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Richard Milhouse Nixon Born: January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California Died: April 22, 1994 in New York, New York Republican 1969-1973, 1973-1974 (two terms, but resigned halfway through his second term) Vice Presidents: Spiro T. Agnew (1) and Gerald R. Ford (2)

President Nixon deserved a grade of an A or a B at almost every point during his administration until two years into his second term, when he made some poor decisions and caused a downfall in his public approval rating. After considering all that President Nixon accomplished and keeping the watergate scandel in mind, it seems fair to present Nixon with a grade of a C-.

After first being elected and coming into office, President Nixon began to change some things in the country. The first problem that he attended to was the fact that the nation was divided due to the Vietnam War and relations with other countries such as Russia and China. His first goal was to reunite the nantion, which at that time was in trouble. He also wanted to give money to organizations that would better the country. He did this early and was most successful when the U.S. first landed on ther moon. Finally, he had another major goal which was to strenthen South Vietnam so that the U.S. soldiers could return home and South Vietnam could fight for themselves. He accomplished all these goals by 1973 which all contributed to reuniting the nation, which was his first and foremost goal. However, many of his accomplishments are overlooked and forgotten due to the 1974 scandel.

Nixon had a less than positive relationship with Congress. This affected the outcome of many bills and presidential decisions. An example of this is when he had to obtain his cabinet's support for SALT 1 and for expanding the money spent on the Vietnam War. He got some help from multiple people in various offices but didn't have complete support within congress. Nixon's cabinet consisted of the following people: Secretary of State- William P. Rogers, 1969 and Henry A. Kissinger, 1973; Secretary of the Treasury- David M. Kennedy, 1969, John B. Connally, 1971, George P. Shultz, 1972, and William E. Simon, 1974; Secretary of Defense- Melvin R. Laird, 1969, Elliot L. Richardson, 1973, and James R. Schlesinger, 1973; Attorney General- John N. Mitchell, 1969, Richard G. Kleindienst, 1972, Elliot L. Richardson, 1973, and William B. Saxbe, 1974. Along with this group of people, Nixon was able to end the vietnam war, deal with foreign policy, remove the United States from the gold standard, and most importantly hold the nation together during a tough time.

During Nixon's time as president, he accomplished many things. These things included dealing with foriegn policy, stabalizing the nations economy, and improving the national security. But if one lone accomplishment must be pointed out, it would have to be the fact that Nixon ended the warn in Vietnam for America when he did. By doing this, he saved the lives of many Americans, got many U.S. hostages back, and impacted the economy. This also gave South Korea the confidence it needed to continue the war for themself. During Nixon's time as president he did many great things, but sadly not everything that Nixon did was good. In Nixon's sixth year as president, during his second term, he and his commitee made a series of poor desicions which would lead to the impeachment of President Nixon. The scandal began when members of the Nixon reelection committee were caught in a breaking at the offices of the democratic party in the Watergate building. The crisis slowly deepened as when President Nixon tried to cover up the involvement of his staff in the break-in. During the investigation it became known that Nixon had made tapes of all his conversations and telephone calls. These became key items of evidence, and when the House drew up Articles of Impeachment, Nixon decided to resign instead of being impeached.

During Nixon's time as president, he made many decisions which would impact future generations. First off, Nixon ended the Vietnam War and prevented many American casualties. He also improved foreign policy and national security. Both these things are crucial even to this day. However, the most influential action of the Nixon administration was the removal of American money off of the Gold Statndard. This improved the economy and made it so that American currency is only worth what people are willing to use it for and the amount on it rather than being worth the value in gold.

In conclusion, President Nixon deserves a grade of an A- for his fiorst six years as president. He left the nation much better off and did many things that are still showing there effects today in positive ways. He also accomplished many things and had the public's support. However, after taking into consideration the Watergate scandel and the poor decisions made by him and his committee, he deserves a final grade of a C-.

Work Cited:

"Cabinet Members Under Nixon — Infoplease.com." //Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com//. Web. 27 May 2010. []. "Nixon Era Center Library." //The Nixon Era Center from Mountain State University//. Web. 27 May 2010. []. "Nixon Had Three Goals: to Win by the Biggest Electoral Landslide in History; to Be Remembered as a Peacemaker; and to Be Accepted by the 'Establishment' as an Equal. He Achieved All These Objectives at the End of 1972 and the Beginning of 1973. And He Lost Them All Two Months Later-partly Because He Turned a Dream into an Obsession. by Henry Alfred Kissinger." //Quotations, Famous Quotes at Quote World//. Web. 27 May 2010. . "Richard M. Nixon." //The White House//. Web. 27 May 2010. . "Richard Milhouse Nixon." //Oracle ThinkQuest Library//. Web. 27 May 2010. .