Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th president of the United States, is perhaps one of the most remembered president in American history… but not for the best of reasons. After growing up in a financially unstable family in Yorba Linda, California, Nixon studied law throughout his adolescence, unaware of the future ahead of him (“The Life”). As a hopeful young politician, Richard Nixon focused on strengthening the nation on both domestic and, primarily, foreign terms. Despite his successes in foreign policy, Richard Milhous Nixon’s presidency took a turn for the worse in 1972 with the breaking of the famous Watergate Scandal and, subsequently, his resignation. Due to the pressure of this incident, Richard Nixon left a legacy as the first president to resign despite his attempt in his resignation address to convince the nation that the Watergate Scandal is in the past.
Richard Nixon was a part of both the House of Representatives and Senate, and he served as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president for eight years. Although he sought presidency in previous elections, it wasn’t until the election of 1968 that he was elected as president against Democrat, Hubert Humphrey. With this position underway, Nixon was committed to ending war in Vietnam ("Richard Nixon- Brief Biography"). His first term was primarily spent deliberating on how to end the situation, and it was this dedication that got him elected to a second term in 1972. The year following his election, he pronounced the ending to the Vietnam war with his “Address to the Nation Announcing Conclusion of an Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam” (Ending the Vietnam War: US Department of State). America was thrilled that they could focus on more important things domesti...
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...speech did remind the nation to remember the improvements that needed to be made, his speech was not effective in putting the Watergate Scandal in the past; Nixon will continue to be remembered for his potential impeachment and resignation due to the controversial Watergate Scandal.
Works Cited
Ending the Vietnam War: US Department of State. N.p.. Web. 26 Mar 2014.
"The Life." Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. National Archives and Records Administration. _____Web. 13 Mar 2014.
"Richard Nixon- Brief Biography." Watergate.info. watergate.info, n.d. Web. 13 Mar 2014.
"Watergate Scandal ." History. A&E Television Networks, LLC., n.d. Web. 13 Mar 2014.
"The Watergate Scandal." www.pbs.org. N.p.. Web. 10 Apr 2014.
Wood, Andrew . "The American Jeremiad." Comm 149 Rhetoric and Public Life. San Jose State _____University, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Pious, Richard M. Richard Nixon: A Political Life. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Julian Messner, 1991.
The "Checkers Speech" saved Nixon's career, what was left of it.. Eisenhower kept him on the ticket just because of his looks and he went on to serve eight years as Vice President. He wanted to win by a lot. In 1960 Nixon ran for President, losing a close race to John F. Kennedy. The smell of hope. He was paranoid. Two years later he lost a bitter race for Governor of California to Pat Brown and retired from politics, telling the press, "There is always next year. He was paranoid.
The documentary entitled, Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History, documents the political decisions and environment within the Nixon Administration from 1969-1974. The documentary specifically details and describes the environment and culture in which the Watergate scandal could occur and the events and abuses of power that lead to its occurrence. Setting the tone and the political climate of the Nixon Administration was the Vietnam War; making him a wartime President, a war that he inherited from his predecessor. The Vietnam War faced a lot of opposition from the general public, with massive protests and political demonstrations by the younger generations and overall general public. Nixon’s presidency was surrounded by this climate amidst the
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.
In 1968 Richard Nixon was elected President. One of the promises he made was to end the Vietnam War. When the My Lai massacre was exposed in November of 1969 there was worldwide outrage and reduced public support for the war. Then a month later the first draft lottery was instituted since WWII. In April 1970, Nixon told the public he was going to withdraw large numbers of U.S. troops from Vietnam. So when he made his television address on April 30 to say we had invaded Cambodia the American people reacted strongly. In the speech Nixon addressed not only Cambodia but also the unrest on college campuses. Many young people, including college students, were concerned about the risk of being drafted, and the expansion of the war into another country appeared to increase that risk. Across the country protests on campuses became what Time magazine called "a nation-wide student strike."
Nixon’s approach to the war was Birchesque. He campaigned for president in 1968 as a peace candidate by pointing out that he had been raised as a Quaker and promising to bring the troops home. His path to peace, however, entailed an escalated war. After his election as president, he unleashed a ferocious air assault on the Vietnamese and extended the ground war into Laos and Cambodia. When the anti-war movement criticized these measures, Nixon did what any Bircher would do: he decried the anti-war movement as a communist conspiracy that was prolonging the war and that deserved to be treated as an internal security threat.
...involved with the break in, they did not like him as much. Him knowing the secrets of the party he was running against may have helped him win his second election, but I think he could have won anyways. If he had just told the truth he might have more respect than he does today. He set a bad example for our country to follow. He showed us that stealing and cheating are good. We all know that is not true, so what kind of leader was he. If I had known what he was doing I know I definitely would not have ever wanted to vote for him as president. He left our people unable to trust the government. The people who are supposed to represent leaders of our country and set the examples. Are we able to trust them? How do we know our previous President Nixon, was not the only one. Many people could have got away with things like this, and we would not have ever even known.
“Life of John F. Kennedy.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 04
...pen again. It also showed that we should pay attention to the news. Even though Watergate attracted minimal attention at first, it is now one of the most well know stories in the nation because the president ended up being involved and then resigned.
Bowman, Carl Desportes. "The Myth of a Non-Polarized America." 2011. The Hedgehog: Critical Reflection on Contemporary Culture. 1 March 2014.
This book of memoirs should be intended to anybody who is interested in becoming a good politician. In conclusion, the ways that he lived his life were different then most, especially in the "arena". His lessons throughout his own life showed that he went through everything early and late in life the hardest way possible, even in college. He did what he had to do, to finish and become the best he could have with the conditions given to him. Nixon could have quit, but he didn't and pulled through and lived his life one step at a time, broken and angered. The most important thing is that he kept strong and mentally stable at all times, which made him the great politician he was.
At first, he was a strong supporter of the Vietnam War but then became a strong opponent. The Department of Defense continued to lie to the people about the hype about the war. The government continued to say that the war was under control. The Pentagon Papers already have statistics on the Vietnam War. As soon as Nixon saw the paper, he went to his Attorney General right away to stop the printing of the New York Times newspaper. Daniel Ellsberg knew that he would get arrested for making copies of the papers.
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 ...
While Nixon was in office, he used the war to his benefit, helping him win another term in office. Nixon’s plan was to use “Vietnamization,” a process in which American soldiers would train South Vietnamese to fight for themselves and eventually drawing American troops out of the war (Vietnamization). At first, General WestPoint was in charge, raiding Vietcong bases and trying to eliminate them. The original plan was to use the body count to discourage any more NVA troops from fighting, but this strategy backfired because both Vietnamese and American troops had high body counts. General Abraham was appointed as commander and began the “Vietnamization” strategy, which only seemed to work in the public’s eyes. Nixon made a treaty with South Vietnamese President, to have a ceasefire to withdraw American troops and release American POWs while South Vietnam took over the war (The). Nixon planned to use this strategy to withdraw all American troops, however it was “worse, Nixon would leave North Vietnamese troops occupying and controlling much of the South, while withdrawing all remaining American ground forces (Hughes).” Nixon’s use of Vietnamization helped to further his political resolve. He “sacrificed the lives of American soldiers to further his electoral ends (Hughes).” The ...
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.