| | [[Image:Richard_nixon.gif|right|thumb|The 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon]] | | [[Image:Richard_nixon.gif|right|thumb|The 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon]] |
| − | '''Richard Milhous Nixon''' (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994), 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, as well as persistant wire tapping on the Democratic party. | + | '''Richard Milhous Nixon''' (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994), 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. |
| | 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. 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. | | 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. 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. |
| − | *[http://www.penisland.com Nixon Birthplace & Library], in Yorba Linda, California | + | *[http://www.nixonfoundation.org Nixon Birthplace & Library], in Yorba Linda, California |