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Richard Nixon: January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994 Political party: Republican Terms of office: January 20, 1969 - August 9, 1974 Vice President: Spiro Agnew Rating: D

Theme- Culture

In 1969, there were hippies. Tree hugging, drug taking, free thinkers who were anti war and were later called the silent majority by Nixon. Himself being against the war in the Pacific, reflected the culture of the time and helped shape that and spread the movement further along. The withdrawal of soldiers from Vietnam in 1973 was a real pleaser to the young hippies and that helped the movement gather strength. Also the passing of the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution helped shape the culture. The amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. This was a big hippie pleaser because they were of younger age and wanted a say in the politics, especially at the time due to the war. These two items were major events that helped shape the american culture of the hippie era.

Thesis

Richard Nixon was not the best president the U.S. had seen in office nor was he the worst, although he was not very good looking at a few key facts. He was president during the landing on the moon, but he was not the one who came up with the idea and had not strongly pushed for it. He did not do his best for the Vietnam war, he did not leave them immediately cause more soldiers to loose their lives, but he did not stay long enough and Southern Vietnam was taken over by the Viet Cong, putting all that war effort to waste. He ultimately resigned because of a near certainty of impeachment due to the Watergate scandal. Nixon was not a good president, but his terms came in a critical time in American history that put pressures despite that he still did nothing good for the better of the U.S. and that is why he receives a low rating of D.

Goals

The Inaugural Address of Richard Nixon may have seemed impressive and lifted up the spirits of Americans but it was mostly fluff and had no real set goals for him to accomplish. Peace is mentioned which would be achieved by the end of the War with Vietnam, which was barely accomplished by him. He was not serious about anything he said and if had set more goals, they would probably not been completed or done on his own time. He did no good for the economy at the time. Inflation rose both times he was elected to office and did very little to help the economy. He mentions the landing of the moon in his Address and this is ironic because he shot down NASA plans to create a permanent station on the moon and to send a space craft to mars with humans on board. This shows he actually shot down potential progress. He set no goals and accomplished nothing which is why he has a D.

Relations with Congress

The 91st United States Congress had majority of Democrats in both the House and Senate which meant that Republican Nixon would have had many disagreements. Despite this they still manages to pass along an impressive set of bills. Many of the acts passed had to do with the environment and that seemed to be the main focus of the entire congress until 1971. Many of the majority of legislation was about the environment. This shows that he had to have a good relationship and got many major bills passed, even if it was not what the Republican party wanted. The 92nd United States Congress also had a Democratic majority in both parts and also passed bills related to the environment and also consumer safety. This is shows he had a stable relation with this congress as well, even though not as many landmark bills were passed.

Most Positive/Most Negative outcomes

Depending on your political views, one might say that the improved relations were one of the best outcomes of the Nixon presidencies. The United States Secretary of State therefore had the most positive outcome of the presidency. They made agreements with the Soviet Union which brought the worries of nuclear warfare down. The least positive Cabinet would have been the cabinet of defense because of the pointless war on Vietnam. We could have pulled out in 69 and stopped thousands of people from being killed, but no we waited until 1973 and then still failed to keep South Vietnam from being taken. 5 years of people dying for a lost caused could have been avoided. These were the most positive and negative administrations.

One Decision

The one decision that may not have seemed major in 1969 was the Nixon Doctrine which stated that the U.S. would avoid direct combat in the middle east. This spiked the arms sales to countries such as Iran. Now it effects today but when Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 it was made a big deal. This meant the U.S. would not send aid to them. This was the begging of the conflict in the middle east which continues until today and effects everyone in the U.S. Every president since then had to have an opinion on the topic and U.S. citizens had to be concerned for their safety as these countries were now a threat.

Conclusion

Richard Nixon was an awful president. He helped the country in no ways and shot down potential ways to set us in the future. Even though it was one of the most critical points of U.S. history with a lot of pressure on him, he could have done more to help the country. His lack of effort to end the Vietnam War, shooting down of the NASA plans and the simple lack of goals to accomplish give him the rating of a D. The country was better before he became president and Nixon was not a good president.