Happy Birthday Tricky Dick
On January 9, 1913 (98 years ago today, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President, was born in Yorba Linda, California He was the only President to resign the office as well as the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency and he also lost a bid for the Presidency in 1960.
Nixon completed his undergraduate work at Whittier College. He graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific theater, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He was elected in 1946 as a Republican to the House of Representatives representing California's 12th Congressional district, and in 1950 to the United States Senate. He was chosen to be the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party nominee, in the 1952 Presidential election, becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents in history. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and then lost an election for Governor of California in 1962. People thought that they hd see the last of Richard Nixon, and he said as much, telling the press that they would no longer have "Nixton to kick around" any more. But 1n 1968 he was back, and was elected President, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
Nixon's first challenge was the Vietnam War. He initially escalated the conflict, overseeing incursions into neighboring Laos and Cambodia. But he successfully negotiated a ceasefire with North Vietnam in 1973, effectively ending American involvement in the war. His foreign policy initiatives were largely successful, including his groundbreaking visit to China in 1972, which opened diplomatic relations between the two nations. He also signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union.
Domestically, many of his policies were the antithesis of conservatism. He instituted wage and price control and the abolished the gold standard. He brought in the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency, and creation of the EPA, created reforms empowering women, as well as for the desegregation of schools in the deep South. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972.
Nixon's downfall was his role in the Watergate Scandal, in which burglars hired by the Committee to Re-Elect the President (or "CREEP") broke into Democratic Party headquarters and Nixon participated in an attempted cover-up. Nixon lost his battle to hinder the work of the committee investigating the scandal through a claim of Executive Privilege". In the face of likely impeachment for his role in the scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. He was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.
In his retirement, Nixon became a prolific author and undertook many foreign trips. His work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at the age of 81.
Nixon completed his undergraduate work at Whittier College. He graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific theater, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He was elected in 1946 as a Republican to the House of Representatives representing California's 12th Congressional district, and in 1950 to the United States Senate. He was chosen to be the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party nominee, in the 1952 Presidential election, becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents in history. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and then lost an election for Governor of California in 1962. People thought that they hd see the last of Richard Nixon, and he said as much, telling the press that they would no longer have "Nixton to kick around" any more. But 1n 1968 he was back, and was elected President, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
Nixon's first challenge was the Vietnam War. He initially escalated the conflict, overseeing incursions into neighboring Laos and Cambodia. But he successfully negotiated a ceasefire with North Vietnam in 1973, effectively ending American involvement in the war. His foreign policy initiatives were largely successful, including his groundbreaking visit to China in 1972, which opened diplomatic relations between the two nations. He also signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union.
Domestically, many of his policies were the antithesis of conservatism. He instituted wage and price control and the abolished the gold standard. He brought in the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency, and creation of the EPA, created reforms empowering women, as well as for the desegregation of schools in the deep South. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972.
Nixon's downfall was his role in the Watergate Scandal, in which burglars hired by the Committee to Re-Elect the President (or "CREEP") broke into Democratic Party headquarters and Nixon participated in an attempted cover-up. Nixon lost his battle to hinder the work of the committee investigating the scandal through a claim of Executive Privilege". In the face of likely impeachment for his role in the scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. He was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.
In his retirement, Nixon became a prolific author and undertook many foreign trips. His work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at the age of 81.