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An essay on the election of Richard Nixon in 1968
Richard Nixon's political career
Political experience of Nixon
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Nixonland is four stories put into one novel that was written by Rick Perlstein. Each story was about a different campaign that had happened between the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Besides Nixonland, Perlstein has also written another novel which is “Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus”. Although he does go into detail about some of the Presidents that were mentioned in the book, but the book is not a biography. It is classified as nonfiction. The author is also a political historian, and has written many articles for magazines over the country. He was a history major from the University of Chicago, and later on, Pearlstein went and received his PhD at the University of Michigan for American culture.
The book is broken up into four books into one, describing the events that had happened in America during the 1960’s and 70’s. Going into detail describing disparity with the war, discrimination and how peoples’ opinions were taken in consideration. First we are introduced with the 1965 riot, which had happened nine months after Lyndon Johnsons’ triumph victory that happened with Barry Goldwater. This all happened a week after President Johnson officially engaged the Voting Rights Act. Within the following year, a good amount of liberals were kicked out of Congress. Sadly, America was becoming a divided country than it had ever been. Television began growing in this era, where the first presidential election was broadcast in 1960 with President John F. Kennedy, and Vice President Richard Nixon who was the republican nominee. After Nixon had lost, the book describes the events through both John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy. As the book went on, the outbreak of a war between...
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... to a new level, by having the younger generation understand on what happened during that time period. This would be an excellent book for those who have an interest in politics. Something that made the book not interesting was the length of the book. There were too many pages that as a reader it will become boring or less entertaining. Lastly Pearlstein does not mention who the characters are, just stating their name in the book. To where the assuming the reader knows who these people are, when perhaps they don’t.
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.
“I am not a crook” President Nixon
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
The 1960’s was a time society fantasized of a better world. However, the horrors of the Vietnam War soon became evident; the mass amounts of death occurring because of the war became a reality. It created a “movement”, especially in American colleges, in order to stand up for what they believed to be “right”. By 1970, many Americans believed sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake, however there were also various individuals becoming increasingly critical of the student antiwar movement
During the 1960’s, there was a rising tide of protests that were taking place. College students began to stand up for their rights and protest for a stronger voice in society. The United States was going through a tough period marked by the Cold War against communism and also the war in Vietnam. From Truman to Nixon the United States government involved the country more and more in Vietnam. Nixon announced a new policy in 1968 called Vietnamization. (Foner, 4th edition, pg.1028) This policy would bring American troops back home, but it neither limited the war nor ended the antiwar movements.
Moreover, Nixon was the first to go into China territory for negotiations. Ultimately, they have attracted the media with their antics, making themselves? targets of controversy and embarrassment. In fact, President Clinton and Nixon have become the subjects of public mockery and have been an embarrassment to the American people in the office of the President. Moreover, both men have been involved in humiliating situations.
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.
The sixties was a decade filled with major political debates that affected the entire country. By the time the sixties came around we were in the most turbulent part of the Cold War, an era of military and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Dwight Eisenhower brought the fifties to a close it was time for a new president to take hold of the reigns. As the country closed in on one of the closest elections in history it was up to Democratic candidate, John F. Kennedy to compete agains...
...War and the Civil Rights Movements in order to illustrate how the 1960s was a time of “tumult and change.” To Anderson, it is these events, which sparked the demand for recognition of social and economic fairness. He makes prominent the idea that the 1960s served as the origin of activism and the birth of the civil rights movement, forever changing ideals that embody America. The book overall is comprehensive and a definite attention grabber. It shows how the decade had the effect of drastically transforming life in America and challenging the unequal status quo that has characterized most of the nation's history. Despite the violence and conflict that was provoked by these changes, the activism and the liberation movements that took place have left a permanent imprint upon the country.
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 ...
Henry Kissinger's "Tribute for former president Richard M. Nixon," Published by Vital speeches of the Day in 1994 talks about how good of a man/president Richard Nixon with his struggles and how he overcame these during his presidency. Henry Kissinger was very close to Richard Nixon, he was the secretary of state during Nixons' presidency. He was closer to the president than anyone else in the White House, he was his right-hand man. This tribute was given at Nixon's funeral, and Kissinger had a lot of good things to say about Nixon. His foreign policies, ending of a war, and overall love for him by the people before Watergate. This was written after Kissinger gave this speech at Nixon's funeral. Kissinger word choice made people mourn over
Rick Perlstein argues over whether "Nixonland", a country at war with itself, still resides in the heart of America. The book took a in depth look at Nixon’s political career from the beginning up to the outcome of the 1972 election, as well as how America’s political scene went from perceived consensus in the LBJ era to the bitterly divided right versus left, also known as the red state/blue state split. Perlstein’s argument is that we are still living in Nixonland. “Nixonland” is a study of the consensus, it isn’t just about Nixon, he isn’t the protagonist of Nixonland although it does include his rise and fall; instead, the protagonist of Nixonland is the American voter who found themselves voting Democrat in 1964 and then Republican in 1972 for the same reasons. This book covers the American political and cultural terrain from LBJ’s liberal landslide in 1964, through Nixon’s comeback in 1968, and land...
A great period full various changes and conflicts, the nineteen-sixties wasn’t anything outside of native. From elections, wars, and inequality at its finest things seemed to be consistently moving at all angles and nothing puts a spark on the map brighter than one of our own presidents. It was January 20, 1962 when John Fitzgerald Kennedy took stage to be the thirty-fifth president of the United States. Written by Kennedy in late November of 1960, his inauguration speech goes to explain the various changes of the world as Kennedy campaigned to “get the country moving again.” His speech begins to address the differences of the generations as he wants to “pass the torch.” Kennedy expresses various ways of getting people together which he bases his entire point into doing as he then establishes a plea for his fellow nations to move towards this look for peace subliminally calling out the Soviet Union who at this time was an adversary of the United States in the Cold War. With an open hand he lets them know that he longs to handle this in a peaceful manner but if need be that war will not be frowned upon in his case. Lastly, he talks to the American citizens as to how they can make an impact along with the rest of the United States government. A cultural icon amongst the people he was regarded as one of the most popular presidents and with a speech to remember for ages his inauguration address was fully loaded with various conflicts to make his speech full of thought-provoking arguments
Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
In the duration of one year, 1968, the American national mood shifted from general confidence and optimism to chaotic confusion. Certainly the most turbulent twelve months of the post-WWII period and arguably one of the most disturbing episodes the country has endured since the Civil War, 1968 offers the world a glimpse into the tumultuous workings of a revolution. Although the entire epoch of the 1960's remains significant in US history, 1968 stands alone as the pivotal year of the decade; it was the moment when all of the nation's urges toward violence, sublimity, diversity, and disorder peaked to produce a transformation great enough to blanket an entire society. While some may superficially disagree, the evidence found in the Tet Offensive, race relations, and the counterculture's music of the period undeniably affirm 1968 as a turning point in American history.
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.