I think of the AmSpec article of last year that posited that Nixon blew it, not on appearances, but that he basically agreed with everything Kennedy was saying, i.e., he played a classic milquetoast Republican. He did not make that mistake in 1968—running on a hard “law and order” platform.
The article also mentioned Dewey/Truman and Willkie/F.D.R. campaigns as other classic examples in which the Republican failed to play the conservative and did the “democrat lite” thing.
With predictable results.
Even Noam Chomsky calls Nixon, "the last liberal president." Check out what Nixon actually did. He may have pretended to be something he wasn't, which was soft on communism and creating social programs that LBJ couldn't stomach. Under Nixon, social program spending exceeded defense spending for the first time. Nixon started automatic cost-of-living increases for Social Security and Welfare. He established OSHA, the EPA, the EEOA, Title IX, affirmative action, etc. More federal regulations were created under him than any other president. The Federal Register grew 121% under Nixon, after only growing 19% under Johnson. President Reagan found Nixon's administrative creations were the biggest impediment to what he was trying to do.
Let's face it, if Nixon had a 'D' after his name you'd be railing against him as perhaps the most leftist president we've had. But you are defending what he did to our country, because supposedly he was a Republican?