Richard Nixon’s legacy remains shrouded in controversy years after he resigned. His presidency was complex and inconsistent and was clouded by his personality and political practices which took place during one of America’s most turbulent times.
It didn’t help that the environment in which Nixon started his presidency – including the conflict in Vietnam and an unfriendly Congress at home – was among the worst in history. Yet Nixon’s achievements during his six years in office were superior. Although Nixon might have failed in some arenas, he made great strides in many other areas. And, yet, all that Nixon is remembered for is Watergate.
Nixon’s story is commendable. Skipping past how he made it into public politics, he had an amazing run and became the Republican Party nominee for president three times. After losing in 1960 to John Kennedy and running unsuccessfully for governor of his home state, he was elected to the office twice, in 1968, when he defeated Hubert Humphrey and in 1972, the year of the Watergate break-in, when he defeated George McGovern for the presidency.
Nixon’s ambitious goals :
When Nixon took office in 1969, he proposed a dramatic restructuring of American government where he wanted to do away with the bloated federal bureaucracies. He called for a “New Federalism” – a system which directed money and power away from the federal bureaucracy and toward states and municipalities and claimed that this system would respond to the needs of the people. Throughout his political career, Nixon had opposed big government programs and fought to restore political authority to the local level. So, with the New Federalism, he was furthering something he believed in.
There were problems with civil rights too. In 1969, despite civil rights reforms, many African Americans lived without the full protection of the law, equal access to public facilities, or equal economic opportunity. Nixon viewed this situation as not only unfair to African Americans, but as a waste of valuable human resources which could help the nation grow. While concerned about the desegregation of public schools, he did keep the Southern vote in mind and petitioned the courts on behalf of the school districts to delay busing. He then offered a New Federalist alternative – locally controlled desegregation. Starting in Mississippi and moving across the South, biracial state committees were set up to plan and implement school desegregation. The appeal to local control succeeded. By the end of 1970, with little of the anticipated violence and little fanfare, the committees had made significant progress.
Nixon had campaigned as a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the opposition of many men in his administration, Nixon increased the number of female appointments to administration positions. He created a Presidential Task Force on Women’s Rights. He asked the Justice Department to bring sex discrimination suits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. And he ordered the Labor Department to add sex discrimination provisions to the guidelines for its Office of Federal Contract Compliance. The president sent dozens of environmental proposals to Congress, including the Clean Air Act of 1970. He also created two new agencies, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency, to oversee environmental matters. In many ways, Nixon’s New Federalism paralleled Conservatives’ desires for a smaller, less costly federal government.
He ended the peace-time draft and helped to restore peace to the nation’s campuses. He cut back on many of the wasteful programs of LBJ’s “Great Society” that had been squandering the taxpayer’s money.
On the international front, he was responsible for the detente with the Soviet Union and established trade and international relations with China. He also ended the war in Vietnam (though it was much alter than what he promised in the 1969 election – 1973 as opposed to 1970 that was promised in the election).
Nixon’s image :
While Nixon’s party services, loyalty and “centrist” image assured his presidential nomination in 1960, he lost the elections to John F. Kennedy. It’s ironic. The press described Kennedy as a “youthful” candidate representing a new generation. This was the strangest part because Nixon was in reality only four years older than Kennedy. The press even then was biased in its reporting and ignored Nixon’s liberal record on social and foreign‐policy issues.
Interestingly, they also igonred Kennedy’s womanizing and medical problems and instead were happy to focus on his charisma. Even though Nixon was clearly the more qualified candidate, the public notion was that he was too ‘square’. His loss to Kennedy on the debates on television further built up the perception that he was an archaic politician as opposed to the royal heritage that John Kennedy was bringing to the White House. He lost by 112,000 votes—the closest presidential election since 1884. To his credit, he did not challenge the results despite evidence of election fraud in Illinois and Texas.
The Watergate fallout :
Nixon’s paranoia led him to wiretap his offices and the offices of everyone he suspected of being an ‘enemy’. His loyal coterie of followers ensured that this was carried out and it was only when the burglary at the DNC office at Watergate hotel was foiled, that the investigation by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post led to the final stage of this affair where Nixon resigned from the presidency.
It’s sad that the paranoiac tendencies of Nixon led him to unravel in the end. Here was a man who had done so much for his country and international diplomacy and yet this character flaw led to the implosion of his presidency and he had to leave in disgrace. It’s unfortunate that we view Nixon’s presidency through the prism of Watergate, a prism which perhaps magnifies the failings of his presidency and invalidates his many successes.
Could America have not forgiven him then? It’s a poignant question.
