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Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the
thirty-sixth (1953-1961) Vice President, and the
thirty-seventh (1969-1974) President of the United States. He is the only
President to have resigned from office. His resignation came in response to the complex of scandals called the Watergate conspiracy.
Birth and early years
Nixon was born to Francis Nixon and Hannah Milhous. He was raised as an Evangelical Quaker by his mother, who hoped he would become a
Quaker missionary. His upbringing is said to have been marked by such conservative Evangelical Quaker observances as refraining
from drinking, dancing, and swearing.
His father was less religious, focusing on the family business, a store that sold groceries and gasoline. There is much debate
as to whether Nixon went through the expected Quaker soul-searching regarding whether to become a conscientious objector in World War II.
During the period of his political career, however, he was not a practicing Quaker. Further discussion about Nixon's
relationship with the Quakers can be found at [1] and
[2] .
He attended Whittier College (a Quaker school), graduating
second in his class, and Duke University Law School, where he
received a full scholarship.
He served as a noncombatant officer in the US Navy in World War II, and was a
lawyer for PepsiCo.
Early political career
Nixon was elected to the United States House of Representatives from California in 1946, in a class of freshman war veterans that included his
future rival John F. Kennedy, of Massachusetts.
Richard Nixon with his wife Pat Nixon.
Nixon climbed the political ladder swiftly, making his name as an anti-Communist and a rough, no-holds-barred campaigner. He became a member of the House Un-American Activities
Committee and was instrumental in the trial of the ex-government official Alger
Hiss for perjury as a part of the accusation that he was a Soviet
spy.
Nixon was elected to the Senate in 1950, defeating actress/congresswoman Helen Gahagan, who
Nixon accused during the campaign of having communist sympathies.
Vice Presidency
In 1952 he was elected
Vice President on Dwight Eisenhower's ticket, although he was only 39 years old.
One notable event of the campaign was Nixon's innovative use of television.
Nixon was accused of having been financed by a slush fund provided by business
supporters. He went on TV and defended himself in an emotional speech in which he stated that his wife Pat did not wear mink, but rather "a respectable Republican cloth coat", and
stated that although he had been given a cocker spaniel named
"Checkers", he was not going to give it back because his daughters loved it. This broadcast resulted in a flood of support that
required Eisenhower to keep Nixon on the ticket.
As Vice President, Nixon journeyed to South America and was praised
for his courage in facing angry mobs protesting US foreign
policy.
Nixon was notable among Vice Presidents in having actually stepped up to run the government 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 in November 1957. He also proved to be able to
quickly think on his feet which was demonstrated on July 24, 1959 at the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow
where Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had an impromptu "kitchen debate" about the merits of capitalism vs communism.
1960 election and post-Vice Presidency
Vice President Nixon, right, and Senator John Kennedy during their TV debate prior to the 1960 presidential elections
In 1960, he ran for President
on his own but lost to John F. Kennedy, ironically a friend of
Nixon's (Kennedy, in fact, was one of the first to congratulate Nixon when he was chosen as Eisenhower's running mate). Many
observers believe that a crucial factor in his loss was the first televised presidential debate. Despite his five o'clock shadow, Nixon refused television makeup and was feeling sick, having injured his knee on
the way to the studio. He expected to win voters with his foreign-policy expertise, but people only saw a sickly man sweating
profusely and wearing a gray suit that blended into the scenery; while his rival, Kennedy, looked great. It has since been widely
suggested, with some support from research, that those who had listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon had won, but that the television audience gave the win to Kennedy.
On November 7, 1962, he lost a race
for Governor of California. In his concession speech,
Nixon stated that it was his "last press conference" and that "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more".
Presidency
The defeated mood did not last. He moved to New York City and worked
as a prominent lawyer, and in the election of 1968 completed a remarkable political comeback by defeating Hubert H. Humphrey to become the 37th U.S. President.
Major initiatives during his presidency:
President Nixon greets Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao (left) in China visit 1972
Nixon appealed to what he claimed was the "silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the "hippie" counterculture and civil rights and anti-war
demonstrators. Nixon also promised "peace with honor" by his "secret plan" to end the Vietnam War. No secret plan actually existed but the ploy worked with social conservatives. He proposed the
Nixon Doctrine to establish a strategy of turning over the fighting of
the war to the Vietnamese. During the war, on July 30, 1969, Nixon made an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam, and
met with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with US military
commanders. The war ended during Nixon's term, but only after four more years of strategic bombing and defeat on the ground, and the withdrawal of US troops, leaving the battle to the
ineffective South Vietnamese army.
Nixon's administration "secretly" began a massive bombing campaign against Cambodia in March, 1969 (code-named
Menu) to destroy what were believed to be the headquarters and large numbers of soldiers of the National Front for the
Liberation of Vietnam. The bombing campiagn was a "secret" only to the American public. Militarily ineffective, the bombing
campaigns killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodian peasants.
President Nixon greets released POW (and future Republican Senator) Navy officer John McCain (on crutches) after years of
imprisonment in North Vietnam, 1973.
In ordering the bombings, Nixon realised he would be extending an unpopular war as well as breaching Cambodia's official neutrality. He also understood that the war was militarily and politically un-winnable.
Details of the bombing were kept "secret" even from high ranking officials such as Secretary of State William P. Rodgers and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. During deliberations over Nixon's
impeachment, his unorthodox use of executive powers over the ordering of these bombings were considered as an article of
impeachment, but the charge was dropped. This bombing (and an "incursion" by US forces into Cambodian territory in April 1970) added to the administration's tacit support for the overthrow of the neutralist
royal government of Norodom Sihanouk by the rightist military
dictator Lon Nol, created chaos, and drove much of the peasant population of that
country into the arms of the Khmer Rouge, a Maoist and nationalist
revolutionary movement that would eventually kill 1.7 million Cambodians after taking power.
On January 5, 1972 Nixon ordered the
development of a space shuttle program, a decision that profoundly warped
subsequent U.S. efforts to explore and develop space. What was conceived as a "space truck" proved much more expensive than
anticipated and effectively locked the manned space program into missions in Low Earth Orbit. Manned missons to the Moon ended and no manned missions to Mars have been made.
In 1972 Nixon was re-elected
in one of the most massive landslide elections in U.S. political history, defeating George McGovern and garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states, trailing only
in Massachusetts.
On January 2, 1974 Nixon signed a bill
that lowered the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during the first
OPEC oil embargo.
Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974
Watergate
Nixon was eventually investigated for the instigation and cover-up of the burglary of the Democratic Party offices at the Watergate office complex, one of a series of scandals involving CREEP (the Committee to
Re-Elect the President), which also included the enemies
list and assorted "dirty tricks." His secret recordings of White House
conversations were subpoenaed, and revealed 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 his own party as well as the country in the Saturday Night Massacre in which he ordered Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the Watergate case fired, as well as firing several of his own subordinates who
objected to this move. The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened formal and public impeachment hearings against Nixon on May 9,
1974. Rather than face impeachment by the House of Representatives and a conviction by the
Senate, he resigned, effective August 9, 1974.
His successor Gerald R. Ford issued a pre-emptive pardon, ending the
investigations.
President Nixon and his daughter Tricia Cox at her historic White House wedding in 1971
Nixon's presidency was frequently dogged by Nixon's personality, and the public perception of it. Editorial cartoonists and comedians had fun exaggerating Nixon's appearance and mannerisms, to the point where the line between the human
president and the caricature version of him became increasingly blurred. He was
usually portrayed as a sullen loner, with unshaven jowels, slumped shoulders, and a furrowed, sweaty brow. He was, to some,
especially the younger generation, the very 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
appearing on popular TV shows such as Laugh-In and Hee Haw. He also frequently brandished the two-finger V sign (alternately viewed as the "Victory sign" or "peace sign"), an act which became one of his best-known
trademarks.
Last Years and Death
In his last years Nixon succeeded in rehabilitating his public image to some extent, and gained respect as an elder statesman
in the area of foreign affairs, being consulted by both Democratic and Republican successors to the Presidency. Further tape
releases, however, removed all doubt as to Nixon's involvement both in the Watergate cover-up and also the illegal campaign
finance and intrusive government surveillance that were at the heart of the scandal.
In July 2003, Jeb Stuart
Magruder alleged that Nixon had personally ordered the Watergate break-in by
phone. Previously the only guilt that was alleged was his role in the cover up of the break-in.
Nixon wrote many books after his departure from politics, including his memoirs.
Nixon died on April 22, 1994 in New York City, New York at the age of 81, from complications related to a
severe stroke, and was buried beside his wife Pat Nixon on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California. President Clinton spoke at the April 25 funeral, and former Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush and their respective First Ladies were also
in attendance: this was the last gathering of these presidents before Reagan's death in 2004.
The Nixon Library contains only Nixon's pre- and post-Presidential papers, as 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. The library is unique in that it is privately funded; other presidential libraries receive
support from the National Archives.
Key appointments
Major legislation signed
Quotations
- "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore. Because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." 1962 after losing race for Governor of California.
- "This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week,
the world is bigger, infinitely." (concerning the Apollo Moon landing)
On Watergate
- " I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well I'm not
a crook." November 17, 1973 Televised
press conference at Walt Disney World, Florida.
- "I don't give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything
else, if it'll save it, save this plan. That's the whole point. We're going to protect our people if we can." (to Haldeman, tapes
ordered released for the trial of Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Mitchell)
- "I recognize that this additional material I am now furnishing may further damage my case," (after the ordered release of the
White House tapes August 5,
1974)
- "When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal." (explaining his interpretation of Executive Privilege)
- "I was under medication when I made the decision not to burn the tapes."
- "Well, I screwed it up real good, didn't I?"
On Peace
- "Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of
another nation." (from his book No More Vietnams)
- "The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker." (From his 1969 inaugural; later used as Nixon's epitaph)
Misc
- "Sock it to me?" (said by Nixon on the television
comedy series Laugh-In)
- "I don't know a lot about politics, but I do know a lot about baseball."
- "Solutions are not the answer."
- "I would have made a good Pope."
- "Let me say this about that."
Nixon in the media
Richard Nixon has appeared as a character (with varying degrees of verisimilitude), both major and minor, in a variety of
movies and productions:
Related articles
Further reading
- Seymour M. Hersh. 1983. The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House. Summit Books. ISBN 0671447602.
- Elizabeth Becker. 1986. "When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution. Public Affairs. ISBN 1891620002.
- H. Bruce Franklin. 2000. Vietnam and Other American Fantasies. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
- For an interesting discussion of Richard Nixon, see the chapter by Gary Taylor, "The Birth of Culture', pages 257-289,
Cultural Selection: Why Some Achievements Survive the Test of Time - And Others Don't, Basic Books, ISBN 0465044883.
External links
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