When was the last time a Republican won a presidential election without the help of dirty tricks

[dajoki]

Ronald Reagan’s “October Surprise” Plot Was Real After All
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/1/ronald-reagan-october-surprise-carter-iran-hostage-crisis-conspiracy

A batch of quietly released documents confirms what many have long suspected: Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign worked behind the scenes to delay the release of US hostages in Iran, for the benefit of Reagan’s election campaign. It raises the question: When was the last time a Republican won a presidential election without the help of dirty tricks?

snip//

For those counting, that’s now at least four of the last six Republican presidents who have won elections with the assistance of some sort of pre-election skulduggery, including Richard Nixon’s torpedoing of peace in Vietnam, the George W. Bush campaign shenanigans in Florida and the later use of the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” and Donald Trump’s boost from Russia’s hacking of Democratic Party emails (even if that wasn’t coordinated) — not to mention the use of voter suppression that unites them all. And that’s not counting George H. W. Bush getting help from John Major’s government in the UK to beat Bill Clinton in 1992.

Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

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https://www.alternet.org/2017/07/gop-fraud-and-treason/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[hlthe2b]

1. Eisenhower, probably... He was a war hero, after all (and not a bad R President)

[PSPS]

2. You're right. Ike was the last legitimate republican president.

[Cattledog]

3. Eisenhower

[DAMANgoldberg]

4. That's Easy

Dwight Eisenhower, before my time on earth. Otherwise none in my lifetime. Closest is GHWB.

[uponit7771]

5. K&R, It was before Nixon ... Nixon was about similar actions but there was no foreign

... interference invited by Nixon.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. I can't think of anything GHWB did in '88 besides the Willie Horton stuff

And that was more plain old dirty politics than cheating. Sure Bush was part of the hostage delay crap that got Reagan in, and there was the John Major stuff when he lost in '92, but what cheating did he do for himself the one time he won in '88?

[JHB]

7. Yes, but he was coming into it as Reagan's VP...

...so while not totally on him, it's a definite bank shot off of Reagan's doings.

[DFW]

8. 1956

That didn't exactly require a lot of research

[moondust]

9. Ike, but...

Playing such a large role in winning WWII, he was a real hero who didn't need dirty tricks to win his elections. Unfortunately, that large role in winning "the big one" apparently instilled in him some costly hubris that continues to infect Republicans.

He approved the overthrow of Mosaddegh in Iran.

~
Judging Mosaddegh to be unreliable and fearing a Communist takeover in Iran, UK prime minister Winston Churchill and the Eisenhower administration decided to overthrow Iran's government, though the preceding Truman administration had opposed a coup, fearing the precedent that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involvement would set.
~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

He also apparently believed deeply in the domino theory that led to the long war in Vietnam.

McCarthy Era/Red Scare stuff.