Professional Documents
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NIXON
Contents :
1. EARLY LIFE AND CONGRESSIONAL CAREER : .......................................................... 1 2. VICE PRESIDENCY : ........................................................................................................... 2 3. RUNNING FOR THE PRESIDENCY : ................................................................................ 3 4. U.S. PRESIDENT : ................................................................................................................ 4 5. RETIREMENT AND DEATH : ............................................................................................ 5 REFERENCES : ......................................................................................................................... 6
"Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits."
2. VICE PRESIDENCY :
Richard Nixon's fervent anti-Communist reputation earned him the notice of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Republican Party, believing he could draw valuable support in the West. At the Republican convention in 1952, Nixon won the nomination as vice president. Two months before the November election, the New York Post reported that Nixon had a secret "slush fund" provided by campaign donors for his personal use. Some within Eisenhower's campaign called for removing Nixon from the ticket. Realizing that he might not win without him, Eisenhower was willing to give Nixon a chance to clear himself. On September 23, 1952, Nixon delivered a nationally televised address in which he acknowledged the existence of the fund but denied that any of it had been used improperly. He turned the speech back on his political enemies, claiming that unlike the wives of so many Democratic politicians, his wife, Pat, did not own a fur coat but only "a respectable Republican cloth coat." The speech was perhaps best remembered for its conclusion in which Nixon admitted accepting one political gift -- a cocker spaniel that his 6year-old daughter, Tricia, had named "Checkers." Although Nixon initially thought that the speech had failed, the public responded to what became known as the "Checkers Speech." The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket defeated the Democratic candidates, Adlai E. Stevenson and John Sparkman, and Richard Nixon had avoided a political disaster. Although Richard Nixon held little formal power as vice president, he expanded the office to an important and prominent post during his two terms. As president of the Senate, he helped assure the passage of Eisenhower approved bills, such as the 1957 Civil Rights Bill. Between 1955 and 1957. Eisenhower suffered a series of illnesses including a heart attack and a stroke. While the president was incapacitated, Nixon was called on to chair several high-level meetings, though real power lay in a close circle of Eisenhower advisors. The scare prompted Eisenhower to formalize an agreement with Nixon on the powers and responsibilities of the vice president in the event of presidential disability; In July, 1959, Nixon was sent by President Eisenhower to Moscow for the opening of the American National Exhibition. On July 24, while touring the exhibits with Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Nixon stopped at a model of an American kitchen and engaged Khrushchev in an impromptu debate. In a friendly, yet determined way, both men argued the merits of capitalism and communism as it affected to the average American and Soviet housewife. While the exchange (later dubbed the "Kitchen Debate") had little bearing U.S./Soviet rivalry, Nixon gained popularity for standing up to the "Soviet bully," as Khrushchev was sometimes characterized, and greatly improved his chances for receiving the Republican presidential nomination in 1960.2
"Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself."
4. U.S. PRESIDENT :
Yet, Nixon agonized whether or not to re-enter politics and go for another run at the presidency. He consulted friends and respected leaders like the Reverend Billy Graham for advice. Finally, he formally announced his candidacy for president of the United States on February 1, 1968. Nixon's campaign received an unexpected boost when on March 31, incumbent President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek another term. Richard Nixon's campaign stayed above the fray portraying him as a figure of stability and appealing to what he referred to as the "silent majority" of social conservatives who were the steady foundation of the American public. Richard Nixon was able to construct a coalition of Southern and Western conservatives during the campaign. In exchange for their support, he promised to appoint "strict constructionists" to the federal judiciary and selected a running mate acceptable to the South, Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew. They attacked Democrats for the nation's high crime rate and a perceived surrender of nuclear superiority to the Soviets. For a time, the Democrats still held the highground in the polls, but the assassination of presidential contender Robert Kennedy and a selfdestructive nominating convention in Chicago, where Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated, weakened their chances. During the entire election campaign, Nixon portrayed a "calm amidst the storm" persona. He promised a "peace with honor" conclusion to the war in Vietnam, a restoration of America's preeminence over the Soviets and a return to conservative values.In a three-way race between Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey and independent candidate George Wallace, Nixon won the election by nearly 500,000 votes. He was sworn in as the 37th president of the United States on January 20, 1969.
In December 1970, President Nixon reduced trade restrictions against China and silenced antiChina voices with the White House. In 1971, Chinese officials invited the American table tennis team to China for a demonstration/competition, later dubbed "ping-pong diplomacy." Then in February, 1972, President Nixon and his wife, Pat, traveled to China where he engaged in direct talks with Mao Zedong the Chinese leader. The visit brought in a new era to Chinese-American relations and pressured the Soviet Union to agree better relations with the United States. The war in Vietnam had caused domestic inflation to grow to nearly 6 percent by 1970. In order to address the problem President Nixon initially tried to restrict federal spending, but beginning in 1971, his budget proposals contained deficits of several billion dollars, the largest in American history up to that time. With the war in Vietnam winding down, Richard Nixon defeated his Democratic challenger, liberal Senator George McGovern, in a landslide victory receiving almost 20 million more popular votes and winning the Electoral College vote 520 to 17. Nixon looked invincible in his victory. One of the secret recordings confirmed the allegations of the cover-up indicating that Nixon knew from the beginning. This revelation became known as the "smoking gun" implicating the president in the scandal.Upon the threat of a likely impeachment conviction, Richard Nixon resigned from the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, whom Nixon had appointed vice president in 1973 after Spiro Agnew resigned his office amid charges of committing bribery, extortion and tax evasion during his tenure as governor of Maryland. Nixon was pardoned by President Ford on September 8, 1974.
"If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together."
REFERENCES :
Internet :
- http://www.biography.com/people/richard-nixon-9424076?page=1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon - http://watergate.info/nixon/richard-nixon-brief-biography