President Nixon inherited peace talks from President LYNDON JOHNSON. But the talks were at a standstill. Nixon ended the divisive military draft. He also decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam. He wanted to equip and train South Vietnamese forces to replace them. He began a "phased withdrawal" from Vietnam. In 1970, the number of U.S. troops there fell to 340,000. In 1969, there had been more than 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam.
Nixon wondered whether the South Vietnamese army could survive without American help. He decided to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines in Cambodia (Kampuchea). On April 30, 1970, the president ordered U.S. forces to invade Cambodia. He widened the war to end it. The antiwar movement exploded. College students demonstrated around the country. At Kent State University in Ohio, the National Guard opened fire on demonstrators. Four students were killed. Nine were wounded.
Democrats in Congress demanded the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. Nixon stuck to his plan. In 1972, he authorized air strikes against communist forces in Laos. Later in the year, U.S. forces bombed North Vietnam and mined the harbor at Haiphong. Nixon continued drawing down U.S. troops. By September, 1972, all U.S. ground forces had left Vietnam. Only U.S. military advisers remained.
In January, 1973, the United States and the Vietnamese signed a peace agreement. U.S. prisoners of war were released. For Americans, the Vietnam War was over. Nearly 20 years later, the United States reverted to President DWIGHT EISENHOWER's Vietnam policy. It would do no more than send advisers to Vietnam. But this time the advisers were civilians.
More than 50,000 Americans died in Vietnam. Over 300,000 were wounded. The Vietnam War cost the United States roughly $110 billion. After the peace agreement was signed in Paris, the Vietnamese quickly began fighting again. They were still fighting when GERALD FORD became president.
China
In 1969, President Nixon faced a new situation within the communist world. The two largest communist countries were at odds. The Soviet Union and the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC) began fighting over their common border. There were minor border skirmishes. Nixon seized the opportunity. He decided to play the "China card."
For several decades, the United States had refused to recognize the communist government in the PRC. The U.S. government supported the anti-communist government in Taiwan. The United Nations symbolized U.S. opposition to communism in Asia. The Taiwanese had a seat in the United Nations. The PRC did not. The United States kept the most populous country in the world out of the UN.
Nixon advocated a "two-China" policy. The United States no longer opposed the PRC's membership in the United Nations. Nixon tried to keep Taiwan in the UN. He failed. The U.S. government never publicly disavowed Taiwan. But the Taiwanese were left to fend for themselves. The PRC had the strength of numbers. Nixon's "two-China" policy quickly became a "one-China" policy.
In 1972, Nixon made a historic ten-day trip to China. Americans watching on television saw Nixon toast communist leaders in the Great Hall of the People. They watched him visit the Great Wall of China. The United States and the PRC established trade and cultural relations. Within weeks, Americans were applying for visas to visit China.
The Soviet Union
President Nixon wanted to ease tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. (Easing tensions between countries was called "detente.") Nixon had played the "China card." Once U.S.-China relations thawed, the Soviets were under pressure to cooperate with him. In 1971, the Americans and the Soviets began arms-control negotiations.
In 1972, Nixon's gamble in China paid off. The United States and the Soviet Union signed the first strategic arms limitation agreement (SALT I). It limited the number of nuclear missiles each country could have. The Soviets kept more missiles. But Nixon gave up little. The U.S. missiles were more accurate. The United States also kept more nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
The New Federalism
President LYNDON JOHNSON transferred billions of federal tax dollars back to states and local communities. But the Johnson administration tried to empower the underprivileged. Federal funds went mostly to community groups and grass-roots organizations. State and local governments resented the federal intrusion into their affairs. President Nixon understood the resentment. He decided to give federal money directly to state and local governments.
In 1972, Nixon authorized the revenue-sharing program. Federal funds were sent to state and city governments. The money was often awarded in the form of "block-grants." State and local governments decided how the federal funds were spent. Nixon's program was called the "New Federalism." It made state and local governments the federal government's partners. In some communities, the underprivileged had a weaker voice. But most Americans were happier with the state of affairs.
The War on Poverty
President Nixon promised to dismantle President LYNDON JOHNSON's "Great Society" programs. In its place, he proposed giving each family income security. Congress was unwilling to pass a guaranteed minimum income. But it also refused to let the president kill off the entire antipoverty effort. In some instances, Congress authorized money for programs over his objections. Nixon refused to spend it. He also tried to appoint heads of agencies who would dismantle unpopular federal programs.
In 1975, Nixon eliminated the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). Some of the programs were moved to other departments. Federal funding for others was reduced. But Nixon faced unexpected opposition. For their own reasons, groups of middle-class Americans liked some of the antipoverty programs. The Nixon administration was sued for ignoring the will of Congress. Federal courts ruled that Nixon had violated the law.
The Legal Services Program gave poor Americans access to free legal services. When Nixon tried to kill it, bar associations opposed him. The Legal Services Program was modified. But it survived. Some Republicans in the Senate liked the Food Stamp program. (It guaranteed that poor Americans would not go hungry.) Nixon was forced to pour more money into food stamps.
Environmental Protection
When Nixon was president, Congress passed several environmental protection laws. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970. Congress passed bills to control water and air pollution. Another bill encouraged product recycling. In 1972, Nixon vetoed the Water Pollution Act. It was aimed at controlling pollution of water by industrial waste. Congress overrode his veto.
Civil Rights
President Nixon was supported by many conservative white southerners. His speeches were often calculated to increase his support in the South. But Nixon's civil rights policies were moderate. (On civil rights, his attorney general once said "watch what we do and not what we say.")
Nixon encouraged increased economic opportunity for women and minorities. He recognized that both groups faced discrimination in employment and education. His administration invented "affirmative action" to give them a fair chance.
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court was unpopular with conservatives after it ordered public school desegregation in 1954. In the 1968 campaign, Nixon promised to appoint "strict constructionists" to the court. ("Strict constructionism" became a political cliche. It can mean that a justice sticks to the letter of the Constitution. Or it can mean trying to understand what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote the Constitution.)
President Nixon meant to appoint conservative justices. In 1969, Chief Justice Earl Warren retired from the Supreme Court. The president had an opportunity to change the court's direction. He appointed Warren Burger chief justice. (When he got to the court, Burger proved to be a moderate.)
Two of Nixon's Supreme Court appointments were blocked by the Senate. The Senate refused to confirm Clement Haynsworth (South Carolina) and G. Harold Carswell (Florida). Both were said to be insensitive to minorities. But their legal backgrounds were the real sticking points. Neither was an impressive candidate for the court.
Nixon did appoint two associate justices to the court. But both were less conservative than everyone expected. Harry Blackmun (Minnesota) later wrote the opinion in Roe v. Wade (1973). The Roe case legalized abortion in the United States. Lewis Powell (Virginia) wrote the opinion in California v. Bakke (1978). The Bakke case decided the law on affirmative action. It struck down racial quotas. But it legalized affirmative action when quotas were not involved.
Watergate
On June 17,1972, five burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters. (They were looking for a telephone book. It purportedly linked prominent Democrats to unsavory conduct.) The DNC offices were located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. All five burglars were employed by the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP). CREEP was Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign organization.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were two young Washington Post reporters. They investigated the burglary. Over the next year, they began uncovering all sorts of misdeeds. The misdeeds were connected to CREEP. They were also connected to the White House. Woodward and Bernstein discovered that the White House had organized a "dirty tricks" campaign before the 1972 campaign.
The White House also had an "enemies list." The staff looked for "dirt" on Nixon's political opponents. The White House wanted to discredit his opponents by leaking information to the press. Nixon's staff ordered the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to audit his opponents' tax returns. They instructed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to wiretap Americans' telephones. But they neglected to get court orders for the wiretapping.
After the Watergate burglars were caught, the White House used campaign funds to buy their silence. Early in 1973, the Watergate defendants went to trial. The judge who heard the case was named John Scirica. He promised to hold the defendants until they told who had hired them. Most of the Watergate burglars talked.
Nixon's presidency began unraveling. The president had not known about the burglary at the time it occurred. But he participated in the coverup that followed it. He fired his top White House staff. He also fired his attorney general. The Senate set up the select committee to investigate Watergate. By then, Democrats suspected that Nixon and White House staff were blocking efforts to get to the bottom of Watergate. That amounted to a conspiracy to coverup a crime. A special prosecutor was appointed.
The Senate committee held televised hearings. Senator Howard Baker was a Republican from Tennessee. He said why the committee was holding hearings. The senators wanted to know "what the president knew and when he knew it." Former White House staffers testified before the committee. Most of them tried to protect themselves and the president. Only one admitted wrongdoing. His name was John Dean. He was a former White House lawyer. Dean testified that he had personally discussed the Watergate burglary and the coverup with Nixon.
Then the bomb was dropped. Alexander Butterfield was a former White House employee. He told the committee that Nixon tapped all of his conversations. The tapes would clarify what the president knew and when he knew it. The Senate demanded to hear the tapes. Nixon refused. He cited "executive privilege."
Archibald Cox was the special prosecutor. (He was a Harvard law professor.) He demanded that Nixon turn over the tapes. The president ordered Elliot Richardson (the attorney general) to fire Cox. Richardson refused. Nixon fired Richardson. Then the deputy attorney general refused to fire Cox. Nixon fired him. Finally, Nixon's solicitor general fired Cox. The solicitor general was named Robert Bork.
The firings at the Justice Department caused a public uproar. (They took place on Saturday. The episode became known as the Saturday Night Massacre.) Congress forced Nixon to hire another special prosecutor. The new special prosecutor was Leon Jaworski, a Texas lawyer.
Jaworski took his evidence before a grand jury. The grand jury indicted roughly 16 of Nixon's former employees. All were convicted or plead guilty. The grand jury did not exonerate Nixon. He was accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy. The grand jury named the president as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Watergate scandal.
The Impeachment Proceedings
On May 9, 1974, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. The committee divided along partisan lines. Republicans argued that impeachment required evidence that the president committed a crime. Democrats argued Nixon could be impeached for the abuse of power.
Technically, the Democrats were correct. But they were nervous. The country was very divided. The Democrats knew Nixon would claim they were attacking him because he was a conservative president. Republicans had them in a corner. Suddenly, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee also wanted evidence that the president had committed a crime. Nixon had taped his conversations. Everything hinged on the tapes.
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to turn over the tapes to the special prosecutor. In this instance, the president could not withhold information and claim "executive privilege." The court's decision was unanimous. (A president can withhold information in a criminal proceeding if the national security is threatened. But a federal judge determines whether the national security claim is valid.)
On July 27, 1974, the Judiciary Committee approved the first article of impeachment. It involved obstructing justice (i.e., participating in a cover-up of the Watergate burglary). The committee later approved two more articles of impeachment. One involved the abuse of power (e.g., unlawfully using the Internal Revenue Service). The other involved failing to respond to subpoenas from the Congress. Nixon came close to being the second U.S. president impeached by the House.
The Resignation
On August 5, 1974, President Nixon released the White House tapes to the special prosecutor. One tape had a mysterious 18 1/2 minute gap. It had been erased. Another tape revealed the extent of Nixon's knowledge of Watergate. On June 23, 1972, he had discussed covering up the Watergate burglary. (The break-in occurred on June 17, 1972.) Nixon's own tapes exposed him committing a crime.
On August 8, 1974, Nixon addressed the nation on television. He announced that he was resigning from the presidency. His resignation became effective at noon the next day. In his speech, Nixon admitted that he had used poor judgment. He did not say he faced criminal indictment. Nixon left the White House by helicopter on August 9, 1974.
RICHARD NIXON AND HIS TIMES
Nixon the Nearly Impeached President
Nixon was only the second U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. (President ANDREW JOHNSON was impeached in 1868.) On July 27, 1974, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives recommended that Nixon be impeached. He resigned from office before the House voted on the impeachment.
The Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Before he was assassinated in 1963, President JOHN KENNEDY announced a plan to send astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade. Nixon was president when the first humans landed on the moon. On July 20, 1969, the U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. He called it a "giant leap for mankind."
The American Independent Party
The American Independent Party was founded around 1967. Its members wanted to nominate George Wallace for president. (He was the governor of Alabama.) The American Independents were mostly former Democrats. In 1968, they got Wallace's name on ballots in all 50 states. After 1968, the American Independent Party disbanded. In 1972, Wallace ran for president as a Democrat.
The Libertarian Party
The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971. It draws support mostly from the West and from the South. Libertarians generally object to government intervention in individual affairs. They oppose the federal income tax. They want to limit the powers of the federal government. In their view, it should be restricted to defending the nation and providing basic services. In 1972, Libertarians nominated John Hospers for president. In 1992, they nominated Andre Marrou. He was once a state legislator in Alaska.
The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace
The Richard Nixon Library is located in Yorba Linda, California. The complex was dedicated in 1990. The library contains research facilities and a museum. The birthplace, where Nixon was born in 1913, is a national historic site. The library features the largest Rose Garden outside the White House. It is also the only presidential library that is funded exclusively from private sources and receives no federal funds. A Center for Peace and Freedom will be added to the complex in the future. The exhibits are open to the public.
