Richard Nixon’s forgotten trip to Melbourne in October 1953

One of the most infamous political players of the 20th Century once swung a cricket bat at the MCG, attended the Caulfield Cup and seemed to fall deeply, if briefly, in love with Melbourne.

As the new Prime Minister rubbed cuffs with Joe Biden at the Quad meeting in Tokyo, he may well have been thinking, I’m not in Camperdown anymore.

As Anthony Albanese himself has been keen to express, the boy who grew up in a Sydney social housing flat is now on the world stage with the President of the United States, and taking calls from global leaders.

In his path to the Prime Minister’s Office we see the ordinary fabric of Australian life sparking against the fate of the western world.

Another such golden moment in time was the forgotten visit by Richard Nixon to Melbourne in October 1953.

Nixon, one of the most formidable and infamous political players of the 20th Century, swung a cricket bat at the MCG, attended the Caulfield Cup and seemed to fall deeply, if only briefly, in love with the city.

Perhaps the most surprising part was how Melbourne instantly adored the man whose distant fate in the Watergate scandal would see him widely reviled.

A 1953 newspaper article about Nixon’s whirlwind trip to Melbourne. Picture: Trove

The ‘Veep’ in town

Three years before the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, things weren’t going exactly to schedule.

There was creeping doubt that a little city on the underside of the planet, a hundred years past its gold rush boom, had the gusto to put on such a grand show.

With its weird code of football and she’ll-be-right-mate attitude to meeting infrastructure targets, criticism soon grew that Melbourne had neither the interest in sport nor the technical and logistical acumen to execute a world-class Olympic Games.

A financial tug-of-war between the state and federal governments meant construction of the Olympic village and key sporting venues were running a long way behind, and it was even suggested that the whole thing should be moved to Rome, which was already preparing well for the 1960 Games.

That was when Nixon came to town.

Richard Nixon’s official photograph as Vice President and, right, welcomed in Melbourne by a koala in 1953. Picture: Trove

Freshly sworn-in as Vice President of the United States, Nixon and his wife Pat were representing the government of President Eisenhower in a tour that included Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Darwin.

During his third day in Melbourne, surrounded by a security detail of hundreds, he laid a wreath at the Shrine of Remembrance, walked down the steps and gazed at the CBD skyline.

“That’s quite the feat in 100 years,” he said to Harold Holt, who was then federal minister for labour.

“Some people at home think Australians don’t work hard, but there’s your answer.”

Then came a visit to the MCG, which was in the throes of renovation for the upcoming Olympics.

Richard Nixon swings a cricket bat on the turf of the MCG in 1953 and, inset, as it was reported in the Herald newspaper. Pictures: Alamy Stock Photo, Trove

Nixon walked on to the pitch, gawked at the huge grandstands and needed to be convinced the venue was regularly filled with sport-mad Melburnians.

“Say, you have a fine Olympic stadium here,” he said.

“I can’t understand the criticism that has been levelled at your preparations.

“You say that this will hold 120,000 when it is altered.

“The Los Angeles stadium for the 1932 Games held only 103,000.

“You will make a grand job of the Olympic Games.”

When a cricket bat was produced, Nixon posed for photos at the pitch and joked he’d prefer to swing it like a baseball bat.

The VP’s ringing endorsement of the G and the imminent Olympics helped boost global confidence in Melbourne’s preparations.

Nixon’s Phar Lap tribute

Nixon’s whirlwind tour of Melbourne included a visit to the Caulfield Cup where he saw New Zealand horse My Hero take out the top prize.

There he reminisced about another Australian racing great.

“In my home state of California there are fond recollections of Phar Lap,” he said.

“When he died we had the same feeling as you did - that if he had lived he would have been the greatest stakes winner of all time.”

A 1953 newspaper article about Richard Nixon’s attendance at the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Trove

As Nixon charmed Melbourne’s politicians and business leaders, his wife Pat was adored by the public.

When Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Solly invited Nixon back for the Games in 1956 he replied, “That’s an election year. I don’t think I’d better make any promises.”

With that he and Pat boarded a Constellation and flew to Canberra for a formal reception with prime minister Robert Menzies.

Left was a Melbourne headline: “Mr Nixon liked our city and we liked him”.

The Melbourne Olympics went off without a hitch but Nixon did not attend.

He was vice president until 1961, then became president in 1969.

His controversial time in office culminated in the infamous Watergate scandal, which led to his impeachment and resignation in 1974.

Originally published as Richard Nixon’s forgotten trip to Melbourne in October 1953