Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was a member of the Republican Party who previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961. His five years in the White House saw the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first manned Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. Nixon's second term ended early, when he became the only president to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal.

Nixon was born into a poor family of Quakers in a small town in Southern California. He graduated from Duke Law School in 1937, practiced law in California, then moved with his wife Pat to Washington in 1942 to work for the federal government. After active duty in the Naval Reserve during World War II, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946. His work on the Alger Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-Communist, which elevated him to national prominence, and in 1950, he was elected to the Senate. Nixon was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party's presidential nominee in the 1952 election, and served for eight years as the vice president. He ran for president in 1960, narrowly lost to John F. Kennedy, then failed again in a 1962 race for governor of California. In 1968, he made another run for the presidency and was elected, defeating Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace in a close contest.

Nixon formally ended American involvement in Vietnam combat in 1973, and with it, the military draft, that same year. His visit to China in 1972 eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he also then concluded the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. In step with his conservative beliefs, his administration incrementally transferred power from the federal government to the states. Nixon's domestic policy saw him impose wage and price controls for 90 days, enforce desegregation of Southern schools, establish the Environmental Protection Agency, and begin the War on Cancer. Additionally, his administration pushed for the Controlled Substances Act and began the War on Drugs. He also presided over the Apollo 11 Moon landing, which signaled the end of the Space Race. He was re-elected with a historic electoral landslide in 1972 when he defeated George McGovern.

In his second term, Nixon ordered an airlift to resupply Israeli losses in the Yom Kippur War, a war which led to the oil crisis at home. By late 1973, the Nixon administration's involvement in the Watergate eroded his support in Congress and the country. On August 9, 1974, facing almost certain impeachment and removal from office, Nixon resigned the presidency. Afterwards, he was issued a pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford. In his almost 20 years of retirement, Nixon wrote his memoirs and nine other books and undertook many foreign trips, rehabilitating his image into that of an elder statesman and leading expert on foreign affairs. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at age 81. Surveys of historians and political scientists have ranked Nixon as a below-average president.[2][3][4] Evaluations of him have proven complex, as the successes of his presidency have been contrasted with the circumstances of his departure from office.

Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California, in a house built by his father, located on his family's lemon ranch.[1][5][6] His parents were Hannah (Milhous) Nixon and Francis A. Nixon. His mother was a Quaker, and his father converted from Methodism to the Quaker faith. Through his mother, Nixon was a descendant of the early English settler Thomas Cornell, who was also an ancestor of Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University, as well as of Jimmy Carter and Bill Gates.[7]

Nixon's upbringing was influenced by Quaker observances of the time such as abstinence from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. Nixon had four brothers: Harold (1909–1933), Donald (1914–1987), Arthur (1918–1925), and Edward (1930–2019).[8] Four of the five Nixon boys were named after kings who had ruled in medieval or legendary Britain; Richard, for example, was named after Richard the Lionheart.[9]

Nixon's early life was marked by hardship, and he later quoted a saying of Eisenhower to describe his boyhood: "We were poor, but the glory of it was we didn't know it".[10] The Nixon family ranch failed in 1922, and the family moved to Whittier, California. In an area with many Quakers, Frank Nixon opened a grocery store and gas station.[11] Richard's younger brother Arthur died in 1925 at the age of seven after a short illness.[12] Richard was twelve years old when a spot was found on his lung, and with a family history of tuberculosis, he was forbidden to play sports. The spot turned out to be scar tissue from an early bout of pneumonia.[13][14]

Richard attended East Whittier Elementary School, where he was president of his eighth-grade class.[15] His older brother Harold had attended Whittier High School, which his parents thought resulted in Harold's dissolute lifestyle, before he contracted tuberculosis (that killed him in 1933). They decided to send Richard to the larger Fullerton Union High School.[16][17][16][17] Though he had to ride a school bus an hour each way during his freshman year, he received excellent grades. Later, he lived with an aunt in Fullerton during the week.[18] He played junior varsity football, and seldom missed a practice, though he rarely was used in games.[19] He had greater success as a debater, winning a number of championships and taking his only formal tutelage in public speaking from Fullerton's Head of English, H. Lynn Sheller. Nixon later mused on Sheller's words, "Remember, speaking is conversation...don't shout at people. Talk to them. Converse with them."[20] Nixon said he tried to use a conversational tone as much as possible.[20]

At the start of his junior year in September 1928, Richard's parents permitted him to transfer to Whittier High School. At Whittier, Nixon suffered his first election defeat when he lost his bid for student body president. He often rose at 4 a.m., to drive the family truck into Los Angeles and purchase vegetables at the market. He then drove to the store to wash and display them before going to school. Harold was diagnosed with tuberculosis the previous year; when their mother took him to Arizona hoping to improve his health, the demands on Richard increased, causing him to give up football. Nevertheless, Richard graduated from Whittier High third in his class of 207.[21]

Nixon was offered a tuition grant to attend Harvard University, but with Harold's continued illness requiring his mother's care, Richard was needed at the store. He remained in his hometown, enrolled at Whittier College in September 1930, and his expenses were met by a bequest from his maternal grandfather.[1][22] Nixon played for the basketball team; he also tried out for football, and though he lacked the size to play, he remained on the team as a substitute and was noted for his enthusiasm.[23] Instead of fraternities and sororities, Whittier had literary societies. Nixon was snubbed by the only one for men, the Franklins, many of whom were from prominent families, unlike Nixon. He responded by helping to found a new society, the Orthogonian Society.[24] In addition to the society, his studies, and work at the store, Nixon found time for extracurricular activities; he became known as a champion debater and hard worker.[25] In 1933, he became engaged to Ola Florence Welch, daughter of the Whittier police chief, but they broke up in 1935.[26]

After graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Whittier in 1934, Nixon was accepted at the new Duke University School of Law,[27] which offered scholarships to top students, including Nixon.[28] It paid high salaries to its professors, many of whom had national or international reputations.[29] The number of scholarships was greatly reduced for second- and third-year students, creating intense competition.[28] Nixon kept his scholarship, was elected president of the Duke Bar Association,[30] inducted into the Order of the Coif,[31] and graduated third in his class in June 1937.[27]

After graduating from Duke, Nixon initially hoped to join the FBI. He received no response to his letter of application, and learned years later that he had been hired, but his appointment had been canceled at the last minute due to budget cuts.[32] He returned to California, was admitted to the California bar in 1937, and began practicing in Whittier with the law firm Wingert and Bewley.[27] His work concentrated on commercial litigation for local petroleum companies and other corporate matters, as well as on wills.[33] Nixon was reluctant to work on divorce cases, disliking frank sexual talk from women.[34] In 1938, he opened up his own branch of Wingert and Bewley in La Habra, California,[35] and became a full partner in the firm the following year.[36] In later years, Nixon proudly said he was the only modern president to have previously worked as a practicing attorney.[34]

In January 1938 Nixon was cast in the Whittier Community Players production of The Dark Tower. There he played opposite a high school teacher named Thelma "Pat" Ryan.[27] Nixon described it in his memoirs as "a case of love at first sight"[37]—for Nixon only, as Pat Ryan turned down the young lawyer several times before agreeing to date him.[38] Once they began their courtship, Ryan was reluctant to marry Nixon; they dated for two years before she assented to his proposal. They wed in a small ceremony on June 21, 1940. After a honeymoon in Mexico, the Nixons began their married life in Whittier.[39] They had two daughters, Tricia (born 1946) and Julie (born 1948).[40]

In January 1942 the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Nixon took a job at the Office of Price Administration.[27] In his political campaigns, Nixon suggested that this was his response to Pearl Harbor, but he had sought the position throughout the latter part of 1941. Both Nixon and his wife believed he was limiting his prospects by remaining in Whittier.[41] He was assigned to the tire rationing division, where he was tasked with replying to correspondence. He did not enjoy the role, and four months later applied to join the United States Navy.[42] Though he could have claimed an exemption from the draft as a birthright Quaker, or a deferral due to his government service, Nixon nevertheless sought a commission in the Navy. His application was approved, and he was appointed a lieutenant junior grade in the United States Naval Reserve on June 15, 1942.[43][44]

In October 1942, he was assigned as aide to the commander of the Naval Air Station Ottumwa in Iowa until May 1943.[43] Seeking more excitement, he requested sea duty and on July 2, 1943, was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 25 and the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command (SCAT), supporting the logistics of operations in the South Pacific Theater.[45][46][47] On October 1, 1943, Nixon was promoted to lieutenant.[43] Nixon commanded the SCAT forward detachments at Vella Lavella, Bougainville, and finally at Green Island (Nissan Island).[43][47] His unit prepared manifests and flight plans for R4D/C-47 operations and supervised the loading and unloading of the transport aircraft. For this service, he received a Navy Letter of Commendation (awarded a Navy Commendation Ribbon, which was later updated to the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal) from his commanding officer for "meritorious and efficient performance of duty as Officer in Charge of the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command". Upon his return to the U.S., Nixon was appointed the administrative officer of the Alameda Naval Air Station in California. In January 1945 he was transferred to the Bureau of Aeronautics office in Philadelphia to help negotiate the termination of war contracts, and received his second letter of commendation, from the Secretary of the Navy[48] for "meritorious service, tireless effort, and devotion to duty". Later, Nixon was transferred to other offices to work on contracts and finally to Baltimore.[49] On October 3, 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant commander.[43][48] On March 10, 1946, he was relieved of active duty.[43] On June 1, 1953, he was promoted to commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve, from which he retired in the U.S. Naval Reserve on June 6, 1966.[43]

Republicans in California's 12th congressional district were frustrated by their inability to defeat Democratic representative Jerry Voorhis, and they sought a consensus candidate who would run a strong campaign against him. In 1945, they formed a "Committee of 100" to decide on a candidate, hoping to avoid internal dissensions which had led to previous Voorhis victories. After the committee failed to attract higher-profile candidates, Herman Perry, manager of Whittier's Bank of America branch, suggested Nixon, a family friend with whom he had served on the Whittier College Board of Trustees before the war. Perry wrote to Nixon in Baltimore, and after a night of excited conversation with his wife, Nixon gave Perry an enthused response. Nixon flew to California and was selected by the committee. When he left the Navy at the start of 1946, Nixon and his wife returned to Whittier, where he began a year of intensive campaigning.[50][51] He contended that Voorhis had been ineffective as a representative and suggested that Voorhis's endorsement by a group linked to Communists meant that Voorhis must have radical views.[52] Nixon won the election, receiving 65,586 votes to Voorhis's 49,994.[53]

In June 1947, Nixon supported the Taft–Hartley Act, a federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions, and he served on the Education and Labor Committee. In August 1947, he became one of 19 House members to serve on the Herter Committee,[54] which went to Europe to report on the need for U.S. foreign aid. Nixon was the youngest member of the committee and the only Westerner.[55] Advocacy by Herter Committee members, including Nixon, led to congressional passage of the Marshall Plan.[56]

In his memoirs, Nixon wrote that he joined the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) "at the end of 1947". However, he was already a HUAC member in early February 1947, when he heard "Enemy Number One" Gerhard Eisler and his sister Ruth Fischer testify. On February 18, 1947, Nixon referred to Eisler's belligerence toward HUAC in his maiden speech to the House. Also by early February 1947, fellow U.S. Representative Charles J. Kersten had introduced him to Father John Francis Cronin in Baltimore. Cronin shared with Nixon his 1945 privately circulated paper "The Problem of American Communism in 1945",[57] with much information from the FBI's William C. Sullivan who by 1961 headed domestic intelligence under J. Edgar Hoover.[58]

By May 1948, Nixon had co-sponsored a "Mundt–Nixon Bill" to implement "a new approach to the complicated problem of internal communist subversion  ... It provided for registration of all Communist Party members and required a statement of the source of all printed and broadcast material issued by organizations that were found to be Communist fronts." He served as floor manager for the Republican Party. On May 19, 1948, the bill passed the House by 319 to 58, but later it failed to pass the Senate.[59] The Nixon Library cites this bill's passage as Nixon's first significant victory in Congress.[60]

Nixon first gained national attention in August 1948, when his persistence as a HUAC member helped break the Alger Hiss spy case. While many doubted Whittaker Chambers's allegations that Hiss, a former State Department official, had been a Soviet spy, Nixon believed them to be true and pressed for the committee to continue its investigation. After Hiss filed suit for defamation, Chambers produced documents corroborating his allegations. These included paper and microfilm copies that Chambers turned over to House investigators after hiding them overnight in a field; they became known as the "Pumpkin Papers".[61] Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950 for denying under oath he had passed documents to Chambers.[62] In 1948, Nixon successfully cross-filed as a candidate in his district, winning both major party primaries,[63] and was comfortably reelected.[64]

In 1949, Nixon began to consider running for the United States Senate against the Democratic incumbent, Sheridan Downey,[65] and entered the race in November.[66] Downey, faced with a bitter primary battle with Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas, announced his retirement in March 1950.[67] Nixon and Douglas won the primary elections[68] and engaged in a contentious campaign in which the ongoing Korean War was a major issue.[69] Nixon tried to focus attention on Douglas's liberal voting record. As part of that effort, a "Pink Sheet" was distributed by the Nixon campaign suggesting that Douglas's voting record was similar to that of New York Congressman Vito Marcantonio, reputed to be a communist, and their political views must be nearly identical.[70] Nixon won the election by almost twenty percentage points.[71] During the campaign, Nixon was first called "Tricky Dick" by his opponents for his campaign tactics.[72]

In the Senate, Nixon took a prominent position in opposing global communism, traveling frequently and speaking out against it.[73] He maintained friendly relations with his fellow anti-communist, controversial Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, but was careful to keep some distance between himself and McCarthy's allegations.[74] Nixon also criticized President Harry S. Truman's handling of the Korean War.[73] He supported statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, voted in favor of civil rights for minorities, and supported federal disaster relief for India and Yugoslavia.[75] He voted against price controls and other monetary restrictions, benefits for illegal immigrants, and public power.[75]

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was nominated for president by the Republicans in 1952. He had no strong preference for a vice-presidential candidate, and Republican officeholders and party officials met in a "smoke-filled room" and recommended Nixon to the general, who agreed to the senator's selection. Nixon's youth (he was then 39), stance against communism, and political base in California—one of the largest states—were all seen as vote-winners by the leaders. Among the candidates considered along with Nixon were Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft, New Jersey Governor Alfred Driscoll, and Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen.[76][77] On the campaign trail, Eisenhower spoke of his plans for the country, and left the negative campaigning to his running mate.[78]

In mid-September, the Republican ticket faced a major crisis when the media reported that Nixon had a political fund, maintained by his backers, which reimbursed him for political expenses.[79][80] Such a fund was not illegal, but it exposed Nixon to allegations of a potential conflict of interest. With pressure building for Eisenhower to demand Nixon's resignation from the ticket, the senator went on television to address the nation on September 23, 1952.[81] The address, later termed the Checkers speech, was heard by about 60 million Americans—including the largest television audience up to that point.[82] Nixon emotionally defended himself, stating that the fund was not secret, nor had donors received special favors. He painted himself as a man of modest means (his wife had no mink coat; instead she wore a "respectable Republican cloth coat") and a patriot.[81] The speech was remembered for the gift which Nixon had received, but which he would not give back: "a little cocker spaniel dog  ... sent all the way from Texas. And our little girl—Tricia, the 6-year-old—named it Checkers."[81] The speech prompted a huge public outpouring of support for Nixon.[83] Eisenhower decided to retain him on the ticket,[84] which proved victorious in the November election.[78]

Eisenhower gave Nixon more responsibilities during his term than any previous vice president.[85] Nixon attended Cabinet and National Security Council meetings and chaired them in Eisenhower's absence. A 1953 tour of the Far East succeeded in increasing local goodwill toward the United States, and gave Nixon an appreciation of the region as a potential industrial center. He visited Saigon and Hanoi in French Indochina.[86] On his return to the United States at the end of 1953, Nixon increased the time he devoted to foreign relations.[87]

Biographer Irwin Gellman, who chronicled Nixon's congressional years, said of his vice presidency:

Eisenhower radically altered the role of his running mate by presenting him with critical assignments in both foreign and domestic affairs once he assumed his office. The vice president welcomed the president's initiatives and worked energetically to accomplish White House objectives. Because of the collaboration between these two leaders, Nixon deserves the title, "the first modern vice president".[88]

Despite intense campaigning by Nixon, who reprised his strong attacks on the Democrats, the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress in the 1954 elections. These losses caused Nixon to contemplate leaving politics once he had served out his term.[89] On September 24, 1955, President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and his condition was initially believed to be life-threatening. Eisenhower was unable to perform his duties for six weeks. The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution had not yet been proposed, and the vice president had no formal power to act. Nonetheless, Nixon acted in Eisenhower's stead during this period, presiding over Cabinet meetings and ensuring that aides and Cabinet officers did not seek power.[90] According to Nixon biographer Stephen Ambrose, Nixon had "earned the high praise he received for his conduct during the crisis ... he made no attempt to seize power".[91]

His spirits buoyed, Nixon sought a second term, but some of Eisenhower's aides aimed to displace him. In a December 1955 meeting, Eisenhower proposed that Nixon not run for reelection and instead become a Cabinet officer in a second Eisenhower administration, in order to give him administrative experience before a 1960 presidential run. Nixon believed this would destroy his political career. When Eisenhower announced his reelection bid in February 1956, he hedged on the choice of his running mate, saying it was improper to address that question until he had been renominated. Although no Republican was opposing Eisenhower, Nixon received a substantial number of write-in votes against the president in the 1956 New Hampshire primary election. In late April, the President announced that Nixon would again be his running mate.[92] Eisenhower and Nixon were reelected by a comfortable margin in the November 1956 election.[93]

In early 1957, Nixon undertook another foreign trip, this time to Africa. On his return, he helped shepherd the Civil Rights Act of 1957 through Congress. The bill was weakened in the Senate, and civil rights leaders were divided over whether Eisenhower should sign it. Nixon advised the President to sign the bill, which he did.[94] Eisenhower suffered a mild stroke in November 1957, and Nixon gave a press conference, assuring the nation that the Cabinet was functioning well as a team during Eisenhower's brief illness.[95]

On April 27, 1958, Richard and Pat Nixon reluctantly embarked on a goodwill tour of South America. In Montevideo, Uruguay, Nixon made an impromptu visit to a college campus, where he fielded questions from students on U.S. foreign policy. The trip was uneventful until the Nixon party reached Lima, Peru, where he was met with student demonstrations. Nixon went to the historical campus of National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, got out of his car to confront the students, and stayed until forced back into the car by a volley of thrown objects. At his hotel, Nixon faced another mob, and one demonstrator spat on him.[96] In Caracas, Venezuela, Nixon and his wife were spat on by anti-American demonstrators and their limousine was attacked by a pipe-wielding mob.[97] According to Ambrose, Nixon's courageous conduct "caused even some of his bitterest enemies to give him some grudging respect".[98] Reporting to the cabinet after the trip, Nixon claimed there was "absolute proof that [the protestors] were directed and controlled by a central Communist conspiracy." Secretary of State John Foster Dulles concurred in this view, as did Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles in his own rebuke.[99]

In July 1959 President Eisenhower sent Nixon to the Soviet Union for the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow. On July 24, Nixon was touring the exhibits with Soviet First Secretary and Premier Nikita Khrushchev when the two stopped at a model of an American kitchen and engaged in an impromptu exchange about the merits of capitalism versus communism that became known as the "Kitchen Debate".[100]

In 1960 Nixon launched his first campaign for President of the United States. He faced little opposition in the Republican primaries[101] and chose former Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as his running mate.[102] His Democratic opponent was John F. Kennedy and the race remained close for the duration.[103] Nixon campaigned on his experience but Kennedy called for new blood and claimed the Eisenhower–Nixon administration had allowed the Soviet Union to overtake the U.S. in ballistic missiles (the "missile gap").[104]

Televised presidential debates made their debut as a political medium during the campaign. In the first of four such debates, Nixon appeared pale, with a five o'clock shadow, in contrast to the photogenic Kennedy.[102] Nixon's performance in the debate was perceived to be mediocre in the visual medium of television, though many people listening on the radio thought Nixon had won.[105] Nixon narrowly lost the election, with Kennedy winning the popular vote by only 112,827 votes (0.2 percent).[102]

There were charges of voter fraud in Texas and Illinois, both states won by Kennedy. Nixon refused to consider contesting the election, feeling a lengthy controversy would diminish the United States in the eyes of the world and the uncertainty would hurt U.S. interests.[106] At the end of his term of office as vice president in January 1961, Nixon and his family returned to California, where he practiced law and wrote a bestselling book, Six Crises, which included coverage of the Hiss case, Eisenhower's heart attack, and the Fund Crisis, which had been resolved by the Checkers speech.[102][107]

Local and national Republican leaders encouraged Nixon to challenge incumbent Pat Brown for Governor of California in the 1962 election.[102] Despite initial reluctance, Nixon entered the race.[102] The campaign was clouded by public suspicion that Nixon viewed the office as a stepping stone for another presidential run, some opposition from the far-right of the party, and his own lack of interest in being California's governor.[102] Nixon hoped a successful run would confirm his status as the nation's leading active Republican politician, and ensure he remained a major player in national politics.[108] Instead, he lost to Brown by more than five percentage points, and the defeat was widely believed to be the end of his political career.[102] In an impromptu concession speech the morning after the election, Nixon blamed the media for favoring his opponent, saying, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."[109] The California defeat was highlighted in the November 11, 1962, episode of ABC's Howard K. Smith: News and Comment, titled "The Political Obituary of Richard M. Nixon".[110] Alger Hiss appeared on the program, and many members of the public complained that it was unseemly to give a convicted felon air time to attack a former vice president. The furor drove Smith and his program from the air,[111] and public sympathy for Nixon grew.[110]

In 1963 the Nixon family traveled to Europe, where Nixon gave press conferences and met with leaders of the countries he visited.[112] The family moved to New York City, where Nixon became a senior partner in the leading law firm Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander.[102] When announcing his California campaign, Nixon had pledged not to run for president in 1964; even if he had not, he believed it would be difficult to defeat Kennedy, or after his assassination, Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson.[113]

In 1964, Nixon won write-in votes in the primaries, and was considered a serious contender by both Gallup polls[114] and members of the press.[115] He was even placed on a primary ballot as an active candidate by Oregon's secretary of state.[116] Nevertheless, as late as two months before the 1964 Republican National Convention, Nixon fulfilled his promise to remain out of the presidential nomination process and instead gave his support to the eventual Republican nominee, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. When Goldwater won the nomination, Nixon was selected to introduce him at the convention. Although he thought Goldwater unlikely to win, Nixon campaigned for him loyally. The election was a disaster for the Republicans, as Goldwater's landslide loss to Johnson was matched by heavy losses for the party in Congress and among state governors.[117]

Nixon was one of the few leading Republicans not blamed for the disastrous results, and he sought to build on that in the 1966 Congressional elections. He campaigned for many Republicans, seeking to regain seats lost in the Johnson landslide, and received credit for helping the Republicans make major gains that year.[118]

At the end of 1967, Nixon told his family he planned to run for president a second time. Pat Nixon did not always enjoy public life,[119] being embarrassed, for example, by the need to reveal how little the family owned in the Checkers speech.[120] She still managed to be supportive of her husband's ambitions. Nixon believed that with the Democrats torn over the issue of the Vietnam War, a Republican had a good chance of winning, although he expected the election to be as close as in 1960.[119]

An exceptionally tumultuous primary election season began as the Tet Offensive was launched in January 1968. President Johnson withdrew as a candidate in March, after an unexpectedly poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. In June, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a Democratic candidate, was assassinated just moments after his victory in the California primary. On the Republican side, Nixon's main opposition was Michigan Governor George Romney, though New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and California Governor Ronald Reagan each hoped to be nominated in a brokered convention. Nixon secured the nomination on the first ballot.[121] He selected Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate, a choice which Nixon believed would unite the party, appealing both to Northern moderates and to Southerners disaffected with the Democrats.[122]

Nixon's Democratic opponent in the general election was Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was nominated at a convention marked by violent protests.[123] Throughout the campaign, Nixon portrayed himself as a figure of stability during this period of national unrest and upheaval.[123] He appealed to what he later called the "silent majority" of socially conservative Americans who disliked the hippie counterculture and the anti-war demonstrators. Agnew became an increasingly vocal critic of these groups, solidifying Nixon's position with the right.[124]

Nixon waged a prominent television advertising campaign, meeting with supporters in front of cameras.[125] He stressed that the crime rate was too high, and attacked what he perceived as a surrender of the United States' nuclear superiority by the Democrats.[126] Nixon promised "peace with honor" in the Vietnam War and proclaimed that "new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific".[127] He did not give specifics of how he hoped to end the war, resulting in media intimations that he must have a "secret plan".[127] His slogan of "Nixon's the One" proved to be effective.[125]

Johnson's negotiators hoped to reach a truce in Vietnam, or at least a cessation of bombings. On October 22, 1968, candidate Nixon received information that Johnson was preparing a so-called "October surprise", abandoning three non-negotiable conditions for a bombing halt, to help elect Humphrey in the last days of the campaign.[128] Whether the Nixon campaign interfered with negotiations between the Johnson administration and the South Vietnamese by engaging Anna Chennault, a fundraiser for the Republican party, remains a controversy. While notes uncovered in 2016 possibly support such a contention, it is questionable.[128] It is not clear whether the government of South Vietnam needed encouragement to opt out of a peace process they considered disadvantageous.[129]

In a three-way race between Nixon, Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace, Nixon defeated Humphrey by nearly 500,000 votes (less than a percentage point), with 301 electoral votes to 191 for Humphrey and 46 for Wallace.[123][130] He became the first non-incumbent vice president to be elected president.[131] In his victory speech, Nixon pledged that his administration would try to bring the divided nation together.[132] Nixon said: "I have received a very gracious message from the Vice President, congratulating me for winning the election. I congratulated him for his gallant and courageous fight against great odds. I also told him that I know exactly how he felt. I know how it feels to lose a close one."[133]

Nixon was inaugurated as president on January 20, 1969, sworn in by his onetime political rival, Chief Justice Earl Warren. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open at Isaiah 2:4, which reads, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker"[134]—a phrase that found a place on his gravestone.[135] He spoke about turning partisan politics into a new age of unity:

In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading. We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another, until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.[136]

Nixon laid the groundwork for his overture to China before he became president, writing in Foreign Affairs a year before his election: "There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation."[137] Assisting him in this venture was Henry Kissinger, Nixon's National Security Advisor and future Secretary of State. They collaborated closely, bypassing Cabinet officials. With relations between the Soviet Union and China at a nadir—border clashes between the two took place during Nixon's first year in office—Nixon sent private word to the Chinese that he desired closer relations. A breakthrough came in early 1971, when Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman Mao Zedong invited a team of American table tennis players to visit China and play against top Chinese players. Nixon followed up by sending Kissinger to China for clandestine meetings with Chinese officials.[137] On July 15, 1971, with announcements from Washington and Beijing that astounded the world, it was learned that the President would visit China the following February.[138] The secrecy had allowed both sets of leaders time to prepare the political climate in their countries for the visit.[139]

In February 1972, Nixon and his wife traveled to China after Kissinger briefed Nixon for over 40 hours in preparation.[140] Upon touching down, the President and First Lady emerged from Air Force One and were greeted by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Nixon made a point of shaking Zhou's hand, something which then-Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had refused to do in 1954 when the two met in Geneva.[141] More than a hundred television journalists accompanied the president. On Nixon's orders, television was strongly favored over printed publications, as Nixon felt that the medium would capture the visit much better than print. It also gave him the opportunity to snub the print journalists he despised.[141]

Nixon and Kissinger met for an hour with CCP Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou at Mao's official private residence, where they discussed a range of issues.[142] Mao later told his doctor that he had been impressed by Nixon's forthrightness, unlike the leftists and the Soviets.[142] He said he was suspicious of Kissinger,[142] though the National Security Advisor referred to their meeting as his "encounter with history".[141] A formal banquet welcoming the presidential party was given that evening in the Great Hall of the People. The following day, Nixon met with Zhou; the joint communique following this meeting recognized Taiwan as a part of China and looked forward to a peaceful solution to the problem of reunification.[143] When not in meetings, Nixon toured architectural wonders including the Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, and the Great Wall.[141] Americans received their first glimpse into Chinese life through the cameras which accompanied Pat Nixon, who toured the city of Beijing and visited communes, schools, factories, and hospitals.[141]

The visit ushered in a new era of US–China relations.[123] Fearing the possibility of a US–China alliance, the Soviet Union yielded to pressure for détente with the United States.[144] This was one component of triangular diplomacy.[145]

When Nixon took office, about 300 American soldiers were dying each week in Vietnam,[146] and the war was widely unpopular in the United States, the subject of ongoing violent protests. The Johnson administration had offered to suspend bombing unconditionally in exchange for negotiations, but to no avail. According to Walter Isaacson, Nixon concluded soon after taking office that the Vietnam War could not be won, and he was determined to end it quickly.[147] He sought an arrangement that would permit American forces to withdraw while leaving South Vietnam secure against attack.[148]

Nixon approved a secret B-52 carpet bombing campaign of North Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge positions in Cambodia beginning in March 1969 and code-named Operation Menu, without the consent of Cambodian leader Norodom Sihanouk.[149][150][151] In mid-1969, Nixon began efforts to negotiate peace with the North Vietnamese, sending a personal letter to their leaders, and peace talks began in Paris. Initial talks did not result in an agreement,[152] and in May 1969 he publicly proposed to withdraw all American troops from South Vietnam provided North Vietnam did so, and suggesting South Vietnam hold internationally supervised elections with Viet Cong participation.[153]

In July 1969, Nixon visited South Vietnam, where he met with his U.S. military commanders and President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Amid protests at home demanding an immediate pullout, he implemented a strategy of replacing American troops with Vietnamese troops, known as "Vietnamization".[123] He soon instituted phased U.S. troop withdrawals,[154] but also authorized incursions into Laos, in part to interrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail passing through Laos and Cambodia and used to supply North Vietnamese forces. In March 1970, at the explicit request of the Khmer Rouge and negotiated by Pol Pot's then-second-in-command, Nuon Chea, North Vietnamese troops launched an offensive and overrun much of Cambodia.[155] Nixon announced the ground invasion of Cambodia on April 30, 1970, against North Vietnamese bases in the east of the country,[156] and further protests erupted against perceived expansion of the conflict, which resulted in Ohio National Guardsmen killing four unarmed students at Kent State University.[157] Nixon's responses to protesters included an impromptu, early morning meeting with them at the Lincoln Memorial on May 9, 1970.[158][159][160] Nixon's campaign promise to curb the war, contrasted with the escalated bombing, led to claims that Nixon had a "credibility gap" on the issue.[154] It is estimated that between 50,000 and 150,000 people were killed during the bombing of Cambodia between 1970 and 1973.[150]

In 1971, excerpts from the "Pentagon Papers", which had been leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, were published by The New York Times and The Washington Post. When news of the leak first appeared, Nixon was inclined to do nothing; the Papers, a history of United States' involvement in Vietnam, mostly concerned the lies of prior administrations and contained few real revelations. He was persuaded by Kissinger that the Papers were more harmful than they appeared, and the President tried to prevent publication, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the newspapers.[161]

As U.S. troop withdrawals continued, conscription was phased out by 1973, and the armed forces became all-volunteer.[162] After years of fighting, the Paris Peace Accords were signed at the beginning of 1973. The agreement implemented a cease fire and allowed for the withdrawal of remaining American troops without requiring withdrawal of the 160,000 North Vietnam Army regulars located in the South.[163] Once American combat support ended, there was a brief truce, before fighting resumed, and North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam in 1975.[164]

Nixon had been a firm supporter of Kennedy during the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. On taking office in 1969, he stepped up covert operations against Cuba and its president, Fidel Castro. He maintained close relations with the Cuban-American exile community through his friend, Bebe Rebozo, who often suggested ways of irritating Castro. The Soviets and Cubans became concerned, fearing Nixon might attack Cuba and break the understanding between Kennedy and Khrushchev that ended the missile crisis. In August 1970, the Soviets asked Nixon to reaffirm the understanding, which he did, despite his hard line against Castro. The process was not completed before the Soviets began expanding their base at the Cuban port of Cienfuegos in October 1970. A minor confrontation ensued, the Soviets stipulated they would not use Cienfuegos for submarines bearing ballistic missiles, and the final round of diplomatic notes were exchanged in November.[165]

The election of Marxist candidate Salvador Allende as President of Chile in September 1970 spurred a vigorous campaign of covert opposition to him by Nixon and Kissinger.[166]: 25  This began by trying to convince the Chilean congress to confirm Jorge Alessandri as the winner of the election, and then messages to military officers in support of a coup.[166] Other support included strikes organized against Allende and funding for Allende opponents. It was even alleged that "Nixon personally authorized" $700,000 in covert funds to print anti-Allende messages in a prominent Chilean newspaper.[166]: 93  Following an extended period of social, political, and economic unrest, General Augusto Pinochet assumed power in a violent coup d'état on September 11, 1973; among the dead was Allende.[167]

Nixon used the improving international environment to address the topic of nuclear peace. Following the announcement of his visit to China, the Nixon administration concluded negotiations for him to visit the Soviet Union. The President and First Lady arrived in Moscow on May 22, 1972, and met with Leonid Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party; Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers; and Nikolai Podgorny, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, among other leading Soviet officials.[168]

Nixon engaged in intense negotiations with Brezhnev.[168] Out of the summit came agreements for increased trade and two landmark arms control treaties: SALT I, the first comprehensive limitation pact signed by the two superpowers,[123] and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned the development of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles. Nixon and Brezhnev proclaimed a new era of "peaceful coexistence". A banquet was held that evening at the Kremlin.[168]

Nixon and Kissinger planned to link arms control to détente and to the resolution of other urgent problems through what Nixon called "linkage." David Tal argues:

The linkage between strategic arms limitations and outstanding issues such as the Middle East, Berlin and, foremost, Vietnam thus became central to Nixon's and Kissinger's policy of détente. Through the employment of linkage, they hoped to change the nature and course of U.S. foreign policy, including U.S. nuclear disarmament and arms control policy, and to separate them from those practiced by Nixon's predecessors. They also intended, through linkage, to make U.S. arms control policy part of détente  ... His policy of linkage had in fact failed. It failed mainly because it was based on flawed assumptions and false premises, the foremost of which was that the Soviet Union wanted strategic arms limitation agreement much more than the United States did.[169]

Seeking to foster better relations with the United States, China and the Soviet Union both cut back on their diplomatic support for North Vietnam and advised Hanoi to come to terms militarily.[170] Nixon later described his strategy:

I had long believed that an indispensable element of any successful peace initiative in Vietnam was to enlist, if possible, the help of the Soviets and the Chinese. Though rapprochement with China and détente with the Soviet Union were ends in themselves, I also considered them possible means to hasten the end of the war. At worst, Hanoi was bound to feel less confident if Washington was dealing with Moscow and Beijing. At best, if the two major Communist powers decided that they had bigger fish to fry, Hanoi would be pressured into negotiating a settlement we could accept.[171]

In 1973, Nixon encouraged the Export-Import Bank to finance in part a trade deal with the Soviet Union in which Armand Hammer's Occidental Petroleum would export phosphate from Florida to the Soviet Union, and import Soviet ammonia. The deal, valued at $20 billion over 20 years, involved the construction of two major Soviet port facilities at Odessa and Ventspils,[172][173][174] and a pipeline connecting four ammonia plants in the greater Volga region to the port at Odessa.[174] In 1973, Nixon announced his administration was committed to seeking most favored nation trade status with the USSR,[175] which was challenged by Congress in the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.[176]

During the previous two years, Nixon had made considerable progress in U.S.–Soviet relations, and he embarked on a second trip to the Soviet Union in 1974.[177] He arrived in Moscow on June 27 to a welcome ceremony, cheering crowds, and a state dinner at the Grand Kremlin Palace that evening.[177] Nixon and Brezhnev met in Yalta, where they discussed a proposed mutual defense pact, détente, and MIRVs. Nixon considered proposing a comprehensive test-ban treaty, but he felt he would not have time to complete it during his presidency.[177] There were no significant breakthroughs in these negotiations.[177]

As part of the Nixon Doctrine, the U.S. avoided giving direct combat assistance to its allies and instead gave them assistance to defend themselves. During the Nixon administration, the U.S. greatly increased arms sales to the Middle East, particularly Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia.[178] The Nixon administration strongly supported Israel, an American ally in the Middle East, but the support was not unconditional. Nixon believed Israel should make peace with its Arab neighbors and that the U.S. should encourage it. The president believed that—except during the Suez Crisis—the U.S. had failed to intervene with Israel, and should use the leverage of the large U.S. military aid to Israel to urge the parties to the negotiating table. The Arab-Israeli conflict was not a major focus of Nixon's attention during his first term—for one thing, he felt that no matter what he did, American Jews would oppose his reelection.[a]

On October 6, 1973, an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria, supported with arms and materiel by the Soviet Union, attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Israel suffered heavy losses and Nixon ordered an airlift to resupply Israeli losses, cutting through inter-departmental squabbles and bureaucracy and taking personal responsibility for any response by Arab nations. More than a week later, by the time the U.S. and Soviet Union began negotiating a truce, Israel had penetrated deep into enemy territory. The truce negotiations rapidly escalated into a superpower crisis; when Israel gained the upper hand, Egyptian President Sadat requested a joint U.S.–USSR peacekeeping mission, which the U.S. refused. When Soviet Premier Brezhnev threatened to unilaterally enforce any peacekeeping mission militarily, Nixon ordered the U.S. military to DEFCON3,[179] placing all U.S. military personnel and bases on alert for nuclear war. This was the closest the world had come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Brezhnev backed down as a result of Nixon's actions.[180]

Because Israel's victory was largely due to U.S. support, the Arab OPEC nations retaliated by refusing to sell crude oil to the U.S., resulting in the 1973 oil crisis.[181] The embargo caused gasoline shortages and rationing in the United States in late 1973, and was eventually ended by the oil-producing nations as peace in the Middle East took hold.[182]

After the war, and under Nixon's presidency, the U.S. reestablished relations with Egypt for the first time since 1967. Nixon used the Middle East crisis to restart the stalled Middle East Peace Negotiations; he wrote in a confidential memo to Kissinger on October 20:

I believe that, beyond a doubt, we are now facing the best opportunity we have had in 15 years to build a lasting peace in the Middle East. I am convinced history will hold us responsible if we let this opportunity slip by ... I now consider a permanent Middle East settlement to be the most important final goal to which we must devote ourselves.[183]

Nixon made one of his final international visits as president to the Middle East in June 1974, and became the first President to visit Israel.[184]

At the time Nixon took office in 1969, inflation was at 4.7 percent—its highest rate since the Korean War. The Great Society had been enacted under Johnson, which, together with the Vietnam War costs, was causing large budget deficits. Unemployment was low, but interest rates were at their highest in a century.[185] Nixon's major economic goal was to reduce inflation; the most obvious means of doing so was to end the war.[185] This could not be accomplished overnight, and the U.S. economy continued to struggle through 1970, contributing to a lackluster Republican performance in the midterm congressional elections (Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress throughout Nixon's presidency).[186] According to political economist Nigel Bowles in his 2011 study of Nixon's economic record, the new president did little to alter Johnson's policies through the first year of his presidency.[187]

Nixon was far more interested in foreign affairs than domestic policies, but he believed that voters tend to focus on their own financial condition and that economic conditions were a threat to his reelection. As part of his "New Federalism" views, he proposed grants to the states, but these proposals were for the most part lost in the congressional budget process. However, Nixon gained political credit for advocating them.[186] In 1970, Congress had granted the President the power to impose wage and price freezes, though the Democratic majorities, knowing Nixon had opposed such controls throughout his career, did not expect Nixon to actually use the authority.[187] With inflation unresolved by August 1971, and an election year looming, Nixon convened a summit of his economic advisers at Camp David. Nixon's options were to limit fiscal and monetary expansionist policies that reduced unemployment or end the dollar's fixed exchange rate; Nixon's dilemma has been cited as an example of the Impossible trinity in international economics.[188][189] He then announced temporary wage and price controls, allowed the dollar to float against other currencies, and ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold.[190] Bowles points out,

by identifying himself with a policy whose purpose was inflation's defeat, Nixon made it difficult for Democratic opponents ... to criticize him. His opponents could offer no alternative policy that was either plausible or believable since the one they favored was one they had designed but which the president had appropriated for himself.[187]

Nixon's policies dampened inflation through 1972, although their aftereffects contributed to inflation during his second term and into the Ford administration.[190] Nixon's decision to end the gold standard in the United States led to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. According to Thomas Oatley, "the Bretton Woods system collapsed so that Nixon might win the 1972 presidential election."[188]

After Nixon won re-election, inflation was returning.[191] He reimposed price controls in June 1973. The price controls became unpopular with the public and businesspeople, who saw powerful labor unions as preferable to the price board bureaucracy.[191] The controls produced food shortages, as meat disappeared from grocery stores and farmers drowned chickens rather than sell them at a loss.[191] Despite the failure to control inflation, controls were slowly ended, and on April 30, 1974, their statutory authorization lapsed.[191]

Nixon advocated a "New Federalism", which would devolve power to state and local elected officials, though Congress was hostile to these ideas and enacted few of them.[192] He eliminated the Cabinet-level United States Post Office Department, which in 1971 became the government-run United States Postal Service.[193]

Nixon was a late supporter of the conservation movement. Environmental policy had not been a significant issue in the 1968 election, and the candidates were rarely asked for their views on the subject. Nixon broke new ground by discussing environmental policy in his State of the Union speech in 1970. He saw that the first Earth Day in April 1970 presaged a wave of voter interest on the subject, and sought to use that to his benefit; in June he announced the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[194] He relied on his domestic advisor John Ehrlichman, who favored protection of natural resources, to keep him "out of trouble on environmental issues."[195] Other initiatives supported by Nixon included the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Environmental Policy Act required environmental impact statements for many Federal projects.[195][194] Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act of 1972—objecting not to the policy goals of the legislation but to the amount of money to be spent on them, which he deemed excessive. After Congress overrode his veto, Nixon impounded the funds he deemed unjustifiable.[196]

In 1971, Nixon proposed health insurance reform—a private health insurance employer mandate,[b] federalization of Medicaid for poor families with dependent minor children,[197] and support for health maintenance organizations (HMOs).[198] A limited HMO bill was enacted in 1973.[198] In 1974, Nixon proposed more comprehensive health insurance reform—a private health insurance employer mandate[b] and replacement of Medicaid by state-run health insurance plans available to all, with income-based premiums and cost sharing.[199]

Nixon was concerned about the prevalence of domestic drug use in addition to drug use among American soldiers in Vietnam. He called for a War on Drugs and pledged to cut off sources of supply abroad. He also increased funds for education and for rehabilitation facilities.[200]

As one policy initiative, Nixon called for more money for sickle-cell research, treatment, and education in February 1971[201] and signed the National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act on May 16, 1972.[202][203][c] While Nixon called for increased spending on such high-profile items as sickle-cell disease and for a War on Cancer, at the same time he sought to reduce overall spending at the National Institutes of Health.[204]

The Nixon presidency witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the South.[205] Nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist Wallace and liberal Democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some Southern whites.[206] Hopeful of doing well in the South in 1972, he sought to dispose of desegregation as a political issue before then. Soon after his inauguration, he appointed Vice President Agnew to lead a task force, which worked with local leaders—both white and black—to determine how to integrate local schools. Agnew had little interest in the work, and most of it was done by Labor Secretary George Shultz. Federal aid was available, and a meeting with President Nixon was a possible reward for compliant committees. By September 1970, less than ten percent of black children were attending segregated schools. By 1971, however, tensions over desegregation surfaced in Northern cities, with angry protests over the busing of children to schools outside their neighborhood to achieve racial balance. Nixon opposed busing personally but enforced court orders requiring its use.[207]

Some scholars, such as James Morton Turner and John Isenberg, believe that Nixon, who had advocated for civil rights in his 1960 campaign, slowed down desegregation as president, appealing to the racial conservatism of Southern whites, who were angered by the civil rights movement. This, he hoped, would boost his election chances in 1972.[208][209]

In addition to desegregating public schools, Nixon implemented the Philadelphia Plan in 1970—the first significant federal affirmative action program.[210] He also endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment after it passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and went to the states for ratification.[211] He also pushed for African American civil rights and economic equity through a concept known as black capitalism.[212] Nixon had campaigned as an ERA supporter in 1968, though feminists criticized him for doing little to help the ERA or their cause after his election. Nevertheless, he appointed more women to administration positions than Lyndon Johnson had.[213]

After a nearly decade-long national effort, the United States won the race to land astronauts on the Moon on July 20, 1969, with the flight of Apollo 11. Nixon spoke with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during their moonwalk. He called the conversation "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House".[214]

Nixon was unwilling to keep funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the high level seen during the 1960s as NASA prepared to send men to the Moon. NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine drew up ambitious plans for the establishment of a permanent base on the Moon by the end of the 1970s and the launch of a crewed expedition to Mars as early as 1981. Nixon rejected both proposals due to the expense.[215] Nixon also canceled the Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory program in 1969, because unmanned spy satellites were a more cost-effective way to achieve the same reconnaissance objective.[216] NASA cancelled the last three planned Apollo lunar missions to place Skylab in orbit more efficiently and free money up for the design and construction of the Space Shuttle.[217]

On May 24, 1972, Nixon approved a five-year cooperative program between NASA and the Soviet space program, culminating in the 1975 joint mission of an American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft linking in space.[218]

Nixon believed his rise to power had peaked at a moment of political realignment. The Democratic "Solid South" had long been a source of frustration to Republican ambitions. Goldwater had won several Southern states by opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but had alienated more moderate Southerners. Nixon's efforts to gain Southern support in 1968 were diluted by Wallace's candidacy. Through his first term, he pursued a Southern Strategy with policies, such as his desegregation plans, that would be broadly acceptable among Southern whites, encouraging them to realign with the Republicans in the aftermath of the civil rights movement. He nominated two Southern conservatives, Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court, but neither was confirmed by the Senate.[219]

Nixon entered his name on the New Hampshire primary ballot on January 5, 1972, effectively announcing his candidacy for reelection.[220] Virtually assured the Republican nomination,[221] the President had initially expected his Democratic opponent to be Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy (brother of the late President), who was largely removed from contention after the July 1969 Chappaquiddick incident.[222] Instead, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie became the front runner, with South Dakota Senator George McGovern in a close second place.[220]

On June 10, McGovern won the California primary and secured the Democratic nomination.[223] The following month, Nixon was renominated at the 1972 Republ