Richard Nixon

1493 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: richard nixon's involvement in watergate

Richard Nixon

Born in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California, Richard Milhouse Nixon was raised in a Quaker home with his four brothers, mother and father. His family led a docile life by abstaining from all dancing, swearing, drinking and other common Quaker practices (Barron 12). Financially, the family struggled and he could not afford to attend Harvard University even with a full-ride scholarship. Instead, Nixon enrolled at Whittier College, a popular Quaker college close to home (Barron 39). Nixon began dominating all of his academics and it was at Whittier where he began to shape his future political career.

Nixon began his studies at Whittier College in 1930 and managed to keep an active schedule. Between football practice, drama rehearsals, and teaching Sunday school, it’s hard to believe he was able to maintain his important role at student body president (Barron 77). Little did he know that one day he would be president of an entire country and not just his college. Scholastically, he proved to his schoolmates and professors that he could juggle classes, homework, all his other extracurricular activities and still graduate second in his class. All of this hard work paid off when he was awarded another scholarship, this time to Duke University (Barron 84).

It was at Duke University where he attended law school and started to shape his career as an aspiring lawyer. After graduating in the top three in his class, Nixon reluctantly chose to take a job close to home and quickly found it mundane and unrewarding. It was at this point in his life when he decided to join the armed forces. The Navy sounded quite promising and in 1942 he was heading towards the South Pacific as an air transport officer (Gellman 208). His service re...

... middle of paper ...

... Stiffler. Richard Nixon: American Politician (Notable Americans).

North Carolina: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2004.

2. Drew, Elizabeth. Richard M. Nixon: The American Presidents: The 37th President,

1969- 1974 (The American Presidents). New York: Times Books, 2007.

3. Gellmen, Irwin. The Contender: Richard Nixon: The Congress Years, 1946 to 1952.

New York: The Free Press, 1999.

4. Liebovich, Louis W. Richard Nixon, Watergate, and the Press: A Historical

Restrospetive. USA: Praeger Publishers, 2003.

5.Small, Melvin. The Presidency of Richard Nixon (American Presidency Series).

Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1999.

6. Reeves, Richard. President Nixon: Alone in the White House. Simon & Shuster: New York . 2002

7. Mason, Robert. Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority. University of North Carolina Press: 2003

Show More
Related

  • Nixonland: Book Review Of The Nixonland By Rick Perlstein

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion President Nixon had some ups and downs like most Presidents. He was the first modern President that brought out globalized criticism, and where the White House conflicts became the household problems. If anyone wonders where America stands, or even how we got here, Nixonland will be a good place to start.

    Read More

  • Watergate Plus 30 Analysis

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    The documentary entitled, Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History, documents the political decisions and environment within the Nixon Administration from 1969-1974. The documentary specifically details and describes the environment and culture in which the Watergate scandal could occur and the events and abuses of power that lead to its occurrence. Setting the tone and the political climate of the Nixon Administration was the Vietnam War; making him a wartime President, a war that he inherited from his predecessor. The Vietnam War faced a lot of opposition from the general public, with massive protests and political demonstrations by the younger generations and overall general public. Nixon’s presidency was surrounded by this climate amidst the

    Read More

  • Richard Nixon: Was He Truly Conservative?

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nixon’s run as an international crook finally caught up to him in 1972, when burglars were caught and arrested inside of the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate hotel complex in Washington. Nixon attempted to cover it up, but eventually he was found caught in his own web of lies, and was forced to resign in 1974 (Lecture 30, December 12). Nixon’s promises of a return to normalcy were shattered with these revelations. The confidence in the Presidency that he had hoped to restore was even lower than it was when he entered office. If the 1960’s were defined by political and social instability, then Richard Nixon did nothing but further the sixties into the 1970’s. The 1960’s truly ended with the pardon of Richard Nixon by President Ford in 1974. After doing so, Ford declared: “our long national nightmare is over”.

    Read More

  • Richard Nixon and the Election of 1969

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    Another very important factor was Nixon’s previous experience in politics. After graduating from Duke University, Nixon joined the navy during World War II. After returning from the war Nixon jumped right into politics. He answered a Republican Party call in the newspaper. They were looking for someone to run against the five-term Democratic Congressman Jerry Voorhis. John Ehrlichman once said of Richard Nixon, “He is like a race horse specially trained to run a particular race and no good for pulling wagons. He’s for running the race to be president, and that’s what he lived for (Matusow 1).” That just gives you an idea about Nixon’s attitude. He would do whatever it took in order to win. The style of Nixon’s first campaign for congressman set the tone for the early part of his political career. An example would be that while running against Voorhis he accused him of being a communist. He even had campaign workers make calls to voter...

    Read More

  • The Secret Man, The Story Of Watergates Deep Throat, By Bob Woodward

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    The main focus of this book was to do research on The book “The Secret Man, The Story of Watergates Deep Throat,” written by Bob Woodward with a reporter’s assessment by Carl Bernstein, which is about a group of burglars who broke into the Watergate hotel in Washington DC on May of 1972. While breaking in the burglars left listening devices like voice recorders and attempted to wiretap phones so they could steal secret information and documents from the Democratic Party. Not only was this no ordinary robbery but the burglars were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. When Richard Nixon heard what happened, he tried to cover-up for his burglars by lying about what he knew and when he found out about what they did.

    Read More

  • Kent State University Shooting Essay

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    On April 30, 1970, when Nixon gave a speech announcing his invasion of Cambodia, anti-war factions rose up across the United States. In the speech he stated that, “If, when the chips are down…the world’s most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and institutions around the world. I would rather be a one term president and do what I believe is right than to be a two term president at the cost of seeing America become a second rate power.” Students did not agree with Nixon and protests cropped up on university campuses in the days that followed his speech. Amongst these protesters were students of Kent State University, “The Cambodian invasion defined a watershed in the attitude of Kent students toward American policy in the Indochina War.” At this point, the first two days of May, the students were protesting Nixon’s actions. While the cou...

    Read More

  • President Nixon's Secret Bombing of Cambodia

    2404 Words  | 5 Pages

    Vassar College. President Nixons Speech on Cambodia: April 30, 1970. <http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/doc15.html> Accessed 28 February 2001.

    Read More

  • The Corruption and Deception of the Watergate Breeak In

    2013 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon.” Watergate.info. N.p., 1995. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .

    Read More

  • The Presidential Election of 1960

    1984 Words  | 4 Pages

    Richard Milhouse Nixon was born of a Quaker family on January 9,1913 in Yorba Linda, California. He graduated second in his class from local Whittier College in 1934 and later graduated third in his class from Duke University Law School. From there Nixon joined a law firm, and then briefly worked for the tire-rationing section of the Office of Price Administration, in Washington, D.C. Eight months into World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and moved to the Pacific to become a supply ...

    Read More

  • Senator Richard M. Nixon: Honest Everyday American, or Lieing, Manipulating Politician?

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, Senator Nixon builds his ethos to show Americans that he would never use the money to benefit himself or his family. In Senator Nixon's speech he requested an indep...

    Read More

  • The Nixon Administration

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The Richard Milhous Nixon." Presidential Administration Profiles for Students. Ed. Kelles. Sisung and Gerda-Ann Raffaelle. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Student Resources in Context. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Impact of the Watergate Scandal

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    The years leading up to the 1972 election were filled with new political tactics. Going into the election year, President Nixon seemed like he could never lose the second term election after successfully negotiating with Vietnam, Beijing, and Russia to improve international relations (Emery 4). Raising international toughness made Nixon seem like the most worthy person to stay president. Fred Emery analyses in his novel Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon, the president was also setting up the first summit meeting in history with Soviet Union Presidents (3). There seemed to be nothing capable of holding the seemingly responsible man back. However, this assurance came with massive consequences. The absolute certainty that Nixon would be reelected fueled the lies and abuse of power by the Nixon government (Emery 195). As the outlook of landslide winnings took over the White House, the moral reasoning, “the end justifies the means” became more prevalent. Nixon was obsessed with winning and being successful. Under his command his staff did whatever possible to ...

    Read More

  • Comparing Fact and Fiction: All the President's Men

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pious, Richard M. Richard Nixon: A Political Life. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Julian Messner, 1991.

    Read More

  • The Watergate Scandal

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    Political leaders of the United States were, at one time, thought of as crucial members of our society. Ideally, their main goal was to represent and satisfy the needs of the American people. Unfortunately, over the last fifty years, our trust in our administrative representatives has drastically declined. Beginning with the great conspiracy theory that President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 was actually planned by political leaders, America had, for the first time in history, begun to question its faith in its very own government. Consequently, the American people became extremely hesitant when it came to electing officials into office. Despite his loss to JFK in the 1960 presidential election, in 1968, Richard M. Nixon was elected as the thirty-seventh president of the United States. He was praised by many for his comeback after previously losing an election and seemed to be an admirable man. While in office, Nixon made many achievements and followed through with all of his promises made during his campaign. For the first time in what seemed like forever, the American people had finally elected a leader who seemed unquestionably trustworthy – or so they thought. Unfortunately, shortly after Nixon was elected to his second term of presidency in 1972, the Watergate Scandal changed America forever by creating a sense of mistrust toward the government for the American people because of The Nixon Administration’s actions.

    Read More

  • The Power to Persuade

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hargrove, Erwin C. The Power of the Modern Presidency. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974. Questia. Web. 25 Mar. 2010.

    Read More

More about Richard Nixon

Open Document