Richard Milhous NixonRichard Nixon was born 9 January 1913 in a poor family with five brothers. He had a more rough childhood with the death of his brother and his tuberculosis (scar tissue from pneumonia). When he grew up, he enlisted in the navy in WWII and was promoted to commander before he resigned on 6 June 1966. He was then appointed Vice President with Eisenhower in 1952. After Eisenhower served his terms, Nixon ran against John F. Kennedy for president in 1960 and lost. He ran again in 1968 against Humphrey and Wallace in which he won. He was president from 1969 until 1974. He was involved with the Watergate Scandal and later resigned on 9 August 1974.
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First Presidential Run |
In his political career, Nixon ran for president two different times, the first was against John F. Kennedy. Since this was the first time that an event such as the presidential election was televised, it was obvious from the start who would win. Kennedy had just come back from a vacation so he looked refreshed and young, as he was, while Nixon appeared pale with a five o'clock shadow. There was no competition.
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(Kennedy (Red) vs. Nixon (Blue) Map)
Second Presidential Run |
Nixon took a few years in between his first run and his second run because he knew he stood no chance against Eisenhower, but in 1968, he ran for President of the United States. He ran against Humphrey and Wallace, which he won by a staggering vote,
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(Nixon (Red) vs. Humphrey (Blue) vs. Wallace(Yellow) Map)
Nixon's Presidency |
Even though many people see Nixon as a joke, he did many great things in his presidency. he focused a great deal on foreign policies, making friends with China, pulling out of Vietnam, maintained relationships with Cuba and the Soviet Union, and created new Middle Eastern policies. Further more with China and the USSR, he attempted to drive a wedge between the USSR and China who were the two world's biggest communist powers. He offered China aid as well as a spot in the United Nations, which did not make anyone happy, but it made China happy. To improve relations with China, Nixon became the first president to visit China and have a meeting with the communistic dictator, Mao Zedong.
With the Cold War winding down and relations growing stronger between the U.S. and the world, Nixon traveled to Moscow to discuss nuclear deals/disarmament with the Soviet leader of the time, Leonid Brezhnev. They also created a joint space exploration mission even though America had already been to the moon and back. These visits to different communistic powers might have frightened people into thinking Nixon might be turning on then, but his anti-communistic ways was one of the reasons he was chosen to be the Vice President to Eisenhower many years ago, so no one was too worried. On the darker side, Nixon was "connected" to an operation called Watergate which involved five men, the Democratic political party's headquarters, and some wiretaps. These five men were associated with the campaign that wanted to get Nixon re elected the next election, which stacked up the evidence against him. He tried to keep the event very hushed but of course it made it to the media. Nixon was then suppose to be impeached in 1974 but decided to resign on 8 August 1974. |