ABSTRACT
Television viewers of the 1960s hit variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh In were shocked on Sept. 16, 1968, to see a four-second snippet featuring former Vice President Richard Nixon. The 1968 Republican presidential candidate slowly faced the camera, and, in one of television history's defining moments, spouted one of the shows many catch phrases, “Sock it to me?” Decades later, show producer George Schlatter told The New Yorker the bit made Nixon appear like “a nice guy” (Kolbert, 2004). Schlatter posited that many people felt the appearance on the variety show was one of many reasons Nixon won the 1968 presidential election against then Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who declined to be on the show.
