Richard Nixon
1969-1974
Election
Nixon served as the Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961.
Nixon ran for 37th President of the United States on November 5, 1968 as the republican candidate against Democrat Humphrey and American Independent Wallace.
Electoral vote- 301 to 191 to 46
States carried- 32 to 13 to 5
Popular vote- 31,783,783 to 31,271,839 to 9,901,118
Percentage- 43.4% to 42.7% to 13.5%
Vietnam War
Nixon Doctrine- Honor existing defense commitments but future wars would be left to the responsibility of the countries without American support.
"Cambodianization"- April 29 1970, Nixon orders troops to join South Vietnam and clean out enemy sanctuaries in neutral Cambodia. Riots caused Nixon to withdraw after only two months. Anger still filled the nation and The New York Times released Pentagon Papers exposing Americas involvement in the war.
War Powers Act- intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.
Détente
Nixon came to the conclusion that getting out of Vietnam could be accomplished by playing the Soviets and China against each other. Supported by Nixon's security adviser Henry Kissinger.
Results-
- Great Grain Deal of 1972- US agrees to sell soviets at least $750 million worth of wheat, corn and cereals.
- Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty- limits each nation to two clusters of defensive missiles.
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)- Froze number of long range missiles for five years.
Watergate: The End of the Presidency
- Five men were caught and arrested with possession of bugging equipment.
- The men were members of the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP)
- Scandals took place and bugging equipment was found to be used in the white house, authorized by president Nixon.
- Archibald cox released the tapes, cornering Nixon as guilty for the Watergate break in
- Nixon ordered for the firing of Cox but after the attorney general refused, Nixon Resigned on August 9, 1974.