Richard Nixon
History will inevitably forgive Richard Nixon. Despite his obvious unlawful mistakes, he made a good president. Until 1968, most Americans saw Richard Nixon as a political has-been, a dour pre-McCarthy hunter of Communists. In 1968, however, Nixon won the Presidency by presenting himself as a healer of divisions. He demonstrated that he had greater ability to reinvent himself than any other modern politician. More than any other figure between the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his own resignation in 1974, Nixon was the pivotal postwar President. The architect of detente, he also was the President who ordered secret bombing raids on Laos and Cambodia and then invaded Cambodia. The architect of the conservative Republican "southern strategy," he also was the President who created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Voting Rights Acts. The man who painted himself as a friend of "law and order," he broke the law and was forced to leave office in disgrace. During his presidency, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and Nixon made history by visiting China. The Viet Nam War cast a shadow over Nixon's successes, but the war finally ended in 1973 under his presidency. Nixon set milestones in foreign policy by improving relations with both China and Russia. Nixon's Secretary of State Henry Kissinger relentlessly pursued negotiations in the Mideast, with Israel, Egypt, and Syria.
Yet Nixon is still remembered as a thief and a criminal. Why isn't he best remembered for his foreign policy achievements? Yea, most Americans recognize his failure to bring a speedy, or even "honorable," end to the Vietnam War. Perhaps this notoriety is based on the fact that Nixon was one of the f...
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...ember of his Justice Department "commit suicide" and then move his body to Ft. Marcy Park, while rummaging through his office to remove incriminating paperwork. When Billy Graham went to publicly ask the nation to forgive Nixon, Nixon told him to keep his distance so he, Rev. Graham, would not be tainted by the Watergate Scandal. (a nice contrast to Clinton's "spiritual advisor" Jesse Jackson). When Nixon found out about Democrat voter fraud in the 1960 election (some late mysterious absentee ballots from Cook County, Chicago) -- he refused to go public with it because he felt it would hurt America. And finally, Nixon resigned because he didn't want to "tear America apart". I am sure that history will soon forget about Clinton as his escapades, so why doesn't history forget about Nixon? I'm sure it soon will
Bibliography:
Taking Sides Volume 4 (1999)
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.
...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 supporting argument is that Nixon made awful choices, but that should not change the people’s opinion of government. Nixon supporters were disgraced and his opponents just shook their heads. His supporters trusted him to do the right things, but in the end he just hurt them. While this was a mayor issue in history the American people should not look at this one bad apple. If the whole United States thought that everyone in the government was corrupt then we would have a huge problem.
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”.
During the 1960’s, it was all about the new revolution, creating equal rights and peace; while also being a time of horrible violence. Richard Nixon ended up facing all these problems head on as the President of the United States. Richard was a great student in school. He always had high grades in school, was constantly being elected in school elections, and excelled in school debate. After he graduated from college, he went to work at a law firm, where he met the people who would help him score a seat in the Senate, then as Vice President, and finally as President of the United States. Richard Nixon is an agent of change for achievements such as opening the doors to foreign affairs with China, his achievements in health reform, and his work in environmental protection that is still being used in todays society.
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...
...r’s mission, people got infuriated with the scandal, and he resigned to get away with his mistakes. He got impeached because he violated of constitutional oath, prevented, obstructed, and impeded administration of justice, and concealed those responsible of prison. He violated the constitutional oath because he did not serve his country the way he is supposed to. He obstructed, prevented and impeded administration of justice because lied that he was not responsible for the scandal. He concealed those responsible of prison because he didn’t tell the authorities who else was involved in the scandal. John Srica, Carl Woodward, and Bob Bernstein did an amazing job uncovering the scandal and who was behind it. Nixon should go to jail because everybody else who was responsible did. However, he escaped the wrath of jail because the next president, Gerald Ford pardoned him.
...ver actually happened. Instead of America feeling betrayed, they look to him as a hero and a great man. (chapter 2, page 13) By creating that diametric story line, Moore uses the citizen’s acceptance of Nixon to show how unethical and twisted their world is.
...nam. Nixon, himself, has thought about how different his presidency could have been if he were elected in 1960. He would have followed Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had an 8-year scandal-free administration. Instead, he followed in Lyndon B. Johnson’s steps of corruption, spying, recordings, extended illegal use of the FBI, and exploited access to TV. (Nixon 624-25) This fed into his insecurities and habitual paranoia, which facilitated his downfall.
When people think about President Richard Nixon, they immediately associate him with the Watergate scandal, but actually “…his pre-Watergate record is a lot better than most [people] realize…” (DeGregorio 600). Nixon and his administration stepped up and exhibited goodness during his first term and part of his second term. They reduced U.S involvement in Vietnam War and brought home 518,000 soldiers from 1969 to 1972. They even made deals to get the POW’s in North Vietnam out and home (DeGregorio 595). Nixon’s administration formed the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce clean air and water laws. Nixon also signed all the Civil Rights Acts passed by Congress (DeGregorio 597). The Civil Rights Acts desegregated schools and by 1972, 90% of schools were desegregated (The Richard M. Nixon Administrations). This really helped improve the educational opportunities for black children. Nixon also started a revenue sharing program in which the federal government gave billions of dollars of taxes back to the state and local governments (DeGregorio 596). This helped local governments because they could spend the money on the things that their communities needed the most. Nixon’s specialty was foreign affairs and he visited both communist China and Soviet Union. He was the first president to go to China and he helped open up Chinese-American relationships and settle differences with the Chinese (The Richard M. Nixon Administr...
Nixon was long associated with American politics before his fall from grace. He was along time senator before finally being elected president in 1968. During his first term, his United States went through the Vietnam War and a period of economic inflation. In 1972 he was easily re-elected over Democrat nominee George McGovern. Almost unnoticed during his campaign was the arrest of five men connected with Nixon’s re-election committee. They had broken into the Democrats national head quarters in the Watergate apartment complex, in Washington D.C. They attempted to steal documents and place wire taps on the telephones. By March of 1973, through a federal inquiry, it had been brought to light that the burglars had connections with high government officials and Nixon’s closest aids. Despite Nixon and his lawyers best efforts, it was shown that the president had participated in the Watergate cover-up. On August 8, 1974 Nixon announced, without admitting guilt, that he would resign. He left the Oval Office the next day: an obvious fall from grace.
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 ...
Nixon is noted as one of the worst presidents the United States has ever encountered; however, most of his flaws were hidden and his actions were never questioned until the media investigated him (Feldstein 62). Nixon was associated with more than just the Watergate Scandal, but most of his disgraceful actions were uncovered after his presidency ended. The Watergate Scandal, however, would prove to be Nixon’s downfall: he was the first president to resign from office and the first president to be caught betraying the American people (63).
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.