Richard Nixon

Profession: 37th US President

Nationality:

Political Party: Republican
Political Titles: Vice President, Senator from California

Presidential Term: January 20, 1969 - August 9, 1974
Preceded By: Lyndon B. Johnson
Succeeded By: Gerald Ford

Biography: Nixon served as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower before losing election to John F. Kennedy in 1960. He finally won the presidency in 1968, succeeding Lyndon B. Johnson.

Nixon's early presidency was consumed with ending the Vietnam War, which had deeply polarized the nation by the time of his election. He reached an accord with North Vietnam and ended military involvement by 1973, at the same time ending the military draft. His landmark visit to China in 1972 helped initiate detente, a period of warming relations with the Soviet Union and the communist bloc.

Domestically Nixon enforced desegregation of Southern schools and imposed wage and price controls for ninety days. He also established the Environmental Protection Agency and enforced a policy of New Federalism which gradually transferred some power to the states.

In 1972, after winning one of the biggest landslide re-elections in American history, Nixon's presidency slowly became consumed by the Watergate scandal. A break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters by burglars linked to the Nixon administration, and Nixon's attempts to cover it up led to a constitutional crisis. Facing certain impeachment in 1974, Nixon resigned, becoming the only president to do so.

Watergate greatly diminished Nixon's historical reputation, and in a famous interview with David Frost in 1977 he apologized for his role in the scandal.