Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon served as the thirty-seventh president of the United States from January 20, 1969, to August 9, 1974, at which point he resigned from office following the Watergate scandal. The scandal and imminent impeachment that led to the former president's resignation have colored the legacy of Nixon's time as president and his legacy as a crook. Richard Nixon has been described as complex, inconsistent, and even contradictory; as a liar, a political monster, and a dangerous enemy; and as an introvert in an extroverted career, an intelligent man who relied on his own intelligence and the intelligence of others, and a champion of the "have-nots" in opposition to those he described as having everything and "sitting on their fat butts."

The legacy of Watergate and its associated scandals has left Nixon's legacy more concerned with that scandal rather than his establishment of domestic political agencies and his foreign policy, which, in part, eased international tensions. This legacy has also seen Nixon paired, in name or character, with later controversial political and presidential figures.

Born Richard Milhous Nixon on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda California, he was the second of five children born to Frank Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. Frank Nixon was an owner of a service station and a small lemon farm, as well as a grocer, and Hannah Nixon was a Quaker who exerted a strong influence on Richard Nixon. Nixon's family was poor; his father could sometimes be abusive, and his mother was considered controlling—which are different characteristics that Nixon would later be considered to adopt in his career.

Some, including Nixon, considered his drive to succeed came as a result of his childhood and his belief that he had to pretend to be good while using any possible tactic to achieve his goal. He had success in his school career, with good grades while partaking in debates and elections.

Nixon attended Fullterton High School before transferring to Whittier High School where he ran for and lost student body president. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University, but due to his family's financial situation, he would not be able to attend. Instead, in 1930, Nixon enrolled at Whittier College, where he pursued his interest in student government, drama, and football while working at his family's store. He won a scholarship to Duke University School of Law in 1934, where he would be president of the Student Bar Association and a member of the law review. He graduated in June 1937.

After graduation, Nixon returned to Whittier and joined a law firm, Wingert and Bewley. While there, he partook in a community play, where he met Thelma Catherine Ryan, nicknamed Pat, at a rehearsal for the play. Thelma Ryan was a teacher and amateur actress. Nixon pursued a relationship with her, and in 1940 the couple married.

The newly married couple moved to Washington, D.C. in 1942 to pursue Richard Nixon's ambitions, which would not be satisfied with a career as a small-town lawyer. He took a job in Franklin Roosevelt's Office of Price Administration, but he became disillusioned with the bureaucratic red tape and left public service. He then joined the U.S. Navy, despite his military exemption as a practicing Quaker. He then served as an aviation ground officer in the Pacific, and despite not seeing combat during his service, he returned to the United States with two service stars and commendations and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander before resigning his commission in January 1946.

In 1946, Nixon ran for and won an election to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing his home state of California, and beat out a five-term incumbent, Democratic Congressman Jerry Voorhis, in a campaign that relied on Nixon's use of innuendo to suggest Voorhis's alleged communist sympathies.

Nixon holding a paper detailing his role in the Hiss case.

During this time, from 1948 to 1950, Nixon participated as a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC), during which time he took a lead role in the investigation of Alger Hiss, who previously worked at the State Department and was accused of spying for the Soviet Union. Hiss denied the charges and was convicted of perjury, and Nixon's hostile questioning of Hiss began to build his national reputation as a fervent anti-communist.

After his performance on the House Un-American Activities Committee, which many considered to have cemented his anti-communist outlook, he received reelection in 1948. After two terms as a congressman, Nixon ran for senate and campaigned against Democratic candidate Helen Gahagan Douglas. His campaign against Douglas earned Nixon the nickname that would follow the remainder of his political life, "Tricky Dick," for the application of courtroom experience which, in turn, served his political acumen. The campaign saw Nixon use Douglas's voting record, which mirrored that of another Democrat believed to have communist sympathies, to imply she would have the same sympathies. During this period of fervent anti-communist feeling across America, this easily handed Nixon the election.

Nixon only served a third of his senatorial term. His support in California, with his anti-communist rhetoric and actions, made him the ideal running mate for Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential campaign. Eisenhower's war hero status combined with Nixon's youth (he was only 39 at this point) and his strong political rise created a powerful ticket. Despite a small controversy around Nixon's campaign expenses, the two came to power in 1952.

The controversy around Nixon's campaign funds came from a New York Post report that said he maintained a secret "slush fund" provided by contributions from California businessmen. Eisenhower gave Nixon a chance to clear himself, and in September 1952, Nixon delivered a national television address that would come to be called the Checkers speech. The speech gained its name in part for the rhetoric, in which Nixon stated his wife did not wear mink, but rather "respectable Republican cloth," and he had been given a cocker spaniel named Checkers with his campaign contributions, which he would not return because his daughters loved it. The speech then became to be known as the Checkers speech. It was a success, with the public responding favorably, and the speech putting some of Eisenhower's concerns at rest.

Richard Nixon as vice president from 1953 to 1961.

During his two terms as a vice president, Nixon made the role of vice president more prominent and enhance its constitutional importance. Although he had no formal power, he had the attention of the media and the Republican party and demonstrated the office of the vice president could be a pathway to the presidency. Most vice presidents since Nixon have followed his path and sought the presidency after serving as vice president. Nixon was also the first vice president to assume power temporarily. This occurred three times: in 1955, when Eisenhower suffered a heart attack; in 1956, when Eisenhower suffered ileitis; and in 1957, when Eisenhower had a stroke. During his vice presidency, Nixon engaged in the profanity-filled "kitchen debate" with Nikita Krushchev over the merits of capitalism versus communism during the 1959 opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow. The debate which would bring Nixon further notoriety.

During Eisenhower's illnesses, Nixon was called to chair several cabinet sessions and National Security Council meetings through a formalized agreement between Nixon and Eisenhower. But the real power lay in Eisenhower's close circle of advisors, of which Nixon was not a part. Nixon also took several publicized trips abroad, and he had several arguments and clashes with Eisenhower that left Eisenhower unsure of his support for Nixon when Nixon would run for president.

In the 1960 general election, Richard Nixon won his party's presidential nomination and opposed Democrat John F. Kennedy. The campaign was considered a turning point in political campaigning based partially on the televised debates between the two, which were the first televised presidential debates. During the series of four debates, Kennedy was able to convey an image of youthfulness, energy, and physical poise, having spent his time relaxing before the debates. While Nixon maintained his hectic campaign schedule.

Kennedy and Nixon during their series of four televised debates which largely swung the election in Kennedy's favor.

Kennedy's youthful and energetic appearance was in contrast to the pale and sweating Nixon, who had declined makeup and came across as nervous. While some have suggested Nixon rhetorically won the series of debates, performing better especially in the third and fourth rounds, the image of Kennedy and the confidence he conveyed led many to believe he won the debates.

The election was won by one of the closest margins. Although Kennedy won the electoral vote, he only received 118,000 more votes than Nixon in the popular vote. There were some concerns around irregularities in Illinois and Texas, with some observers questioning the validity of Kennedy's wins in those states. Some Republicans, including Eisenhower, urged Nixon to contest the results. But Nixon chose not to and declared Kennedy the victor, which won him praise from supporters and critics alike for the dignity and unselfishness with which he handled defeat.

A copy of Richard Nixon's best-selling Six Crises from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Following his defeat to Kennedy and the end of the Eisenhower presidency, Nixon decided to return to civilian life in California. He wrote a bestselling book, Six Crises, which was published in 1962. In that same year, he reluctantly ran for governor of California and lost to incumbent Democrat Edmund G. Brown. In a post-election news conference, Nixon announced his retirement from politics and attacked the press because he felt they used him as a whipping post. It was then believed Nixon's political career was over.

Nixon returned to practicing law in California, before moving to New York City for his legal career. During this time, he built himself a reputation as an expert in foreign affairs and as an individual and leader with appeal to both moderates and conservatives of the Republican party. This led to one of the most remarkable political comebacks, which would see Nixon win the Republican party's presidential nomination in 1968.

Richard Nixon's presidential portrait.

Nixon paired his ballot with Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew to campaign against Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George Wallace. His platform included a vague promise for honorable peace in Vietnam, the restoration of law and order in the cities, a crackdown on illegal drugs, and an end to the draft. Humphrey, as former vice president to Lyndon B. Johnson, was burdened by Johnson's unpopular Vietnam policies, which included a large escalation of the war effort and the bombing of North Vietnam. Johnson would halt the bombing in late October to help Humphrey's chances and in preparation for direct negotiations with Hanoi. Some have suggested that if this step had been taken earlier, Humphrey may have won the election. As it was, Nixon won the election by a narrow margin, 31.7 million popular votes to Humphrey's nearly 30.9 million, and with an electoral vote of 301 to 191.

Despite the cloud of the later scandal over Nixon's presidency, he made important steps in domestic policy and enacted some unpopular policies. This began with his refusal to follow Eisenhower's pattern of consolidation of programs and his preparation to make major departures to make changes. He also ascended to the presidency during a period of growing inflation and unemployment. Nixon declared his goal was "to bring the American people together."

To approach the problems of the economy, Richard Nixon adopted a policy of monetary restraint, including restricting the growth of the money supply, which would come to be called "gradualism." But as the name implied, it did not produce quick results, and Nixon found himself working against inflation. To bring down the rate, he went through various schemes, including delaying pay raises to federal employees by six months, while some called for wage and price controls. This led to Nixon, in 1971, gathering his economic advisors to develop a New Economic Policy (NEP), which violated most of Nixon's long-held economic policies and was enormously popular. This included wage-and-price freezes, tax cuts, a temporary closure fo the "gold window" (which allowed other nations to demand American gold in exchange for American Dollars), and included a 10 percent import tax to improve the nation's balance of trade. He was also the beneficiary of an economic boom starting in late 1971 and lasting into 1972, which would crash in 1973. When Nixon left office, the economy was as bad, if not worse than when he took office.

Nixon while serving in office and discussing domestic policy.

Nixon proposed the Family Assistance Plan, which aimed to replace the welfare program of the time with a guaranteed minimum income for families with children and fix what Nixon saw as a failure of the United States' safety net to combat poverty in America. Unlike other welfare plans, the annual guaranteed income was extended to all, not just the "non-working poor," and ended the distinction between the working and non-working poor. The plan would not be passed by Congress. Despite the defeat, it led to support for incremental legislation supporting similar ideas, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which provided guaranteed income for the elderly, blind, and disabled, and automatic cost-of-living adjustments for social security recipients. It also prompted an expansion and improvement of existing programs, such as food stamps and health insurance for low-income families.

Another policy direction was the development of "New Federalism," which describes several changes in domestic programs to get toward this plan, including a revenue-sharing plan to return a percentage of federal tax revenues to state and local governments. Given in "block grants," the state or local governments were allowed to use the funds as they chose, rather than given a dictation from the federal government guiding their use.

Nixon and his popular peace sign.

Nixon oversaw a series of domestic policies for the betterment of social and racial welfare. This included initiating and overseeing the desegregation of southern schools; lowering the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen and extending the right to vote; and authorizing joint work between the FBI and Special Task Forces to work to eliminate organized crime, which saw over 2500 convictions by 1973. He was the first president to give Native Americans the right to tribal self-determination by ending the policy of forced assimilation and returning their sacred lands. In 1973, he ended the military draft and moved the United States Military to an all-volunteer force. In 1972, he signed Title IX, which prevented gender bias at colleges and universities receiving federal aid, effectively opening the door for women in collegiate sports. He banned court-ordered bussing and led to the development of federal aid for school districts to dismantle segregated facilities and develop neighborhood schools. And he proposed initiatives and provisions to offer training and employment opportunities on federally funded projects, implementing the first example of "affirmative action" with the goal of ending segregation.

Nixon developed other domestic policies, including environmental legislation, such as the Clean Water Act, and established the Environmental Protection Agency to address concerns around the environment raised during the early 1970s. He proposed legislation that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), he established the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and he founded the Drug Enforcement Administration while announcing the "war on drugs," which aimed to end illicit substance abuse and trade in the United States.

Nixon with NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher.

Following the successful Apollo XI mission to place astronauts on the moon, started by John F. Kennedy, Nixon greeted the astronauts on their safe return to Earth. He would shortly thereafter be considered one of the fathers of NASA, as he supported the mission of NASA as a peaceful and civilian enterprise in space despite calls for NASA to adopt a more militaristic stance. And in 1972, he directed NASA to develop and build a reusable space transportation system, known as the space shuttle. While this was in partially in response to increasingly tight federal budgets, the reusability of the space shuttle was expected to provide more regular access to space while also reducing costs.

Nixon was probably best known for his foreign policy prior to his election, and he would go on to lead a series of foreign affairs missions and pursue policies aimed at reducing tensions through the global community while pursuing American interests, to lesser and greater success.

One of the initial aims of Nixon's presidency was to achieve "peace with honor" in the Vietnam War. This began with the policy of "Vietnamization," which aimed to reduce the role and number of United States military personnel in Vietnam while transferring those roles to South Vietnamese troops who remained heavily dependent on American supplies and air support. Meanwhile, Nixon resumed bombing of North Vietnam and expanded the air and ground war to neighboring Cambodia and Laos. These expansions of the conflict caused protests and demonstrations, including a demonstration at Kent University in May 1970 ending in the Ohio National Guard firing into the crowd of 2,000 protestors, killing four and wounding nine.

But during this period, there were negotiations between National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho. The sides reached an agreement in October 1972, until the South Vietnamese raised objections, and the agreement broke down before an intensive eleven-day bombing campaign of Hanoi and various North Vietnamese in late December of that year. A new agreement was reached in January 1973, which included an immediate cease-fire, the release of all prisoners of war, and the withdrawal of American military personnel.

The famous picture of Nixon and Mao Zedong shaking hands during his 1972 visit to China.

Nixon's greatest foreign policy success may have come in the establishment of direct relations with the People's Republic of China, coming after a twenty-one-year estrangement. This occurred after a series of low-level diplomatic contacts in 1970, the lifting of U.S. trade and travel restrictions in 1971, and an indication from the Chinese that high-level discussions would be welcome. Nixon initially sent Kissinger to talk, which resulted in the "ping-pong diplomacy" of multiple games between the American and Chinese table-tennis teams in reciprocal visits in 1971 and 1972.

Nixon officially visited China in 1972, the first visit by an American president while in office. The trip signaled a shift to a more cooperative relationship between the United States and China and, for some observers, concluded the Cold War in East Asia, leading to an altering of the international balance of power. The trip included dialogue on various differences between China and the United States, leading to the Shanghai Communique, which outlined individual and common interests, including the "One-China" policy, which redefined cross-strait and US and Taiwan relationships, while China and the US worked towards normalization of diplomatic relations between the countries.

The steps in China were partially taken to take advantage of what was a growing Sino-Soviet rift, which grew in the late 1960s. This rift gave Nixon more leverage in his dealings with the Soviet Union. Further, by 1971, the Soviet Union was more interested in talks with the United States and improved relations between the two countries. Nixon visited Moscow in May 1972 and signed ten formal agreements. The most important of these agreements were the nuclear arms limitation treaties, known as SALT I (based on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks), and a memorandum, the Basic Principles of U.S.-Soviet Relations, which summarized the new relationship between the two countries.

The foreign policy efforts of Nixon in the Middle East during his presidency were less successful. The administration had developed a comprehensive plan for peace, known as the Rogers Plan, which was rejected by both the Israelis and the Soviet Union. Following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Nixon sent Kissinger to broker disengagement agreements, which were successful in easing tensions but did little to help US and Arab relations.

In Latin America, in fear of a possible communist revolution, the Nixon administration worked to undermine the coalition government of Chile's Marxist President Salvador Allende, who had been elected in 1970 and had nationalized America-owned mining companies. The administration restricted Chile's access to international financial assistance and discourageed private investment. At the same time, the administration increased aid to the Chilean military, cultivated contacts with anti-Allende policy and military officials, and increased activities to destabilize the region, such as funneling covert money to Chilean opposition groups from 1970 to 1973. Allende was overthrown, partially due to the activities of the Nixon administration, during a military coup d'etat led by General Augusto Pinochet.

Image of the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

In 1972, Nixon and Agnew won reelection in a landslide victory, defeating Democratic challenger Senator George S. McGovern, with 46.7 million to 28.9 million in the popular vote and 520 to 17 in the electoral vote. Despite this victory, Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace a year later in what has been described as one of the worst political scandals in United States history. The scandal came from illegal activities by Nixon and his aides related to the burglary and wiretapping of the Democratic Party's national headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. It would come to encompass allegations of related crimes committed before and after the break-in.

Five men, hired by the Republican Party's Committee to Re-elect the President, were arrested and charged in June of 1972. Following the arrests, Nixon directed White House counsel John Dean to conceal the administration's involvement, while Nixon himself engaged in obstructing the FBI and its inquiry while authorizing cash payments to the Watergate five to prevent them from implicating the administration.

Several newspapers, led by The Washington Post, pursued possible involvement of the White House in the burglary, based on information from an unnamed source called "Deep Throat." The mysterious Deep Throat became its own story. In February 1973, a special Senate committee, the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, was established to look into the Watergate affair, and it went go on to accuse Nixon of involvement in a cover-up. Others testified to illegal activities on the part of the administration and campaign staff, such as the use of federal agencies to harass Nixon's perceived enemies, and engaged in acts of espionage. The committee would learn that in 1969, Nixon had installed a recording system in the Oval Office, recording the conversations of the president. These were subpoenaed by Archibald Cox, a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the affair. Nixon refused, and instead offered summary transcripts, which Cox rejected.

In an event that would come to be called the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson resigned rather than comply. Nixon then fired Richardson's assistant, William Ruckelshaus, who also refused to fire Cox. Cox was eventually removed by Solicitor General Robert Bork. The action would be subsequently deemed illegal by a federal district court.

Nixon during his "I am not a crook" television appearance.

After this series of firings, in part prompted by Nixon's own paranoia, he agreed to another special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, and promised not to fire him without congressional consent. He then uttered his famous lines in a news conference, "I am not a crook." Nixon subsequently released seven of the nine tapes requested by Cox. One of these tapes included a gap of eighteen-and-a-half minutes. The tapes were damning but did not include evidence that the president ordered the break-in or attempted to obstruct justice. Jaworksi would subpoena sixty-four more tapes, which Nixon attempted to withhold on grounds of "executive privilege." The Supreme Court ruled in 1974 that Nixon's claim for this privilege was invalid.

Richard Nixon preparing to announce in a televised speech his resignation as President.

By the time the Supreme Court came to this decision, the House Judiciary Committee had already voted to recommend three articles of impeachment, relating to obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and failure to comply with congressional subpoenas. Nixon complied with the Supreme Court's ruling and submitted transcripts of a conversation tape from June 1972, in which he discussed plans to use the Central Intelligence Agency to block the FBI's investigation of the Watergate break-in. Facing near-certain impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate, Nixon announced his resignation on August 8, 1974, effective at noon the next day.

Nixon was succeeded by Gerald Ford, who previously succeeded Spiro Agnew as vice president following Agnew's own resignation from office amid charges of bribery, extortion, and tax evasion from his time as governor of Maryland. President Ford would pardon Richard Nixon a month later, on September 8, 1974, freeing him from the potential of facing prosecution.

Richard Nixon retired with his wife to his estate in San Clemente, California, where he wrote several books on international affairs and American foreign policy, along with RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, published in 1978. These would, in small part, rehabilitate some of his public image and would earn him a role as an elder statesman and foreign-policy expert. He later campaigned for American political support and financial aid for Russia and other former Soviet republics. In April 1994, Nixon died of a massive stroke in New York City. His death came ten months after his wife died from lung cancer. He would receive posthumous praise from President Bill Clinton and other dignataries for his diplomatic achievements.