Richard Nixon's Relationship With The Soviet Union

Richard Nixon Richard Nixon, the 37th President, came onto office and inherited many challenges including a war and an unstable economy to fix. Nixon’s presidency was characterized by a number of beneficial domestic policies involving environmental and civil rights legislations and an attempt to heal the relationships with foreign nations. Despite his involvement in a scandal, Nixon’s presidency provided beneficial and impactful actions. Nixon’s first goal as President was to secure control over foreign policy, starting with China. Previous affairs as Vice President strengthened Nixon’s abilities concerning foreign affairs. From 1949 into the 50’s, The American and Communist Chinese forces fought during the Korean war, leaving a damaged
Obtaining a pleasant relationship with the Soviet Union could be used as leverage against the Vietnamese. Attempting to ameliorate their relations, The Soviet Union worked with Nixon on treaties and affairs to control the growth of nuclear weapons, which led the way for future pacts that desired to eliminate nuclear arms. Nixon’s affairs with the Soviet Union further displayed his adeptness in foreign affairs as he signed two important treaties that would be used as a precedent for those who hoped to halt and eliminate the growth of nuclear arms. Achieving his goal of pacifying the relationships with China and the Soviet Union, Nixon placed further pressure on the Vietnamese during the war. Nixon decisively improved the relationship of foreign nations in an attempt to end the Vietnam
Nixon knew being more of a progressive President would gain him public approval and better chances of reelection. Nixon was the first president in over a century to have a Congress where the opposing party controlled both the House and the Senate, making compromise absolutely necessary. “Nixon was more of an activist than an obstructionist, and he worked with the Democrats to pass a great deal of progressive legislation” (Thomas 252). Rather than hindering the progressive members of the government, Nixon was willing to compromise where he needed in order to appease both the Democrats and the public. In 1969, the court case Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education ruled that desegregation in schools must be done immediately, which Nixon helped to do. Nixon’s administration compromised a decision on the matter of desegregation and threatened funds of schools that did no desegregate. Nixon was empathetic to America’s racial problems and worked to fix them as much as possible. He believed that helping African-American’s economically, he could fix the present racism and that would begin with a better education to receive better jobs. His views on racial problems were often well considered and he attempted to understand their