Essay About Richard M. Nixon And Nixons Administration

Richard Nixon
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Richard M. Nixon, 37th president of the United States, was one of the most controversial
politicians. He used the communist scare of the late forties and early fifties to catapult his
career, but as president he eased tension with the Soviet Union and opened relations with
Red China. Nixons administration occurred during the domestic upheavals brought on by
the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. But, to his demise, the Watergate scandal
during his second term eventually forced him to resign to avoid impeachment.
Early Life
Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California to
the proud parents of Francis Anthony Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. Nixon, the
second of five sons, came from a southern-Quaker family, where hard work and integrity
were deeply-rooted and heavily emphasized. A terrific student, young Richard attended
public schools in Whittier, California, where he grew up, and was later invited by Harvard
and Yale to apply for scholarships. The affects of the Depression and his older brothers
illness made his presence necessary close to home, so he attended nearby Whittier College,
where he graduated second in his class in 1934. Nixon went on to law school at Duke
University, where his seriousness and determination won him the nickname “Gloomy
Gus.” After graduating third in his class in 1937, Nixon applied for jobs with large
Northwestern law firms and the FBI. His applications were all rejected, however, his
mother helped him get a job at a friends local law firm. There, Nixon met his fiancee
Thelma Ryan. On June 21, 1940, Thelma and Richard were married and soon after would
have two children, daughters Patricia Nixon in 1946 and Julie Nixon in 1948.
At the Outbreak of W.W.II, Nixon went to work for the tire-rationing section, the
Office of Price Administration in Washington, DC. Eight months later, he joined the Navy
and was sent to the Pacific as a supply officer. Nixon was popular with the men, and such
an accomplished poker player that he was able to send enough of his comrades money
back home to help fund his first political campaign.
After returning from the war, Nixon entered politics, answering a Republican party
call in the newspaper for someone to run against the five-term Democratic Congressman,
Jerry Voorhis. Nixon seemed the perfect man for the job, and he was welcomed
generously by the California Republican party.
The style of Nixons first campaign set the tone for the early part of his political
career, where he achieved fame as a devout anti-Communist. He accused Congressman
Voorhis of being a communist, and even went so far to have campaign workers make
anonymous calls to voters stating the fact and advising that a vote for Nixon was therefore
the best move.
Nixon defeated Voorhis with sixty percent of the vote, and upon taking his seat in
Congress, he became the junior member of the House Committee on un-American
Activities. Nixons pursuit of Alger Hiss, a former adviser to Franklin Roosevelt and one
of the organizers of the United Nations, brought him national exposure. Hiss had been
accused of being a communist and of transmitting secret Department documents to the
Soviets, and though many believed him innocent, Nixon fiercely pushed the case forward,
eventually getting Hiss convicted of perjury and jailed.
At the age of thirty five, Nixon was a national figure, and he used this fame to an
easy victory in his senate race against three-term Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas
in 1950, once again adopting a communist-bashing campaign. He accused Ms. Douglas,
who opposed the un-American Activities Committee, of being “pink right down to her
underwear.” In return, Douglas gave Nixon his long-time nickname, “Tricky Dick.”
Nixon was in the US Senate for a year-and-a-half when the Republican national
convention selected him to be General Dwight D. Eisenhowers running mate. Much of
Nixons success had been built on the political destroying of his Democratic foes, and
Nixon was expected to do much of the dirty work of campaigning. Nixon performed his
task admirably, casting doubt on the abilities and patriotism of his and Eisenhowers
Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson.
Nixon had to face close scrutiny during the campaign, and when the New York
Post announced that he had received secret campaign contributions from wealthy sources,
he was nearly pushed of the ticket. Instead of giving up, Nixon went on national,
prime-time television and appealed directly to the voters. He delivered what has come to
be known as the “Checkers Speech,” showing his financial situation and saying that he was
not a wealthy man. The only contribution he claimed to have kept was a dog named