5. "Sock it to Me?"
In 1968, Richard Nixon broke a promise he made to himself and his family back in 1962: he ran for President a second time. After remaining a Republican heavy hitter, returning to his law practice, and writing his memoir "Six Crises", Nixon decided to get back on the horse and ride as Lyndon B. Johnson was finishing out his derided term as President. With Spiro Agnew at his side, Richard Nixon became President Nixon in a 301 electoral vote victory against challengers Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace. Now to understand Nixon as a figure is to understand the fact that he played better with the older crowd. The Greatest Generation and those who came before it may have been just fine with him, but the rising tide of Counter Culture thinking (and, by proxy, voting) was rising against "The Establishment" as it stood. So a man like Richard Nixon, who had a hard enough time running for the presidency in an earlier/more politically friendly era, really needed an ace in the hole. That ace would be his impromptu appearance on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, during the 1968 election. His rendition of their catch phrase mocked his out of touch image, and showed that he was at least willing to reach out to the other side of the cultural aisle.