In the aftermath, Nixon was in a mild daze, unsure what to think. A supporter tried to console him: “That’s all right. You’ll do better next time.” She spoke loudly so that the microphones could pick up her words. She was in fact not a supporter but a woman hired by Dick Tuck, a campaign prankster. The wily Tuck had first crossed Nixon’s path as a Democratic operative in the 1950 campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas. Posing as a Republican advance man, he had embarrassed Nixon by hiring an empty hall. By the time of the 1960 election, Tuck was on the Kennedy payroll.24
