Richard Nixon Essay

During the 1960 presidential election, the candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy made history by partaking in the first televised debate. The two men both gave their opinions on a multitude of issues and both argued their positions well, but the true argument was among the people who listened to the debate on the radio and the people who watched the debate on television. For those who listened to the debate, Richard Nixon was the clear winner; but, for those who watched the debate, Richard Nixon’s sweaty face appeared uncomfortable in comparison to Kennedy’s calm and collected appearance. This begs the question when is sweat “good/acceptable/attractive” and when is sweat “bad/unacceptable/unattractive”? With the assistance of a simple

Born in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California, Richard Milhouse Nixon was raised in a Quaker home with his four brothers, mother and father. His family led a docile life by abstaining from all dancing, swearing, drinking and other common Quaker practices (Barron 12). Financially, the family struggled and he could not afford to attend Harvard University even with a full-ride scholarship. Instead, Nixon enrolled at Whittier College, a popular Quaker college close to home (Barron 39). Nixon began dominating all of his academics and it was at Whittier where he began to shape his future political career.

In 1972 President Richard Nixon was running for his second term in his presidency. Nixon was running against Democratic Candidate George McGovern, a senator from South Dakota. In his first term Nixon inherited the Vietnam War from President Johnson and for his second term Nixon wanted to win big and try to take attention away from losing the war. Nixon’s re-election committee decide to assign G. Gordon Liddy to find out information and tactics from the Democratic National Committee and they wanted to know more in their Chairman Larry O’Brian.

     Through out the course of history, America has seen great Presidents. These men all exhibited characteristics which helped them to be successful in their endeavor to become the nations leader. Among those characteristics are traits such as being a good spokesperson or leader and being fair towards all which makes for a good President.

President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.

Richard Nixon, though created a large credibility gap within the US, he accomplished a lot for the country. He served five years in the presidential office as a republican (1969-1974), and he was the only president to resign from office in history. Although through his presidency he had accomplished many things, such as creating revenue sharing, ending the draft, and creating anticrime laws, he still had a rough time rebuilding his reputation after many assumptions of corruption in his office. Though he never admittedly pledged guilty to his crimes of taking government funds for his own personal gain, there was proof that he was. After the Watergate scandal, the American people set their mind to believe what the proof led to, so Nixon’s

Nixon used his power of executive agreements manipulatively in a strategy that he called, linkage politics; this is a term for strategically organizing the United States relationships with communist powers (Small 1999, 63). Nixon knew that he must settle the Vietnam War with honor because it was a stake in Southeast Asia. Using his theory of linkage politics he saw that the end of the Vietnam War would affect negotiations with China and Russia (Small, 1999 65). He first tried to make an executive agreement with Russia, by explaining to them his idea of “strategic parity. This was an idea that because both nations had enough weapons to completely demolishes the other, neither should start war, and peace would continue. Like Eisenhower’s attempts, Nixon was unable to make an agreement with the USSR and talks continued to be slow (PBS Nixon 2002, 2).

Nixon's extreme secrecy led him to be withdrawn from the rest of the country. He

In the election of 1972, Nixon won by over sixty percent of the votes and won all states except Massachusetts against George McGovern (“The History Place…”). This is one of the biggest landslides in U.S. Presidential election history. In January 1973, Richard Nixon’s approval rating was sixty-seven percent, which is relatively high compared to current president Barack Obama’s forty-seven percent and many other Presidents before him (“The History Place…”). Therefore, he had a great reputation and was in the highest possible position, the leader of the free world, just like Father Flynn was in his parish. Richard Nixon also had a very positive relationship with members of the White House. For example, members of the White House were caught breaking in and violating the law to get President Nixon re-elected (“The History Place…”). Abuse of power comes from a high reputation that is unquestioned.

an oath on August 9, 1974 which he said - "Our long national nightmare is

Herbert Hoover was known as the Great Humanitarian and the Great Engineer. Yet, he was blamed almost entirely for the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover accomplished much in his life, but it was definitely not an easy journey; he went through the ups and downs of the learning years that paved the path leading to his presidency, and he ultimately faced his fears.

The President of the United States is often considered the most powerful elected official in the world. The President leads a nation of great wealth and military strength. Presidents have often provided decisive leadership in times of crisis, and they have shaped many important events in history. The President has many roles and performs many duties. As chief executive, the President makes sure that federal laws are enforced. As commander in chief of the nation's armed forces, the President is responsible for national defense. As foreign policy director, the President determines United States relation with other nations. As legislative leader, the President recommends new laws and works to win their passage. As

Richard M. Nixon was a former vice president who barely won the election in 1968 against Hubert Humphrey for the Republican party. Once in his presidency, President Nixon pleased and displeased citizens in the United States. He was not necessarily the most liked president, but he was not the most disliked either. By 1972, it was time for the

U.S. president, Richard Nixon’s activities angered the people in the Congress, which led to a limited power of a president. During his presidency, Nixon ordered an annihilation to the base camp in Cambodia. Although, Cambodia was a neutral nation, he declared a bomb in order to eliminate the base camps that were assisting others. Before he publicly announced his choice to bomb Cambodia, he’d been secretly invading them without the public nor the Congress knowledge. When news broke out in 1970, there were massive protests across the U.S.

Richard Nixon's presidency is one of the most examined, analyzed and discussed, yet least understood, of all the American administrations in history. While many factors still remain to be discovered, and many mysteries are left to be resolved, we need to do the best that we can to make sense of this secretive president of our past and his era. He is the one American figure about whom very few people don't have strong feelings for. Nixon is loved and hated, honored and mocked . The term 'Watergate', labeled by Congress in 1974, stands for not only the burglary, but also for the numerous instances of officially sanctioned criminal activity and abuses of power as well as the obstruction of justice that preceded the actual break-in.