Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essays about presidential scandals
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essays about presidential scandals
President Clinton vs. President Nixon
The recent scandal in the White House has brought my attention to the American Presidents as people and Presidents. Looking into the American history and her presidents I have found out that presidents are not just political figures but that they are also people. In my research I will compare and contrast two of the American presidents - Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.
President Clinton and President Nixon both associated themselves with criminal actions. Both the presidents misled the American public, causing personal as well as professional problems. For instance, President Clinton released a false statement about his affair with Monika Lewinsky, causing a lengthy and costly trial, and greatly affecting his presidential career. Also, President Nixon caused a scandal associated with Watergate, which ended up with his leaving the office. Even though they caused trouble for themselves and others around them, Clinton and Nixon did influence the American economy to a great degree. Clinton practically saved the economy and lowered the US inflation rate, through gradual and advocated plans of reform. Moreover, Nixon was the first to go into China territory for negotiations. Ultimately, they have attracted the media with their antics, making themselves? targets of controversy and embarrassment. In fact, President Clinton and Nixon have become the subjects of public mockery and have been an embarrassment to the American people in the office of the President. Moreover, both men have been involved in humiliating situations.
Although, of all the correlation?s these Presidents share, they also have a few contrasting elements. President Clinton and Nixon committed different categories of crime. In fact, Clinton?s nature of the crime was sexual rather than criminal self-indulgent; thus, Nixon self indulgent rather than sexual. The two Presidents also have different methods of upholding the US economy and fighting inflation. For instance, Nixon cut back and opposed federal welfare services, proposed antibusing legislation, and used wage-and-price controls to fight inflation. Clinton on the other hand, proposed more moderate health-care and welfare-reform measures and advocated plans that would reduce taxes less and more gradually eliminate the federal debt. As well as crime and great strategies of cutting down the taxes and eliminating federal dept, both the Presidents made historic marks in history. For example, in February 1972 Nixon made a historic trip to Beijing (Peking)--where he was received by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung)--thus reversing the U.
Nixon showed hubris, which is also known as egotistical behavior or exhibiting too much pride. He thought that he deserved to be reelected as president, even if in order for this to occur he had to behave in an unethical manner. The Watergate Scandal proved that Nixon was confident in his ability to pull off a major crime, although he was caught. This event also shows prideful behavior because he thought he could control the law and the election, even if he wasn’t the rightful winner.
...t and only friend can he move the way he does to make it vs. Bush's refusal to meet with Cindy Sheehan, what a tragic story the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. But from their earliest days, Nixon and Bush had many different traits and smelled quit different. Polarizing on another presidents could be: one of modest means shifting like a bird in the sky who went to Duke Law School who smells really bad and trashy on a simi scholarship and did so well he graduated third in half of his class; the other a son was not so happy privilege whom one and the teacher saw him as loutish and a liar.
President Richard Nixon is most commonly known for his involvement with the Watergate Scandal. President Nixon is a very competitive politition who has been finding who his enemys are and what their weak spots are through all of his career. His purpose for doing this is that he wants to win the election so much and he feels that “the only way he can [win] is if he knows something about his opponent that can give himself some secret weapon” (Sussman 201). President Nixon got himself into many problems during his Presidency and used groups such as “The Plumbers” and the Committee to Re-Elect the President, more commonly known as CREEP. While President Nixon was in office, he seemed to feel that he was “above the law” and that he could create undercover groups to spy or even blackmail his opponents. Although Nixon did commit several crimes while in office, which include lying under oath…….., the main crime was in the forming of these groups like the Plumbers, because these groups were formed with a main purpose of breaking laws.
The U.S. president is a person deemed to be the most fitting person to lead this country through thick and thin. It’s been such a successful method that it has led to 43 individual men being put in charge of running this country. However, this doesn’t mean that each one has been good or hasn’t had an issue they couldn’t resolve when in office. But no matter what, each one has left a very unique imprint on the history and evolution of this nation. However when two are compared against one another, some rather surprising similarities may be found. Even better, is what happens when two presidents are compared and they are from the same political party but separated by a large numbers of years between them. In doing this, not only do we see the difference between the two but the interesting evolution of political idea in one party.
The domestic policies and administrations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and William Jefferson Clinton are in some ways similar, but in other ways very different. The two men were very domestic-oriented presidents, focusing largely on America, and not the outside world. Both Democrats, they supported Federal Government programs to aid the American People. These programs were not necessary, but the presidents felt that they would aid Americans. Roosevelt created many jobs for the unemployed. He did this with such acts as the Unemployment Relief Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Civil Works Administration gave temporary jobs to the unemployed during an especially harsh winter, and the Works Progress Administration spent about $11 billion employing people to work on government projects. Roosevelt also provided for money to be given to states to help increase employment. This includes the Federal Relief Administration, that gave $3 million to states to pay wages for work projects as well as direct dole payments. The Tennessee Valley Act dammed up the Tennessee river and created jobs, inexpensive hydroelectric power, cheap nitrates, improved navigation of the river, low cost housing, reforestation, and the restoration of eroded soil.
Some historians believe that this changed the course of history, and that we can never truly trust the government again. While others believe that Nixon didn’t make the right decisions, this should not change the way the people look at our government. The government and the people need to maintain strong trust. The opposing argument believes that Richard Nixon made a turning point in history that allowed the people to turn against the government. Nobody can trust a government where the president himself does something against the law.
The 1970's was a difficult time period in American history filled with chaos, domestic and international crises, and very poor presidential leadership. Richard Nixon was president during the early years of the seventies and he was far from popular in the eyes of the American people. With inflation rapidly rising, Nixon soon became unfavorable, and with the controversy surrounding his actions concerning the Watergate Crisis, he was impeached and forced to resign. His Vice President, Gerald R. Ford, soon took his place in the White House. However, Ford was unable to handle the crippling events taking place in the United States; his approval dropped drastically within months, and like Nixon he lost support of the American people. When the 1976 presidential election came around, the American people needed a new hero whom they could trust and who could pull the nation out of its current state of misery. To fill this position, American chose to elect James Earl Carter, Jr., Governor from Georgia. Jimmy Carter began his presidency in the bright glow of public support built on his promise of bringing honesty and morality back to politics; but unable to successfully deal with conflicts beyond his control concerning domestic and foreign affairs, his term as President ended behind a dark cloud of public disapproval.
Both cases were very much similar yet different. In the Watergate scandal many of Nixon's dirty tactics were learned, including assorted lists of enemies,a number of which became targets of IRS tax audits, wiretapping, political sabotage, burglary, blackballing, and smear campaigns(Geriouese). Similarly, as Clinton’s case unfolded, the scandal appeared to involve more than just a sexual assault.
The Presidential Debates Between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon In the Presidential Election of 1960 John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhouse Nixon was in a series of debates that were different from past. debates. The sexy of the sexy. The three biggest national television networks arranged for the debate to be televised on all three stations.
Out of all of the current presidents in our time the most interesting president to explore was President Richard Nixon and out of all of them he was the only one in term to resign. That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment to be executed to the fullest extent of their nature. His poor choices and decisions led to his resignation. Although he did have some good qualities in helping the U.S. the bad however override the good. In the CRS (Congressional Research Service) It states: “ Obstruction of justice is the impediment of governmental activities. There are a host of federal criminal laws that prohibit obstructions of justice. The six most general outlaw obstruction of judicial proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1503), witness tampering (18 U.S.C. 1512), witness retaliation (18 U.S.C. 1513), obstruction of Congressional or administrative proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1505), conspiracy to defraud The United States (18 U.S.C. 371), and contempt (a creature of statute, rule and common law). Simple perjury in a federal investigation or judicial proceedings carries an extensive fine and up to 5 years in prison.” This was the first article president Richard M. Nixon was charged with by the House of Judiciary Committee. The vote was 27 to 1 for Nixon to be charged with the first article of impeachment, which was Obstruction of Justice. In denial of his liability in part taking in the Watergate scandal by saying he wasn't involved in the scandal He pointed finger at others that were involved in the break-in. However, tapes were found of conversations that proved his involvement and he was going to be impeached. Before he was charged, he made a resignat...
Compare and Contrast Essay Rough Draft January 26, 2016 Justin Park The Great Depression was the worst period in the history of America’s economy. There is no way to overstate how tough this time was for the average worker, and there was a feeling of desperation that hung over the entire country. Current political wisdom leading up to the Great Depression had been that the federal government does not get involved in business or the economy under any circumstances. Three Presidents in a row: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, all were cut from the same cloth of enacting pro-business policies to generate a powerful economy.
So how does this former leader of the free world compare to Macbeth? Before they achieved their positions of power to govern or rule all, both Nixon and Macbeth spent many years being heavily respected amongst their peers. Nixon spent many years as a respected congressman and Macbeth as a soldier and Thane of Glamis. They used the way people viewed them to their advantage to gain a position of power. Nixon used his experience to get him elected president. Macbeth was made Thane of Cawdor and eventually king. Once they both ascended to their respected roles they did whatever it took to protect themselves from any possible threats. Nixon cheated by trying to steal opponents campaign secrets thus giving him an unfair advantage.
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 ...
Johnson also sent combat troops to Vietnam. People still have a bad taste in their mouth over the debacle in Vietnam. President Nixon did not spend funds that Congress appropriated, information that needed to be looked upon by Congress. He took the executive role and refused to share the information, key decision makers were not allowed to be questioned before Congress on important issues, and he also took the executive branch and made it very broad and appointed to cabinet positions without Congress approval (Digital History, 2014). The imperial presidency of Nixon ended when he was caught in the Watergate scandal.
When Regan became president, his administration established a program of voluntary compliance with Clean Water Act standards. Regan sent around memos to big business asking, “What regulation do you want relief from?” Nixon wasn’t much better. He was out of step with the country. Nixon may have given the EPA the authority to sue and penalize polluters that exceeded those limits, but he would veto any new legislation And we did not care.