(1913–94). Richard M. Nixon was the first United States president to resign from office. A former Congressman and vice president, he was elected the 37th president in 1968. He was reelected four years later in a landslide. Midway through his second term, however, he was forced to step down in disgrace because of his involvement in the political scandal known as Watergate. Family and educationRichard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, a farming village in Orange County, California. He was the second of five sons of Frank Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. His father was a service station owner and grocer with a strong interest in politics. His mother strongly influenced him with her devotion to Quakerism. At age 17 Nixon entered Whittier College, a Quaker institution in Whittier, California. He graduated in 1934 and won a scholarship to Duke University Law School in Durham, North Carolina. After graduating from Duke in 1937, he returned to Whittier to practice law. Marriage and military serviceIn a Whittier theater group Nixon met Thelma Catherine Patricia (Pat) Ryan, a teacher and amateur actress. They married in 1940. The couple had two children—Patricia (called Tricia) and Julie. Nixon joined the United States Navy in 1942. He served as an aviation ground officer in the Pacific during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. Congressional careerAfter the war Nixon entered politics. In 1946 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican. He was reelected in 1948. While in Congress Nixon was assigned to the House Un-American Activities Committee. At the time the United States and the Communist Soviet Union were in the beginning stages of a long period of tense relations known as the Cold War. The committee on which Nixon served was investigating suspected Communist influences in the United States. Nixon played a major role in the prosecution of Alger Hiss, a former State Department official accused of spying for the Soviet Union. The Hiss case made Nixon nationally famous as a strong opponent of Communism. In 1950 Nixon ran successfully for the United States Senate. Two years later the Republicans chose him to run for vice president in Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential campaign. Eisenhower and Nixon won a landslide victory in 1952 and were reelected in 1956. Vice presidency and political defeatAs vice president, Nixon campaigned for Republican candidates but otherwise did not take on significant responsibilities. Nevertheless, he helped to make the role of vice president more prominent. In 1955–57 Eisenhower suffered a series of serious illnesses. Three times during this period Nixon assumed the president's duties. He also made a series of goodwill tours that took him to every continent. In 1960 Nixon was nominated as the Republican candidate for president. He narrowly lost the election to John F. Kennedy. Two years later he ran for governor of California. Again he lost. Disillusioned by these defeats, Nixon announced that he was retiring from politics to practice law in New York City. Nevertheless, he continued to campaign for Republican candidates around the country. The 37th presidentThe Republicans rewarded Nixon for his efforts by nominating him for the presidency in 1968. He chose Spiro T. Agnew, the governor of Maryland, as his vice-presidential running mate. Nixon defeated the Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey by a narrow margin, receiving 31.7 million popular votes to Humphrey's 30.8 million. First termUpon becoming president, Nixon turned his attention primarily to foreign affairs. The most pressing foreign-policy issue was the ongoing Vietnam War. In 1969 Nixon began the withdrawal of United States troops from Vietnam. At the same time, however, he resumed the bombing of North Vietnam, which President Johnson had stopped in October 1968. He also expanded the war into neighboring Cambodia and Laos, causing widespread protests in the United States. Despite the continuing conflict, Nixon sought to negotiate with the Communist countries that were supporting North Vietnam. In early 1972 he visited China, reopening relations between the United States and that country after a break of 21 years. This was among the most important achievements of his presidency. Later that year he visited the Soviet Union and signed a number of treaties. The most important agreements limited the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The most important domestic problem that Nixon faced in his first term was the economy. The nation faced high inflation and increasing unemployment. Nixon's efforts to strengthen the economy were unsuccessful, and the economy continued to struggle. A scandal-plagued second termNixon ran for president again in 1972. He defeated his Democratic challenger, George McGovern, in one of the largest landslide victories in the history of United States presidential elections. Nixon received 520 electoral votes to McGovern's 17. In January 1973 negotiators from the United States and North Vietnam signed a cease-fire agreement in Paris. In March Nixon welcomed home the last United States ground troops and prisoners of war from Vietnam. This achievement was soon overshadowed, however, by a series of political scandals. In October 1973 Vice President Agnew resigned from office amid charges of wrongdoing. Nixon chose Representative Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Agnew. A major issue at the beginning of Nixon's second term became known as the Watergate scandal. In June 1972 five men hired by Nixon's staff had been arrested while breaking into the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate apartment-office complex in Washington, D.C. In 1973 a special Senate committee was established to look into the case. It found that White House officials had tried to cover up administration involvement in the affair. In 1974 Nixon was forced to turn over audiotapes of White House conversations that documented his personal order to cover up the Watergate break-in. As evidence of his involvement in the scandal grew, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974. Nixon was succeeded by Vice President Ford. Within a month Ford granted Nixon a full pardon for all crimes he may have committed during his administration. RetirementNixon retired to California and spent the next 20 years trying to restore his public reputation. He wrote his memoirs and several books on international affairs, earning a role as an elder statesman and foreign-policy expert. Nixon died in New York City on April 22, 1994. |