Introduction Nixon’s presidency was cut short when the Watergate scandal forced him to resign 6
In 1968 in a political comeback unprece dented in American history Richard Nixon was elected the 37th president of the United States Midway through his second term however his presidency came to a crushing halt Facing a growing scandal and the pros pect of impeachment he became the first president to resign from office Nixon’s 1968 victory followed two major political defeats In his first bid for the presi dency in 1960 the Democratic candidate John F Kennedy narrowly defeated him Two years later he lost his campaign for the governorship of his home state of California He then temporarily retired from politics to practice law Before the election of 1960 Nixon’s political career had been a series of unbro ken successes He was elected to the United States Congress in 1946 and entered the United States Senate as its youngest member in 1951 Two years later at 39 he became the nation’s second youngest vice president and served two terms under Republican Dwight D Eisenhower Nominated for president again in 1968 Nixon won 301 electoral votes to defeat Vice President Hubert H Humphrey He spent 7
Richard Nixon much of his first term focusing on foreign policy Through negotiations led by National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho U S involvement in the Vietnam War at last came to an end in early 1973 Meanwhile Nixon reestablished diplomatic relations between the United States and China which had halted after communists took control of China 21 years earlier He was the first sitting president to visit China In domestic policy he reformed welfare policy instituted the first affirmative action program and battled inflation Renominated in 1972 Nixon polled a record 46 million popular votes and won 49 states George McGovern the Democratic candidate received only 17 electoral votes It was a landslide victory for Nixon Yet by 1974 his impeachment seemed inevitable as a result of political scandals involving his staff During his reelection campaign five bur glars hired by the Committee to Reelect the President were arrested at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex in Washington D C As the investigation continued the Nixon Administration tried 8
Introduction to cover up its connection to the burglary In the summer of 1973 it was revealed that Nixon had taped conversations in the Oval Office These tapes were then subpoenaed but the president released only some of them The growing allegations against him led the House of Representatives to recommend three articles of impeachment charging Nixon with obstruction of justice abuse of power and failure to comply with congres sional subpoenas On August 5 1974 Nixon finally released transcripts of three tapes that clearly implicated him in the cover-up With this evidence Nixon’s impeachment by the House and then conviction by the Senate was almost assured Rather than be forced from office he resigned three days later thus bringing an ignominious end to his political career 9
