Throughout the history of the United States of America, only one of their presidents has voluntarily left his post ahead of schedule. He was Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974. But not only with this act of his, he entered the chronicle of time forever. There were other outstanding moments in his work. Both positive and negative.
President’s childhood and youth
Richard Milhouse Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in a town called Yorba Linda, in sunny California. Both of his parents belonged to the Quaker religious community and led a conservative lifestyle. Nixon’s father, Francis, was an ethnic Scotsman from the Armstrong clan. Her mother's name was Hannah, and it was under her influence that the whole family lived according to the canons of the Quakers.
In addition to Richard, named after King Richard the Lionheart, the couple had four more sons. Their names also kept the memory of the British monarchs. Unfortunately, two of the brothers were not lucky enough to live to adulthood.
The Nixon family was in poverty. Parents tried to farm, but nothing good came of it. Then it was decided to leave Yorba Linda and move to another California city of Whittier. There, the father of the family opened a small business, consisting of a gas station and a store. Sons actively helped him in trade. Grew up modest, hardworking and thrifty.
The first educational institution that Richard attended was the high school in Furleton. Richard Nixon was distinguished by intelligence, great ambition, as well as sports and musical talents. He graduated from school as the eighth most successful student and immediately went to college. He was offered Harvard, but the family did not have the means to pay his son for accommodation in another city.
In college, the future 37 US President proved to be a brilliant student and then also successfully studied at the University of Durham, where he mastered the profession of lawyer.
Start of work
After graduation, Nixon had ambitious plans for his future life. He wanted to get a job at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but this venture was covered with a “copper basin”. The young man had no choice but to return to California - to his native Whittier.
There he was taken with arms and legs into the oldest law office of Winger and Beli, where the newly-made lawyer from 1937 to 1945 was engaged in various corporate cases.
Of course, not a young aspirant dreamed of such a career start. But he later admitted that this law practice has given him a lot. And it was very useful in political activity. In addition, Richard Nixon became the youngest of the college trustees, who once graduated from himself. At that time he was only 26.
Activities during the Second World War
When the Second World War began in Europe, which America then joined, the future president already lived with his family in Washington and worked in the metropolitan price regulation department. As a Quaker, he was relieved of the duty to serve in the army, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he could not sit at home. In its close ranks he was accepted by the US Navy. From 1942 to 1946, Nixon served as a supply officer in the very south of the Pacific Ocean. He returned home safe and sound with the rank of lieutenant commander.
The beginning of political activity
After being retired, Richard Nixon, whose biography was so abruptly interrupted by military events, decided to radically change his life. Familiar Republicans helped him in this. Considering Nixon an ambitious, competent and promising figure, they suggested that he nominate their candidacy from their political platform in the next election to the American House of Representatives.
The proposal was accepted without hesitation, and Nixon won the election. After 2 years, in 1948, he was re-elected to Congress, and in the 50th he got to the Senate from the state of California.
At the beginning of his political career, Richard Nixon proved to be an active anti-communist, successfully playing in this way on the relevant prejudices of voters. Also noted for participating in the development of the Marshall Plan.
Rise and fall
In 1952, Nixon was waiting for a serious career take-off. The Republican General Dwight Eisenhower became the President of the United States, and the heir of the Scottish aristocrats named after the legendary English king became Vice President.
In this post, Richard Nixon managed to visit 56 countries of the world and really “steer” the United States. His influence on public policy was enormous. And since Eisenhower was often ill and was out of work, his deputy actually became the main one.
Nixon spent 8 years as America's Vice President - exactly as long as he was the head of state Eisenhower, who was re-elected in the 56th for a second term.
And at the end of the powers of the “boss”, his faithful ward himself tried to occupy the presidency by taking part in the 1960 elections. But he lost the race to John F. Kennedy.
Two years later, the California governor’s election ended in the same deafening failure. After this, Nixon decides to leave politics and again take up jurisprudence. And leaves. True, not for long …
US President Richard Nixon: A Long-awaited Position
In the second half of the 60s, the political situation in the country “whispered” to Nixon to return. Republicans got stronger and eager for battle. Leading the party again, the former vice president made a second attempt to remove the prefix “vice” from the title of his post. And he succeeded!
In the 1968 election, Democrats represented by Huberton Humphy lost to the Republicans. The margin of the latter was very small, but it was enough for Richard Nixon to become the first person in the country.
Of course, he put in a lot of effort and applied a lot of tactics. One of the most successful tactics was flirting with voters from the conservative South and West, who traditionally voted for the Democrats.
In 1972, Nixon was re-elected for a second presidential term. Which, however, to leave to the end he did not happen.
Domestic policy
37 The US president came to power when the country was “heated” by the prosperity of the economy, which caused strong inflation. Remaining a moderate conservative, Nixon carried out a series of reforms that helped remove febrile processes.
So, for example, monetization was carried out under his leadership. Nixon also sharply reduced social benefits, introduced control over the size of wages, and significantly centralized the executive branch in the country. All this practically stopped inflation, but by the end of the second term of the presidency, goods in the country began to rise in price again.
Of course, such tough actions provoked protest in society. What were the cost of reducing subsidies to farmers alone? Perhaps this explains the assassination attempt on Richard Nixon, which was being prepared in 1974 by a certain Samuel Beek.
Bick worked as a salesman and was unlucky in his business. He attributed troubles to power, and once decided to take revenge. He planned to hijack a plane in order to crash into the White House on it, destroying himself and the entire American elite - including the president, whom, as it turned out, the unlucky seller dreamed of killing for several years. Fortunately, the offender was stopped in time and, besides himself, did not manage to harm anyone.
Foreign policy of Richard Nixon
With regard to foreign policy, Nixon was guided in it, first of all, by one of his election promises, which boiled down to the withdrawal of American wars from Vietnam and the conclusion of an "honorable peace."
To implement the promise the president even adopted, a doctrine that went down in history as the "Nixon Doctrine." According to her, the United States avoided direct participation in the fight against communist regimes in Asia. At the same time, the country did not take off the functions of world arbiter of fate, but announced that it would no longer send its soldiers to the fronts. And he will provide support in other ways. Allies were encouraged to continue to rely more on their own strength.
However, under Nixon, troops were still brought into another country. In 1970, Cambodia became her. As for relations with the Soviet Union, they were somewhat warmer during this period. President Richard Nixon visited the USSR himself and hosted Leonid Brezhnev, with whom they had rather pleasant, almost friendly conversations.
Watergate affair and resignation
The 1972 election was for Nixon both a tremendous victory and an equally deafening defeat. He confidently beat Democrat George McGovern at them and received a “ticket” for a second presidential term. But in the end, everything turned out to be a big shame.
Shortly after summing up the voting results, the press leaked information about spies with listening devices that entered the office of the Democrats located in the Watergate Hotel. The personalities of the owners of the "bugs" were established, and the "ears" clearly "grew" from the headquarters of opponents - that is, Republicans.
President Nixon personally denied his involvement in this scandal to the last. But later, under pressure from the public, evidence and facts, he was forced to partially recognize it.
The US Senate and House of Representatives launched an impeachment procedure. Before she got to the end, the disgraced president decided to resign himself. He informed the American people of his departure on August 9, 1974. This is the first time in US history.
After the resignation
Nixon devoted the rest of his life after leaving the presidency to writing books. These were memoirs in which he tried to whitewash himself, as well as works on geopolitics.
And although the 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford, rehabilitated Nixon a month after the resignation of the latter, the shadow of the protagonist of the Watergate scandal lay until his death. He was ordered to enter politics, and it was officially forbidden to practice law. At first, the Nixon couple led a quiet and inconspicuous life in their California estate, and in 1980 moved to New York to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
