.

[20] The news did not stall the progression of the campaign, and soon Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander member Leonard Garment assembled an advertising team that included CBS Television president Frank Shakespeare.

[23] In October, political experts predicted that Nixon would gain delegates in the important states of New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Nebraska during the primary season, scheduled to begin in March 1968.

One commentator examined that he was not "the drawn, tired figure who debated Jack Kennedy or the angry politician who conceded his California [gubernatorial] defeat with such ill grace.

"[25] Making appearances at fundraisers in his adopted home state of New York, Nixon helped to raise $300,000 for the re-election campaign of Senator Jacob K. Javits.

However, the void also caused problems for Nixon; Time argued that the prospect of soundly defeating second-tier candidates (such as former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota) in the primaries would not "electrify the voters".

"[37] Polling by Gallup at this time revealed that Nixon led President Johnson 41% to 39% in a three-way race with American Independent Party candidate and former Governor George Wallace of Alabama.

[40] With Johnson removed from the race, Nixon fell behind Democratic candidates Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey and Robert F. Kennedy in head-to-head match-ups.

The tapes were sent to the swing states of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, giving Nixon the advantage of advertising long before the Democratic Party settled on a candidate.

[64] Nixon publicly announced his opposition to the military draft, proposing to replace the current system with a volunteer army encouraged with higher pay.

[72] Nixon also discussed economics, articulating his opposition to social welfare, advocating programs designed to help African Americans start their own small businesses.

Agnew was relatively unknown nationally, and was selected due to his purported appeal to African Americans,[74] and work for the Nixon campaign after an embarrassing experience as the head of the Draft Rockefeller movement.

The same analysis applied to the general campaign, as commentators noted that Nixon would stand to the right of the still undecided Democratic nominee but would fall to the left of American Independent Party candidate George Wallace.

[76] As the general election season began, Nixon focused his efforts on the "big seven" states: California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

[77] He hired Roger Ailes, whom he had first encountered during an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show, to produce one-hour television programs to advertise the campaign in strategic regions.

[79] Starting the ground campaign tour, during his first stop in Springfield, Illinois, he discussed the importance of unity, stating that "America [now] needs to be united more than any time since Lincoln.

[85] In a visit to Chicago shortly after the Democratic convention, Nixon received a large welcome and ticker tape parade, with crowds estimated at several hundred thousand.

Referring to Brooke as "one of my top advisers," he accompanied campaign stops in Chicago and San Francisco, a move critics described as an attempt to further gain favor within the African American community.

[88] At this time Nixon sent his adviser, former Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania, on a fact-finding trip to Europe to gather intelligence on Western alliance and Soviet issues.

From the back of the "Nixon Victory Special" car, he attacked Vice President Humphrey as well as the Secretary of Agriculture and Attorney General of the Johnson cabinet, over farmers' debt and rising crime.

[101][102] At the beginning of November, President Johnson announced that a bombing had been halted in Vietnam; observers noted that the development significantly helped Humphrey, although Nixon had endorsed such talks.

On the Sunday preceding the election, Nixon appeared on Meet the Press, explaining that he would cooperate completely with Johnson, phoning the President shortly thereafter to personally reassure him.

[106] After Humphrey's polling surge following the bombing halt, Nixon used this appearance to claim that he had just received "a very disturbing report",[105] which detailed that tons of supplies were being moved into South Vietnam by the North.

Following the election, the slogan "Bring Us Together", referencing a poster held by a 13-year-old girl at a rally during his campaign, was used as a basis for the theme of his inauguration, although it would later be seized by Democrats to attack later Nixon policies.

Among other things, he initiated wars on cancer and drugs, imposed wage and price controls, enforced desegregation of Southern schools and established the Environmental Protection Agency.