Richard Nixon vs Ronald Reagan

A Crook versus the Hot Actor When you think of influential presidents you think Abraham Lincoln or Bill Clinton? When someone mentions influential presidents to me, I think of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. They were both elected for two terms, but each of them was seen either in a positive light or a negative light. On television, Nixon said, “I am not a crook,” but that is what he is known for even today. Although, Reagan was the oldest president elected into office, in my opinion; he was the most prominent political figure serving his eight full years as President of the United States. We will look at Richard Nixon’s and Ronald Reagan’s life before presidency, their leadership qualities, and their office accomplishments. The differences of childhood and adult lives of both Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon before their presidency, was most likely why Reagan was a more prominent political figure. Reagan’s mother and father were both very loving parents and constantly gave him support while he grew up. Reagan was very likeable due to his careers in acting, radio hosting, and television host (Rosenberg). Even though Reagan was a late bloomer in politics, it did not stop him from becoming the next governor of California. On the contrary to Reagan, Richard Nixon grew up in a home where he had an abusive father and two of his brothers died growing up. Nixon pushed himself into politics through his whole life, starting in high school when he became Student Class President. In college, Nixon learned how to be a great liar when he decided to become a lawyer. When people say, “Only painters and lawyers can change white to black,” Nixon proved them correct. Finally when he couldn’t get a job as a lawyer he got into politics. Now let’s look at the leadership qualities that each previous president had which caused the differences in their political careers. A quality of being a good leader is being a truthful, likeable, and trustworthy