by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 4, 1998

Richard Nixon is condemned for many things, but one achievement can never be taken away. Nixon was the architect and builder of the greatest political coalition since FDR.

Taking command of his party after the Goldwater defeat of 1964, in which the GOP won only 39 percent of the vote, Nixon built a 49-state, 61 percent New Majority by 1972. Ronald Reagan’s triumphs were won by reuniting, not creating, the great Nixon coalition.