Richard Nixon: Defeated by Personality

Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of the United States, became the only American President to ever resign from office on August 9th, 1974. The contributing factors that led to his resignation cannot be boiled down to any single event. Rather, his coarse personality and unorthodox viewpoints led to his political retreat. The very existence of the Watergate scandal, a key event in the downfall of Richard Nixon as president, can be attributed to his overwhelming paranoia and his legitimate belief that some of his political enemies were evildoers. To overcome these enemies, he felt that he needed use any and every political weapon at his disposal to secure his place as president, with no regard to the legality of such measures. Nixon also believed that as president of the United States he was allowed to break certain laws and that he was exempt from investigation. Each of these traits alone is not uncommon in other politicians and world leaders; it's the combination of these factors that led to Nixon's resignation.

Unsurprisingly, his formative years influenced his eventual emotional issues and dubious morals. Nixon grew up in an environment devoid of affection. Bryce Harlow, an aide to Nixon, believed that he "as a young person was hurt very deeply by somebody... a sweetheart, a parent, a dear friend, someone he deeply trusted. Hurt so badly he never got over it and never trusted anybody again." Long-fostered paranoia was one of Nixon's dominating characteristics throughout his years as both Vice President and President. In fact, he saw his political rivals not just as threats to his position as president, but hostile towards him as a person. He saw himself as "facing enemies who he believed would stop at nothing" to ruin h...

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...minating the evidence truly was, and the weight of that evidence eventually put enough pressure on Nixon to convince him to resign as President. Common thought dictates that the Watergate scandal is the event that led to Nixon's resignation, and to a certain degree that statement is correct. Not only would the Watergate scandal have been less likely to occur without Nixon's strange and suspicious personality and personal views, but it would also have been less likely to become a political disaster after the event.

Works Cited

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Hodgson, Godfrey. America in Our Time. New York, Doubleday: 1976.

The Nixon Presidential Press Conferences. Coleman Enterprises, New York:

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White, Theodore H. Breach Of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon. Atheneum, New

York: 1975.