The 100% Dream

For Richard Nixon, the impossible dream may be on the verge of coming true. Or so he believes. The President has confided to intimates that he thinks he has a chance of winning all 50 states in November--a feat of unanimity accomplished by George Washington, who had to contend with many fewer states and (in those partyless times) with no opponent. Such a comparison with the father of the country would do wonders for the Nixon image.

Still, landslides often bury more than the loser. James Monroe also took every state when he was re-elected in 1820, losing only one electoral vote to John Quincy Adams. He was credited with ushering in an Era of Good Feeling; in four years it dissolved into an orgy of ill will. A century later, Warren Harding squashed his opponent James Cox by almost two to one, and then stepped into the infamous Teapot Dome scandal. Lyndon Johnson likewise swamped Barry Goldwater, only to be crushed himself by the Viet Nam War. Landslides, apparently, are not all they are cracked up to be.

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