Mitchell+K.+-+RN-+FA12

Name: Richard M. Nixon Jan. 9, 1913- Apr. 22, 1994 Party: Republican Term: Jan. 20, 1969- August 9, 1974 Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew, Gerald R. Ford Thematic Context: Culture The culture of the United States was rapidly changing during the Nixon administration. One of the largest changes was the integration of unharmonious races into Anglo-Saxon society. Chief among these races was the African-Americans because of their continued abuse and condition since the founding of the nation. Many blacks began to speak out against the oppressive state governments when some brave people such as Rosa Parks and martyrs like Emmett Till inspired the black community to finally make an effort to claim their equality that was “promised” to all citizens. In the mid-1960’s the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. were met with the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under the Johnson administration. Seeing as black accounted for a good percentage of the population, the change in culture was altered to accommodate them and their ways of life. Other changes that American Culture experienced were anti-war movements across the USA. The Vietnam War had been raging for quite some time without progress on any side with heavy losses for Americans, both monetary and human. There was also no clear reason for continued involvement given by the government, so people assumed it was a personal reason such as commitment. The American people began to protest vehemently against the increases of troops and weapons in Vietnam. The whole war ordeal helped to give America a very hands-off approach to conflict. A moral breakdown also occurred during the 60’s. This cultural travesty was attributed to the failure to establish sufficient authority over young adults and teenagers. Ironically, these young people spoke out against government authority in areas such as racism, sexism, and imperialism. The immorality of the young plus the development of contraceptives also spurred the culture of America to become more sex-oriented. The introduction to drugs like LSD and marijuana also made these young Americans very careless and carefree.

Thesis: Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States of America, deserves the grade of a B- for his outstanding work in foreign policy and his apparent neglect for domestic policy. While he did create the largest political scandal the nation had ever seen, the rest of his administration did wonders for America in the global community. His dealings with the communists in Russia and China and other matters in Latin America and the Middle East alone would give him a solid A. His neglect of matters at home such as civil rights and the economy lower his grade to the given B-.

Goals: The main goal of Nixon’s first term was abundantly mentioned throughout his inauguration speech: peace. This goal was met with limited success only due to the nature of the world and of humanity. Nixon met with communist China and discussed a wide range of things. This led to the possibility of Sino-American relations and therefore potential peace. He also made some headway with Soviet Russia in that he successfully negotiated an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and SALT, which both halted the nuclear arms race, thus promoting peace militarily. In the Middle East, Nixon spent a little effort in trying to get Israel, America’s main ally in the region, to promote peace with the hostile Arab nations. World peace was not met in Latin America, however. Nixon attempted to sabotage the Chilean leader, who was Marxist and continued Kennedy’s policy towards Cuba. He tried to irritate the dictator as much as possible through his inside people. The main goal of Nixon’s second term was to use the peace he had created in his first term to strengthen the world as a community and to make it a permanent peace. He did not meet this, however, as his paranoia grew and he oversaw the Watergate Scandal and resigned shortly afterward.

Congress: Nixon’s relationship with Congress could be described as moderate, considering that during his presidency, his own party did not dominate either house yet he still had much legislation passed. He also was more focused on foreign affairs that did not require Congress as much as internal affairs, so it can be inferred that Nixon had a very average relationship with Congress during his presidency. Some of the legislation that was passed during Nixon’s administration was the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to accommodate those who were in the armed forces yet could not vote for the country they were dying for, and the Consumer Product Safety Act, which helped to make American products safer and to rat out the ones that could be potentially harmful, thus helping markets and consumers simultaneously through less injuries and law suits. One of the legislation the was not passed was the Equal Rights Amendment, which was a proposed Amendment to the Constitution to give equal rights regardless of gender, in this case: females. Nixon was a supporter of this and this can only have worsened his relationship with the current Congress.

Positive Decision: Chief among Nixon’s greatest achievements was his attempts at peace with the Communists abroad. One of the major attempts was with China. Nixon had learned of philosophical tensions between the USSR and China over some aspects of Marxism, which was the form of communism both countries adopted. Knowing Russia would be the harder nut to crack, Nixon first flew to China to negotiate peace. He did not guarantee peace, but the meetings between the two nations implied potential partnership. This was the leverage that Nixon needed to get the Russians to bend. With an American-backed China, Russia would not be able to withstand open war with both of the powers. The second major attempt at defusing the Cold War was negotiating with the USSR. Nixon flew to Moscow and much was accomplished at this meeting. The first major agreement was that America would sell $750 million in foodstuffs to Russia. The other two treaties had to do with more pressing matters and affected Nixon’s promise of peace even more. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty ensured that both superpowers would have only two sites where they could defend against incoming hostile missiles, one at the nation’s capital and the other at the main missile base. The next agreement was the SALT Treaty. This document halted the growth of missile storage in both countries and served to calm the storm of impending nuclear annihilation.

Negative Decision: By far the worst decisions that Nixon made during his presidency occurred at the end of it. The first was the source of his infamy: the Watergate Scandal. This essentially made the corruptions of Grant look honorable. In this mischievous act, members of CREEP, or the Committee for the Re-election of the President, were caught inside the Democratic HQ at the Watergate complex in Washington. They had with them electronic bugging devices that would be used to listen to private conversations. This was only the unveiling of the apparent orders given by Nixon and his administration to sabotage the Democrats and any other political foe. They used the CIA, FBI, and the IRS to accomplish these devious deeds. The second decision that added to Nixon’s infamy was his dealings with Vietnam. At the beginning of his first term, he had been ordering secret bombings of North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia without Congressional approval. Both Houses tried to stop him but Nixon always pulled through with his support just barely upholding his veto. This was a very negative decision because it further slandered his name in the eyes of Americans, who were largely against the war in the first place. Nixon eventually lost the needed support and was persuaded into a compromise that led to another check of his power in the form of the War Powers Act.

Influential Decision: One of the most influential decisions that Nixon made was to stay out of the Middle East squabbles. It ended up being a negative influence because under his doctrine, the US could not intervene to the caliber of Vietnam in any foreign fight, be it friend or foe. The neglect for tiny Israel against the Arabs and the Palestinians would only serve to allow their hatred to fester and eventually blow up not only in Israel’s face but ours as well. Only recently has the ticking time bomb that Nixon failed to defuse blown up. America has had to deal with terrorism and other engagements in the Middle East in the last two decades that could have been avoided in the Nixon administration. If Nixon had not created his doctrine, then America may have felt inclined to help its little pal in the East and brought the Arabs to the negotiating table to discuss potential peace.

Conclusion: The country on an overall scale after Nixon was done his presidency was about the same as it had started; only the areas had shifted to different proportions. Our global position was a lot better off due to Nixon’s expertise in negotiating peace. Domestically, the US had improved a little bit with Nixon’s attention with the environment and anti-inflationary policies. The economy, however, took a downward spiral as the postwar prosperity was coming to an end. So because of the good ultimately outlasting the bad, Richard Nixon receives the grade of a B-.

Bibliography:

"Equal Rights Amendment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. .

"Richard Nixon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. .

"Richard Nixon: Inaugural Address." //The American Presidency Project//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. .

"Richard Nixon: Oath of Office and Second Inaugural Address.." //The American Presidency Project//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. .