Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Biographies richad nixon richad nixon The President of the United States is often considered the most powerful elected official in the world. The President leads a nation of great wealth and military strength. Presidents have often provided decisive leadership in times of crisis, and they have shaped many important events in history. The President has many roles and performs many duties. As chief executive, the President makes sure that federal laws are enforced. As commander in chief of the nation's armed forces, the President is responsible for national defense. As foreign policy director, the President determines United States relation with other nations. As legislative leader, the President recommends new laws and works to win their passage. As head of a political party, the President helps mold the party's positions on national and foreign issues. As popular leader, the President tries to inspire the American people to work together to meet the nation's goals. Finally, as chief of state, the President performs a large variety of ceremonial duties. The thirty-seventh President, Richard Milhous Nixon, was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. He was the second of the five sons of Francis Anthony Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. At the age of about ten, he began working part time as a bean picker. During his teens, he worked as a handyman in a packinghouse, janitor at a swimming pool, and barker at an amusement park. While in college, Nixon served as bookkeeper and as manager of the vegetable department of his father's store. Always a good student, he was invited by Harvard and Yale to apply for scholarships, but his older brother's illness and the Depression made his presence close to home necessary. So he attended nearby Whittier College, where he graduated second in his class in 1934. He went on to law school at Duke University, where his seriousness and determination won him the nickname "Gloomy Gus." He graduated third in his class and applied for jobs with both large northeastern law firms and the FBI. His applications were all rejected, so he was forced to go home to southern California, where his mother helped get him a job at a friend's local law firm. Shortly after returning home, Nixon met Thelma Catharine Ryan. At that time she was teaching commercial subjects at Whittler High School. They were married on June 21, 1940. The Nixons had two daughters, Patricia born in 1946, and Julie born 1948. At the outbreak of World War Two, Nixon went to work briefly for the tire-rationing section for the Office of Price Administration in Washington, DC. Eight months later, he joined the Navy and was sent to the Pacific as a supply officer. Nixon was popular with his men, and such an accomplished poker player that he was able to send enough of his comrades-in-arms' money back home to help fund his first political campaign. Shortly after returning from the war, Nixon entered politics, answering a Republican Party call in the newspaper for someone to run against the five-term Democratic Congressman, Jerry Voorhis. Nixon seemed the perfect man for the job, and was welcomed by the California Republican Party, who considered him "salable merchandise." The style of Nixon's first campaign set the tone for the early part of his political career, where he achieved national fame as a fierce anti-Communist. He accused Congressman Voorhis of being a communist, and even went so far as to have campaign workers make anonymous calls to voters stating that as a fact and advising that a vote for Nixon was therefore the best move. This sort of straightforward communist baiting was new at the time. With the fear of the Soviet Union, who appeared to be spreading its influence throughout Asia made it a particularly persuasive tactic. Nixon later said, "Of course I knew Jerry Voorhis wasn't a communist, but I had to win." Nixon defeated Voorhis with sixty percent of the vote, and upon taking his seat in Congress, he became the junior member of the infamous House Committee on un-American Activities. Nixon's determined pursuit of Alger Hiss, a former adviser to Franklin Roosevelt and one of the organizers of the United Nations, brought him national exposure. Hiss had been accused of being a communist and of transmitting secret State Department documents to the Soviets. Though many believed him innocent, Nixon fiercely pushed the case forward eventually getting Hiss convicted of perjury and jailed. At the age of thirty-five, Nixon was a national figure, and he rode this fame to an easy victory in his senate race against three-term Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950, once again adopting a communist baiting campaign strategy. He accused Ms. Douglas, who opposed the activities of the House un-American Activities Committee, of being "pink right down to her underwear." Nixon was only in the US Senate for a year and a half when, in 1952, the Republican national convention selected him to be General Dwight D. Eisenhower's running mate. Most of Nixon's success to that point had been built on the political and personal ruination of his honest Democratic foes. He was expected to do much of the same type of campaigning, leaving Eisenhower to take the "high road," remaining pure and untarnished by messy politicking. Nixon performed his task admirably, casting doubt on the abilities and patriotism of his and Eisenhower's Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson. Nixon himself had to face close scrutiny during the campaign, when the New York Post announced that he had received secret campaign contributions from wealthy sources, he was nearly pushed off the ticket. Instead of giving up, Nixon went on national, prime time television and appealed directly to the voters. He delivered what has come to be known as the "Checkers Speech," fully exposing his financial situation and revealing that he was not a wealthy man. The speech was an unprecedented success, and the Republican National Committee received thousands of telegrams of support. Nixon remained on the ticket and became vice-president when Eisenhower overwhelming defeated Stevenson. When Eisenhower decided to run again in 1956, Nixon's presence on the ticket was not assured. However, he pressured the President into making a decision, refusing Eisenhower's offer of a cabinet position the Republican ticket once again contained Richard Milhous Nixon as the vice-presidential candidate. In the second campaign, Nixon moved away from his communist baiting techniques so the press began speaking of a "New Nixon." Because of Eisenhower's apparent support he became more active in his second term. Eisenhower sent him on tours to South America, where his motorcade was spat upon and attacked. Nixon was unanimously nominated at the Republican convention in 1960. Fourteen years after first running for office, he was one election away from the presidency. Many were confident of Nixon's ability to easily win the election, being a prominent, national figure running against the young, inexperienced John F. Kennedy, who was little known nationally and had a reputation as a playboy inside Washington circles. However, Kennedy took advantage of modern campaigning techniques, which employed the television more than personal contact, and was given a big push by the first-ever-televised presidential debates. The healthy, attractive, and charming Kennedy came off as strong, confident person, while Nixon, who refused to wear make-up, looked haggard, and almost ghost-like. The election was one of the closest in history, with Kennedy winning by only 100,000 votes nationwide. Some of the most crucial votes came in Cook County, Illinois, which was controlled by party boss Richard Daley. Many suspected election fraud, but Nixon refused to demand a recount, saying that it would be political suicide if he lost. Nixon ran for governor of California in 1962, but had never been a locally active politician and his years in Washington had made him out of touch with the situation in California. He lost firmly to incumbent Pat Brown. In a press conference shortly after the results were announced Nixon berated the media for giving him a hard time since the Hiss case. He also urged greater fairness in political coverage, and claimed that this would be his last press conference. "You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore," he said. He later took a job as a Wall Street lawyer, but he soon became tired of the private life and went back to the campaign trail in 1966. After a grueling four-continent tour during which he familiarized himself with foreign affairs Nixon was back in the electoral race again, running for president a second time in 1968. He avoided the issue of the Vietnam War, stating only that he would find an "honorable end" to it. He let the Democrats go in depth on the issue of the Vietnam War, further setting himself apart by running on a "Law and Order" campaign blaming America's most visible problems on the liberal Democrats. Nixon's appeal to the "forgotten Americans," people who felt themselves ignored in the upheavals of the sixties, brought him a close victory over Hubert Humphrey. Upon election, Nixon pledged that he would bring America together. As president, he concentrated mostly on foreign affairs, hoping to bring about a generation of peace and a New World order. Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and John Erhlichman, a top campaign official and one of Nixon's closest advisors, handled much of domestic policy and shielded Nixon from many of the daily details of the administration. This left Nixon to concentrate on foreign policy. He often by-passed the Defense and State Departments, instead working closely with National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, a former Harvard professor and newcomer to official foreign policy circles. The Vietnam War, which had destroyed Nixon's predecessor, was the major problem to the new president's designs. Even before his inauguration, Nixon had Kissinger engage in secret peace talks with North Vietnam hoping to speed American withdrawal from Vietnam. Early in his term, Nixon announced a gradual replacement of American fighting forces with South Vietnamese. His plan was to have all American troops out of Vietnam by the end of 1970. However, Nixon did not want to be the first president to lose a war and he could not be satisfied with a simple withdrawal from Vietnam. He believed that abandoning South Vietnam to the communists would invite further communist aggression in the region. Nixon had to face a vigorous anti-war movement and appeal to the "silent majority," another version of his "forgotten Americans," who he felt supported his foreign policy. He pledged not to back down, and in early 1970 escalated the war authorizing bombings on North Vietnam and attacks on Cambodia. After his reelection, Nixon once again ordered escalation in the bombings, which Alexander Haig, Kissinger's deputy, described as "brutalizing" the north. Two weeks after the bombings began, Nixon announced that peace negotiations were soon to resume, and by January 28, 1973, a cease fire was established that allowed the US to remove its reaming 23,700 troops and end its twelve-year military involvement in Vietnam. Domestically, Nixon adhered to a standard Republican spending-cut program, cutting back and opposing federal welfare services and proposing antibusing legislation. He also implemented the New Economic Policy, which called for a ten- percent tax on many imports. These policies were initially successful, causing American exports to become cheaper and improving the balance of trade. However, when the wage and price commissions began to give way to pressures from both labor and business interests, inflation increased again. This began a decade-long rise in the cost of living that negatively impacted many segments of American society. But Nixon is best remembered for his foreign policy achievements, despite his failure to bring a speedy, or even "honorable," end to the Vietnam War. Perhaps this notoriety is based on the fact that Nixon was one of the few presidents in American history who practiced foreign policy by design, setting certain goals and moving steadily. He rejected his anti-Communist past and became the first US president to visit the Soviet Union when he traveled to Moscow in May of 1972. He sought peace with the opposing super-power and initiated negotiations with the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons, which resulted in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). At the same time, he was making secret contact with the other great communist nation, the People's Republic of China, which he visited publicly in February 1972. By doing this he opened official diplomatic relations with China for the first time since the communist takeover in 1949. Despite the peaceful outcome of the Vietnam situation and diplomatic accomplishments, Nixon's vicious, unrelenting policies and his blatant scoffing of the anti-war movement had ignited serious domestic upheavals. The visible public dissatisfaction with the president, which could be seen outside the White House from 1970, exacerbated Nixon's famous insecurity and brought out what some of his aide's called Nixon's "dark side." The paranoia that resulted led Nixon to form the Special Investigations Unit, known as the "plumbers," an outfit illegally equipped by the CIA and sent on missions to embarrass and discredit potential Democratic opponents. He also formed the Committee to RE-elect the President (CREEP), which collected $60 million, in direct violation of existing campaign laws, which disbursed funds for "dirty tricks" that included tapping the phone of the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Nixon needed little of this help to secure re-election in 1972, as he faced a badly divided Democratic Party headed by a self-righteous and indecisive George McGovern. Nixon won the election with 60.7 percent of the vote, but a host of revelations in 1973 undermined Nixon's presidency and finally brought him to resign. The involvement of the CIA, supposedly under Nixon's direction in a military coup that overthrew Chile's Salvador Allende, the Western Hemisphere's first popularly elected Marxist was exposed. Vice President Agnew was forced to resign when it was revealed that he had cheated on his income taxes and had taken more than $100,000 in payoffs from contractors between 1966 and 1972. The IRS also disclosed that Nixon himself owed more than $400,000 in back taxes and penalties, and critics pointed out that the Nixon administration had raised subsidies to milk producers, who then donated over a half-million dollars to the Republican Party. The final blow came when investigative reporters revealed Nixon's involvement in the plumbers' Watergate burglary. Nixon's involvement was documented on audiotapes of White House conversations, which Nixon refused to turn over to investigators. Nixon cited "executive privilege" and national security as reasons for keeping the tapes, but his appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected. A few days later, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach the president on three counts. Nixon finally released the incriminating tapes, and over the next few days both Republican and Democratic Senators, enough to get a conviction, indicated that they would vote against the president if the House offered articles of impeachment. On August 9, 1974, before the House could vote to impeach him, Nixon resigned the presidency, the first incumbent ever to do so. Nixon was succeeded by Gerald Ford, the man he had appointed to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice-President. Soon after taking office Ford granted Nixon a pardon for any crimes he might have committed as president. Unlike some of his aides, Nixon never went to jail. After resigning the presidency, Nixon sought to portray himself as an elder statesman. He published five books on US foreign policy: The Real War (1980), Real Peace (1983), No More Vietnams (1985), 1999: Victory without War (1988), Seize the Moment (1992), and Beyond Peace (1994). By the 1990s, much of the scandal had been forgotten, and Nixon was once again hailed as a genius of foreign policy. He later died on April 22, 1994, in New York City of a massive stroke. Richard Nixon's wife, Patricia Ryan Nixon, was an excellent mother and an even better wife. She was a tireless campaigner when her husband ran unsuccessfully for President in 1960, and was at his side when Richard ran again in 1968 and won. Along with adding over six hundred paintings and antiques to the White House, and encouraging voluntary service; she traveled nearly everywhere with Nixon. She did many things to help the President, one for example, she visited Africa and South America with the unique diplomatic standing of Personal Representatives of the President. And again when Nixon was accused in the Watergate scandal she supported him one hundred percent. Patricia was always a charming and caring person. Bibliography: Word Count: 2733
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