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| | '''Richard Milhous Nixon''' was the 37th [[President of the United States of America]], serving from 1969 to 1974. He was the 36th [[Vice President of the United States of America]] from 1953 to 1961, in the administration of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. As a [[Congressman]] from [[California]], he investigated [[Communists]] and instigated the successful prosecution of [[Alger Hiss]]. Nixon served as Vice President under President Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, and lost his first presidential race to [[John F. Kennedy]] by a tiny margin. In 1968 he was elected president, and was reelected in 1972 by a landslide, but resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974 due to a threat of impeachment by Congress for the [[Watergate scandal]]. The main impeachment charge was that Nixon obstructed justice by telling employees to mislead FBI investigators about the Watergate burglary. | | '''Richard Milhous Nixon''' was the 37th [[President of the United States of America]], serving from 1969 to 1974. He was the 36th [[Vice President of the United States of America]] from 1953 to 1961, in the administration of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. As a [[Congressman]] from [[California]], he investigated [[Communists]] and instigated the successful prosecution of [[Alger Hiss]]. Nixon served as Vice President under President Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, and lost his first presidential race to [[John F. Kennedy]] by a tiny margin. In 1968 he was elected president, and was reelected in 1972 by a landslide, but resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974 due to a threat of impeachment by Congress for the [[Watergate scandal]]. The main impeachment charge was that Nixon obstructed justice by telling employees to mislead FBI investigators about the Watergate burglary. |
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| − | President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was the first President to visit the People's Republic of China. He appointed a conservative (William Rehnquist), two moderates (Warren Burger and Lewis Powell) and a liberal (Harry Blackmun) to the U.S. Supreme Court. Nixon was from a [[Quakers|Quaker]] family. His foreign policy as president was marked by détente with the [[Soviet Union]] and the opening of diplomatic relations between the United States and the [[People's Republic of China]]. His centrist domestic policies combined conservative rhetoric and liberal action in civil rights, environmental and economic initiatives. Nixon considered himself to be a Keynesian, that is, his economic views were shaped by economist [[John Maynard Keynes]]. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/hein6.html] As a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned the presidency in the face of likely impeachment by the United States [[House of Representatives]]. His successor, [[Gerald Ford]], issued a controversial [[pardon]] that allowed Nixon to avoid prosecution. Speaking in later life, Ford stated that he felt the pardon was needed to stop a terrible rift developing in American social life.
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| | == Childhood == | | == Childhood == |
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| | == Education == | | == Education == |
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| | During World War II, Nixon served in the [[Navy]] as a reserve officer. 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. There he was known as "Nick" and for his exceptional poker-playing skills, banking a large sum of money that helped finance his first campaign for [[Congress]]. | | During World War II, Nixon served in the [[Navy]] as a reserve officer. 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. There he was known as "Nick" and for his exceptional poker-playing skills, banking a large sum of money that helped finance his first campaign for [[Congress]]. |
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| − | ==Watergate Affair/Scandal== | + | == Presidency == |
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| | + | President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was the first President to visit the People's Republic of [[China]]. He appointed a conservative ([[William Rehnquist]]), two moderates ([[Warren Burger]] and [[Lewis Powell]]) and a liberal ([[Harry Blackmun]]) to the U.S. Supreme Court. Nixon was from a [[Quakers|Quaker]] family. His foreign policy as president was marked by détente with the [[Soviet Union]] and the opening of diplomatic relations between the United States and the [[People's Republic of China]]. His centrist domestic policies combined conservative rhetoric and liberal action in civil rights, environmental and economic initiatives. Nixon considered himself to be a Keynesian, that is, his economic views were shaped by economist [[John Maynard Keynes]]. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/hein6.html] As a result of the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned the presidency in the face of likely impeachment by the United States [[House of Representatives]]. His successor, [[Gerald Ford]], issued a controversial [[pardon]] that allowed Nixon to avoid prosecution. Speaking in later life, Ford stated that he felt the pardon was needed to stop a terrible rift developing in American social life. |
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| | + | == Watergate Affair/Scandal == |
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| | The event that ended the Nixon presidency began on June 17, 1972, when five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign, were caught breaking into rival Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The intruders and two other accomplices were convicted of burglary and wiretapping in Jan. 1973. The [[Watergate affair]] ultimately caused Nixon to resign on 9 August 1974. Nixon had no prior knowledge of a plan to burglarize [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters in the Watergate hotel, yet his loyalty to subordinates led Nixon to approve to cover up activities and transferring money from the Presidential election campaign fund to pay the legal expenses of convicted burglarers. Former White House Counsel John Dean testified to a Congressional investigating committee of Nixon's involvement in the cover-up. | | The event that ended the Nixon presidency began on June 17, 1972, when five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign, were caught breaking into rival Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The intruders and two other accomplices were convicted of burglary and wiretapping in Jan. 1973. The [[Watergate affair]] ultimately caused Nixon to resign on 9 August 1974. Nixon had no prior knowledge of a plan to burglarize [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters in the Watergate hotel, yet his loyalty to subordinates led Nixon to approve to cover up activities and transferring money from the Presidential election campaign fund to pay the legal expenses of convicted burglarers. Former White House Counsel John Dean testified to a Congressional investigating committee of Nixon's involvement in the cover-up. |