Richard M. Nixon

1. Richard M. Nixon Portrait of a President

2. Early Life • Richard Milhous Nixon was born January 9th, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. Of his childhood, Nixon once said: “we were poor, but the glory of it was, we didn’t know it”. • In 1933, Nixon suffered his first electoral defeat when he ran for president of his high school. However, after graduation from high school in 1934, Nixon received a full scholarship to attend Duke University Law School. • After graduating from Duke University Law School in 1937, Nixon and his wife, Pat, moved to Washington, DC in 1942. Richard had taken a job with the federal government. • Although Nixon was in the Navy during WWII, he did not see combat

3. Senator Nixon • In 1950, Richard Nixon became a United States senator. While a senator, Nixon spoke out often against global communism. As well, he was critical of President Truman’s handling of the Korean War. Nixon supported statehood for Alaska and Hawaii. As well, he was in favour of The United States giving disaster relief to India and Yugoslavia. Nixon was also a supporter of civil rights.

4. Vice President Nixon • In 1952, Richard Nixon became the Vice President of the United States under Eisenhower. Nixon was once again Vice President when Eisenhower was re-elected in 1956.

5. Failed Attempt • In 1960, Nixon lost the Presidential election to John F. Kennedy. Nixon had run on a campaign of experience, and Kennedy on one of “new blood” • Nixon struggled in the new medium of television. Nixon looked pale and uncomfortable in televised debates. However, those who listened to the debate on the radio felt Nixon had won. • Kennedy’s margin of victory was only 0.2% in the popular vote. Although there were charges of vote fraud in Texas and Illinois, two states won by Kennedy, Nixon did not contest the election. He stated that he believed doing so was not in the best interests of the country. • Nixon and his family returned to California, where he practiced law and wrote a book.

6. Another Run • In 1967, following the decision of President Johnson to “neither seek nor accept his party’s nomination” for President, Nixon decided to run again as the Republican Party nominee.

7. The Campaign • By 1968, Nixon was much more comfortable in front of the television cameras. He portrayed himself as a stable figure in a chaotic America. He promised “peace with honour” in the Vietnam War. He appealed to what he later called the “silent majority” of socially conservative Americans who disliked hippies and the violent anti-war movement. • Nixon won a close election against Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey and independent George Wallace. When recalling his telephone conversation with Humphrey, Nixon said: “I also told him that I know exactly how he felt. I know how it feels to lose a close one.”

8. 1972 Visit to China • Prior to running for President, Nixon had stated that: “there is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation ”. • In 1971, while relations between the USSR and China were strained, a trip by Nixon to China in February 1972 was simultaneously announced on American and Chinese media. • Nixon met for over an hour at the home of Chairman Mao. Mao was said to be impressed by Nixon’s “forthright nature”. • Following the visit, the Soviets, fearing a Chinese-American alliance, sought improved relations with the United States.

9. End of War in Vietnam • When Nixon took office, about 300 American soldiers were dying each week in Vietnam, and the war was very unpopular in the United States, with violent protests against the war ongoing. • Nixon approved a secret bombing campaign of North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia in March 1969. Nixon believed that this was the location of the North Vietnamese headquarters. In mid 1969, Nixon began efforts to negotiated peace with North Vietnam, sending a personal letter to North Vietnamese leaders, and peace talks began in Paris. • In July 1969, Nixon visited South Vietnam, where he met with US military commanders and President Nguyen Van Thieu. Nixon then began a strategy of replacing American troops with South Vietnamese troops. This plan was called “Vietnamization”. Nixon later began phased withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. • US conscription ended in 1973, and the Paris Peace Accords were also signed in 1973. On March 29, 1973, two months after signing the Accords, the last U.S. troops left South Vietnam. • By November 1972, Nixon had won a second term as President in a landslide victory.

10. The Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C.

11. Watergate Scandal • In 1971, G. Gordon Liddy joined Nixon’s White House staff. He became a member of a group known as “The Plumbers” because their job was to stop leaks in Nixon’s administration. • Later in 1971, “The Plumbers” became concerned with a man named Daniel Ellsberg. While a federal employee, Ellsberg worked on a document called History of Decision Making in Vietnam, 1945-1968. By mid-1971, Ellsberg, who was unhappy with the progress in Vietnam, took exerts of the document, which became known as “The Pentagon Papers” to the Washington Post and, later, The New York Times. The New York Times began publishing sections of “The Pentagon Papers” on June 13th, 1971.They included information that Eisenhower had made a secret commitment with the French government to help defeat rebellion in Vietnam. “The Pentagon Papers” also showed how JFK had turned this commitment into a war and how, from the very beginning of his Presidency, Johnson had planned to expand the American military effort in Vietnam. • On September 3rd, 1971, G. Gordon Liddy supervised with burglary of a psychiatrist who had been treating Daniel Ellsberg. The main objective of this burglary was to discover incriminating or embarrassing information that would later be used to discredit Ellsberg.

12. Watergate Scandal • In 1972 Liddy joined the Committee to Re-Elect the President, which was known as CREEP. After requesting and being denied one million dollars, Liddy was given $250,000 to carry out a series of secret operations against Nixon’s political enemies and “intelligence gathering” against the Democratic Party. • One of Liddy's first tasks was to place electronic devices in the Democratic Party Offices in the Watergate Complex. The plan was not successful and on June 17th, 1972, the five burglarers were caught by the police. • The day after the break-in, Attorney General Richard Kleindienst was told by G. Gordon Liddy that the operation had originated in the White House and that he should arrange the release of the burglars. Kleindienst refused to free the men, but failed to report Liddy's confession.

13. Watergate Scandal • On 7th November, Nixon easily won the the election with 61 per cent of the popular vote. Soon after the election reports by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post began to claim that money from Nixon’s campaign was used to finance illegal Watergate activities. The reporters were able to show that a $25,000 cheque from a Nixon campaign fund had gone into the account of one of the burglars. • Nixon continued to insist that he knew nothing about the case or the payment of "hush-money" to the burglars. However, in April 1973, Nixon forced two of his principal adviser. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, to resign. A third adviser, John Dean, refused to go and was fired. On 20th April, Dean issued a statement making it clear that he was unwilling to be a "scapegoat in the Watergate case". • On 18th May, 1973, new Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as special prosecutor, with unprecedented authority and independence to investigate the alleged Watergate cover-up and illegal activity in the 1972 presidential campaign.

14. Watergate Scandal • Alexander P. Butterfield, who was in charge of “internal security” at the Nixon White House, reluctantly admitted to Richardson that Nixon was secretly recording meetings with his staff and advisors. • According to Butterfield, information of the recordings was “was probably the one thing that the President would not want revealed” • Richardson’s prosecuting attorney, Archibald Cox, demanded the White House tapes from Nixon. Nixon refused, and Cox appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. • On 20th October, 1973, Nixon ordered his Attorney-General, Elliot Richardson, to fire Archibald Cox. Richardson refused and resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered the deputy Attorney-General, William Ruckelshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and he was fired. Eventually, Robert Bork, the Solicitor-General, fired Cox.

15. Watergate Scandal • An estimated 450,000 telegrams went sent to Richard Nixon protesting against his decision to remove Cox. The heads of 17 law colleges now called for Nixon's impeachment. Nixon was unable to resist the pressure and on October 23rd, 1973, he agreed to comply with the subpoena and began releasing some of the tapes. The following month a gap of over 18 minutes was discovered on the tape of the conversation between Nixon and H. R. Haldeman on June 20, 1972. Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, denied deliberately erasing the tape. It was now clear that Nixon had been involved in the cover-up and members of the Senate began to call for his impeachment. • In May, 1974, a Judiciary Committee brought three charges against Nixon: obstructing justice, abuse of power, and withholding evidence. • Two weeks later three senior Republican congressmen, visited Richard Nixon to tell him that they were going to vote for his impeachment. Nixon, convinced that he will lose the vote, decided to resign as president of the United States.

On 9th August, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first President of the United States to resign from office. Nixon was granted a pardon but several members of his staff involved in the cover-up were imprisoned.

16. President Nixon’s Exit Above: Nixon Exits The White House Following his Resignation