American Experience

Pat Hillings on the importance of winning

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I don't think that winning was everything because in politics in those days, the Republicans had been out of power for so long, and it looked like, after the war, that we were moving toward the possibility of gaining control in, we took control of the Congress right after the war and that led us to believe that maybe the next election, we could win the presidency. And we had some pretty popular names. One of them was Dwight David Eisenhower. I had heard Murray speak to young Republicans and tell them that even if we, even if they themselves, ran for offices in tough democratic areas and lost, if we ever won the presidency, the governorship and other things, there would be rewards in the form of appointments and judgeships. Those were things that Republicans had no control over since 1931, which was the last time that they had any influence in the government. So that I would say that while in his mind winning wasn't the only thing, it certainly was probably the most important thing.

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