Political Reporter Bergholz Dies

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) â€” Richard Bergholz, a longtime Los Angeles Times political reporter thought to be the target of Richard Nixon's famous 1962 comment ``You won't have Nixon to kick around

Thursday, December 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) â€” Richard Bergholz, a longtime Los Angeles Times political reporter thought to be the target of Richard Nixon's famous 1962 comment ``You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore,'' has died at 83.

Bergholz died Tuesday after a stroke.

During a career of nearly 50 years, Bergholz covered a who's who of American politicians, including Pat Brown, Ronald Reagan, George McGovern, Tom Bradley and Nixon.

He was known for his tough manner, penetrating questions and evenhanded stories.

``I worked closely with him and as a competitor before that â€” and still do not know whether he was a Republican or a Democrat,'' said George Skelton, Sacramento columnist for the Times. ``I have no idea how he ever voted. And you certainly could not tell by his writing. He was as tough on one side as the other.''

Nixon had long enjoyed the Times' support under publisher Norman Chandler and clearly was not prepared for the more balanced coverage led by Bergholz after Otis Chandler took over at the Times in 1960.

During the waning days of the 1962 gubernatorial race, Bergholz peppered Nixon with tough questions when the candidate, apparently lagging in the polls, began suggesting that opponent Brown was soft on communism.

The day after Brown's victory Nixon gave his famous ``last press conference,'' which included the ``kick around'' remark.

As David Halberstam reported in ``The Powers That Be,'' there was no doubt in the minds of most of the reporters in the room that day that the comments were aimed at Bergholz and the Times.

A native of Oregon, Bergholz earned a degree in journalism at the University of Washington and took his first job as a newspaper reporter in Ferndale, Wash. In 1938 he got a job with The Associated Press in Sacramento and when war broke out was assigned overseas, covering action in the Pacific.

After the war, Bergholz worked at newspapers in Glendale and San Diego, moved to the Los Angeles Mirror in 1954 and joined the Times as a political writer after the Mirror folded in 1962. He stayed with the Times as a writer and then political consultant until his retirement in 1985.

Bergholz is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, two daughters, a son and three grandchildren.