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** January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994 **
 * Richard Nixon **

Terms of Office: January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 Political Party: Republican Vice Presidents: Spiro Agnew (1969-1973) Gerald Ford (1973-1974)

Richard Nixon became president in 1969, and later that year, America put the first men ever on the moon. Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, and he will forever be remembered. His presidency started out well with his promises to reduce involvement in Vietnam, and to better foreign relations as a whole. Nixon was a genius when it came to solving foreign disputes, and tackled Russia, China, and the Middle East. Unfortunately, the end of Nixon's presidency went badly and he resigned after the Watergate Scandal. For his productive presidency, yet his dishonesty, he deserves a "C" as president.

Nixon's main goal during his time in office was to better foreign relations, especially pertaining to Vietnam. On his list of countries to better foreign relations with he had Vietnam, as stated earlier, along with the Soviet Union, China, the Middle East. The Nixon Doctrine was his statement on foreign policy; consisting of honoring treaties, aiding allies, providing economic and limited military aid to allies- especially if nuclear weapons are //not// involved. His goal towards Vietnam was debatably his most important and comprised of lowering the number of soldiers in Vietnam called "Vietnamization." Vietnamization consisted of the U.S. withdrawing troops and slowly handing power back over the South Vietnam. Within three years the number of American troops went down from 540,000 to 30,000. Along with Vietnamization, the president used the Nixon Doctrine, which stated that future Asian allies would benefit from U.S. support; however, the the U.S. would not use large amounts of ground force. Originally, America, especially anyone anti-war, was extremely pleased with the concept of Vietnamization. However, trouble arose once Vietnam appeared to be a promising, and first defeat for America. Vietnamization was partially accomplished in the sense that American troops were withdrawn from Vietnam by 1973, and South Vietnam was able to keep control from 1973 through 1975. However, Vietnamization took a bad turn when on April 30, 1975, South Vietnam fell to communist. In 1975, Vietnam had been calling to the U.S. for more aid, but America ignored their pleas in order to not return to war and decided to take their losses. The U.S.S.R. had been a long time enemy of the United States and Nixon sought to better relations through detente. Detente basically was peaceful negotiations with weapon limitations. Through the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT) the U.S. and the Soviet agreed to both limit the number of missiles being made. When both countries were meeting, it was the first time in years that they met peacefully, and on one of their country's homelands. Next on the list was China in 1972. Both China and America finally met and negotiated rapprochement, or cordial relations, and wanted to be diplomatic towards eachother. China even invited the American Ping Pong champions into China, and although relations weren't established until Carter came around, they still remained a distant ally to the United States. Middle East issues then began affecting America. When the Yom Kippur War began between Israel and Egypt/Syria, the United States immedietly backed Israel- angering the Arabs. Several Arab petroleum exporting countries began the oil embargo on America in 1974, and oil prices sky-rocketed. The oil crisis caused huge inflation on the economy, and gas prices quadrupled. Overall, Nixon's goals were accomplished rather well. He improved foreign relations with all the U.S.S.R., Israel, and China, and got the U.S. out of war; however shortly worsened the economy and the relations with the Arab countries.

Nixon's most positive outcome is by far his amazing ability to solve almost any foreign relation thrown at him. It is even said that when Clinton was president, he would call Nixon up weekly to get advice. Nixon was able to negotiate beyong belief with other nations. Russia, however, had to be his most prominent accomplishment. For the first time in decades, Nixon met with Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev and discussed treaties to decrease the number of nuclear power in circulation- an idea opposite of what had been occuring during the cold war. Nixon did this by using his new relationship with China to pressure Russia into agreeing to the treaty. As a result, Russia- wanting to better their relationship with the U.S.- then cut back on support of Northen Vietnam and the Soviet and America maintained peaceful relations. Through SALT, both countries agreed to decrease missiles being produced, and due to Nixon, the decades long Cold War was finally coming to an end.

The biggest negative outcome of Nixon, is also the most memorable. Nixon will forever be scarred by the Watergate scandal that occured right before the next presidential election. In June 1972, Nixon hired a group of men to break into the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C, and they then bugged telephones in the Democratic national headquarter's office. Nixon being a Republican wanted to derail the Democratic party.The men were caught when a security guard working noticed a piece of tape on a door: thinking the cleaning crew had left it by mistake, he removed it and thought nothing of it. However, he reported the tape when later on he found that it had been replaced and found it suspicious. After investigation, it was discovered that five men had actually broken in three weeks earlier and were only returning to fix broken wires. Once the scandal was uncovered, it became suspicious that the president had an involvement. The Watergate tapes were uncovered, except for a missing eighteen and a half minutes, and within the tapes Nixon and John Dean are heard discussing that "hush money" was needed to be paid in order to keep the scandal quiet, and that it was important to try and stop the investigation from furthering. The tapes created a year-long dispute between Nixon and investigators when Nixon claimed that he had executive power to retain the tapes. While the reason behind the break in was never formally established, it is rumored that Larry O-brien, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had vital information that could ruin Nixon and his family. O'brien had already embaressed the Nixon's once before when he told of Nixon's brother, Donald, borrowing over $200,000 dollars from Howard Hughes, and never paying him back. Richard Nixon knew the power that O'brien held and could not ignore his offices at the watergate; thus, leading to the break in. By 1973, Nixon had the choice of being impeached or ressigning, and on August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned as president. The Watergate Scandal opened American eyes up to the dishonesty of politics and devastated America who needed a strong leader. By the end of the scandal, twenty-six white house officials were jailed.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Perhaps one of the most recognizable quotes ever said is that from Louis Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon. The moon landing is Nixon's most lasting part of his presidency, and occured on June 20, 1969. After a long cold war with Russia, the race into space was continuing at full speed. JFK had promised that by 1970, America would have landed on the moon, and less than a year away, they did. Russia had already beaten the United States in sending the first satellite into space, so America was determined to put the first man on the moon. While the moon landing was amazing for its' time, its' effects are still felt today. In the short run, the landing gave America huge confidence and nationality, but it also sparked the massive growth of NASA, and technology. While there have been several more moon landings, and several failures, the United States has since begun to explore into other planets. The Mars' twin rovers were launched in 2003, and landed on the surface of Mars in 2003. Then, In 2005, the Cassini probe landed on Saturn's moon, Titan. NASA has also recently made promises that by 2018 they will send up to four astronauts up to the moon for seven-day stays. While in this decade, it is sometimes hard to see the importance of the moonlanding, it has since sparked technology and the idea of exploring even farther into space for America. NASA has expanded tremendously, and it started Nixon's push for the moon landing.

Nixon had a relatively good relationship with congress considering they were a majority democrat, and together they passed a series of laws although they mainly pertained to Nixon's foreign policy. Although he vetoed forty-three bills, Nixon did give a lot of funding to Medicaid and Medicare. Through his presidency they did pass the Philadelphia plan of 1969 that forced construction companies in the city to hire a certain amount of minorites by a certain date and had a huge impact and quickly spread. After that they created environmental protection agencies and occupational health and safety administrations that marketed improved waste management and helped clean the air. Also relating the the environment include the clan Air Act of 1970 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, showing Nixon's concern for wildlife. Although Nixon had the short end in congress, he was appointed four new Surpreme Court Justices who were very conservative, compared to the liberal majority. While Nixon was able to do rather well with congress, despite being a Republican, and great with the court, he lost almost all support after the Watergate Scandal. Richard Nixon lost all trust that the courts had in him, and after the scandal focused on trying to save his repuation rather than legislation.

Nixon has once been noted as "the smartest president who did the stupidest things." And, this quote is somewhat true. While Nixon may be one of the smartest presidents when it comes to foreign policy, he was extremely careless about Watergate. Nixon did leave the country better off after his foreign policies, and rebuilt relationships with China and Russia that had been on the rocks, so to speak, for decades. During his presidency, the moon landing marked one of the most remembered times in American history, but he still had his downfalls. Due to his lack of accessing the consequences of the Watergate Scandal, and taking part in it, Nixon lost the trust of Americans. For the fact that he bettered foreign relations, but damaged his relations at home, Richard Nixon deserves a "C" as president.

WORKS CITED

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"Did President Nixon Veto a Bill? - Yahoo! Answers." //Yahoo! Answers - Home//. Web. 28 May 2010. . "Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Overview." //Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home//. Web. 28 May 2010. []. Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. //United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination//. New York, N.Y.: Amsco School Publications, 1998. Print. "Nixon's America.(lasting Impact of Former President Richard Nixon) - U.S. News & World Report | HighBeam Research - FREE Trial." //Research - Articles - Journals | Find Research Fast at HighBeam Research//. Web. 27 May 2010. [].