Richard Nixon Achievements As a U.S. President Essay

Richard Nixon Achievements as a U.S. President

Richard M. Nixon was the thirty-seventh American President whose administration started functioning in January1969 and concluded in August 1974 in an abrupt manner following the Watergate scandal. Despite the consequences brought by the scandal, Nixon's presidential terms can be remembered in good words considering the fact that they brought the nation success on many fronts (Collins, 2000).

The President is most positively remembered in the foreign policy arena. In addition to this, Nixon demonstrated his character as a bold president when he successfully negotiated with the Soviet Union and Maoist China, thus producing persistent revolution in East-West relations (Collins, 2000). His summit meetings with USSR leader Leonid I. Brezhnev formed an agreement to restrict intentional nuclear weapons. He also declared an accord with North Vietnam after which American involvement in Indochina ended. Disengagement agreements were also negotiated in 1974 between Israel, Egypt and Syria under the headship of his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger ("Richard M. Nixon").

Historians have, time and again, complemented Nixon's international policies suggesting how certain domestic plans both made future reforms possible and rejuvenated the vanishing endeavors of the Johnson administration (Collins, 2000). Moreover, five domestic areas were particularly considered by Nixon especially during his first term in office. Those areas included "welfare, civil rights, economic policy, environmental policy and reorganization of the federal bureaucracy" (Collins, 2000).

His other accomplishments while serving as U.S. President include revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime rules and regulations, and an extensive environmental program. Justices of Conservative Philosophy were also appointed to the Supreme Court following Nixon's promise with the American nation. In 1969, one of the most remarkable events of Nixon's first term took place when American astronauts were successful in making the first moon landing ("Richard M. Nixon").

Richard M. Nixon is also regarded as the greatest post-World War II president for the reason that he possessed extraordinary qualities. He was a man of extraordinary aptitude and great mental power as well as promptness of wits. Due to these qualities, Nixon was successful in bringing to presidency an enormous amount of experience that was acquired by him during the years he had taken the office as vice president. His world-wide tours enabled him to absorb more and more information concerning the U.S. relationships with other countries of the world (Friedman & Levantrosser, 1991).

According to many historians, Nixon was probably the leading strategist the world witnessed in the White House since the Second World War. Nixon always deliberated on the ideas to acclimatize the United States strategies in an attempt to have room for the realities of change and to connect them with the consequences more practically consonant with the U.S. more lasting national interests (Friedman & Levantrosser, 1991).

From the time Nixon entered the White House, he sought after profiting from the role that he played when Eisenhower Administration had the keys of America. He considered that it was the sole responsibility of "the government to do for people what they cannot do at all, or do so well, for themselves" (Friedman & Levantrosser, 1991). He had genuine belief in the notion that the government holds an ultimate responsibility toward the welfare of the people. According to Nixon's close associates, his mind, concerns and a majority of the waking hours were devoted towards the escalation of the national security of America. He had the dream of creating and promoting a generation of peace. On top, he dedicated his presidential endeavors in fulfilling this task with genuineness. Thus, Nixon's consistent contributions in order to maintain the competence of the United States to donate for upholding world order cannot be ignored (Friedman & Levantrosser, 1991).

It is widely acknowledged that the Nixon years were a point of time in which spectacular, valiant, ground-breaking advancements and approaches in the field of foreign affairs took place.It can be said that those "were years when the conventional wisdom was challenged and when conventional solutions were eschewed for a new strategic approach to foreign policy" (Genovese, 1990). It is commendable how Nixon endeavored with full vigor to face the predicaments of a hegemonic American realm that was losing its power foundation. The allies had advanced economically whereas the adversaries had advanced militarily (Genovese, 1990).

However, the story didn't end here. The United States of America also turned out to be dependent for resources. It can be correctly said that the country experienced a less-dominant international position when Nixon came into power. These were the bitter realities that made Nixon bold and he got started to rearrange, restructure and alter the international responsibilities of the United States of America. He also brought objectives aligned with available resources. According to Kissinger, Nixon "wanted to found American foreign policy on a sober perception of permanent national interests" (as qtd. In Genovese, 1990). In short, Nixon made all efforts to transmit interests to competence and was able to create a more practical, no-nonsense approach to the country's role in the world (Genovese, 1990).

As president of the United States of America, one of his first steps was to visit Bucharest in Romania. There, he just met with Chairman Ceausescu and was able to attain a number of milestones. A possible channel to China was one of those purposes. In this way, Nixon showed to the world that the American nation was willing to move toward a superior level of normalization between the U.S.A. And the Eastern European -- bloc Socialist countries. The same approach was behind the negotiation of arms control agreements. He also was successful in disentangling the American nation from Vietnam and did so in a way that did not suggest a lack of determination or compliance to give assurance to other friends/allies. Without a doubt, Nixon's greatest accomplishments as a U.S. president were the opening up of relations with China (Friedman & Levantrosser, 1991).

His other accomplishments include the phased withdrawal of United States troops from South Vietnam. In 1973, Nixon was successful in achieving a cease-fire treaty with North Vietnam. This took place after his orders of incursions of Cambodia and Laos in 1970 and 1971 respectively and the dispersion bombing of North Vietnam. In addition to this, Nixon did a lot of work to ease cold war tensions by initiating strategic arms restriction meetings with the Soviet Union in 1969. He also made a visit to People's Republic of China in 1972.

It is also a sad reality that the majority of people do not remember Richard M. Nixon as an environmental president. However, it is quite admirable that Nixon committed his administration to standardize and save the environment from harm. One of the factors behind this commitment was the civic outrage over the Santa Barbara oil spill in early 1969. Seeing the situation, Nixon was truly convinced that American environmentalism have the extraordinary benefit of political currency. Regardless of the fact that Nixon was not a nature lover, he grabbed the opportunity to tap the mushrooming Environmental Movement. In an attempt to challenge his political opponents like Senator Henry Jackson and Senator Edmund Muskie, Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act in 1969 and the National Environmental Protection Act in 1970. For gaining advantage on regulatory legislation, Nixon signed laws that were formulated to reduce air, water, and pesticide pollution, control marine dumping, care for coastal zones and marine mammals, and struggle to overcome other problems (Flippen, 2000).

Thus, Nixon's administration was able to bring together an extraordinary and unmatched environmental record. However, protests against Vietnam War, annoyed businessman, a slow-moving financial system, the increasing energy crisis, and the Watergate mayhem drove Nixon to stop the very programs he made legalized (Flippen, 2000).

The Watergate scandal turned.....