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Richard Milhous Nixon Born: January 9, 1913 Died: April 22, 1994 Terms: January 20, 1969- August 9, 1974 Vice Presidents: Spiro T. Agnew (1969-1973) Gerald R. Ford (1973-1974)

Richard Nixon made some good decisions as thirty seventh president of the United States; however, he made one bad decision which became the worst political scandal in U.S. history. Though he improved foreign relations and helped the economy, the Watergate scandal forced him to resign from presidency. All this said, I believe he deserves a C as president.

When Richard Nixon became president, one of his goals was to end the war in Vietnam. To do this, he reduced the U.S. involvement in the war. In the Vietnamization program, forces in South Vietnam were trained and prepared to take over once the U.S. forces were gone. The Nixon Doctrine corresponded with Vietnamization by calling for a reduced presence of U.S. troops in Asia.

Another one of Nixon’s goals was to help the economy. He succeeded with Wage-Price Controls, which lasted from 1971 to 1973. These were designed to combat inflation by putting a freeze on wages and prices, along with a complex system of wage-price controls. Nixon’s administration also did Revenue Sharing, which put back billions of tax dollars to state and local governments.

One of Richard Nixon’s best achievements was his foreign policy. He improved relations with the Soviet Union and China. In February 1972, he took “a journey for peace” to communistic China. Both the United States and China agreed to broaden scientific, cultural, and trade contacts. This was a historic trip because Nixon was the first president to visit China and also visit a nation that America had no formal diplomatic relations. Nixon wasn’t done there. He and Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, signed two agreements at SALT, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. One of the agreements limited both countries to two antiballistic missile sites each and the second agreed to freeze the number of strategic offensive ballistic missiles.

The most negative part of Richard Nixon’s presidency was obviously the Watergate Scandal. It all started when five agents of CREEP, or the Committee to Reelect the President, were arrested for burgling the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington D.C. Over two years, reporters uncovered many crimes committed by or in the name of Nixon. His officials installed eavesdropping devices at Watergate, a Republican squad tried to spread disagreement between the Democratic Party, and hush money was made to Watergate defendants in order to try to cover up the criminal acts. There were several tapes of him discussing the cover up, which Congress asked him to hand over. He refused because of his executive privilege. However, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release them which he did. One of the tapes had an eighteen minute gape which was purposely deleted. Nixon later resigned on August 9, 1974 because he faced certain impeachment.

President Nixon probably would have gotten an A or B had the Watergate scandal not happened. He did well with foreign policy and improved relations with Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and China. He also helped the American economy. However, the Watergate scandal did hurt him and he became the first president to ever resign from office. All this said, I believe that he deserves a C as president.

Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents)//. 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.