“Experience counts” was the slogan of Richard Nixon, running for president in 1960. Nixon had served eight years as vice president, two as U.S. senator from one of the nation’s largest states and four as congressman — and was, thanks to his role in the Alger Hiss case, a nationally known figure from his first year in Congress. His experience was enough to give him the Republican presidential nomination without serious competition. And after 20 years in which America had won a world war and led the world into postwar prosperity, confidence in institutions and officeholders was high enough that Nixon came within an eyelash of being elected.