37th President • 1969–1974
Richard Nixon
Nixon opened a new relationship with China, negotiated nuclear arms limits with the Soviet Union, and helped establish lasting domestic institutions. His presidency also prolonged the fighting in Southeast Asia and ended in the Watergate scandal. His record poses a fundamental question: how should a republic judge a capable leader who abuses the power entrusted to him?
Why He Matters
Diplomatic Breakthroughs and Broken Trust
Opening to China
His 1972 visit changed the diplomatic landscape of the Cold War.
Arms Control
SALT I and the ABM Treaty established negotiated limits between nuclear rivals.
Domestic Institutions
Environmental protection, workplace safety, and income assistance became enduring parts of federal policy.
Watergate
The cover-up and abuse of presidential authority destroyed his administration and tested constitutional accountability.
The Road to the Presidency
A Rise, a Defeat, and a Return
Born in Yorba Linda, California; attended Whittier College and earned a law degree at Duke.
Married Pat Ryan in 1940 and served in the Navy during World War II.
Served in the House and Senate, building a national reputation as an anti-Communist.
Served as vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Lost the presidential election to John F. Kennedy and then the California governor’s race.
Won the presidency and entered office during the Vietnam War and deep domestic division.
Defining Decisions
Six Choices That Shaped His Presidency
Vietnamization
Reduced American troop levels while transferring more responsibility to South Vietnamese forces; continued fighting and bombing accompanied withdrawal.
Creating the EPA
Proposed consolidating federal environmental responsibilities into a single agency.
The Nixon Shock
Suspended dollar conversion into gold and imposed a temporary wage-and-price freeze.
Going to China
Met Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and advanced rapprochement through the Shanghai Communiqué.
SALT I
Signed an interim strategic arms agreement and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
The Watergate Cover-Up
Participated in efforts to obstruct the investigation, turning a political scandal into a constitutional crisis.
Constitution & Power
The Presidency Meets Its Limits
Watergate exposed the danger of treating presidential authority as an instrument of personal political survival. Investigation, congressional oversight, and judicial demands for evidence challenged Nixon’s efforts to keep control of the record.
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the subpoena for presidential recordings in United States v. Nixon. The House Judiciary Committee then approved three articles of impeachment: obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and defiance of congressional subpoenas.
Nixon resigned before the full House voted on impeachment. He was never impeached by the House or tried by the Senate. His resignation took effect on August 9, 1974.
War & Foreign Policy
Opening the Door to China
In February 1972, Nixon became the first sitting American president to visit the People’s Republic of China. An established anti-Communist, he demonstrated that diplomacy could serve American interests even with an ideological opponent.
Working with national security adviser Henry Kissinger, Nixon sought greater leverage in a world shaped by the rivalry between China and the Soviet Union. The Shanghai Communiqué established a framework for improved relations while recording differing positions on Taiwan. Full diplomatic normalization came in 1979, under Jimmy Carter.
War & Foreign Policy
Détente and Nuclear Restraint
Nixon’s diplomacy with Moscow pursued détente: a reduction in tensions through negotiation and practical agreements. On May 26, 1972, he and Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty and the interim SALT I agreement.
These agreements limited strategic missile defenses and certain offensive nuclear systems. They did not end the arms race or settle the ideological conflict. They did establish that even heavily armed rivals could negotiate restraints, giving later administrations a foundation for further arms-control efforts.
War & Foreign Policy
Leaving Vietnam While Expanding the Fighting
Nixon inherited a war that had already damaged American confidence. Vietnamization combined troop withdrawals with efforts to strengthen South Vietnam’s ability to defend itself. At the same time, Nixon ordered secret bombing in Cambodia, sent American and South Vietnamese forces into Cambodia in 1970, and used extensive air power against North Vietnam.
The Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973, enabled American withdrawal and the return of U.S. prisoners of war. They did not produce lasting peace between the Vietnamese parties. Fighting continued, and South Vietnam fell in April 1975, after Nixon had left office.
Editorial assessment
Ending America’s direct combat role mattered. The years of continued fighting and the failure to secure a durable settlement weigh heavily against the claim of a successful war policy.
The Nation at Home
Cambodia, Protest, and Kent State
The 1970 Cambodian operation intensified opposition to the war. On May 4, Ohio National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University. The deaths became a defining symbol of the fracture between the government and many Americans who opposed its policies.
The episode belongs in the account of Nixon’s leadership because his war decisions shaped the crisis in which it occurred. Responsibility for the shootings themselves also requires attention to the actions of the Guard and state authorities.
Economy
The Dollar, Price Controls, and Inflation
On August 15, 1971, Nixon announced a dramatic economic program: a 90-day wage-and-price freeze, a temporary import surcharge, and suspension of the dollar’s convertibility into gold. Closing the gold window helped bring the Bretton Woods monetary system to an end.
The measures addressed mounting inflation and pressure on American gold reserves. Price controls offered temporary relief, but they did not provide a lasting solution to inflation.
By 1973–1974, rising prices and the oil shock were undermining economic confidence. Nixon’s economic record reflects both an important monetary transformation and a failure to deliver sustained stability.
Sources: Federal Reserve History, Nixon’s 1971 economic program; Miller Center, domestic affairs.
Domestic Policy
Environmental Protection Becomes an Institution
Nixon proposed the Environmental Protection Agency through Reorganization Plan No. 3 in July 1970. December 2, 1970, is recognized as the agency’s founding date. The EPA consolidated responsibilities previously scattered among federal offices.
Its creation responded to growing public concern about polluted air, contaminated water, and environmental damage. Nixon deserves credit for helping establish a lasting institution, alongside Congress, public advocates, scientists, and the officials who built its work.
Source: EPA, The Origins of EPA.
Domestic Policy
Workplace Safety and Social Protection
Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, establishing a stronger federal role in workplace safety. His administration’s domestic record often combined conservative political language with substantial federal action.
The Social Security Amendments of 1972 created Supplemental Security Income for eligible people who were aged, blind, or disabled and had limited income and resources. Payments began in January 1974. The broader Family Assistance Plan did not become law.
Sources: Miller Center, domestic affairs; Social Security Administration, 1972 amendments.
Civil Rights & Opportunity
A Record with Gains and Tensions
The administration’s revised Philadelphia Plan used minority hiring goals in federally assisted construction to address exclusion from skilled trades. It became an important development in federal affirmative-action policy.
Nixon also signed the Education Amendments of 1972, including Title IX, on June 23. Title IX barred sex discrimination in education programs receiving federal financial assistance, subject to statutory exceptions. Its later impact extended across educational opportunity and athletics.
Credit belongs to the lawmakers, advocates, and administrators who developed these measures as well as the president who supported or signed them. Nixon’s opposition to school busing also made his civil-rights leadership a continuing subject of dispute.
Sources: Department of Labor, Nixon and Ford administrations; Nixon Library, June 23, 1972; Miller Center, domestic affairs.
Watergate
From a Break-In to a Presidency in Crisis
Five men were arrested inside Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. Investigators traced connections to Nixon’s reelection operation. What followed exposed a wider pattern of political misconduct and a presidential cover-up.
The recordings showed Nixon’s participation in an effort to use the CIA to impede the FBI’s investigation. His responsibility for the cover-up does not depend on proving that he personally ordered the original burglary.
The crisis demonstrated how secrecy and loyalty to a leader could corrupt public institutions. Journalists, investigators, courts, and congressional committees helped bring the evidence into public view.
Source: Nixon Presidential Library, presidency and Watergate.
Constitution & Power
The Saturday Night Massacre
On October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered the dismissal of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Attorney General Elliot Richardson refused and resigned; Acting Attorney General Robert Bork ultimately carried out the firing.
The confrontation raised an urgent question about the independence of an investigation into the president. It intensified demands for accountability and became one of the most damaging events of the Watergate crisis.
Faith & Character
Quaker Roots and the Demands of Public Trust
Nixon grew up in a Quaker family. His administration also held religious services at the White House, reflected in the presidential library’s religious-matters records.
His career displayed discipline, resilience, and considerable political ability. Watergate revealed a profound failure to place the obligations of public office above personal and partisan protection.
Editorial assessment
Religious background is part of a president’s story. The relevant standard for public leadership remains conduct: honesty, restraint, and accountability when power is challenged.
Sources: Nixon Presidential Library biography; Nixon Library, religious-matters records.
Legacy & Rankings
Presidents and the Republic Scorecard
These are editorial assessments, not numerical rankings or claims of scholarly consensus.
Severe Failure
The cover-up and misuse of presidential power violated the trust on which constitutional government depends.
Ability Compromised
Strategic skill and political resilience were undermined by secrecy and efforts to protect his administration from scrutiny.
Unstable Results
The monetary system changed decisively, while lasting control of inflation remained elusive.
Breakthroughs and Costs
China and arms control were major achievements; Southeast Asia left a painful and contested record.
Durable Contributions
Environmental protection, workplace safety, and income assistance created lasting institutions.
Deeply Damaged
Watergate made his presidency a central warning about the abuse of executive authority.
After the Presidency
Resignation, Pardon, and Later Life
Nixon announced his resignation on August 8, 1974, and left office the following day. Gerald Ford succeeded him and granted him a presidential pardon on September 8.
Nixon later wrote books and remained a public commentator on international affairs. He died in New York City on April 22, 1994, at age 81, and was buried at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.
Final Verdict
Achievement Cannot Cancel Abuse
A consequential president who failed a fundamental test
Nixon changed American diplomacy and helped build domestic institutions that outlasted him. Those achievements deserve examination on their merits. Watergate remains decisive because a republic requires its leaders to submit to law and accountability. His presidency demonstrates how great ability can coexist with a grave failure of public trust.
Sources & Further Reading
The Historical Record
Sources are linked throughout the profile. Photographs are historical U.S. government images; credits and rights information appear on the linked image pages.
- Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum — biography and presidential records.
- National Archives — Watergate and constitutional accountability.
- State Department, Office of the Historian — China, arms control, and Vietnam.
- Federal Reserve History — monetary policy and inflation.
- Environmental Protection Agency — agency origins.
- Department of Labor — employment and workplace policy.
- Social Security Administration — SSI legislation.
- Miller Center — presidential scholarship.