|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913–April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was the 36th Vice President of the United States in the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961). Nixon is the only person elected twice to the offices of vice president and president. He is also the only President of the United States to have resigned from the office.
Early yearsRichard Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California, United States. His father was Francis "Frank" A. Nixon and his mother was Hannah M. Nixon (born Hannah Milhous). His mother was a Quaker, and his upbringing is said to have been marked by conservative Quaker observances: such as refraining from drinking, dancing, and swearing. His father converted from Methodist to Quaker after his marriage. Richard Nixon's great-grandfather George Nixon III had been killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War while serving in the 73rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Through his mother, he was a second cousin of the writer Jessamyn West. Nixon's parents had five children, all boys:
Image:Lt Cmdr Richard Nixon 1945.jpg The young Lt Commander Richard Nixon of the U.S. Navy 1945 Nixon attended Fullerton High School, from 1926 to 1928, in Fullerton, California, and later, Whittier High School, from 1928 to 1930, in Whittier, California. He graduated second in his class from Whittier, showing a penchant for Shakespeare and Latin. Although he was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to Harvard University, he declined, due to insufficient financial means for attendance. Instead, he chose to enroll at Whittier College, a local Quaker school, where he co-founded a fraternity called the Orthogonian Society. Nixon was a formidable debater and was elected student-body president. While at Whittier, he taught Sunday school at East Whittier Friends Church, where he remained a member all his life. A lifelong American football fan, Nixon practiced with the team assiduously, but spent most of his time on the bench. In 1934, he graduated second in his class from Whittier, and went on to Duke University School of Law, where he received a full scholarship and graduated third in his class.
Subsequently, he met Thelma "Pat" Ryan, a high school teacher; they were married on June 21, 1940. They had two daughters: Tricia and Julie. During World War II, Nixon served as a reserve officer in the Navy. He received his training at Quonset Point, Rhode Island and Ottumwa, Iowa, before serving in the supply corps on several islands in the South Pacific, commanding cargo handling units in the SCAT.[1] There he was known as "Nick" and for his prowess in poker, banking a large sum that helped finance his first campaign for Congress. House and Senate: 1946–1952Nixon was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1946, defeating Democratic incumbent Jerry Voorhis for California's 12th congressional district. Nixon's campaign alleged that his opponent's CIO PAC support showed that Voorhis was collaborating with communist-controlled labor unions. Nixon's first major breakthrough came in his two terms in Congress, where his dogged investigation on the House Un-American Activities Committee broke the impasse of the Alger Hiss spy case in 1948. Nixon believed Whittaker Chambers, who alleged that Hiss, a high State Department official, was a Soviet spy. Nixon discovered that Chambers had saved microfilm reproductions of incriminating documents by hiding the film in a pumpkin (these became known as the "Pumpkin Papers"). These documents were alleged both to be accessible only by Hiss, and to have been typed on Hiss's personal typewriter. The discovery that Hiss, who had been an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, could have been a Soviet spy, thrust Nixon into the public eye and made him the hero to FDR's many enemies. In reality, his support for internationalism put him closer to the center of the Republican party. In 1950, Nixon was elected to the United States Senate over Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. Accusing her of communist or fellow traveler sympathies, Nixon called her "the Pink Lady" and said she was "pink right down to her underwear." Gahagan, meanwhile, gave Nixon one of the most enduring nicknames in politics: "Tricky Dick." Vice PresidencyIn 1952, Nixon was elected Vice President on Dwight D. Eisenhower's ticket. He was 39 years old. In September 1952, during the campaign, the New York Post and other publications reported that Nixon had kept a "slush fund" for personal use. Democrats and leading Republicans pressured Eisenhower to remove Nixon from the ticket. Nixon convinced Eisenhower to let him defend himself. Nixon went on TV on September 23 and defended himself in a famous speech. He provided an independent third-party review of the fund's accounting along with a personal summary of his finances, which he cited as exonerating him from wrongdoing, and he charged that the Democratic Presidential candidate, Adlai Stevenson, also had a slush fund. This speech would, however, become better known for its rhetoric, such as when he stated that his wife Pat did not wear mink, but rather "a respectable Republican cloth coat," and that although he had been given a cocker spaniel named "Checkers" in addition to his other campaign contributions, he was not going to give it back because his daughters loved it. As a result, this speech became known as the "Checkers speech." At the end of the broadcast, Nixon intended to appeal to viewers to write to the Republican National Committee to voice their support or opposition. Although the broadcast was cut off before he could make this appeal, his speech resulted in a flood of support, prompting Eisenhower to keep Nixon on the ticket. Nixon greatly expanded the office of Vice President. Although he had little formal power he had the attention of the media and the Republican Party. He demonstrated that the office could be a springboard to the White House as it had not been since the 19th century; most Vice Presidents since have followed his lead and sought the presidency. Nixon was the first Vice President to step in temporarily to run the government. He did so three times when Eisenhower was ill: on the occasions of Eisenhower's heart attack on September 24, 1955; his ileitis in June 1956; and his stroke on November 25, 1957. Despite this, Nixon was forced to announce his own inclusion on the 1956 Eisenhower re-election campaign, which highlighted the lack of rapport he and Eisenhower shared. Nixon's quick thinking was on display on July 24, 1959, at the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow where he and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had an impromptu "kitchen debate" about the merits of capitalism versus communism. 1960 election and post-vice presidencyIn 1960, Nixon ran for President against John F. Kennedy in a race that remained close all year.[2] Nixon campaigned on his experience, but Kennedy called for new blood and suggested the Eisenhower-Nixon administration had allowed the Soviet Union to make gains in the arms race. Kennedy also made much of the stagnant American economy of 1960, telling voters it was time to "get the country moving again." Nixon's frosty relationship with Eisenhower also hurt him. When asked about major policy decisions that Nixon had helped shape, the President responded: "Give me a week and I might think of one." In the first of four televised debates, Kennedy not only looked better physically, he also came off as polished, articulate and mature. The performance dispelled many people's worries that the young senator was too inexperienced to be President. Nixon, for his part, was recovering from an illness, and, with the stubble on his face visible, looked unimpressive. (Nixon's performance in the debate was perceived to be mediocre only in the still-young medium of television, though; many people listening on the radio thought Nixon had won). Nixon lost the 1960 election narrowly. It is often argued by American historians that Nixon in fact lost primarily due to the invention of the televised debate. There were charges of vote fraud in Texas and Illinois, and Nixon supporters challenged the results in both states as well as nine others. All of these challenges failed. The Kennedy camp challenged Nixon's victory in Hawaii. That challenge succeeded, and after all the court battles and recounts were done, Kennedy had gained a greater number of electoral votes than he had held after Election Day. Nixon wrote Six Crises (1962), a book dealing with his political involvement as a congressman, senator and as Vice-President. The book used six different crises Nixon had experienced throughout his political career to illustrate his political memoirs. It was not supposed to be an academic work on the subject of crises, rather a method of depicting his political biography in a personal manner. The work won praise from many policy experts and critics. Ironically, as Margaret MacMillan would discuss in her book Nixon in China (2006), Six Crises found a favorable critic in Mao Zedong, who referred to the book when in preparation for Nixon's visit in 1972. In 1962, against the advice of many friends and supporters, Nixon chose to challenge the popular Pat Brown for Governor of California. Nixon had never before shown any interest in the office and biographers still disagree on his precise motive in seeking it. In all likelihood, he was looking for a reason not to run for president again in 1964. With John F. Kennedy's popularity strong, it was likely to be a losing effort. Therefore, if Nixon won in 1962, he would have the excuse that he was too busy running the state. If he lost, he could plead a desire not to campaign again so soon. In either case, Brown won handily. Nevertheless, years of campaigning and losing had worn Nixon down. In an impromptu concession speech the morning after the election, Nixon famously blamed the media for favoring his opponent, and stated that it was his "last press conference" and that "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." This was widely believed to be the end of his career. In just another 12 months though, John Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The events that define the tumultuous 1960s were beginning, and before the decade closed a "New Nixon," one who was "tanned, rested and ready," would win the presidency in another close election. 1968 electionBored in Los Angeles and seeking a fresh start after the 1962 gubernatorial debacle, Nixon moved to New York City, where he became a senior partner in the leading law firm Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander. During the 1966 Congressional elections, he stumped the country in support of Republican candidates, rebuilding his base in the party. In the election of 1968, he completed a remarkable political comeback by taking the nomination. Nixon's success in the nomination might be attributed to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination after he won the California Democratic primary in June 1968. Nixon appealed to what he called the "silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the hippie counterculture, and anti-war demonstrators. Nixon promised peace with honor, and, though never claiming to be able to win the war, Nixon did say that "new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific". He did not explain in detail his plans to end the war in Vietnam, causing Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey to allege that he must have had some "secret plan." Nixon didn't invent the phrase, but because he did not disavow the term, it soon became part of the campaign. In his memoirs, Nixon wrote that he actually had no such plan. He eventually defeated Humphrey by less than 1% of the popular vote, along with independent candidate George Wallace, to become the 37th President of the United States. The Nixon presidency (1969–1974)Foreign policiesVietnam WarImage:Nixon greets POW McCain.jpg President Nixon greets released POW Lt.Cdr John McCain, future U.S. Senator, upon his return from years in a North Vietnamese prison camp in 1973. Once in office, he proposed the Nixon Doctrine, a strategy of replacing American troops with the Vietnamese troops, also called "Vietnamization". In July 1969, he visited South Vietnam, and met with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with U.S. military commanders. American involvement in the war declined steadily until all American troops were gone in 1973. After the withdrawal of U.S. troops, fighting was left to the South Vietnamese army. Although the South Vietnamese were well supplied with modern arms, their fighting capability was limited by inadequate funding, low morale, and corruption. The lack of funding was primarily because of large funding cutbacks by the U.S. Congress. Nixon was widely praised in the United States for having delivered 'peace with honor', and ended American involvement in the war in Vietnam. However, a part of his strategy was the resumption of the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam should they violate the Peace agreement, which Nixon was confident they would. Watergate, however, made it impossible to carry this out. Nixon, along with his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger also sought a 'decent interval' solution to the problem of South Vietnam, so that the country would survive for long enough for him not to be personally blamed for its ultimate collapse. Nixon ordered secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia in March 1969 (code-named Operation Menu) to destroy what was believed to be the headquarters of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, and later escalated the conflict with secretly bombing Laos before Congress cut the funding for the conflict in Vietnam. Another goal of the bombings was to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail that passed through Laos and Cambodia. In ordering the bombings, Nixon realized he would be extending an unpopular war as well as breaching Cambodia's stated neutrality. During deliberations over Nixon's impeachment, his unorthodox use of executive powers in ordering the bombings was considered as an article of impeachment, but the charge was dropped as not a violation of constitutional powers. China and the Soviet UnionImage:Nixon Mao 1972-02-29.png President Nixon greets Communist Party of China Chairman Mao (left) in a visit to China in 1972. Relations between the Western powers and Eastern Bloc changed dramatically in the early 1970s. In 1960, the People's Republic of China (PRC) publicly split from its main ally, the Soviet Union, in the Sino-Soviet Split. As tension along the border between the two communist nations reached its peak in 1969 and 1970, Nixon decided to use their conflict to shift the balance of power towards the West in the Cold War. In what later would be known as the "China Card", the Nixon administration deliberately improved relations with China in order to gain a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, but also gave Moscow a chance to improve relations so as not to be squeezed by a U.S.-China détente. In 1971, a move was made to improve relations when China invited an American table tennis team to China; hence the term "Ping Pong Diplomacy". Nixon sent Henry Kissinger on a secret mission to China in July 1971, after which a stunned world was told that Nixon intended to visit Communist China in 1972. As a result, many countries that had previously opposed the PRC's entry into the United Nations changed their stance. Despite frantic lobbying by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, George H. W. Bush, in October 1971 the UN General Assembly voted to give to the PRC the seat that had been held since 1945 by America's ally, the Republic of China (ROC), and expel the ROC from the UN. In February 1972 Nixon grabbed the world's attention by himself going to China to have direct talks with Mao. During this visit he privately stated that he believed “There is one China, and Taiwan is a part of China.”[3] Fearing the possibility of a Sino-American alliance, the Soviet Union yielded to American pressure for détente. Nixon used the improving international environment to address the topic of nuclear peace. The first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were finally concluded the same year with the SALT I treaty. To win American friendship both China and the Soviet Union cut back on their diplomatic support for North Vietnam and advised Hanoi to come to terms. They did not, however, cut back their military aid to North Vietnam — in fact Chinese military aid to North Vietnam increased during this period.[4] Nixon later explained his strategy:
Indo-Pakistan War of 1971Image:Yahya and Nixon.jpg The Nixon administration staunchly backed Pakistan President Yahya Khan during the 1971 crisis in East Pakistan. Nixon strongly supported General Yahya Khan of Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 despite widespread human rights violations against the Bengalis, particularly Hindus, by the Pakistan Army. Though Nixon claimed that his objective was to prevent a war, and safeguard Pakistan's interests (including the issue of refugees), in reality the U.S. President was fearful of an Indian invasion of West Pakistan that would lead to Indian domination of the sub-continent and strengthen the position of the Soviet Union, which had recently signed a Treaty of Friendship with India. He also sought to demonstrate his reliability as a partner to the People's Republic of China, with whom he had been negotiating a rapprochement, and where he planned to visit just a few months later. President Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger downplayed reports of Pakistani genocide in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and risked a confrontation with Moscow to look tough.[6] Many, including Kissinger,[7] have mentioned that the foreign policy "tilt" towards Pakistan had more to do with Nixon's personal like for the dictator and the support to Pakistan was influenced by sentimental considerations and a long standing anti-Indian bias.[8] The Nixon administration was also responsible for illegally providing military supplies to the Pakistani military despite Congressional objections,[9] and against American public opinion, which was concerned with the atrocities against East Pakistanis.[10] His decision to help Pakistan in a war at any cost prompted him to send the nuclear-equipped USS Enterprise to the Indian Ocean to try to threaten the Indian military. Though it did little to turn the tide of war, it has been viewed as the trigger for India's subsequent nuclear program.[11] During the crisis Nixon was vocal in abusing the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi as an "old witch" in private conversations with Henry Kissinger, who is also recorded as making derogatory comments against Indians.[12] Ultimately Nixon's foreign policy initiatives in this matter largely failed as his attempt at a show of strength to impress China was at the cost of dismembering their mutual ally, Pakistan, who felt that once again United States had fallen short as an ally in failing to prevent Bangladeshi independence.[13] Other wars and crisesNixon encouraged Augusto Pinochet's military overthrow of the elected socialist government of Chile in 1973. Israel, a powerful American ally in the Middle East, was supported by the Nixon administration during the Yom Kippur War. When an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria — allies to the Soviets — attacked in October 1973 Israel suffered initial losses and pressed European powers for help, but the Europeans responded with inaction. Not so with Nixon, who, cutting through inter-departmental squabbles and bureaucracy, initiated an air lift of American arms. By the time the U.S. and the Soviet Union negotiated a truce, Israel had penetrated deep into enemy territory. A long term effect was the movement of Egypt away from the Soviets toward the U.S. But the victory for its ally and the support provided to them by the U.S. came at the cost of the 1973 oil crisis. Some historians have argued that throughout the war, Nixon's handling of the 1973 oil crisis demonstrated that neither he nor Kissinger could truly grasp the importance of economic factors.[14] On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned amidst charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering. Nixon chose Representative Gerald Ford to replace Agnew. Domestic policiesAlthough often criticized (or applauded) as a conservative by his contemporaries, Nixon's domestic policies often appear centrist, or even liberal, to later observers. As President, Nixon imposed wage and price controls, indexed Social Security for inflation, and created Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The number of pages added to the Federal Register each year doubled under Nixon. He eradicated the last remnants of the gold standard. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), promoted the Legacy of parks program and implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program, and dramatically improved salaries for U.S. federal employees worldwide. As a party leader, Nixon helped build the Republican Party (GOP), but he ran his 1972 campaign separately from the party, which perhaps helped the GOP escape some of the damage from Watergate. The Nixon White House was the first to organize a daily press event and daily message for the media, a practice that all subsequent staffs have performed. Nixon is credited with creating the modern day Imperial Presidency, in which the presidency retains a high level of control over government policy and decisions. In the early 1970s, Nixon impounded billions of dollars in federal spending and expanded the power of the Office of Management and Budget. These encroachments on the power of Congress led to the passage of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. On January 2, 1974, Nixon signed a bill that lowered the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 miles per hour (90 km/h) in order to conserve gasoline during the 1973 energy crisis. This law remained in effect until 1995, though states were allowed to raise the limit to 65 miles per hour in rural areas around 1987. Committed to wide-ranging bureaucratic reforms, in a last-minute bid to save his presidency, Nixon signed a significant reform of the federal budgeting process and granted wide authority to Congress in shaping the final budget. School integrationThe Nixon years witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the South, after the region had stalled in compliance with the 1954 Supreme Court's Brown ruling. Strategically, Nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist George C. Wallace and liberal Democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some Southern white Democrats. His plan has since been known as the Southern strategy. Nixon concentrated on the principle that the law must be color-blind. "I am convinced that while legal segregation is totally wrong, forced integration of housing or education is just as wrong."[15] Though Nixon thought of appealing to southern whites by slowing school desegregation, he decided to enforce the law after the Supreme Court, in Alexander v. Holmes County (1969), prohibited further delays. Nixon's Cabinet committee on school desegregation, under the leadership of Labor Secretary George P. Schultz, quietly set up local biracial committees to assure smooth compliance without violence or political grandstanding. By fall of 1970, two million southern black children enrolled in newly created unitary fully integrated school districts. "In this sense, Nixon was the greatest school desegregator in American history," historian Dean Kotlowski concluded.[16] In the North, meanwhile, the Brown decision did not apply directly, but in city after city federal judges started ordering busing programs to integrate schools, a policy Nixon opposed. Image:Mobutu Nixon.gif Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon at Washington, D.C. in 1973. Nixon and the U.S. space programOn July 20, 1969, Nixon addressed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin live via radio during their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk. Nixon also made humanity's longest distance phone call to Neil Armstrong on the moon. (All U.S. Project Apollo moon landings, and the attempted moon landing of Apollo 13, took place during Nixon's first term.) On January 5, 1972, Nixon approved the development of the Space Shuttle program, a decision that profoundly influenced U.S. efforts to explore and develop space for several decades thereafter. Landslide re-electionIn 1972, Nixon was re-elected in one of the biggest landslide election victories in U.S. political history, defeating Senator George McGovern and garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states, losing only in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Major initiatives
On April 3, 1974, Nixon announced he would pay $432,787.13 in back taxes plus interest after a Congressional committee reported that he had inadvertently underpaid his 1969 and 1972 taxes. Given the near certainty of both his impeachment (due to the Watergate scandal) by the House of Representatives and his conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned on August 9 1974. Administration and CabinetThe Nixon Administration comprised an impressive array of talent both in the cabinet and in the White House staff. Among the many people who came to Washington to serve in the administration were one future President (George H. W. Bush); a future Vice President (Dick Cheney); six future secretaries of state (Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, George Shultz, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Colin Powell); five future secretaries of defense (James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Casper Weinberger, Frank Carlucci and Cheney again); a future chairman of the joint chiefs of staff (Powell again), two future secretaries of the treasury (William Simon and Baker again); a future secretary of energy (Schlesinger again); and three future chiefs of staff (Rumsfeld, Cheney and Baker again). Indeed a member of the Nixon Administration has held a cabinet post or been a senior advisor within the subsequent six presidential administrations. That so many key figures of the Ford, Reagan, George H. W. Bush (41) and Bush (43) Administrations first entered government service in the Nixon White House is arguably the most profound and long-lasting legacy of Richard Nixon.
Administration notablesChiefs of Staff
Undersecretaries
Assistants
White House Counsel
Communications Office
Press Secretary
Speech writers
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
