nixon was the republican vice president of dwight eisenhower
he made his name being an anti communist in the 1950s
democrat lyndon johnson was president & responsible for the vietnam war & decided not to run for a second term
by the 1960s many anti vietnam war protestors were white & young
many were sympathetic to socialism if not pro communist out right
nixon needed their votes & conservative peoples votes
he was trying to win the campaign by saying he was going to end the vietnam war to get the anti war vote
& he tried to get the conservative vote by blaming these same anti war & student protestors by saying anti war people were the underlying cause of increasing crime in the country. this was the basis of his "law and order" campaign
after he won he increased American involvement in the vietnam war by bombing cambodia