Richard Nixon won the presidency in 1968, promising "law and order" and an honorable end to Vietnam. His record mixed bold diplomacy, new domestic programs, and the worst political scandal in American history.
Key idea
Nixon opened relations with China (1972), signed arms limits with the USSR (SALT I, 1972) and created the EPA (1970). The Watergate scandal and United States v. Nixon (1974) led to his resignation on August 9, 1974.
Why it works
Détente meant easing tensions with the communist powers. Nixon and his adviser Henry Kissinger used the split between China and the Soviet Union: Nixon visited Beijing in February 1972, then Moscow in May, where he and Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT I and Anti-Ballistic Missile agreements. At home Nixon signed the Clean Air Act and created the Environmental Protection Agency (1970). In June 1972, men working for his reelection committee were arrested breaking into the Democratic National Committee's offices at the Watergate building. Nixon won reelection in a landslide (520 electoral votes), but reporters, a grand jury and a Senate committee uncovered a cover-up directed from the White House.
Work it through
Worked example: Checks and balances at work
Name a check used by each branch in Watergate.
- Legislative: Senate hearings exposed the taping system; the House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment in July 1974.
- Judicial: the Supreme Court ordered the tapes released (United States v. Nixon).
- The tapes showed Nixon had joined the cover-up days after the break-in; facing certain impeachment and likely removal, he resigned.
Answer: Congress investigated and moved to impeach; the Court enforced the subpoena.
Common mistake
Many students think Nixon was impeached and removed. The House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment, but he resigned before the full House voted. Gerald Ford, who had become Vice President under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, became President, and pardoned Nixon a month later.