‘Vote for Nixon,’ says disgusted war hero

William D. Paschal is a 91-year-old war hero with advanced prostate cancer who has struggled to decide whom to vote for in what might be his last presidential election.

He got so disgusted with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump several weeks ago that he printed a sign on his home computer, “Vote for Nixon,” and taped it to the inside of the back window of his car.

Disgraced and dead former President Richard Nixon would be better for Americans than the two living candidates, he reasoned.

“How can you vote for one of the worst two people in the U.S.A.?” he said. “At least Nixon was competent while in office.”

Nixon being dead since 1994, Paschal agonized for months – and decided whom to vote for. And we will tell you who that person is.

And, yes, it is usually not news when one U.S. voter makes a decision. Millions of us vote.

But many voters in this unusual presidential campaign have agonized – as Paschal has – over the flaws of the two main candidates for president. So Paschal’s agonized journey toward a decision is worth examining, for two reasons.

One is that he’s voted in more presidential elections than most living Americans: 17 so far, including Harry Truman’s first run for president in 1948.

Another is that Paschal has done more than most Americans to protect our freedoms.

He fought in front-line infantry combat in World War II. He won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. His best soldier friend in the war was killed by a German sniper. Paschal was shot at many times, wounded, captured, beaten in captivity – and then starved nearly to death in a German prisoner of war camp.

His heroism is well known in Wichita: As recently as 2014, on the 70th year since D-Day, Paschal served as the co-grand marshal of Wichita’s Veterans Day parade.

But even in war, Paschal said, he seldom felt the disgust he feels in voting this year, in what will be his 18th presidential vote.

“I haven’t trusted Hillary since the attack on the embassy in Benghazi,” he said. “And if Trump becomes president, we’ll likely get into a war with Russia within a few months.”

A third reason to examine what went into Paschal’s choice is why he says this decision took many months and a lot of thought: He votes for whom he considers to be the best candidate and not always for a fellow Republican.

That will bother those of his friends who always vote Republican – or always Democrat, he said.

But he has little use for partisanship and the anger that goes with so much of it.

He shakes his head.

After he put that “Vote for Nixon” sign in his car, some people yelled at the nice woman hired to drive him and his wife, Marjorie, in their car. (The Paschals are both too frail to drive.)

So the sign had to disappear. “Apparently some people didn’t see the humor. If anyone wants more of these Nixon signs, though, I made more.”

Since 1948, Bill Paschal has voted for “the best person as I saw it.”

These were his choices in those 17 elections, and how he made them.

Democrats: Truman (1948), “a gem of a president”; John F. Kennedy (1960), “a war hero”; Lyndon Johnson (1964), “an experienced president”; and Barack Obama (2012), “a good president in his first term.”

Republicans: Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952 and 1956), “and I would have voted for him many times more”; Nixon (1968 and 1972), “a competent president until nearly impeached”; Gerald Ford (1976), “an experienced politician”; Ronald Reagan (1980 and 1984), “a very good president”; George H.W. Bush (1988 and 1992), “a good man”; Bob Dole (1996), “an experienced politician”; George W. Bush (2000 and 2004), “I guess he did all right”; and John McCain (2008), “another war hero.”

He never thought, in those 17 votes, that he had to hold his nose when he voted.

But he will hold his nose this year.

Trump disgusted him when he said former Vietnam prisoner of war and U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a real hero. Then Trump belittled Muslim parents whose U.S. Army son was killed in the Iraq War.

Clinton unsettles him deeply. “You have to know that when the Clintons set up a foundation and some people give millions of dollars to it – they all want favors.”

But he will hold his nose and vote for Clinton, he said.

Some of his friends won’t like that.

“But there’s always Nixon next time.”

This story was originally published October 9, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "‘Vote for Nixon,’ says disgusted war hero."