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Presidency of Richard Nixon

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Richard Nixon presidency.

Presidency of Richard Nixon

January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974[1]

Cabinet See list

Party Republican

 1968
Election
 1972

Seat White House

← Lyndon B. Johnson
Gerald Ford →

Seal of the president

Library website
 This article is part of
a series about
Richard Nixon

 Birthplace
 Electoral history
 Depictions

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Pre-vice presidency

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36th Vice President of the United States

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Post-vice presidency

37th President of the United States

 Presidency
 Timeline
 Transition
 Inaugurations
 first
 second

Judicial appointments
 Appointed federal judges
 Supreme Court candidates
 Appointment controversies

Policies
 Economic
 Nixon shock
 Foreign
 International trips
 Nixon Doctrine
 Vietnamization
 Environmental
 EPA
 Clean Water
  NOAA
 Legacy of Parks
 Cannabis
 war on drugs
 Native American

First term
 End of the draft
 Visit to China
 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
 War on cancer
 Philadelphia Plan
 Minority Business Enterprise
 OSHA
 Apollo program

Second term
 Paris Peace Accords
 decent interval
 1973 Chilean coup d'état
 Yom Kippur War
 airlift
 Mideast Peace Process
 Marine Mammal Protection Act
 Endangered Species Act

Impeachment process
 Watergate scandal
 timeline
 Tapes
 United States v. Nixon
 Resignation speech
 Pardon

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Post-presidency

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Presidential campaigns

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 Vice presidential campaigns

 v
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 e

Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first
inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974,
in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the only U.S.
president ever to do so. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, whom he had
appointed vice president after Spiro Agnew became embroiled in a separate
corruption scandal and was forced to resign. Nixon, a prominent member of
the Republican Party from California who previously served as vice president for two
terms under president Dwight D. Eisenhower, took office following his narrow victory
over Democrat incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey and American
Independent Party nominee George Wallace in the 1968 presidential election. Four
years later, in the 1972 presidential election, he defeated Democrat nominee George
McGovern, to win re-election in a landslide. Although he had built his reputation as a
very active Republican campaigner, Nixon downplayed partisanship in his 1972
landslide re-election.
Nixon's primary focus while in office was on foreign affairs. He focused
on détente with the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, easing Cold
War tensions with both countries. As part of this policy, Nixon signed the Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty and SALT I, two landmark arms control treaties with the Soviet Union.
Nixon promulgated the Nixon Doctrine, which called for indirect assistance by the
United States rather than direct U.S. commitments as seen in the ongoing Vietnam
War. After extensive negotiations with North Vietnam, Nixon withdrew the last U.S.
soldiers from South Vietnam in 1973, ending the military draft that same year. To
prevent the possibility of further U.S. intervention in Vietnam, Congress passed
the War Powers Resolution over Nixon's veto.
In domestic affairs, Nixon advocated a policy of "New Federalism", in which federal
powers and responsibilities would be shifted to state governments. However, he
faced a Democratic Congress that did not share his goals and, in some cases,
enacted legislation over his veto. Nixon's proposed reform of federal welfare
programs did not pass Congress, but Congress did adopt one aspect of his proposal
in the form of Supplemental Security Income, which provides aid to low-income
individuals who are aged or disabled. The Nixon administration adopted a "low
profile" on school desegregation, but the administration enforced court desegregation
orders and implemented the first affirmative action plan in the United States. Nixon
also presided over the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the
passage of major environmental laws like the Clean Water Act, although that law was
vetoed by Nixon and passed by override. Economically, the Nixon years saw the start
of a period of "stagflation" that would continue into the 1970s.
Nixon was far ahead in the polls in the 1972 presidential election, but during the
campaign, Nixon operatives conducted several illegal operations designed to
undermine the opposition. They were exposed when the break-in of the Democratic
National Committee Headquarters ended in the arrest of five burglars and gave rise
to a congressional investigation. Nixon denied any involvement in the break in, but,
after a tape emerged revealing that Nixon had known about the White House
connection to the Watergate burglaries shortly after they occurred, the House of
Representatives initiated impeachment proceedings. Facing removal by Congress,
Nixon resigned from office. Though some scholars believe that Nixon "has been
excessively maligned for his faults and inadequately recognised for his virtues",
[2]
Nixon is generally ranked as a below average president in surveys of historians and
political scientists.[3][4][5]
1968 election[edit]
Main articles: Richard Nixon 1968 presidential campaign and 1968 United States
presidential election
Further information: 1968 United States elections, 1968 Republican Party
presidential primaries, and 1968 Republican National Convention
Republican nomination[edit]
Richard Nixon had served as vice president from 1953 to 1961, and had been
defeated in the 1960 presidential election by John F. Kennedy. In the years after his
defeat, Nixon established himself as an important party leader who appealed to both
moderates and conservatives.[6] Nixon entered the race for the 1968 Republican
presidential nomination confident that, with the Democrats torn apart over the war in
Vietnam, a Republican had a good chance of winning the presidency in November,
although he expected the election to be as close as in 1960.[7] One year prior to
the 1968 Republican National Convention the early favorite for the party's
presidential nomination was Michigan governor George Romney, but Romney's
campaign foundered on the issue of the Vietnam War.[8] Nixon established himself as
the clear front-runner after a series of early primary victories. His chief rivals for the
nomination were Governor Ronald Reagan of California, who commanded the loyalty
of many conservatives, and Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, who had a
strong following among party moderates.[9]
At the August Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Reagan and
Rockefeller discussed joining forces in a stop-Nixon movement, but the coalition
never materialized and Nixon secured the nomination on the first ballot.[10] He selected
Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland as his running mate, a choice which Nixon
believed would unite the party by appealing to both Northern moderates and
Southerners disaffected with the Democrats.[11] The choice of Agnew was poorly
received by many; a Washington Post editorial described Agnew as "the most
eccentric political appointment since the Roman Emperor Caligula named his horse
a consul.[12] In his acceptance speech, Nixon articulated a message of hope, stating,
"We extend the hand of friendship to all people... And we work toward the goal of an
open world, open sky, open cities, open hearts, open minds."[13]
General election[edit]
 1968 Electoral College vote results
At the start of 1967, most Democrats expected that President Lyndon B.
Johnson would be re-nominated. Those expectations were shattered by
Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, who centered his campaign on opposition
to Johnson's policies on the Vietnam War.[14] McCarthy narrowly lost to Johnson in the
first Democratic Party primary on March 12 in New Hampshire, and the closeness of
the results startled the party establishment and spurred Senator Robert F.
Kennedy of New York to enter the race. Two weeks later, Johnson told a stunned
nation that he would not seek a second term. In the weeks that followed, much of the
momentum that had been moving the McCarthy campaign forward shifted toward
Kennedy.[15] Vice President Hubert Humphrey declared his own candidacy, drawing
support from many of Johnson's supporters. Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan
Sirhan in June 1968, leaving Humphrey and McCarthy as the two remaining major
candidates in the race.[16] Humphrey won the presidential nomination at the
August Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and Senator Edmund Muskie of
Maine was selected as his running mate. Outside the convention hall, thousands of
young antiwar activists who had gathered to protest the Vietnam War clashed
violently with police. The mayhem, which had been broadcast to the world in
television, crippled the Humphrey campaign. Post-convention Labor Day surveys had
Humphrey trailing Nixon by more than 20 percentage points.[17]
In addition to Nixon and Humphrey, the race was joined by former Democratic
Governor George Wallace of Alabama, a vocal segregationist who ran on
the American Independent Party ticket. Wallace held little hope of winning the
election outright, but he hoped to deny either major party candidate a majority of
the electoral vote, thus sending the election to the House of Representatives, where
segregationist congressmen could extract concessions for their support.[18] The
assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., combined with disaffection
towards the Vietnam War, the disturbances at the Democratic National Convention,
and a series of city riots in various cities, made 1968 the most tumultuous year of the
decade.[19] Throughout the year, Nixon portrayed himself as a figure of stability during
a period of national unrest and upheaval.[20] He appealed to what he later called the
"silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the 1960s
counterculture and the anti-war demonstrators.[21] Nixon waged a prominent television
advertising campaign, meeting with supporters in front of cameras.[22] He promised
"peace with honor" in the Vietnam War but did not release specifics of how he would
accomplish this goal, resulting in media intimations that he must have a "secret plan".
[23]

Humphrey's polling position improved in the final weeks of the campaign as he

distanced himself from Johnson's Vietnam policies.[24] Johnson sought to conclude a
peace agreement with North Vietnam in the week before the election; controversy
remains over whether the Nixon campaign interfered with any ongoing negotiations
between the Johnson administration and the South Vietnamese by engaging Anna
Chennault, a prominent Chinese-American fundraiser for the Republican party.
[25]
Whether or not Nixon had any involvement, the peace talks collapsed shortly
before the election, blunting Humphrey's momentum.[24]
On election day, Nixon defeated Humphrey by about 500,000 votes, 43.4% to 42.7%;
Wallace received 13.5% of the vote. Nixon secured 301 electoral votes to
Humphrey's 191 and 46 for Wallace.[17][26] Nixon gained the support of many white
ethnic and Southern white voters who traditionally had supported the Democratic
Party, but he lost ground among African American voters.[27] In his victory speech,
Nixon pledged that his administration would try to bring the divided nation together.
[28]
Despite Nixon's victory, Republicans failed to win control of either the House or
the Senate in the concurrent congressional elections.[27]
Administration[edit]
See also: Presidential transition of Richard Nixon
Cabinet[edit]

President Nixon and his cabinet at the White House in

June 1972

The Nixon cabinet

Office Name Term

President Richard Nixon 1969–1974

Vice President Spiro Agnew 1969–1973

none 1973

Gerald Ford 1973–1974

Secretary of State William P. Rogers 1969–1973

Henry Kissinger 1973–1974

Secretary of the Treasury David M. Kennedy 1969–1971

John Connally 1971–1972

 George Shultz 1972–1974

William E. Simon 1974

Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird 1969–1973

Elliot Richardson 1973

James R. Schlesinger 1973–1974

Attorney General John N. Mitchell 1969–1972

Richard Kleindienst 1972–1973

Elliot Richardson 1973

William B. Saxbe 1974

Postmaster General Winton M. Blount 1969–1971

Secretary of the Interior Wally Hickel 1969–1970

Rogers Morton 1971–1974

Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin 1969–1971

Earl Butz 1971–1974

Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans 1969–1972

Peter G. Peterson 1972–1973

Frederick B. Dent 1973–1974

Secretary of Labor George Shultz 1969–1970

James Day Hodgson 1970–1973

Peter J. Brennan 1973–1974

Secretary of Health, Robert Finch 1969–1970

Education, and Welfare
Elliot Richardson 1970–1973
 Caspar Weinberger 1973–1974

Secretary of Housing and George W. Romney 1969–1973

Urban Development
James T. Lynn 1973–1974

Secretary of Transportation John Volpe 1969–1973

Claude Brinegar 1973–1974

Director of the Robert P. Mayo 1969–1970

Bureau of the Budget

Director of the Office of George Shultz 1970–1972

Management and Budget
Caspar Weinberger 1972–1973

Roy Ash 1973–1974

Ambassador to the United Nations Charles Yost 1969–1971

George H. W. Bush 1971–1973

John A. Scali 1973–1974

Counselor to the President Arthur F. Burns 1969

Daniel Patrick Moynihan 1969–1970

Bryce Harlow 1969–1970

Robert Finch 1970–1972

Donald Rumsfeld 1970–1971

Anne Armstrong 1973–1974

Dean Burch 1974

Kenneth Rush 1974

For the major decisions of his presidency, Nixon relied on the Executive Office of the
President rather than his Cabinet. Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and adviser John
Ehrlichman emerged as his two most influential staffers regarding domestic affairs,
and much of Nixon's interaction with other staff members was conducted through
Haldeman.[29] Early in Nixon's tenure, conservative economist Arthur F. Burns and
liberal former Johnson administration official Daniel Patrick Moynihan served as
important advisers, but both had left the White House by the end of 1970.
[30]
Conservative attorney Charles Colson also emerged as an im