Nixon and an Infamous Legacy
Richard Nixon was
the 37th President of the United States of America. Nixon became
President in a very crucial time of American history. The United States was in
the middle of the Vietnam War. Politics were raging, the people protesting, and
Nixon scheming.
Lyndon B. Johnson,
the President before Nixon, had gotten the U.S deeply involved in the Vietnam
War. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Kong were proving to be well
disciplined, skilled, and worthy opponents. The U.S had stuck out the years in
Vietnam; however troop morale and citizen tensions were not in favor. Nixon
succeeded into a Presidency that involved the general public protesting,
advances made by the enemy combatants, and political tensions were growing
between the political parties.
I think that Nixon
did some really great things related to foreign affairs. His angles in the
Vietnam War were a little far-fetched and didn’t work very well, but I think he
did rather okay for being handed a war. Some things that Nixon did very well
were opening relations with other countries. With Nixon pulling the U.S out of
Vietnam, some tension was relieved on not only the U.S, but the entire world.
Countries were fonder of the U.S, knowing that they were done with Vietnam.
Nixon also helped the U.S gain new relations with an old arch nemesis, the
U.S.S.R. The Cold War enemy had been in a standoff with the U.S for years;
Nixon became friends with the U.S.S.R. and opened up relations with them.
Another country that Nixon really connected with was China. China had been a
shut-out nation that kept to itself for a very long time. Nixon was bold enough
to even visit China, just to make good relations with them. Nixon also staked
international claims in South America, and the Middle East. The Middle East is
very important because we get most of our oil from that region of the world. We
may not have been able to do this if Nixon would not have been gifted in the
area of Foreign Affairs.
Nixon did some
great things as President of the United States. However, Nixon also had is
bleaker moments of presidency. Nixon took quite a bit of flak from his decision
to make a military move on Cambodia. He also got many other bad vibes from the
American public on his political decisions. Nixon made one big mistake; it was
big enough to cost him his career. Nixon was involved in a plot to eaves drop
on the democrats in the Watergate Building. The people that were planting the “bug”
got busted, and the scandal flew wide open. Nixon received most of the fire,
but denied it all until after he had resigned from office.
I believe that
what Nixon did is wrong, however, I do not believe that people should label
Nixon for the one mistake he made. When was the last time you saw a flawless
politician? Never! So, when people think of Richard Nixon and his presidency,
fifty percent of what they think about should be good things. Not one hundred
percent bad things such as Watergate. Nixon was a great president, he got work
done, did great with foreign policy, and made some mistakes. In my mind, he was
just another regular human being.
