   #copyright

Richard Nixon

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: USA Presidents

   Richard Milhous Nixon
   Richard Nixon
     __________________________________________________________________

   37th President of the United States
   In office
   January 20, 1969 –  August 9, 1974
   Vice President(s)   Spiro Agnew (1969-1973)
   None (1973)
   Gerald R. Ford (1973-1974)
   Preceded by Lyndon B. Johnson
   Succeeded by Gerald Ford
     __________________________________________________________________

   36th Vice President of the United States
   In office
   January 20, 1953 –  January 20, 1961
   President Dwight D. Eisenhower
   Preceded by Alben Barkley
   Succeeded by Lyndon Johnson
     __________________________________________________________________

   Born January 9, 1913
   Yorba Linda, California
   Died April 22, 1994
   New York, New York
   Political party Republican
   Spouse Thelma Catherine Patricia "Pat" (Ryan) Nixon
   Religion Quaker
   Signature

   Richard Milhous Nixon ( January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th
   President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He is the
   only U.S. President to have resigned from office. His resignation came
   in the face of imminent impeachment related to the Watergate scandal.
   Nixon's abuse of his office, as well as his broad view of the
   prerogatives of the president, led many to call his time in the White
   House the Imperial Presidency.

   Nixon is noted for his innovative foreign policy, especially détente
   with the Soviet Union, his opening of U.S. relations with China, and
   ending American involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as for his
   middle-of-the-road domestic policy that combined conservative rhetoric
   and, in many cases, liberal action, as in his civil rights,
   environmental, and economic initiatives.

   Nixon was the 36th Vice President (1953–1961), serving under Dwight D.
   Eisenhower. Nixon is the only American to have been elected twice to
   both the vice presidency and the presidency. Some give Nixon credit for
   redefining the role of the vice president. During his time in that
   office, he was a highly visible spokesman for the Eisenhower
   administration, particularly on issues affecting the Republican Party
   and international affairs during the Cold War.

Early years

   Richard Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California to Francis A. Nixon
   and Hannah Milhous Nixon. He was raised by his mother as an evangelical
   Quaker. His upbringing is said to have been marked by conservative
   evangelical Quaker observances such as refraining from drinking,
   dancing and swearing. His father (known as Frank) was a former member
   of the Methodist Protestant Church who had sincerely converted to
   Quakerism but never fully absorbed its spirit, retaining instead a
   volatile temper. Richard Nixon's great-grandfather George Nixon III had
   been killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War
   while serving in the 73rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

   Nixon's parents had five children:
     * Harold Nixon ( June 1, 1909 – March 7, 1933)
     * Richard Nixon
     * Donald Nixon ( November 23, 1914 – June 27, 1987)
     * Arthur Nixon ( May 26, 1918 – August 10, 1925)
     * Edward Nixon ( May 3, 1930)

   The young Lt Commander Richard Nixon of the US Navy 1945
   Enlarge
   The young Lt Commander Richard Nixon of the US Navy 1945

   Nixon attended Fullerton High School from 1926-1928 and Whittier High
   School from 1928-1930. He graduated first in his class; showing a
   penchant for Shakespeare and Latin. He declined a full-tuition
   scholarship to Harvard and attended Whittier College, a local Quaker
   school where he co-founded the Orthogonian Society, a fraternity. Nixon
   was a formidable debater and was elected student body president. A
   lifelong American football fan, Nixon practiced with the team
   assiduously but spent most of his time on the bench. In 1934, he
   graduated second in his class from Whittier and went on to Duke
   University School of Law, where he received a full scholarship and
   graduated third in his class.

   In 1937, Nixon returned to California, was admitted to the bar, and
   began working in the law office of a family friend in a nearby
   small-town. The work was mostly routine, and Nixon generally found it
   to be dull. He later wrote that family law cases caused him particular
   discomfort, since his reticent Quaker upbringing was severely at odds
   with the idea of discussing intimate marital details with strangers.

   He met Thelma "Pat" Ryan, a high school teacher; they were married on
   June 21, 1940. They had two daughters, Tricia and Julie.

   During World War II, Nixon served as a reserve officer in the Navy. He
   received his training at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and Ottumwa,
   Iowa, before serving in the supply corps on Nissen Island in the South
   Pacific commanding cargo handling units in SCAT. There he was known as
   "Nick" and for his prowess in poker, banking a large sum that helped
   finance his first campaign for Congress.

House and Senate: 1946-1952

   Nixon was elected to the United States House of Representatives in
   1946, defeating Democratic incumbent Jerry Voorhis for California's
   12th congressional district. Nixon's campaign alleged that his
   opponent's CIO PAC support showed that Voorhis was collaborating with
   Communist-controlled labor unions.

   Nixon's first major breakthrough came in his two terms in Congress,
   where his dogged investigation on the House Un-American Activities
   Committee broke the impasse of the Alger Hiss spy case in 1948. Nixon
   believed Whittaker Chambers, who alleged that Hiss, a high State
   Department official, was a Soviet spy. Nixon discovered that Chambers
   had saved microfilm reproductions of incriminating documents by hiding
   the film in a pumpkin (these became known as the "Pumpkin Papers").
   These documents were alleged both to be accessible only by Hiss, and to
   have been typed on Hiss's personal typewriter. The discovery that Hiss,
   who had been an adviser to FDR, could have been a Soviet spy, thrust
   Nixon into the public eye and made him the hero to FDR's many enemies.
   In reality, his support for internationalism put him closer to the
   centre of the Republican party, often closer to liberal Republicans
   than to conservatives.

   In 1950, Nixon was elected to the United States Senate over
   Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. Accusing her of Communist or
   fellow traveler sympathies, Nixon called her "the Pink Lady" and said
   she was "pink right down to her underwear." Gahagan, meanwhile, gave
   Nixon one of the most enduring nicknames in politics: " Tricky Dick."

Vice presidency

        Order:      36th Vice President
   Term of Office:  January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
     Preceded by:   Alben Barkley
    Succeeded by:   Lyndon B. Johnson
      President:    Dwight D. Eisenhower
   Political party: Republican

   In 1952, he was elected Vice President on Dwight D. Eisenhower's
   ticket. He was 39 years old.

   In September 1952, during the campaign, The New York Post and other
   publications reported that Nixon had kept a business fund for personal
   use. Democrats and leading Republicans pressured Eisenhower to remove
   Nixon from the ticket. Nixon convinced Eisenhower to let him defend
   himself. Nixon went on TV on September 23 and defended himself in a
   famous speech. He provided an independent third-party review of the
   fund's accounting along with a personal summary of his finances, which
   he cited as exonerating him from wrongdoing, and he charged that the
   Democratic Presidential candidate, Adlai Stevenson, also had a slush
   fund. This speech would, however, become better known for its rhetoric,
   such as when he stated that his wife Pat did not wear mink, but rather
   "a respectable Republican cloth coat," and that although he had been
   given a cocker spaniel named "Checkers" in addition to his other
   campaign contributions, he was not going to give it back because his
   daughters loved it. As a result, this speech became known as the "
   Checkers speech." At the end of the broadcast, Nixon intended to appeal
   to viewers to write to the Republican National Committee to voice their
   support or opposition. Although the broadcast was cut off before he
   could make this appeal, his speech resulted in a flood of support,
   prompting Eisenhower to keep Nixon on the ticket.

   Nixon greatly expanded the office of Vice President. Although he had
   little formal power he had the attention of the media and the
   Republican party. He demonstrated that the office could be a
   springboard to the White House as it had not been since the 19th
   century; most Vice Presidents since have followed his lead and sought
   the presidency. Nixon was the first Vice President to step in to
   temporarily run the government. He did so three times when Eisenhower
   was ill: on the occasions of Eisenhower's heart attack on September 24,
   1955; his ileitis in June 1956; and his stroke on November 25, 1957.
   Despite this, Nixon was forced to announce his own inclusion on the
   1956 Eisenhower re-election campaign, which highlighted the lack of
   rapport he and Eisenhower shared. Nixon's quick thinking was on display
   on July 24, 1959, at the opening of the American National Exhibition in
   Moscow where he and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had an impromptu "
   kitchen debate" about the merits of capitalism versus communism.

1960 election and post-Vice Presidency

   In 1960, he ran for President against John F. Kennedy. The race was
   close all year long. Nixon campaigned on his experience, but Kennedy
   said it was time for new blood and suggested the Eisenhower-Nixon
   administration had allowed the Soviet Union to make gains in the arms
   race. Kennedy also made much of the stagnant American economy of 1960,
   telling voters it was time to "get the country moving again." It also
   did not help that when Eisenhower was asked about major policy
   decisions that Nixon had helped make, the president responded: "Give me
   a week and I might think of one." In the first of four televised
   debates, Kennedy not only looked better physically, he also came off as
   polished, articulate, and mature. The performance dispelled many
   people's worries that the young senator was too inexperienced to be
   president. Nixon, for his part, was recovering from an illness and,
   with the stubble on his face visible, looked unimpressive. (Nixon's
   performance in the debate was perceived to be mediocre only in the
   still-young medium of television, though; many people listening on the
   radio thought Nixon had won.) Nixon lost the 1960 election narrowly.
   There were charges of vote fraud in Texas and Illinois, and Nixon
   supporters challenged the results in both states as well as nine
   others. All of these challenges failed. The Kennedy camp challenged
   Nixon's victory in Hawaii. That challenge succeeded, and after all the
   court battles and recounts were done, Kennedy had gained a greater
   number of electoral votes than he had held after Election Day.

   Nixon wrote Six Crises (1962), a book dealing with his political
   involvement as a congressman, senator and as Vice-President. The book
   used six different crises Nixon had experienced throughout his
   political career to illustrate his political memoirs. The book was not
   supposed to be an academic work on the subject of crises, rather a
   method of depicting his political biography in a personal manner. The
   book won praise from many policy experts and critics.

   In 1962, Nixon suffered another defeat, this time in a race for
   Governor of California. Years of campaigning and losing had worn Nixon
   down. In his concession speech, Nixon blamed the media for favoring his
   opponent Pat Brown and stated that it was his "last press conference"
   and that "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore." This was
   widely believed to be the end of his career. In just another 12 months
   though, John Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The events
   that define the tumultuous 1960s were beginning, and before the decade
   closed a "New Nixon," one who was "tanned, rested, and ready," would
   win the Presidency in another close election.

1968 election

   Nixon moved to New York City where he became a senior partner in the
   leading law firm, Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie & Alexander. During the 1966
   Congressional elections, he stumped the country in support of
   Republican candidates, rebuilding his base in the party. In the
   election of 1968, he completed a remarkable political comeback by
   taking the nomination. Nixon appealed to what he called the " silent
   majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the hippie
   counterculture and anti-war demonstrators. Nixon promised peace with
   honour, and, though never claiming to be able to win the war, Nixon did
   say that "new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the
   Pacific". He did not explain in detail his plans to end the war in
   Vietnam, causing Democratic nominee Hubert H. Humphrey to allege that
   he must have had some " secret plan." Nixon didn't invent the phrase,
   but because he did not disavow the term, it soon became part of the
   campaign. In his memoirs, Nixon wrote that he actually had no such
   plan. He eventually defeated Humphrey by less than 1% of the popular
   vote, along with independent candidate George Wallace to become the
   37th President of the United States.

The Nixon Presidency (1969-1974)

Foreign policies

Vietnam War

   President Nixon greets released POW Lt.Cdr John McCain, future US
   Senator, upon his return from years in a North Vietnamese prison camp
   in 1973.
   Enlarge
   President Nixon greets released POW Lt.Cdr John McCain, future US
   Senator, upon his return from years in a North Vietnamese prison camp
   in 1973.

   Once in office, he proposed the Nixon Doctrine to establish a strategy
   of turning over the fighting of the war to the Vietnamese. In July
   1969, he visited South Vietnam, and met with President Nguyen Van Thieu
   and with U.S. military commanders. American involvement in the war
   declined steadily until all American troops were gone in 1973. After
   the withdrawal of U.S. troops, fighting was left to the South
   Vietnamese army. Although well supplied with modern arms, inadequate
   funding, low morale, and corruption called their fighting capability
   into question. The lack of funding was primarily because of large
   funding cutbacks by the U.S. Congress. Nixon was widely praised in the
   United States for having delivered 'peace with honour', and ended
   American involvement in the war in Vietnam. However, a part of his
   strategy was the resumption of the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam should
   the DRV violate the Peace agreement, which he was confident they would.
   Watergate, however, made it impossible to carry this out. Nixon, along
   with his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger also sought a
   'decent interval' solution to the problem of South Vietnam, so that
   that country would survive for long enough for him not to be personally
   blamed for its ultimate collapse.

   Nixon ordered secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia in March 1969
   (code-named Operation Menu) to destroy what was believed to be the
   headquarters of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, and
   later escalated the conflict with secretly bombing Laos before Congress
   cut the funding for the conflict in Vietnam.

   In ordering the bombings, Nixon realized he would be extending an
   unpopular war as well as breaching Cambodia's stated neutrality. During
   deliberations over Nixon's impeachment, his unorthodox use of executive
   powers in ordering the bombings was considered as an article of
   impeachment, but the charge was dropped as not a violation of
   constitutional powers.

China and the Soviet Union

   President Nixon greets Communist Party of China Chairman Mao (left) in
   a visit to China in 1972.
   Enlarge
   President Nixon greets Communist Party of China Chairman Mao (left) in
   a visit to China in 1972.

   Relations between the Western and Eastern power blocs changed
   dramatically in the early 1970s. In 1960, the People's Republic of
   China ended the alliance with its biggest ally, the Soviet Union, in
   the Sino-Soviet Split. As tension between the two communist nations
   reached its peak in 1969 and 1970, Nixon, with significant strategic
   aid from Henry Kissinger, decided to use their conflict to shift the
   balance of power towards the West in the Cold War. In what later would
   be known as the "China Card", the Nixon administration deliberately
   improved relations with China in order to gain a strategic advantage
   over the Soviet Union, but also gave Moscow a chance to improve
   relations so as not to be squeezed by a US-China détente. In 1971, a
   move was made to improve relations when China invited an American table
   tennis team to China; hence the term " Ping Pong Diplomacy". Nixon sent
   Henry Kissinger on a secret mission to China in July 1971, after which
   a stunned world was told that Nixon intended to visit Communist China
   in 1972. As a result, many countries that had previously opposed the
   PRC's entry into the United Nations changed their stance. Despite
   frantic lobbying by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, George
   H. W. Bush, in October 1971 the UN General Assembly voted to give to
   the PRC the seat that had been held since 1945 by America's ally
   Taiwan, and expel Taiwan from the UN. In February 1972 Nixon grabbed
   the world's attention by himself going to China to have direct talks
   with Mao. During this visit he privately stated that he believed “There
   is one China, and Taiwan is a part of China.” Fearing the possibility
   of a Sino-American alliance, the Soviet Union yielded to American
   pressure for détente.

   Nixon used the improving international environment to address the topic
   of nuclear peace. The first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were
   finally concluded the same year with the SALT I treaty. To win American
   friendship both China and the Soviet Union cut back on their diplomatic
   support for North Vietnam and advised Hanoi to come to terms. They did
   not, however, cut back their military aid to North Vietnam - in fact
   Chinese military aid to North Vietnam increased during this period.
   Nixon later explained his strategy:

          I had long believed that an indispensable element of any
          successful peace initiative in Vietnam was to enlist, if
          possible, the help of the Soviets and the Chinese. Though
          rapprochement with China and détente with the Soviet Union were
          ends in themselves, I also considered them possible means to
          hasten the end of the war. At worst, Hanoi was bound to feel
          less confident if Washington was dealing with Moscow and
          Beijing. At best, if the two major Communist powers decided that
          they had bigger fish to fry, Hanoi would be pressured into
          negotiating a settlement we could accept.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

   The Nixon administration staunchly backed Pakistan President Yahya Khan
   during the crisis in East Pakistan.
   Enlarge
   The Nixon administration staunchly backed Pakistan President Yahya Khan
   during the crisis in East Pakistan.

   Nixon strongly supported General Yahya Khan of Pakistan during the
   Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 despite widespread human rights violations
   against the Bengalis, and in particular Hindus, by the Pakistan Army.
   Though Nixon claimed that his objective was to prevent a war, and
   safeguard Pakistan's interests (including the issue of refugees), in
   reality the U.S. President was fearful of an Indian invasion of West
   Pakistan that would lead to Indian domination of the sub-continent and
   strengthen the position of the Soviet Union, which had recently signed
   a Treaty of Friendship with India. He also sought to demonstrate his
   reliability as a partner to the People's Republic of China, with whom
   he had been negotiating a rapprochement, and where he planned to visit
   just a few months later. President Nixon and his national security
   adviser Henry Kissinger downplayed reports of Pakistani genocide in
   East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and risked a confrontation with Moscow
   to look tough. Many, including Kissinger, have mentioned that the
   foreign policy "tilt" towards Pakistan had more to do with Nixon's
   personal like for the dictator and the support to Pakistan was
   influenced by sentimental considerations and a long standing
   anti-Indian bias. The Nixon administration was also responsible for
   illegally providing military supplies to the Pakistani military despite
   Congressional objections, and against American public opinion which was
   concerned with the atrocities against East Pakistanis. His decision to
   help Pakistan in a war at any cost prompted him to send the
   nuclear-equipped USS Enterprise to the Indian Ocean to try to threaten
   the Indian military. Though it did little to turn the tide of war, it
   has been viewed as the trigger for India's subsequent nuclear program.
   During the crisis Nixon was vocal in abusing the Prime Minister of
   India Indira Gandhi as an "old witch" in private conversations with
   Henry Kissinger, who is also recorded as making derogatory comments
   against Indians. Ultimately Nixon's foreign policy initiatives in this
   matter largely failed as his attempt at a show of strength to impress
   China was at the cost of dismembering their mutual ally, Pakistan, who
   felt that once again United States had fallen short as an ally in
   failing to prevent Bangladeshi independence.

Other wars and crises

   Nixon supported Augusto Pinochet's overthrow of the socialist
   government of Chile in 1973, but did not instigate the coup.

   Israel, a powerful but unofficial American ally in the Middle East was
   supported by the Nixon administration during the Yom Kippur War. When
   an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria --allies to the
   Soviets--attacked in October 1973, Israel suffered initial losses. On
   the brink of defeat, Israel pleaded with European powers for help but
   was ignored for fear of Arab retaliation. Not so Nixon, who, cutting
   through inter-departmental squabbles and bureaucracy, initiated an air
   lift of arms that saved Israel from possible defeat. By the time the
   U.S. and the Soviet Union negotiated a truce, Israel had penetrated
   deep into enemy territory. A long term effect was the movement of Egypt
   away from the Soviets toward the U.S. But the victory for its ally and
   the support provided to them by the US came at the cost of the 1973 oil
   crisis. Some historians have argued that throughout the war, Nixon's
   handling of the 1973 oil crisis demonstrated that neither he nor
   Kissinger could truly grasp the importance of economic factors.

Domestic policies

   Although often criticized (or applauded) as a conservative by his
   contemporaries, Nixon's domestic policies often appear centrist, or
   even liberal, to latter-day observers. As President, Nixon imposed wage
   and price controls, indexed Social Security for inflation, and created
   Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The number of pages added to the
   Federal Register each year doubled under Nixon. He eradicated the last
   remnants of the gold standard. Nixon created the Environmental
   Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health
   Administration (OSHA), implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first
   significant federal affirmative action program, and dramatically
   improved salaries for U.S. federal employees worldwide. As a party
   leader, Nixon helped build the Republican Party (GOP), but he ran his
   1972 campaign separately from the party, which perhaps helped the GOP
   escape some of the damage from Watergate. The Nixon White House was the
   first to organize a daily press event and daily message for the media,
   a practice that all subsequent staffs have performed.

   Nixon is credited with creating the modern day Imperial Presidency, in
   which the presidency retains a high level of control over government
   policy and decisions. In the early 1970s, Nixon impounded billions of
   dollars in federal spending and expanded the power of the Office of
   Management and Budget. These encroachments on the power of Congress led
   to the passage of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
   of 1974.

   On January 2, 1974, Nixon signed a bill that lowered the maximum U.S.
   speed limit to 55 miles per hour (90 km/h) in order to conserve
   gasoline during the 1973 energy crisis. This law remained in effect
   until 1995, though states were allowed to raise the limit to 65 miles
   per hour in rural areas around 1987.

   Committed to wide-ranging bureaucratic reforms, in a last-minute bid to
   save his presidency, Nixon signed a significant reform of the federal
   budgeting process and granted wide authority to Congress in shaping the
   final budget.

School integration

   The Nixon years saw the first large-scale integration of public schools
   in the South, after the region had stalled in compliance with the 1954
   Supreme Court's Brown ruling. Strategically Nixon sought a middle way
   between the segregationist George C. Wallace and liberal Democrats,
   whose support of integration was alienating white ethnics. Nixon
   concentrated on the principle that the law must be colour-blind. "I am
   convinced that while legal segregation is totally wrong, forced
   integration of housing or education is just as wrong." Though Nixon
   thought of appealing to southern whites by slowing school
   desegregation, he decided to enforce the law after the Supreme Court,
   in Alexander v. Holmes County (1969), prohibited further delays.
   Nixon's Cabinet committee on school desegregation, under the leadership
   of Labor Secretary George P. Schultz, quietly set up local biracial
   committees to assure smooth compliance without violence or political
   grandstanding. By fall of 1970, two million southern black children
   enrolled in newly created unitary fully integrated school districts.
   "In this sense, Nixon was the greatest school desegregator in American
   history," historian Dean Kotlowski concluded. In the North, meanwhile,
   the Brown decision did not apply directly, but in city after city
   federal judges started ordering busing programs to integrate schools, a
   policy Nixon opposed.
   Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon at Washington, D.C. in 1973.
   Enlarge
   Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon at Washington, D.C. in 1973.

Nixon and the U.S. space program

   On July 20, 1969, Nixon addressed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin live
   via radio during their historic moonwalk. Nixon also made the world's
   longest distance phone call to Neil Armstrong on the moon. (All U.S.
   moon landings, and the attempted moon landing of Apollo 13, took place
   during Nixon's first term.) On January 5, 1972, Nixon approved the
   development of the Space Shuttle program, a decision that profoundly
   influenced U.S. efforts to explore and develop space for several
   decades thereafter.

Landslide re-election

   In 1972, Nixon was re-elected in one of the biggest landslide election
   victories in U.S. political history, defeating George McGovern and
   garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states,
   losing only in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

Major initiatives

     * Normalizing of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of
       China and partially abandoning the Republic of China on Taiwan as
       part of Realpolitik, a foreign policy eschewing moral
       considerations. In the short term Nixon was successful in playing
       the "China card" against the Soviet Union and its client state
       North Vietnam.
     * Détente, or the peaceful pause in the Cold War; détente ended in
       1979, replaced by another phase of the Cold War.
     * Establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.
     * Establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
       Administration.
     * Establishment of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.
     * Establishment of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
     * Establishment of the Supplemental Security Income program.
     * Establishment of the Office of Minority Business Enterprise
     * Post Office Department abolished as a cabinet department and
       reorganized as a government owned corporation, the U.S Postal
       Service.
     * SALT I, or Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, led to the signing of
       the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
     * "Vietnamization": the training and arming of South Vietnamese
       forces to allow the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.
     * Suspension of the convertibility of the US dollar into gold, a
       central point of the Bretton Woods system, allowing its value to
       float in world markets.
     * Space Shuttle program started.
     * Endorsed an enlightened self-determination policy for Native
       Americans that changed the direction of policy as continued from
       the New Deal through the Great Society.

   On April 3, 1974, Nixon announced he would pay $432,787.13 in back
   taxes plus interest after a Congressional committee reported that he
   had inadvertently underpaid his 1969 and 1972 taxes.

   Given the near certainty of both his impeachment (due to the Watergate
   scandal) by the House of Representatives and his conviction by the
   Senate, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.

Administration and Cabinet

   The Nixon Administration comprised an impressive array of talent both
   in the cabinet and in the White House staff. Among the many people who
   came to Washington to serve in the administration were one future
   President (George H. W. Bush); a future Vice President ( Dick Cheney);
   six future secretaries of state (Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig,
   George Shultz, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Colin Powell);
   five future secretaries of defense ( James Schlesinger, Donald
   Rumsfeld, Casper Weinberger, Frank Carlucci, and Cheney again); a
   future chairman of the joint chiefs of staff ( Powell again), two
   future secretaries of the treasury ( William Simon and Baker again); a
   future secretary of energy (Schlesinger again); and three future chiefs
   of staff (Rumsfeld, Cheney and Baker again). Indeed a member of the
   Nixon Administration has held a cabinet post or been a senior advisor
   within the subsequent six presidential administrations. That so many
   key figures of the Ford, Reagan, George H. W. Bush (41), and Bush (43)
   Administrations first entered government service in the Nixon White
   House is arguably the most profound and long-lasting legacy of Richard
   Nixon.
   Official Portrait of President Richard Nixon.
   Enlarge
   Official Portrait of President Richard Nixon.
   OFFICE             NAME                   TERM
   President          Richard Nixon          1969–1974
   Vice President     Spiro T. Agnew         1969–1973
                      Gerald Ford            1973–1974
   State              William P. Rogers      1969–1973
                      Henry Kissinger        1973–1974
   Treasury           David M. Kennedy       1969–1971
                      John B. Connally       1971–1972
                      George Shultz          1972–1974
                      William Simon          1974
   Defense            Melvin R. Laird        1969–1973
                      Elliot L. Richardson   1973–1973
                      James Schlesinger      1973–1974
   Justice            John N. Mitchell       1969–1972
                      Richard G. Kleindienst 1972–1973
                      Elliot L. Richardson   1973–1974
                      William B. Saxbe       1974
   Postmaster General Winton M. Blount       1969–1974
   Interior           Walter J. Hickel       1969–1971
                      Rogers C. B. Morton    1971–1974
   Agriculture        Clifford M. Hardin     1969–1971
                      Earl Butz              1971–1974
   Commerce           Maurice H. Stans       1969–1972
                      Peter Peterson         1972–1973
                      Frederick B. Dent      1973–1974
   Labor              George Shultz          1969–1970
                      James D. Hodgson       1970–1973
                      Peter J. Brennan       1973–1974
   HEW                Robert Finch           1969–1970
                      Elliot L. Richardson   1970–1973
                      Caspar Weinberger      1973–1974
   HUD                George Romney          1969–1973
                      James T. Lynn          1973–1974
   Transportation     John A. Volpe          1969–1973
                      Claude S. Brinegar     1973–1974

Administration notables

Chiefs of Staff

     * H. R. Haldeman - Chief of Staff (1969 - 1973)
     * Alexander Haig - Chief of Staff (1973 - 1974)

Undersecretaries

     * Frank Carlucci - undersecretary of Health, Education and Welfare
     * Dick Cheney - special assistant to the Director of the OEO, White
       House staff assistant, assistant director of the Cost of Living
       Council, and Deputy Assistant to the President.

Assistants

     * Lamar Alexander - Counselor to the President
     * Alexander Butterfield - Deputy Assistant to the President
     * Dwight Chapin - Special Assistant to the President (1968-71) and
       then Deputy Assistant (1971-73)
     * Lawrence Eagleburger - Assistant to National Security Advisor
     * John Ehrlichman - Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs
     * Jeb Stuart Magruder - Special Assistant to the President
     * Brent Scowcroft - Military Assistant and Deputy Assistant to the
       President for National Security Affairs
     * John Whitaker - Principal Advisor on the Environment
     * Harry S. Dent - Special Counsel to the President and Chief
       Political Advisor

White House Counsel

     * John Dean - White House Counsel (1969-1973)
     * Charles Colson - White House Special Counsel
     * Leonard Garment - White House Counsel (1973-74)

Communications Office

     * Ken Clawson - Director of White House Communications
     * Herbert G. Klein - Communications Director for the Executive Branch

Press Secretary

     * Ron Ziegler - White House Press Secretary (1969 - 1974), Assistant
       to the President (1974)

Speech writers

     * Aram Bakshian, Jr - speech writer
     * Patrick Buchanan - speech writer
     * David Gergen - speech writer
     * Lee Heubner - special assistant to the president and associate
       director, White House writing and research staff
     * Jim Keogh - speech writer
     * John McLaughlin - speech writer
     * Ray Price - speech writer [first and second inaugural addresses]
     * William Safire - speech writer
     * Ben Stein - speech writer

Others

     * Robert Bork - Solicitor General
     * Richard Darman - Director of the Office of Management and Budget
     * Carla Hills - Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
     * E. Howard Hunt - " Plumber"
     * G. Gordon Liddy - "Plumber"
     * Ann Dore McLaughlin - Under-Secretary to the Department of the
       Interior
     * Henry Paulson, Jr. - assistant to John Ehrlichman
     * Colin Powell - White House Fellow
     * William Ruckelshaus - Deputy Attorney General

Supreme Court appointments

   Nixon appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the
   United States:
     * Warren E. Burger ( Chief Justice) – 1969
     * Harry Andrew Blackmun – 1970
     * Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. – 1972
     * William Rehnquist – 1972

   Nixon also made the following unsuccessful Supreme Court nominations:
     * Harrold Carswell - rejected by the United States Senate
     * Clement Haynesworth - rejected by the United States Senate
     * Hershel Friday - passed over in favour of Lewis Franklin Powell,
       Jr. after the American Bar Association found Friday "unqualified"
     * Mildred Lillie - passed over in favour of William Rehnquist after
       the American Bar Association found Lillie "unqualified"

Watergate

   Nixon's letter of resignation
   Enlarge
   Nixon's letter of resignation
   Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974
   Enlarge
   Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974

   The term Watergate has come to encompass a large array of illegal and
   secret activities undertaken by Nixon or his aides during his
   administration. Some of these began as early as 1969, when Nixon and
   Kissinger tapped the phones of numerous journalists and administration
   officials in an effort to stop leaks. Other major or well-known
   episodes of wrongdoing included the 1971 burglary of Dr. Lewis Fielding
   in search of the psychiatric records of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the
   Pentagon Papers to the press; Nixon's order to have the FBI investigate
   CBS News reporter Daniel Schorr after he reported critically on the
   administration; and talk by G. Gordon Liddy about having the newspaper
   columnist Jack Anderson assassinated.

   But these episodes did not come to light until several of Nixon's men
   were caught breaking into Democratic Party headquarters at the
   Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC in June 1972. In October 1972, The
   Washington Post reported that the FBI had determined Nixon aides had
   spied on and sabotaged numerous Democratic presidential candidates as a
   part of the operations that led to the infamous Watergate scandal.
   During the campaign five burglars were arrested on June 17, 1972, in
   the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex. They
   were subsequently linked to the White House. This became one of a
   series of major scandals involving the Committee to Re-Elect the
   President (known as CRP but referred to by opponents as CREEP),
   including the White House enemies list and assorted " dirty tricks."
   The ensuing Watergate scandal exposed the Nixon administration's
   rampant corruption, illegality, and deceit.

   Nixon himself downplayed the scandal as mere politics, but when his
   aides resigned in disgrace, Nixon's role in ordering an illegal
   cover-up came to light in the press, courts, and congressional
   investigations. Nixon evaded taxes, accepted illicit campaign
   contributions, ordered secret bombings, and harassed opponents with
   executive agencies, wiretaps, and break-ins. Unlike the tape recordings
   by earlier Presidents, his secret recordings of White House
   conversations were revealed and subpoenaed and showed details of his
   complicity in the cover-up. Nixon was named by the grand jury
   investigating Watergate as "an unindicted co-conspirator" in the
   Watergate Scandal.

   He lost support from some in his own party as well as much popular
   support after what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre of
   October 20, 1973, in which he ordered Archibald Cox, the special
   prosecutor in the Watergate case, to be fired, as well as firing
   several of his own subordinates who objected to this move. The House
   Judiciary Committee controlled by Democrats opened formal and public
   impeachment hearings against Nixon on May 9, 1974. Despite his efforts,
   one of the secret recordings, known as the "smoking gun" tape, was
   released on August 5, 1974, and revealed that Nixon authorized hush
   money to Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, and also revealed that Nixon
   ordered the CIA to tell the FBI to stop investigating certain topics
   because of "the Bay of Pigs thing." Such an order was later withdrawn
   or never carried out. In light of his loss of political support and the
   near certainty of both his impeachment by the House of Representatives
   and his probable conviction by the Senate, he resigned on August 9,
   1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening.
   listen  He never admitted criminal wrongdoing, although he later
   conceded errors of judgment.

   On September 8, 1974, a blanket pardon from President Gerald R. Ford,
   who served as Nixon's second Vice President, effectively ended any
   possibility of indictment. The pardon was highly controversial and
   Nixon's critics claimed that the blanket pardon was quid pro quo for
   his resignation. No evidence of this " corrupt bargain" has ever been
   proven, and many modern historians dismiss any claims of overt
   collusion between the two men concerning the pardon. The pardon of
   Richard Nixon hurt Ford politically, and it was one of the many reasons
   cited for Ford's defeat in the election of 1976. The Democratic win in
   the 1974 mid-term elections was astounding, and provided a governing
   majority that added an extra two decades to their control of the House
   of Representatives.

Drug abuse

   It has been alleged that Richard Nixon was an alcoholic who, in 1968,
   received a supply of the anti-convulsant Dilantin from his friend Jack
   Dreyfus. Nixon took Dilantin without a prescription for several years.
   In 1979, close friend and advisor the Reverend Billy Graham remarked
   about the former president, "He took all those sleeping pills, and
   through history, drugs and demons have gone together."

Later years and death

   In 1976, Nixon was disbarred by the State of New York, and soon
   resigned his other law licenses.

   In his later years Nixon worked hard to rehabilitate his public image,
   and he enjoyed considerably more success than was anticipated at the
   time of his resignation. He gained great respect as an elder statesman
   in the area of foreign affairs, being consulted by both Democratic and
   Republican successors to the Presidency. He made many foreign visits in
   his post-presidential years, including one to Russia in March 1994 just
   one month before his death.

   Further tape releases, however, removed any doubt of Nixon's
   involvement both in the Watergate cover-up and also the illegal
   campaign finances and intrusive government surveillance that were at
   the heart of the scandal.

   Nixon wrote many books after his departure from politics, including his
   memoirs.

   On April 18, 1994, at 5:45 PM EDT, Nixon suffered a severe stroke while
   preparing to eat dinner in his Park Ridge, New Jersey home; his last
   words were yelling out to a housekeeper for help. It was later
   determined that a blood clot that had formed in his upper heart as a
   result of his heart condition broke off and traveled to his brain. The
   stroke left him mute and partially paralyzed on one side. He was rushed
   to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Centre, where his condition
   deteriorated over the next several days. Doctors initially said his
   stroke was minor, but the damage to the brain caused it to swell inside
   the skull. Nixon's living will stipulated that he was not to be placed
   on a respirator to sustain his life. On April 21 he slipped into a deep
   coma, and on April 22, Nixon passed away at 9:08 PM at the age of 81.
   He was buried beside his wife Pat Nixon (who had died ten months
   earlier, on June 22, 1993, of lung cancer) on the grounds of the
   Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California.

   President Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger,
   Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and California Republican Governor Pete
   Wilson spoke at the April 27 funeral, the first for an American
   president since that of Lyndon B. Johnson on January 25, 1973, which,
   coincidentally, was presided over by Nixon during his presidency. Also
   in attendance were former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald
   Reagan, George H. W. Bush and their respective first ladies. His two
   daughters, along with his four grandchildren, survived Nixon.

   The Nixon Library contains only Nixon's pre- and post-presidential
   papers, because his presidential papers have been retained as
   government evidence. Nixon's attempts to protect his papers and gain
   tax advantages from them had been one of the important themes of the
   Watergate affair. Because of disputes over the papers, the library is
   privately funded and does not, like the other presidential libraries,
   receive support from the National Archives.

Legacy

   Presidential scholars, both liberal and conservative, rank Richard
   Nixon near the bottom of the list because of the scandals, but most
   agree that he presents a special problem because his foreign policy and
   domestic policy successes stand in dramatic contradiction to the
   corruption of his top aides and Nixon himself. Political scientist
   Walter Dean Burnham noted the "dichotomous or schizoid profiles. On
   some very important dimensions both Wilson and L.B. Johnson were
   outright failures in my view; while on others they rank very high
   indeed. Similarly with Nixon." Historian Alan Brinkley said: "There are
   presidents who could be considered both failures and great or near
   great (for example, Wilson, Johnson, Nixon)." James MacGregor Burns
   observed of Nixon, "How can one evaluate such an idiosyncratic
   president, so brilliant and so morally lacking?"

Popular culture

   Nixon meets Elvis Presley in December 1970
   Enlarge
   Nixon meets Elvis Presley in December 1970

   Nixon's career was frequently dogged by his personality, and the public
   perception of it. Editorial cartoonists such as Herblock and comedians
   had fun exaggerating Nixon's appearance and mannerisms, to the point
   where the line between the human and the caricature version of him
   became increasingly blurred. He was often portrayed as a sullen loner,
   with unshaven jowls, slumped shoulders, and a furrowed, sweaty brow. He
   was also characterized as the epitome of a "square" and the
   personification of unpleasant adult authority.

   Nixon tried to shed these perceptions by staging photo-ops with young
   people and even cameo appearances on popular TV shows such as Laugh-In
   and Hee Haw (before he was President). He also frequently brandished
   the two-finger V sign (alternately viewed as the "Victory sign" or
   "peace sign") using both hands, an act which became one of his
   best-known trademarks. Due to his uptight image, many Americans were
   shocked to hear that the president had a much gruffer, aggressive side,
   revealed by the sheer amount of swearing and vicious comments seen on
   the transcripts of the president's White House tapes. This did not help
   the public perception and fed the comedians even more. Nixon's sense of
   being persecuted by his "enemies," his grandiose belief in his own
   moral and political excellence, and his commitment to use ruthless
   power at all costs led some experts to describe him as having a
   narcissistic and paranoid personality. During the Watergate Scandal,
   Nixon's approval rating had fallen to 25%.

Trivia

     * Nixon was the first (and to date only) person to be elected Vice
       President & President twice.
     * The first Kennedy-Nixon debate took place on April 21, 1947, when
       Democratic Congressman Frank Buchanan selected freshman congressmen
       Nixon and John F. Kennedy to debate the Taft-Hartley Act at a
       public meeting.
     * The shoulder Nixon weeps on after the "Checkers Speech" by U.S.
       Senator William F. Knowland of California: Knowland gave the
       Vice-Presidential oath to Nixon in 1953 and 1957. Nixon saw
       Knowland and California Governor Goodwin J. Knight as a threat to
       his political future. He convinced Knowland of the "Big Switch" in
       1958. The double defeat of Knowland and Knight cleared the powerful
       California Republicans from the path of Nixon's political future.
     * On June 14, 1959, Vice-President Nixon and his family inaugurated
       the Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail
       in the western hemisphere.
     * At the time of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Nixon was attending
       a Pepsi convention in Dallas. Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie &
       Alexander, the law firm of which he was senior partner, was in
       charge of managing the Pepsi account.
     * On December 22, 1968, Julie Nixon (Richard's daughter) and David
       Eisenhower (Dwight's grandson) were married by Norman Vincent Peale
       at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan.
     * From January 22, 1973, when his predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson died,
       until his resignation on August 9, 1974, Nixon was the only living
       current or former U.S. President.
     * Nixon was an accomplished pianist, played violin as a youth.
     * Nixon was the second U.S. President to visit the Soviet Union (the
       first one was President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Yalta
       Conference in 1945).
     * Nixon is one of only two men to have run on five National tickets
       for a major party (the other one is Roosevelt again) for Vice
       President in 1952 and 1956 and for the presidency in 1960, 1968 and
       1972. He was nominated as a resident of two different states:
       between his 1960 and 1968 presidential campaigns, he moved from
       California to New York.
     * Nixon was granted a coat of arms by the short-lived American
       College of Heraldry and Arms.
     * Nixon was an avid bowler and allegedly once bowled a perfect game.
     * Nixon was a knowledgeable sports fan, with a particular interest in
       football and baseball. During his presidency, he even had the odd
       habit of calling the losing team after the Super Bowl to offer his
       condolences and support.
     * Nixon took a particular interest in the NFL's 1971 season. During
       the playoffs, he contacted George Allen to suggest he tell his
       Washington Redskins team that Nixon designed a play for them. He
       did not actually design the play. Once the Redskins were
       eliminated, he began to root for the Miami Dolphins. He called
       Dolphins coach Don Shula on January 3, 1972 to suggest the team use
       a quick slant pass in the Super Bowl.
     * Nixon was the first President to visit all 50 states.
     * Nixon played golf frequently.
     * Nixon's last public appearance was in April of 1994 at a Conestoga
       High School performance of Into the Woods. His granddaughter Jennie
       Eisenhower, great-granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, played the
       role of Little Red Riding Hood.
     * In the final four days of Nixon's life after suffering his
       ultimately fatal stroke he was at the same hospital (New York
       Hospital-Cornell Medical Centre) as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who
       was suffering from cancer and died less than a month after Nixon.
     * Nixon applied for the Special Agent position in the FBI.
     * Gonzo journalist and counter-culture figure Hunter S. Thompson
       considered Nixon to be his greatest foe, and made a habit of
       bashing him in his writings.
     * Throughout his life Richard Nixon developed a passion for rare
       antique clocks. Nixon collected numerous examples from the Viennese
       School headed by Schuppan and Klonitz, which date from the 1660s.
     * Nixon's top five favorite presidents were Dwight D. Eisenhower,
       Herbert Hoover, Woodrow Wilson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore
       Roosevelt. Ronald Reagan was number 6.
     * Richard Nixon went target shooting as a favorite hobby.
     * Nixon is credited with coining the term "media steroids" to refer
       to the media buildup a presidential candidate will often receive
       after performing well enough in a major political party's primaries
       and caucuses to become its presumed nominee.
     * He met Elvis Presley in 1970 and Johnny Cash in 1972.
     * Nixon is the only President to fly commercially while in office
       (source: Executive One article).
     * Nixon's favorite dinner was a chicken casserole dish.
     * Not only was Nixon the 37th president to serve, but he was also the
       37th president to be born. Ronald Reagan, born in 1911, was the
       36th born and the 40th to serve. Gerald Ford, also born in 1913,
       was the 38th president in birth order as well as the 38th to serve.
     * Nixon was also the 37th president in the order of death. Lyndon B.
       Johnson was the 36th to die back in 1973. Reagan was the 38th to
       die in 2004. Nixon was one of the few presidents to be the same
       numerically in terms of serving, birth and death. Also with Reagan
       being the 38th to die and the different birth orders of the other
       living former presidents, no currently living former president or
       current president can be the same numerically in all three
       categories.
     * Despite helping Ronald Reagan with his campaigns for Governor of
       California and endorsements for president in 1980 and 1984, as well
       as Reagan helping Nixon on his three campaigns for president and
       his 1962 campaign for governor of California, Nixon and Reagan were
       not friends. In fact both men had very different personalities and
       were quite distant from one another. Still, the two did have deep
       respect for one another.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
