Photo by John Olson/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
Richard Nixon genuinely loved sports. Americans during his life knew it, and modern historians are aware of it. John Sayle Watterson included a chapter on Nixon in his book on American presidents and sports, and Nicholas Sarantakes authored a book on Nixon and sports that came out in late 2018. After spending a week researching at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, I am confident that baseball and football were the former president’s favorite sports, and that he rarely missed an opportunity to engage with his fandom.
That said, Nixon also used sports for political purposes. I previously wrote here about how he and former MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn worked together in the War on Drugs and to maintain public awareness and support for Nixon’s efforts to repatriate prisoners of war from Vietnam. Now, I would like to spotlight some interesting links between Nixon and the Yankees in the election year of 1972.