Richard Nixon. To many, this name brings to mind two words: Watergate Scandal. Even people
who don’t even know the actual events that plagued the country at this time, the Watergate Scandal is
well-known to everyone, and the name connected to it is Nixon.
However, under this badge of dishonesty that has been posted upon Nixon, there lies a different
president: one that, despite the horrific conditions that the country had been hurled into by the
Vietnam war and previous presidents, did his best and was really rather effective at fixing many
problems.
The first and most obvious thing that Nixon did to help America was end the Vietnam War. He
wanted to get US troops out of Vietnam, but he also wanted to help ensure that South Vietnam would
not fall to the North Vietnamese, rendering the entire Vietnam War completely null. He did so by
increasing bombing campaigns in Cambodia, hoping to destroy what he believed was the Vietcong
headquarters. He also sent several incursions into Laos, in hopes of destroying a very important North
Vietnamese supply route.
Unfortunately, the pressure that the protesters and press were putting on Nixon kept him from
accomplishing his goal of a safe South Vietnam. Not given enough time to pound North Vietnam into
submission, Nixon had to pull American troops out of Vietnam without forcing North Vietnam to
withdraw as well. South Vietnam was soon conquered by the communists after the American forces left.
Nixon had gotten the US out of the Vietnam War, something that neither the war's instigator,
Kennedy, nor he who followed, Johnson, had been able to do.
The second good thing that Nixon did was improve relations with a Communist China. Through a
series of hints and secret communications, Nixon managed to inform China that he required better
relations with it, and finally arranged for himself, his wife, and several video journalists to go to China
and meet with the Chinese dictator, Mao Zedong. Relations were drastically improved as Nixon and his
company attended meetings, toured the city, and visited ancient Chinese architectural wonders.
By improving relations with China, the US put pressure on the Soviet Union to do the same with
America. This was because the Soviets feared a US-Chinese alliance. This drove a deeper wedge between
the two major communist powers at the time.
The final, and perhaps the most important, act of Nixon was in his domestic policies. His policies
revolved for the most part, around smaller government, states' rights, and decreased government
spending. He introduced New Federalism, which, though much of it was made ineffectual by Congress,
placed much more responsibility and freedoms on state and local governments, rather than the federal
government. He also cut many money-eating programs, such as Johnson’s ‘Office of Economic
Opportunity.’ He also allowed individual states to decide their own opinions on civil rights and
integration. One more thing that he did was cut back on government controls on the value of the dollar
and other products, leaving that to free enterprise.
So, as you can see, Nixon was really not a very bad president. He did make several mistakes in
various areas, but for the most part he was faithful to the American people and effectively battled
national issues.
Works Cited:
"Nixon." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon>.
Appleby, Joyce Oldham., Alan Brinkley, and James M. McPherson. The American Journey: Reconstruction to the
Present. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.
Schweikart, Larry, and Michael Allen. A Patriot's History of the United States. New York: Sentinel, 2004. Print.