During his time as president, Nixon enacted several policies that for that had different purposes but overall worked to make America a safer and better country. At home, he had policies that would appeal to both liberals and conservatives. His New Federalism, a plan that would reduce the size and power of the government, appealed to conservatives and their want for more state and local government power. Under this plan was revenue sharing, which had the federal government give tax revenues to state and local governments, letting them spend it based on their individual needs, rather than those of the country as a whole. For the liberals, Nixon increased Social Security and made the Food Stamp Program bigger. He also proposed the Family Assistance Plan, which would have had poor families receive a minimum annual income from the government as long as members that could work were searching for a job. It was never passed because conservatives thought it was just paying people to be lazy and liberals thought the income was too low for families to live on.
Internationally, Nixon tried to improve relations with China and the Soviet Union. After years of tension with the Soviets, he wanted to ease it and reach an agreement with them. Thanks to the policy of détente, they were able to reduce the number of nuclear missiles and forms of delivery during SALT. They also agreed to try and avoid military confrontations as to avoid WWIII. As a form of furthering détente, Nixon reached out to China to become friendlier with them after ignoring them and not acknowledging their government for 20 years. The United States Table Tennis team went to compete in China in 1971, starting the beginning of a better U.S.-China relationship. Nixon visited China the next year, and gave them the Chinese seat in the United Nations, taking it away from the Nationalist Government that had fled to Taiwan 20 years earlier.
Overall, Nixon succeeded in making America safer, at least until détente wore off and tension between the Soviets and Americans increased again. But better relations with China did lead to more trade and better communication between the two countries, making America better with the increasing economy along with revenue sharing and other policies.
With all the good that Nixon did with foreign policy, do you think that Watergate tarnished is presidency enough to make him considered a bad president? I think that it was a mistake and that it in the end should be put past him, and he should be recognized for his accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteThere's no obvious answer to whether or not Nixon was a good president. His reputation was certainly tarnished beyond recovery. After being sworn in for a second term, Nixon's approval rating reached its peach at 67% (Source: historyinpieces.com/research/nixon-approval-ratings#fn-8211-fn1). But began to drop soon after, as Watergate headlines were becoming front page news, and continued to drop throughout the rest of 1973. Within a year of winning more than 95% of the electoral college, his approval rating had stabilized at 25%. I think Nixon's fate was sealed after the Saturday Night Massacre reached headlines on The New York Times.
DeleteI think the watergate scandal exposed his shadier political strategies, which people did not care for. They liked the results but not methods, and after the media turned it into a big story and word got out, his reputation was ruined beyond repair.
DeleteOverall Nixon was a good president. He tried to appease the vast majority of citizens in the US. In the end he tried to do good with a coverup but it eventually led to more and more mistakes on his end. What was once a small issue amounted into something so large he had to resign. While many other countries leader's viewed this situation as crazy since they do this all the time in their own countries.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Nixon's policies could have had a greater impact without Watergate? I suspect that people would have liked his policies more, and that maybe Detente could have continued more without Watergate.
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