Morgan Coulson

Mr. Widenhofer
AP United States History
May 10, 2017

Richard Nixons Presidency

Richard M. Nixon was born on January 9th, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. Growing up

in a family with five children was not very easy, Nixon described his home life saying, We were

poor, but the glory of it was we didnt know. (Nixon). He was a very intelligent student,

graduating second in his class, receiving a scholarship to Harvard but he was not able to attend

because of his familys financial status. He instead attended Whittier College and graduated in

1934, receiving another scholarship, this time a full ride to Duke University of Law School in

Durham, North Carolina. After graduating and receiving a degree in Law he moved back to his

hometown of Whittier, California and began practicing law at Kroop and Bewley. This is where

he met his wife, Thelma Ryan, who married in 1940 and had two children; Tricia and Julie.

Nixon got his name into the government when he was approached by a group of formal

Republicans from Whittier about running for Congress in 1946. After successful and persuasive

campaigning Nixon defeated Democratic nominee Jerry Voorhis by more than 15,000 votes. As

Congressman he served on the Education and Labor Committee, was a major supporter of the

Taft-Hartley Act, and in 1948 he started an in depth investigation on Alger Hiss, former State

Department official, who was accused of spying on the Soviet Union before World War Two.

This investigation gave Nixon his name in the government as a national, yet controversial, leader

as he stuck to his gut and proved Hisss guilt. In 1950 he moved on to defeat Democratic

nominee, Helen Douglas, by more than half a million votes for senator. As he moved up in the

ranks of the government he gained the attention of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who selected

Nixon as his running mate for the 1952 election. The two won the election by over seven million
votes. Nixon played an outstanding rule as Vice President, he brought attention to Americas

relations with foreign nations and did great at involving them and relieving tensions that were

built up in previous years. In 1960, Nixon was nominated as the Republican nominee for the

election. He lost to democratic nominee John F. Kennedy, by less than 120,000 votes, which is .

2% of the popular vote. In 1968 Nixon decided to once again put himself into the eyes of the

public, running to become the president of the united states. He won the election by nearly

500,000 votes, winning the hearts of Americans all over. Richard Nixon was an above average

president, who put an end to the Vietnam war and relieved tensions in foreign nations, but was

tarnished by bad decisions, specifically the Watergate scandal.

When Nixon got elected on January 20, 1969 he was immediately faced with the issue of

the war in Vietnam. The majority of American citizens came attacking Nixon and his staff

demanding the immediate withdrawal of all American troops stationed anywhere in Vietnam.

This solution would have solved the issue at the moment but that was not what Nixon was

looking to do, he wanted to end it for good. On May 14, 1969 he addressed the nation to share

what was going to happen with the situation in Vietnam. In his message to the nation he says,

But we want to end it [the war] permanently so that the younger brother of our soldiers in

Vietnam will not have to fight in the future in another Vietnam someplace else in the world.

(Nixon). The first thing Nixon and his team did was begin to analyze our nations policy with

Vietnam, they carefully examined each aspect of the policy making sure that they had not missed

something useful to us. After these examinations they came to the realization that there had been

no negotiations for a final settlement to the fighting. This became Nixons goal, to put a complete

end to the fighting in Vietnam. It wasnt only to save the lives of the half million American

troops stationed in Vietnam, but for the promise, to supply support, made to South Vietnam
before his inauguration. Nixon was pushing for an America with the following things; no bases

in Vietnam, no military ties, and neutrality between America, South Vietnam, and North

Vietnam. If these things were to be achieved, he would have felt as though he held his word to

the Americans stationed in Vietnam as well as those trusting him in South Vietnam. Nixon

worked tirelessly with the government officials in Vietnam to come up with some type of

negotiation where the war would be over for now and forever. His proposal to President Thieu

states that after an agreement was made all non-Southern Vietnam troops would be removed,

over a 12 month period the rest of the American troops would be removed leaving only a few

international men to keep them safe, and all prisoners of war would be released at the earliest

release date. This information presented by Nixon to his people proves that he was trying his

hardest to remain true to the words he spoke at his inauguration, and to take care of his people as

President.

Nixon was very dedicated to improving foreign affairs and policies between Americans

and those nations around us. Leading up to his presidency there had been many instances that left

our relationship in shambles with other countries and groups of people. Nixon made is another

goal of his to improve these relationships, making America as strong as he possibly could. He

targeted China as the first nation to reach out to and he stuck to it with persistence. In February

of 1972, Nixon traveled to China, specifically Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, to talk to

Chinese leaders like Moa Zedong and Zhou Enlai. This was the first high-level government

contact America had had with China in more than 20 years. It opened up new and much needed

relations with the Chinese. Nixon made sure to be as personable to whomever he was meeting

with, in hopes they were willing to repair any hard feelings from events in the past. Another big

breakthrough in foreign affairs is when Nixon traveled to Moscow just a few weeks after being
in China to meet with the secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Their goal was

to discuss and come to an agreement on the use of nuclear weapons and their use in any means of

war. This is when the Strategic Arms Limitation treaty was signed, which was the first detailed

and extensive nuclear weapons limitation compromise between any two big power nations. Other

smaller accomplishments of Nixon include saving Israel from annihilation in 1973 and also

coming to peace and signing a treaty with Northern Vietnam. By the time President Nixon left

office he had brought peace to millions of people, nation by nation, working to even out

differences created in the past, in hopes to relive tensions and stop fighting for the people of

America.

In spite of the great things Nixon accomplished over his presidency, he got caught up in

one of the most well-known government scandals, the Watergate Scandal. The decisions made by

Nixon involving Watergate are what ruined his reputation as the above average president that he

had become. On June 12, 1972, during Nixons reelection campaigning period, several burglars

were arrested inside the Watergate building in Washington D.C. They were supposedly

attempting to wiretap the phones in the building and steal secret documents not meant for any of

the public eye. There were no suspicions pointing towards the presidents involvement until

officials starting question whether Nixon was trying to cover up the fact that he was involved in

the men trying to tap into the phones. It was soon found that the burglars were in fact part of

Nixons reelection campaign team, which hurt his reputation giving him a hard time to gain back

the nations trust. While Nixon worked around these people who questioned him he gave a speech

stating that his people were not involved in the Watergate scandal, winning him back the hearts,

allowing him to win the election for a second term. Only a week or so later new information was

uncovered that changed the minds of millions. Nixon had provided hundreds to thousands of
dollars to the burglars as hush money in order to keep them from talking, and was also

ordering the CIA to stop the FBIs investigation of the crime. This alone called for impeachment

as it was misuse of his presidential powers to cover up a mistake he had made. Over the course

of the investigation though many of Nixons team members were breaking down to detectives

about other illegal measures the president had taken. One of the biggest being that he had tape

recorded every conversation that took place in the Oval Office during both of his presidencies.

Supreme court justices and special detectives fought tirelessly to find some law stating that

Nixon had to turn over the tapes but he fought back saying it was his executive priveledge to

keep the tapes in his possession, threatening to fire anyone who continued to demand the tapes.

This led to the resignation of a lot of members from the government party, who no longer wanted

to be caught up in his illegal actions. Once Nixon saw he was loosing his team he agreed to hand

over not all, but some of the tapes. In July of 1974 the Supreme Court demanded Nixon to turn

over the tapes, and with the House of Representatives already trying to impeach Nixon on levels

of obstruction of justice and abuse of power, Nixon had no choice but to hand over all of the

recordings. After listening to the tapes, which were filled with undeniable evidence of Nixons

involvement with the Watergate scandal, the House of Representatives went into full force with

the power of impeachment. But on August 8, just three days after releasing the tapes Nixon

announced his resignation to the entire nation. In his address to the nation regarding his

resignation he says, I would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong--and some were

wrong--they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the Nation.. He

tried his best to patch up the wrongdoings but this once extraordinary president had ruined his

reputation with the American people, that he so greatly strived to achieve over the last eight

years.
 President Nixon was a president who took the nations interest at the most immediate and

important priority and concern while doing anything during his terms. He accomplished many

things that some historians say would have never been accomplished by any other president in

the near future. Things like ending the Vietnam war, one of the biggest Americans had ever seen,

or patching up foreign affairs between millions and millions of people all over the nation, and

reaching out to the people of America in every instance that he could. But, like in every life

situation, everything thing can change with just one decision, and that is what happened with

Nixon. He decided that he was going to cover up something he knew he had done wrong, losing

the love of the Americans who had grown to admire the presidents actions. This led Nixon to

lose his above average presidential standpoint and fall to the point of below average in the matter

of months leading up to his resignation.

 Works Cited

Aitken, Jonathan. "Richard Nixon's Dark Side Has Obscured His Greatness." The Telegraph.
Telegraph Media Group, 04 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 May 2017.

Etelfeyan. "The Good and Bad of Richard Nixon's Presidency." Meals From The Marketplace.
N.p., 06 Aug. 2014. Web. 12 May 2017.

Farrell, John A. Richard Nixon: The Life. New York: Doubleday, 2017. Print.

Nixon, Richard M. "244 - Address to the Nation Announcing Decision To Resign the Office of
President of the United States." Resignation. Oval Office in the White House,
Washington DC. 8 Aug. 1974. Web.

Nixon, Richard M. "195 - Address to the Nation on Vietnam." Vietnam War. White House
Theater, Washington DC. 14 May 1969. Address.