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Richard Nixon Born: January 9, 1913 Died: April 22, 1994 Political party: Republican Term in Office: January 20, 1969- August 9, 1974 Vice Presidents: Spiro Agnew (1969-1973) Gerald Ford (1973-1974)

President Nixon was an average president. He helped the United States relationship with China and the Soviet Union. He helped the country domestically, as well as our foreign relations. However, he was forced to resign as president due to the Watergate Scandal in 1974. For these reasons, I believe President Nixon deserves a C for his term as president.

One of President Nixon's main goals was to find a resolution to the Vietnam War. Initially, he escalated the conflict, causing problems in neighboring countries. But American soldiers were gradually removed, and in 1973 he negotiated with North Vietnam, effectively ended American involvement in the war. He also wanted to and improve the economy and restrain inflation. He indexed social security for inflation, and created supplemental security income in 1969. In addition, he detached from the gold standard. This action actually increased inflation by driving up the cost of imports. Nixon also wanted to develop a relationship with China. Nixon sent messages to China through Romania and Pakistan. In April 1971, the Chinese table tennis team invited the U.S. table tennis team to one of their competitions. Chinese leader Zedong, had noticed Nixon's subtle messages towards China. In February 1972, Nixon and his wife traveled to China to meet with Zedong and Chou. He was accompanied by 100 television journalists. Americans received their first glimpse into China, so the president was successful in this goal. Finally, Nixon wanted to negotiate arms control agreements with the Soviet Union. Two arms control treaties were signed: SALT 1, which was a limitation pact, and the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty. This treaty banned the development of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles. The two countries established detente, or cooperation between each other.

Nixon had a decent relationship with Congress, but it definitely could have been improved. Democrats were the majority in the House and Senate, which probably didn't help since he was Republican. In the beginning, the relationship wasn't so good. Nixon was angry that Congress didn't approve of his Southern appointees to the Supreme Court. Nixon battled for some of his key programs like welfare reform and revenue sharing, but he did so when it was much too late. Then he was angry at congress for not acting on these programs sooner. However, Congress approved of some of his decisions. For example, allowing him to go meet with the Soviet Union and China leaders in each of their countries.

Nixon's action with the most positive outcome was the improved relations with China and the Soviet Union. He negotiated two treaties with the Russian leader, both of which were arms control agreements. He also established detente with the Russians, resulting in cooperation between the two countries. In addition, he improved relations with China, which led to American television journalists getting to tape footage to show America what China was like. His improved relations with the Soviet Union relaxed the fear of our country being hit by nuclear weapons. Nixon's outcome with the most negative outcome was obviously the Watergate scandal. This scandal was a series of events involving Nixon's administration trying to re-elect him as president. Five men were caught breaking into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel in Washington D.C. The F.B.I. eventually got confirmation that Nixon's men had attempted to sabotoge the Democrats, and those men began resigning and some faced prosecution. Through John Dean's testimony, the government realized that Nixon had secret tapes of his conversations in the Oval office. The white house refused to release the tapes. When the tapes finally came out, part of the sections were deleted. In the end, Nixon released 1,200 pages of transcripts of white house conversations. He was forced to resign as president, or he would be impeached.

Nixon's foreign policy decisions affected future presidential administrations. His improved relations with China and the Soviet Union helped future administrations. Also, how he ended the Vietnam War and removed our troops caused less lives to be lost, and was good for the American future. His relations with China led to less conflict between the two countries in later generations.

The country was better off at the end of Nixon's presidency. America's relations with China and the Soviet Union was definitely better. The nation's economy was a little bit better as well. The acts created with the Russians eased the public's fear of nuclear weapons. However, the Watergate Scandal was a huge blow to his reputation as our president. For these reasons, Nixon deserves a C for his term as President.


 * Works Cited:**

"Richard Nixon." Wikipedia. 26 May 2010. .

Yergin, Daniel. "Nixon, Price Controls, and the Gold Standard." Webcache. 1997. 26 May 2010. .

"The Nation: The Coming Battle Between President and Congress." Time. 1 Feb 1971. 26 May 2010. .