Favorable Winds: Robert Morgan & The Circumstances of the 1974 Election Year

Abstract

The election year of 1974 was fraught with drama and controversy, and it was not standard fare. While the predictable cycle of congressional midterms churned through their own campaign surprises, the entire nation was watching as President Richard Nixon faced impeachment in the middle of his term. The Watergate scandal, in which President Nixon was implicated, was too large to remain separate from the already ongoing congressional races. Whether politicians liked it or not, the 1974 midterms would act in some capacity as a referendum on Nixon’s alleged involvement. As the scandal intensified and became more prominent, politicians would jockey to have the right opinion for their constituents. Amongst them, certain politicians would do better than others due to their background. Theoretically, this would be the time for a rule-of-law, anti-Nixon champion to capitalize on the Watergate scandal. Enter Robert Morgan, a North Carolina politician with a theoretically ideal background, party affiliation, and circumstance in which to capitalize on a perfect storm of an election-year controversy. This paper will seek to determine if Robert Morgan’s successful North Carolina 1974 U.S. senatorial campaign was due in large part to the surrounding effects of Watergate. To accomplish such a determination, this paper will examine the effects of Watergate against other important campaign trends. Through this determination, the paper will ultimately argue that Watergate only played a tangential role in Morgan’s victory and was not directly utilized.