The Nixon Experiment

Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal left no doubt to his involvement of being impeached. During the Nixon Administration, he was able to prevent colleges from being gender biased and allowing both male and female to have equal opportunity and receiving financial aid as well as competing in sports. He was able to establish the Environmental Protection Agency. He also worked to create a relationship between the U.S and the Middle East. Unfortunately, even with all of the accomplishments, he was able to have, everyone will remember Richard Nixon as the president who was involved in the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal left an asterisk by his legacy while being in the office, the results left him with having to resign and with him facing criminal charges as well, the Scandal became well known to the public in the summer of 1974. Through my essay, I will discuss why I am intrigued by the Watergate scandal, and discuss what if Richard Nixon never got caught on the audio tape?

When people think of Richard Nixon the Watergate scandal may come to mind. Impeachment might also come to mind, but contrary to popular thought he was never truly impeached. Notably, the only impeached presidents are Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Yet, Nixon has a strong public disapprobation. Most of Richard Nixon’s legacy remains surrounded by negativity, but is there anything positive or noteworthy regarding Nixon’s presidency? Due to the Watergate scandal, people tend to overlook many aspects of Richard Nixon, to include, his background, his actual involvement in Watergate, and his legacy.

E.D. Nixon was born on July 12, 1899 in Lowndes country, Alabama to Sue Ann Chappell and Wesley M. Nixon. Nixon was head of the Montgomery branch of the Pullman porters union and the president of local NAACP. He had organized a group of 750 men who marched to Montgomery country. He was arrested mug from the boycott. Long before the famous boycott he had been campaigning for civil rights. Particularly voting rights working in a black community to get people register to vote.

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.

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

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” “We have nothing to fear except fear itself.” Those influential words were said by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt respectively. Even though they are very influential words, my favorite has to be: “By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.” This was Richard Nixon’s quote as he became the first person to resign from their presidency. Former President Richard Nixon was remembered for many things, most notably as the worst president in the United States of America, all because of a thing called “Watergate.” That begs the question: was Nixon’s presidency as bad as it is known for, or were there good things that outweigh the bad?

I have learned many interesting and informative topics in this course but the three topics that I found the most compelling are the United States vs. Nixon case, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and Social Security.

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

Some people in American history are remembered for their excellence in history like Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and President Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation of slavery in the 19th century. There are those who leave a mark in history that will always be remembered, especially in the oval office. President Richard Nixon left his legacy only referred as one thing, Watergate. This decision cost President Nixon not only is presidency but tainted his name forever as an American President. Nixon was quick to deny the allegation that he was involved in any activity at the Watergate hotel but reporters began to follow the trail of

Richard Nixon; the name alone brings to mind terrible words along the lines of scandal and failure. Nixon was the 37th president of the United States. He was also the first and last president to resign from office. However, the scandals leading to Nixon’s resignation definitely overshadowed his humble beginnings and the accomplishments he made as president during the notorious decades of the Cold War.

Being the only president to ever resign from office is not the best title to posses (“Richard M. Nixon”). Richard Milhouse Nixon resigned from office after facing the consequences of his actions (Bankston 793). Richard Nixon started his life in California. Nixon and his family was pretty well off as they lived within the middle-class. A couple centuries later Nixon was elected president, as many believed he would be. Nixon would later be the mastermind behind a devious act that would cloud his name forever, and the final years of his life were dedicated to recovery (Korasick). Richard Nixon had a life full of successes and failures, until his ultimate demise, making him one of the most controversial presidents.

In the article, “Nixon's Second Term: Policy Prospects in the Middle East,” Malcolm Kerr discusses Richard Nixon’s first presidency, Nixon’s current state in his second term as commander in chief, and gives a hypothesis about what Nixon would do for the remainder of his term as President. I thoroughly enjoyed this article because often when you think about Nixon, you automatically think about the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation from presidency. This article was written only months prior to the scandal surfacing, so it gives a neat perspective on the sentiments towards Nixon that is different than most post-scandal articles do.

Scandal! I am not a crook, Watergate, impeachment, resignation, one final “two handed V”; which president comes to mind? President Richard M. Nixon was a visionary leader; but an unethical leader. This paper will examine two visionary leadership traits of President Nixon, two unethical leadership skills of Nixon and then look to my own career for two personal examples of visionary and two unethical leadership skills I portrayed. Nixon’s visionary leadership was on display when it came to dealing with Communist countries and recession on the home front. By using the full range leadership (FRL) process of contingent reward, Nixon focused relations with China to establish common political grounds. Using cognitive adaptability, Nixon was able to reign in the 1970’s recession. He applied FRL tactics to push his agenda towards politics and economic policy. But, Nixon’s unethical leadership trait, drive for success, led to the Watergate Scandal. Also, he failed to use the reasoning element of implication when he discharged the Special Prosecutor of the Watergate investigation. After discussing President Nixon’s visionary but unethical leadership, I’ll apply these same principles to myself by showing examples of how I used contingent reward and cognitive adaptability techniques in my Air Force career. Finally, I’ll discuss how drive for success

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.

A political leader needs dirt on his opponent. A plan is hatched, illegal. A check originally meant for other purposes ends up in someone’s bank account. A break-in is carried out. Heads roll. If one were to ask any informed citizen to guess which event the above series of sentences described, they would most certainly offer the break-in at the Watergate Hotel by Richard Nixon’s now-notorious White House Plumbers as answer. They would most certainly be wrong.