The document provides a biography and overview of Richard Nixon's political career. It notes that Nixon was born in 1913 in California and served as a Navy lieutenant in WWII. He was elected to Congress and helped with anti-communist investigations. Nixon was Vice President under Eisenhower from 1953-1961 and was elected President in 1968 and 1972. However, the Watergate scandal erupted in 1973 over Nixon's involvement in spying on political opponents. Despite denying involvement, tapes later revealed Nixon had tried to cover up the scandal. Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment.

1. Nixon

2. Profile: Richard Millhouse Nixon
– 1913: Born in California
– Reputation as brilliant scholar & lawyer
– WWII: Navy Lieutenant in Pacific
– > war: elected to HoR; HUAC Committee
– 1950: elected to Senate
– Helped McCarthy w/ anti-Communist
investigations
– 1952: VP candidate w/ Ike; 1953-1961 VP
– 1960: Republican candidate, lost to JFK
– 1968: Elected President promising to exit
Vietnam
– 1972: Re-elected
– 1973-74: Watergate controversy
– 1974: Resigned office to avoid being
impeached
– 1994: Died

3. Nixon as a person
• Very crafty…used the media to propel his
political future but….
• The media ended up crucifying him over
Watergate
• He always resented the elite and he personality
reflected that (Hiss)
• The “checkers” speech
– He appealed to the heart strings of America by
justifying potential corruption with campaign
finances by accepting the donation of a dog
– Around $18,000
• Used smear tactics to get into Congress
– Attacked opponents based on communist
ties….led to HUAC
– His role in the Alger Hiss case made him famous
– Helped to propel his career
• Lived in poverty…led to his desire to curtail
poverty in America

4. What did Nixon Do?
• Focused on foreign affairs
– Opened China
– Reduced nukes w/ USSR
– Reduced tensions in Middle East
• Promised exit from Vietnam
– ‘Peace with dignity’; exited Vietnam
(1973)
– Ended draft
• Important advances on social issues
– More blacks in college, voting, in politics
– Annoyed Congress by saying, ‘I’ve
always thought this country could
run itself domestically without a
president.’
• Economic policies confused
– Inflation reduced but unemployment
high
• Nixon cut taxes

5. Domestic Agenda Continued..
• Titled “New Federalism”
– Focused on restructuring the
bureaucracy by funneling money to the
states
– Believed that the states could spend
the money better
• 26th
amendment
• 70% of black children were
segregated in the south
– Offered state committees to
desegregate-17% by 1970
• EPA 1970 and the National Air Quality
Standards Act
• Revenue sharing and Family
Assistance Program
• Civil Rights Legislation for women
– Equal Rights Amendment
– Federal Task Force on Women’s
Rights
• Civil Rights Legislation
• Kent State, 1970

6. The Epic of Watergate
• Rocked the USA in early 1970s
• Single greatest threat to Constitution
ever
• Started small and snowballed
– Phase 1: CREEP
– Phase 2: Did Nixon know?
– Phase 3: Battle for the tapes
– Phase 4: The end

7. Phase 1: CREEP suspected
• 17 June 1972: Five ‘burglars’ arrested
in Democratic Party HQ in Watergate
Hotel
– Not stealing, but planting bugging devices
– One was former CIA agent
– All linked to Committee for the Re-election
of the President (CREEP)
• FBI investigates CREEP
– Massive campaign to spy on Nixon’s
opponents
– CREEP raised $60 million for re-election by
pressuring companies w/ gov’t contracts
– John Mitchell, CREEP director, used ‘dirty
tricks’ to discredit Democrats
– Two Washington Post reporters, Carl
Bernstein & Bob Woodward, pursued own
investigation
– Nixon denied he or close advisors were
involved
The beginning of President Nixon’s 2nd inaugural address, just as the Vietnam War was ending

8. Phase 2: Did Nixon Know?
• January 1973:
– Watergate burglars on trial
– All found guilty
– One claimed White House involved
• Nixon reacts:
– Denied allegation
– Appointed Archibald Cox as special
Watergate prosecutor
• Senate investigates:
– May-Nov. 1973: Senator Sam Cox led
televised independent Senate
investigation
– Clear that senior White House officials
involved
– Three of Nixon’s advisors resigned
– One, John Dean, claimed he discusses
burglary at least 35 times w/ Nixon

9. Phase 3: Battle for the Tapes
• Nixon’s tapes
– Senate Investigation revealed Nixon
recorded all conversations in oval office
since 1971
– Senate & Cox wanted tapes
– Nixon refused, citing “presidential
privilege”
• 20 October 1973: “Saturday Night
Massacre”
– Nixon ordered Attorney General to fire
Cox
– AG refused, then resigned under
pressure
– New AG fired Cox
– New special investigator, Leon Jaworski,
also demanded tapes
– Nixon released some tapes, but 18 ½
crucial minutes had been “accidentally”
erased

10. Phase 4: The End
• SC ordered tapes turned over
– Revealed Nixon involved in initial
campaign
– Revealed Nixon repeatedly tried to
cover up
• 27 July 1974:
– House Judiciary Committee voted to
impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice
– 66% of Americans in favor of
impeachment
• 8 August:
– Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment
– As civilian, Nixon could have been tried
as criminal, but Jaworski didn’t
prosecute
– President Ford pardoned him
– 31 of Nixon’s officials went to prison

12. The
Aftermath
• Congress passed laws due to scandal
– Privacy Act (1974): Americans can inspect
gov’t files on them
– Budget Act (1974): President has to
account for all $$$ spent (Nixon believed
to have spent millions of gov’t money on
personal properties & evaded $400,000 of
taxes)
– Election Campaign Act: Limited campaign
contributions; eliminated foreign donations
• Scandal utterly destroyed Nixon’s rep
– Called “Tricky Dick”, achievements
forgotten
• Watergate’s deeper damage
– Undermined America’s confidence in gov’t
– Was Nixon exception or rule of political
system?
– Press turned from hiding info (JFK) to
seeking scandal
– Confidence & idealism of 60s replaced w/

14. Activity: What Watergate’s impact on
Americans? • Study these three cartoons., Which do you think
makes the following points?
– Nixon is a liar
– America is in crisis
– Don ‘t trust politicians
• You are planning a newspaper feature on the
impact of Watergate. You can include just one of
the cartoons. Which will you choose and why? 50
words

15. Focus Task: Verdicts on Nixon
• Two flew over the cuckoo’s nest
– Work in pairs
– You and your partner are both inmates
in an insane asylum
– One of you can only remember good
things about people
– The other can only remember bad
things
– One day the two of you see a
newspaper headline of Nixon’s
resignation
– The skeptic turns and says, “Well, it’s
about time! Tricky Dick sure was a
crook!”
– The optimist replies, “How can you say
that, after all of the good he has done!
– Write 12 additional lines of dialogue