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“I Have Never Been a Quitter”: A Portrait of Richard Nixon
What in Richard Nixon’s Background shaped him into the angry, ambitious man he became? How did his character traits affect his political career? What did he tell a supporter of Jerry Voorhis the most important thing was? What does this tell you about Nixon’s character?
Starting off as just a young lad, at the age of three his mother took him and his brother out on a horse-drawn buggy. They lost control, the horse turned a corner too fast and young Nixon was thrown out of the car. He was left with a scar. A scar that represented a constant pattern of falling and running in his life. Nixon was a symbol of the politics of anger for her was one of the most hated figures of his time. Despite his achievements of: withdrawing the U.S. from Vietnam, restored relations with China, reasoned the first major arms agreement with the Soviet Union; his lasting legacy that haunts him is that he was the chief perpetrator and chief victim of the Watergate scandal. Also the only President ever to resign in disgrace. By all means he was an intelligent man that received offers from Harvard and Yale, however, he contained a quality of self-destructiveness that would hurt his reputation and overall strategy. Richard Nixon suffered a very difficult background. It consisted of poverty, family illness, and endless work. His father Frank ran away from home in the Fourth grade. Forced to make a man if himself he had to pick a series of odd jobs. He moved out to California in 1907 and married a Quaker woman named Hannah. Nixon’s mother sent him to school every day in a starched white shirt and a black bow tie. He worked hard for his grades and was a clever man of debating. His father earned a job as an oil-field worker. He moved on to own a gas station, then turning that into a general store. One down side to this was that all throughout High School Nixon was forced to get up at 4 every morning to drive to Seventh Street market in Los Angeles to buy fresh vegetables for the family store. At the age of 12 Nixon lost his younger brother Arthur to meningitis. Dick noted that he cried every day for weeks following the death. His oldest brother, Harold, was struck with tuberculosis. His mother took him to Prescott, Arizona for the drier air to help her son. After only five years he passed away as well. Nixon was forced to grow up fast and try to manage losses of the ones he loved. Nixon told one of Voorhis’ supporters that: “Of course I knew Jerry Voorhis wasn’t a communist, but I had to win. That’s the thing you don’t understand. The important thing is to win.” This shows that Nixon was a shady figure. He was willing to do anything to achieve success. In my opinion this isn’t the best way to win, yet Nixon just did it without second thought.
What was Nixon’s favorite issue in his campaign against Jerry Voorhis for a seat in the national House and his campaign against Helen Douglas for a seat in the United States Senate? Describe the political atmosphere at the time that made that issue such a successful one for Nixon. What was Nixon’s role on HUAC? What famous case rocketed him to national prominence?
Richard Nixon took on Jerry Voorhis, who was a popular liberal democrat that had won five straight elections in the 12th Congressional District east of Los Angeles. A group of Businessmen in the area hoped to unseat him. Nixon started his campaign by making speeches about his war experiences, as well as, denouncing the New Deal. In one of his ads he referred to Voorhis as a, “former registered Socialist and his voting record in Congress is more socialistic and communistic than Democratic.” This became one of his trademarks. The making of the accusation allowed him to get ahead in the election. Nixon was asked to be put on the Education and Labor Committee, where they planned to rewrite the rules of labor relations through the Taft-Hartley Act. He agreed, but in return he asked to serve on an eccentric committee that devoted its times to noisy investigations of “un-American Activities.” This was the base of his career take off. Nixon immediately went in search of experts of communist influence in labor unions. He met Mary-knoll priest, where he revealed the information that an editor of Times, Whittaker Chambers, told the FBI he was involved with communist activity in Washington, working with a man named Alger Hiss. Nixon succeeded in revealing that in fact he was a communist, as he summoned Chambers to confront him before the committee. Chambers “pumpkin papers,” revealed the transmission to Moscow that Hiss had given him. The success of the case promoted Nixon, as he was set to run for Senate in 1950 against Helen Gahagan Douglas. Douglas foolishly tried accusing Nixon as being soft on Communism. She failed to win the election, however was wise enough to haunt Nixon with the nickname: Tricky Dick.
What were Nixon’s greatest successes as president? Why was he able to achieve momentous diplomatic breakthroughs with Communist China and the Soviet Union when nobody else could do so? We saw in selection 24 that Lyndon Johnson’s policies trapped the United States in a stalemated war in Vietnam. How was Nixon able to end American involvement there? Why did he do so?
Nixon’s first term involved unique changes that were based behind a surprisingly more liberal meaning. He was the first president in quite some time to cut military spending. He was the first to tie Social Security increases to the cost of living. In addition, Nixon found success in instituting “revenue sharing” to funnel $6 billion a year in federal tax money back to the states and cities. He also signed an act that lowered the voting age to 18. He also benefitted from Kennedy’s vision to send someone to the moon, as Neil Armstrong landed there in 1969. Nixon originally called for cease-fire negotiations, however the communists were quick to show disproval. He set a plan to gradually withdraw American forces, to which he would begin to brink back 25,000 in June 1969. In February of 1972, Nixon flew to Beijing where he ended restrictions on trade with China and supporting China’s entry into the U.N. Then in May he agreed to sign the first arms-control agreement with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. This agreement placed sharp restrictions on antiballistic missiles.
Discuss the Watergate scandal. How was the Nixon White House involved? Why did Nixon lie about his knowledge of the Watergate break-in and with the help of his aides to try to cover it up? Why didn’t Nixon simply tell the public the truth? What finally brought down the Nixon presidency, causing him to become the first American president ever to resign his office? Do you think that Gerald Ford should have pardoned Nixon?
Nixon had a great passion for secrecy. He had often launched military operations without discussing the matter with Defense Secretary, Melvin laird, as well as, inform Secretary of State, William Rogers, about major diplomatic initiatives. Nixon was frustrated with leaks of any sort, one that caught his attention was the air raid against communist bases in Cambodia that he read in the New York Times. Nixon immediately followed the FBI’s initiative to start tapping phones to find the source. The Pentagon Papers, secret Vietnam documents, were also published in the New York Times. This caused much anger and created the group called the “plumbers.” Seven members were arrested during a burglary of Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate office and apartment complex. They refused to reveal any information and no connections were drawn back to Nixon.
Nixon’s political career has been described as one of rising and falling, rising and falling, rising and falling, and rising again. How do you account for his resiliency? Do you think his nickname, “Tricky Dick,” was appropriate or inappropriate? How would you rate him as president compared with Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower?
He never truly gave up. Richard Nixon continuously worked to give himself a name. You can see a persistence that led him to finally marry Thelma “Pat” Ryan. Through the toughest times he persevered to turn things around. His childhood certainly gave him a thick skin. His guidance of his mother led him to pursue education and become a relatively successful political leader. Sure he faced downfalls with his scandal, however, that is not all to remember him by. During his post years, his main focus was to rebuild his name. He recreated himself as an elder statesman. Nixon wrote memoirs in 1978, then another following eight books that were devoted to international strategy. He didn’t just settle to accept what a downfall his presidency had turned into. He worked to rise up once more. “Tricky Dick,” does make sense for his secrecy, and obviously sums up his scandalous actions. However, there are other ways to about describing his aloof behavior, without being so blunt.