Emily+S.+-+RN+-+SP10

=**Richard M. Nixon** =

__Vice President(____s)__: Spiro Agnew (term one) and Gerald Ford (term two, after Agnew's resignation)


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**__Thesis__**: Nixon had plenty of experience in the government before his presidency, such as serving in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower. After suffering a great loss in the election of 1960 against John F. Kennedy, Nixon incurred a great turn around and was elected as the Republican Presidential Nominee in 1968. During his terms as president, Nixon did positively impact the world, both by legislation to protect the environment and by foreign policy with communist countries. On the other hand, he also made some bad choices, such as the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal/ his impeachment. This is why I think Nixon deserves the grade of a C+ for his presidency.=====

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 **__Goals__**: In President Nixon's first inaugural address, he wanted to bring peace between the U.S. people. Vietnam was a very heated issue during Johnson's presidency and Nixon wanted everyone to stop protesting and start talking. "We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at each other-until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices..." His plan to solve the war was Vietnamization, which was when U.S. troops train the South Vietnamese forces so that they could slowly take over as the U.S. leaves. Another goal of Nixon's concerning bringing people together included improving relations with China and the Soviet Union. He accomplished this by being the first U.S. President to travel to China and opened trade with them. He also made agreements with the U.S.S.R to stop any future arms race from happening. His Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, also helped to bring peace to the world by negotiating agreements between Israel and Egypt and Syria.=====

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__**Relationship with Congress**__: During both terms of Nixon's presidency, there was a democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate. He used his veto power 43 times during his presidency and 7 of them were overridden. One of the bills he vetoed was the Comprehensive Child Development bill which would have created a national day care for single mothers. Nixon was afraid that a communal approach to child care would lead to communism. Another pieces of legislation he vetoed was the Water Pollution Act, which will be talked about in the following paragraph. Congress overrode this veto. Also, Nixon vetoed the War Powers Resolution of 1973 which said that the president could only send U.S. troops into action if Congress gave approval or the country was in immediate danger. The president also had to notify congress within 48 hours and troops could not stay more than 60 days. Nixon said he vetoed this because " While I firmly believe that a veto of House Joint Resolution 542 is warranted solely on constitutional grounds, I am also deeply disturbed by the practical consequences of this resolution. For it would seriously undermine this Nation's ability to act decisively and convincingly in times of international crisis." Congress also overrode this veto. =====

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 **__Positive__ __Outcomes__**: While Nixon was president, there were many pieces of legislature that were made to help protect the environment. These had a very positive outcome for the world. One of the first pieces of legislation to help the environment was the Environmental Quality Policy Act. This required each new federal program to file a statement regarding its environmental impact. Second, the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970 and its job was to study the pollution and try to reduce it. Next was the Water Quality Improvement Act which focused on keeping water away from nuclear power plants and oil rigs. Also made in 1970 was the National Air Quality Standards Act. This was established to restrict auto emissions and make clean air standards for the states. There was also the Resource Recovery Act which encouraged recycling. Finally was the Water Pollution Act of 1972 which used federal funds to make waste treatment plants and tried to stop pollution of waterways.=====

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__**Negative** **Outcomes**__: President Nixon is probably most infamously known for the Watergate Scandal. During his presidency, members of CREEP (the Committee to Reelect the President) were found breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters, located in the Watergate building. Although Nixon claims to not approve this mission, he did many illegal things to try and cover up the incident. Two of his major faults include having the officials plant recording devices in the Watergate building and authorized hush money to try and cover up the act. Nixon also created the White House "plumbers" to plug leaks in classified information and they burglarized the office of a former government official who was distributing top secret information from the Pentagon. There was also knowledge that Nixon recorded conversations in the white house for future reference. When the Senate investigation committee asked for the tapes Nixon would not give them up and claimed he had executive privilege. When he did finally give up the tapes there was parts of it missing. After these negative happenings, the House Judiciary Committee approved three examples of impeachment against Nixon. The first was obstruction of justice because of withholding evidence, approving hush money and making false or misleading statements. Secondly, he was impeached for abusing power. Nixon did this by misusing the CIA, IRS and plumbers to try and cover up the Watergate scandal. Finally, he was in trouble for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas. Since Nixon knew that he was almost defiantly going to be impeached, he decided to resign from the presidency.=====

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**__Influences__**: Nixon's view on foreign communist powers had a great positive outcome on the country for a long period of time. This includes his diplomacy with both China and the Soviet Union. In China, the "Ping Pong Diplomacy" was created to help initiate talk between China and the United States. President Nixon was the first U.S. president to ever travel to China during his "journey for peace". He talked with their leaders, Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-Lai, and they agreed to open trade and encourage scientific contacts. Nixon also bettered U.S. relations with the Soviet Union through many treaties and agreements. First was the Seabed Treaty of 1970. This included other countries and they agreed to ban nuclear weapons from the ocean in international water. Next was the Chemical Weapons Treaty of 1971 with just the Soviet Union. They both agreed to destroy all extra chemical and biological weapons and stopped further developing them. Finally was the SALT Agreement in 1972 which was signed between the Soviet Union and United States. This limited the two countries to two anti-ballistic missile sites and limited the number of weapons on each site. It also stopped the countries from adding more strategic offensive ballistic missiles. These choices made by Nixon to bring peace between the United States and these countries have influenced future generations positively by encouraging trade and non-hostility.=====

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 **__Conclusion__**__:__ Therefore, after looking back at Nixon's presidency, the country was better off in some areas, such as environmental protection and communist diplomacy. These decisions had positive impacts on future generations to come. Yet he also made some bad choices like Vietnamization which did not end well for the South Vietnamese and his personal choices in trying to hide the Watergate scandal which ended in his resignation from the presidency. That is why I think that Nixon deserves the grade of C+ for his presidency. =====

 **Sources**__: 37. "Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974."__ The White House__. 22 May 2010. []

DeGregorio, William.__ The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents__. Fort Lee: Barricade. 2005.

"Richard Milhous Nixon."__ American Presidents: An Online Reference Resource__. University of Virginia. Web. 22 May 2010. []

"Richard M. Nixon." //American Presidents: Life Portraits//. Web. 22 May 2010. []