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Mr. Fixit. Soon after he took office as Vice President, Nixon became the Administration's "Mr. Fixit," the handyman with a ball of friction tape who bound up leaky pipes and raw wires. This job was one for no mean plumber, for it involved some explosive fixtures, notably Joe McCarthy. As an investigator with a far, far better record of success, Nixon was in a position to argue with McCarthy. His most effective tactic was to persuade Joe that some of his projects would backfire and hurt Joe. As a result of such warnings, McCarthy called off his investigation of Allen Dulles' Central Intelligence Agency, his threat to make a Senate floor fight against confirmation of Harvard President James B. Conant's appointment as German High Commissioner, and his demand for a statement by Ike on the delicate details of East-West trade restrictions.
At least once—when McCarthy took credit for forcing Greek ship owners to stop their China trade—Nixon decided that McCarthy's efforts in the case were, on balance, for the good. Backing Joe, Nixon served as catalyst in working out a
McCarthy-Dulles communique, in which the Secretary of State agreed that what Joe had done in the case was all right.
During last year's congressional session, Nixon made his voice heard more and more. He arranged military briefings for congressional leaders, lobbied in the House of Representatives for the Hawaiian statehood bill, and saved the foreign-aid bill from impending defeat at the hands of junior Republican economizers. When the Bricker amendment to curb treaty-making power came up, the Cabinet thought the whole issue would blow over if Ike denounced it. Not so Nixon. "You'll be running into a buzz saw," he told the Cabinet. He knew the bill was not a passing senatorial fancy. Result: the Cabinet decided to work for a compromise.
In the fight over Defense Secretary Wilson's cut in the Air Force budget, Nixon shrewdly counseled that the Democratic attack would overcome Wilson's exposed position unless Ike threw his full weight behind it. As it turned out, no less was needed. Nixon broke a Cabinet dead lock on the St. Lawrence seaway project by telling .Ike that Canada will build the seaway without U.S. participation, if necessary. Since the seaway was both right and inevitable now—instead of delaying further—the President promptly proposed U.S. participation in the seaway.
Mr. Standin. Successful as Mr. Fixit, Nixon gradually assumed the more important role of Mr. Stand-in for the President. No man can push himself into that position, and Dick Nixon did not push. He let Ike take the initiative at every stage. Nixon's part was to demonstrate that he could take responsibility, wade through mountains of factual homework, handle older and more powerful men tactfully, and, above all, that he had no policy but Ike's policy.
As the No. 2 man in the executive branch of the U.S. Government, as Ike's standin, Vice President Nixon, accompanied by his wife, last October set off on a 45,539-mile, ten-week, globe-girdling trip to spread good will in the Far East and to find some facts. As usual, the Nixon method was to keep it simple and work hard.