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[b]Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States of America, and is the only president so far to have resigned the office. Although he will forever be associated with the Watergate scandal, he should also be remembered for his invaluable commitment to Cold War diplomacy, as during his tenure, American relations with the two major Communist superpowers were at their least fractious and least confrontational.[/b]

Nixon was born in the small town of Yorba Linda in California, and grew up in another, East Whittier, to parents Frank and Hannah Nixon. He suffered two terrible personal losses in his youth: the deaths of his younger and older brother to illness, Arthur and Harold respectively. He had a brilliant academic record in Whittier College and Duke University, where he studied law. He joined a Whittier law firm, and married Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan in 1940. Nixon enlisted in the Navy following Pearl Harbour, and left the service following the end of the war in 1945.

He was then elected to Congress from his California district. In 1950 he won a Senate seat, and two years later, General Dwight D. Eisenhower elected Nixon to be his running mate, at the tender age of 39. Nixon was a shrewd campaigner who had effectively mastered the art of casting aspersions upon his opponents. This tactic was particularly efficacious at a time where the red taint of communism was the modern day equivalent of the Black Mark in Salem. The ‘Ike and Dick’ team won the 1952 presidential election in a landslide.

As Vice-President, Nixon made his reputation as a diplomat and a politician of the world. One of his most-praised visits abroad was to the Soviet Union in 1959, where, in front of a replica of a typical suburban American kitchen, Nixon and the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev traded impromptu broadsides over their countries’ respective merits and disadvantages. This came to be known as the ‘kitchen debate’. Nixon also enhanced his reputation by calmly taking over the reins when Eisenhower suffered illness on no less than three occasions while in office. ‘Ike and Dick’ won a second landslide to re-enter the White House for a second term.

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The 1960 Presidential election saw Nixon pitted against the brilliant young politician from Massachusetts, [b][urlnew=/biography_home/137:0/John_F_Kennedy.htm]John F. Kennedy[/b][/urlnew], and is best remembered for its televised debates between the two candidates. The contrast between the nervous, sweaty Nixon and the flash grin and cool confidence of Kennedy may have played its part in getting the Harvard boy elected, but it was an extremely narrow win. Three short years later, Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas, Texas, and his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President. Johnson went on to win the 1964 Presidential Election against the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater.

Following the loss to Kennedy, Nixon returned to California to practise law. During this time he also wrote his book ‘Six Crises’ (1962), which was highly praised for its erudite discussion of foreign policy from the viewpoint of one who had been in the midst of policy making. In 1962, he was encouraged by local Republicans to challenge for the Governorship of California. He lost by almost 300,000 votes, and this was widely viewed as the end of his political career.

Goldwater’s loss to Johnson had thrown up another charismatic new Republican candidate, [b][urlnew=/biography_home/881:0/Ronald_Reagan.htm]Ronald Reagan[/b][/urlnew], who had designs on being the top man in the party – a formidable rival to the apparently down-and-out Nixon. However, Nixon was nothing if not a street fighter, and although he did not contest 1964, he spent his time campaigning on behalf of Goldwater, earning the gratitude of the conservatives and senior party members. Once again in the 1966 Congressional elections, he campaigned on behalf of powerful figures in the Republican Party, cultivating their support for his comeback.

With a slick publicity campaign, Nixon entered the fray once more in the 1968 Presidential Election. By this time, the Democratic Party was in disarray. With escalation in Vietnam despite promises to the contrary, Johnson had lost the support of the youth, the doves and the moderates. Antiwar Democratic candidate Eugene McCarthy (with the support of Hollywood star [b][urlnew=/biography_home/809:0/Paul_Newman.htm]Paul Newman[/b][/urlnew]) made a strong showing, leading Johnson to withdraw from the race. The tumultuous hot summers saw violent race riots as the Black Power movement gained force; the assassination of civil rights leader [b][urlnew=/biography_home/153:0/Martin_Luther_King.htm]Martin Luther King[/b][/urlnew] only fuelled the raging dissatisfaction; and the assassination of [b][urlnew=/biography_home/710:0/Robert_Kennedy.htm]Robert Kennedy[/b][/urlnew], John’s brother, the night he won the California primary left the Democrats without a strong candidate.

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In spite of this, the 1968 presidential race was a tight affair, with the Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey benefiting from President Johnson’s successful proposals for a Vietnam bombing halt and peace talks to be held in Paris. Nixon cunningly scuppered the agreement by secretly persuading the South Vietnamese premier, Nguyen Van Thieu, to refuse to take part in the talks, promising him a better deal when Nixon took the presidency. Nguyen complied, and this tipped the balance in Nixon’s favour, defeating Humphrey by less than 1% of the vote.

Nixon forged a partnership with his brilliant Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that brought a fresh view of realistic foreign policy making to the White House, eschewing the (expensive) idealism of Kennedy and Truman, and forgoing the hawkishness of Johnson, in favour of détente with both Russia and China. These two superpowers had themselves developed a rivalry for the leadership of worldwide communism, and were wooing proxy states of their own. Recognising this fact, Nixon established amicable relations with both states, with Kissinger playing a vital diplomatic, and often unrecognised, role. Nixon’s summit meetings with Leonid Brezhnev resulted in the ABM treaty (Anti-Ballistic Missile) and the two SALT agreements (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) that saw both powers agreeing to freeze the number of ballistic and nuclear weapons and dismantle existing stockpiles.

Nixon’s establishment of amicable relations with Beijing and Moscow in turn reduced their respective support of North Vietnam. Thus, Nixon was able to realistically declare de-escalation in Vietnam and achieve his aim of ‘withdrawal with honour’. By 1973, the last American troops had left Vietnam. Nixon’s impeccable grasp of [i]realpolitik[/i] saw him withdraw ground troops while at the same time increasing secret bombing campaigns and supporting South Vietnamese incursions that violated the neutrality of Cambodia and Laos. This was part of the Nixon doctrine of ‘Vietnamisation’ (see his famous ‘Silent Majority’ speech in 1969), a policy that favoured handing the war over to the South Vietnamese, progressively training their army while executing withdrawal of American troops.

The major civil rights issue during Nixon’s tenure was that of race relations and segregation between the black and white populations. Nixon trod the narrow line by supporting desegregation in schools and housing but not enforcing integration. This won him the support of white liberal Democrats who saw integration as a long term goal, while not alienating the Deep South Republicans who favoured segregation. A low-key policy of affirmative action quotas in various fields had the effect of enlarging the black middle class, which steadily made progress in sports, education, entertainment, military and government service.

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During Nixon’s term in office, he appointed four politically and socially conservative Supreme Court judges: Chief Justice Warren Burger, Lewis Powell, Harry Blackmun (who penned the majority decision in the landmark abortion case of [i]Roe v Wade[/i] [1973]), and the extreme conservative William Rehnquist (dissenting in [i]Roe v Wade[/i]).

Nixon’s overwhelming win in the 1972 Presidential Election was hardly surprising. Once again, the Democratic Party was in disarray: [b][urlnew=/biography_home/453:0/Ted_Kennedy.htm]Ted Kennedy[/b][/urlnew] (younger brother of John F. and Robert F.) was in disgrace after the Chappaquiddick Incident, while George Wallace, who looked the strongest candidate, was shot and paralysed while on the campaign trail. In the end, it fell to George McGovern to mount a challenge to Nixon – a challenge that was short-lived. McGovern had lost support from within his own party, and with the ill-advised choice of his running mate, he effectively handed over the 1972 election to Nixon. Nixon won a majority in 49 out of the 51 states, and 60.7% of the popular vote compared to McGovern’s 37.5%.

With such a clear mandate from the American voting public, it seems incomprehensible why Nixon would endanger his popularity, presidency and legacy with Watergate. Analysts and historians have put it down to his paranoia and weakness for needing to know his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. Watergate encompasses a series of secret and illegal activities undertaken by Nixon’s administration with his tacit approval, and the resulting scandals that culminated in the impeachment of Nixon and his subsequent resignation as President.

The name ‘Watergate’ itself refers to the Watergate office complex in Washington DC, where the Democratic Party headquarters were situated. On 17th June 1972, five burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Upon investigation by the FBI, it was revealed that the Nixon administration had authorised a secret fund to finance political espionage, targeting Democratic Party figures in particular. The purpose of the break-in was to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters; when it failed, it led investigators back to the President himself. This was not an isolated example: Nixon had authorised underhanded smear campaigns against his opponents in the 1972 election by planting false evidence, the most famous of which was Senator Edmund Muskie and his ‘Canuck letter’. Nixon also authorised wiretaps on senior reporters and government employees to discover sources of leaks of stories that were damaging to his administration.

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The arrest of the burglars might not have proved fatal to his Presidency, but Nixon’s attempt to cover up the incident certainly was. As evidence disappeared and witnesses complained that they were being leaned on to keep quiet, the pressure on the President mounted. Senior Nixon aides began cracking or resigning. The bursting point was reached when an unidentified aide revealed that Nixon had secretly recorded all conversations in the Oval Office. The tapes were then the subject of a year-long legal battle, with the President doing his utmost to prevent the investigating committee from seizing them.

Finally, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to surrender the tapes. The ‘smoking gun’ tape,on which Nixon had been recorded discussing ways to obstruct the Watergate investigation, was enough to finish the president off politically. Three articles of impeachment were approved by the Senate Committee: for obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress. Nixon then decided to resign instead of suffering the humiliation of losing the impeachment proceedings. Vice President Gerald R. Ford succeeded him and a month later granted Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he might have committed while President.

The Watergate scandal left Nixon physically and financially broken. The months of legal proceedings had drained him financially and he also had to enter hospital to remove a clot in his leg. Always the fighter though, he slowly began to recover. He published his memoirs for a goodly sum of money, and then submitted to a lucrative interview by English TV personality David Frost. He remained a valued expert on matters of foreign policy, giving advice to Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and [b][urlnew=/biography_home/247:0/George_Bush_Senior_.htm]George Bush[/b][/urlnew]. He wrote several books and travelled the world on speaking appointments. He died in 1994 of heart complications, a year after his beloved Pat passed away. His funeral was attended by dignitaries that included [b][urlnew=/biography_home/292:0/Bill_Clinton.htm]Bill Clinton[/b][/urlnew], Bob Dole and Henry Kissinger, and former presidents Carter, Ford, Bush and Reagan.

Watergate served to disillusion a generation of voters and revealed a ruthless side to this enigmatic man, brilliant and so full of poise on the world stage, but naïve, paranoid and unsure of himself closer to home. He was a magnificent policy-maker, but an uncharismatic, unscrupulous politician. He will be remembered for Watergate and détente, hopefully in equal measure.

[b]Written by Juan Hann Ng[/b]
Richard Nixon biography

During Nixon's first term as President, American astronauts made the first moon landing.

In his 1972 bid for office, Nixon defeated Democratic candidate George McGovern by one of the widest margins on record.

Nixon is the only President to have resigned the position.

The Democrats retained control of both Houses of Congress in the 1968 elections, making Nixon the first President elected without his party winning either House since the 19th century.

The Nixons had two children, Patricia and Julie. Julie married David Eisenhower, one of General Dwight Eisenhower's grandsons, in 1968.

He was a knowledgeable fan of football and baseball, so much so that he often used sport metaphors when talking about important political and diplomatic issues.

Richard Nixon biography

Richard Nixon biography