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=Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994)=

Republican VPs: Spiro Agnew (1969–1973) Gerald Ford (1973–1974) Richard Nixon was a good president; at least he was at first. He had great potential, however, it was wasted. His presidency had been going pretty well up until the Watergate Scandal. Although he had some good achievements, Richard Nixon deserves an F for betraying the country he was elected to help, lying about it, quitting to avoid impeachment, and causing the American people to lose faith in their government. Nixon's first goal was to peacefully win the Vietnam War. He started off by ordering a secret bombing of Cambodia, but the Vietnamese refused to back down. His next plan was a good plan: to slowly remove American soldiers from Vietnam. Later, after numerous threats from Nixon, South Vietnamese president Thieu signed the Paris Peace Accords, removing the involvement of US ground troops from the war. The war wasn't won, but it was a great step forward towards ending it. The second goal was to improve relations with the major Communist powers: the Soviet Union and China. He attempted to get the support of the Chinese by traveling to Beijing and later went to Moscow to gain support from the USSR. He used these ties to help his first goal by pressuring Vietnam to back out of the war. A third goal was to bring the nation together and end segregation. This goal was a partial success through acts such as the Philadelphia Plan.

Nixon was thought to have an average relationship with Congress. During his presidency, he vetoed a total of forty-three bills, seven of which were overridden. Overridden vetoes include the Clean Water Act and the War Powers Act. He also passed a good amount of legislation, including the Clean Air Act, he Endangered Species Act, the Philadelphia Plan and bills to raise Social Security pensions and create programs such as the AFDC, the Supplemental Security Income, the Environmental Protection Agency, the OSHA, and more, most of which were made for environmental benefit. Of Nixon's actions, the best would most likely have been the removal of U.S. ground troops from Vietnam. Vietnam was the longest and one of the most expensive wars in the US's history. Nixon had wanted to win the war in a non-violent way. He went around Vietnam to Beijing and Moscow in order to intimidate North Vietnam with the support of the two largest communist powers: China and the USSR. However, even this, his greatest act, was not completely virtuous. As part of his dealings with the war in Vietnam, Nixon ordered a secret bombing of Cambodia. Nixon’s worst action would obviously be the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal could be considered as, in simple terms, a “low blow” to all of America. The Watergate scandal is most known for the illegally recorded conversations at the Watergate Hotel, most famously the “Smoking Gun” tape. However, the scandals were more than just the recordings. During his presidency, Richard Nixon created an unauthorized police organization, the Special Investigations Unit, to prevent Nixon’s secrets, including the bombings of Cambodia and Laos, from being exposed. This organization illegally broke into the offices of Daniel Ellsberg. (Daniel Ellsberg had leaked the “Pentagon Papers,” secret information about the past two presidents, and Nixon wanted bad information about Ellsberg because of the fear of Ellsberg revealing Nixon’s secrets.) Of course, when Nixon’s actions were discovered, he denied everything, directly lying to the American public. Yet it still became clear that Nixon was covering up everything. Then, perhaps his worst action of all, in order to avoid the inevitable impeachment which would almost assuredly end in Richard Nixon being declared guilty, Nixon took what could be considered “the cowardly way out.” Nixon became the first president to ever resign from the presidency. Unfortunately, justice was never served as Nixon was, for an unclear reason, granted a full pardon by new president Gerald Ford. Of all of Nixon’s actions, the one that most likely had the most effect on the future was the Watergate scandals. These actions caused the American public to lose their trust in their own president, the man they should be able to trust more than any other. The mistrust in the American president also led to a decrease in American patriotism. One can easily see this lack of patriotism through the negativity towards presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton and through the frequent insults and attacks by the American people towards the American government. Nixon may have started his presidency with good intentions, but all of that was ruined with the Watergate scandals. To put it metaphorically in relation to the grading system, Nixon’s presidency could e compared to a student’s report. A student can give a glorious report worthy of an A, but if that student end’s the report by spitting in the face of the teacher, they will most likely be given a failing grade. This is sort of like Richard Nixon did, but instead, he metaphorically spat in the face of all of America, and for that, Richard Nixon receives a generous F.

Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. __American Pageant : Advanced__ __Placement__. 12th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division, 2001. Nixon, Richard. "First Inaugural Address." //U.S. Inaugural Addresses.// 20 Jan. 1989. Bartleby. 21 Dec. 2008. .

“Richard Nixon (1969-1974).” //Miller Center of Public Affairs.// 2008. University of Virginia. 17 December 2008.  “Richard Nixon.” //The White House//. Washington. 17 December 2008. 