Op Ed: In the era of Trump, is it time to take another look at Tricky Dick?
When an American hears the word Nixon brought up at the diner table it’s often relegated to a good joke or example of the carnation of political corruption. If you look at historians they often rank the Nixon years in the White House very poorly if not downright as one of the worst Presidents in American history. You have another category that admit to a fact that Nixon’s years in the White House were perhaps downright terrible, but that his post presidency as an author and political leader of advice to future administrations redeemed his reputation after the fact. There is a generational divide when you ask the public’s opinion on the man. Baby Boomers (outside of a still devout following) who grew up during that time period lived through the headlines, watched the hearings on television, and their perspective is based on what people knew at the time. A new generation of Americans have grown to be young adults now, most having never watching a single minute of the Watergate hearings, have no attachment or memory to that time period. It’s fascinating when you ask for their opinion on Nixon. A lot of youngsters today don’t have the same emotional opinion about that era. Their only judgement of his presidency can come from watching documentaries on television, reading books, and watching the Nixon Foundation on social media. I can only write this article from the perspective of being a member of the millennial generation.
Out from all of this is the Nixon Foundation, dedicated to preserving Dick’s legacy and teaching future generations about his accomplishments. They have been very effective in recent years at reaching new people online, regularly posting photographs and videos of their legacy to teenagers on Facebook groups and Twitter, and answering back in the comments when asked questions. Perhaps this is what makes their unique spot as historians so fascinating. We have now had half a century for Watergate to wash over us. We’ve had time to reflect with a new generation that is now coming to adult age with no relationship or memory of the scandal. The young people are starting to ask questions and curiosity starts to go wild. With the recent passing of Gordon Liddy it sparked interest for me to write this article now that the hysteria and headlines and clouded vision have moved on. Today we have a unique perspective to be able to put history into greater context.
It’s been said by Noam Chomsky that President Nixon was the last of “New Deal” era politicians that believed in Keynesian economics. Is there any truth to that statement? I’ll make no secret to that fact that I joined the Nixon fan club last year and I came to the conclusion that I was wrong about the man. I had been quick to judge and was too clouded by hatred until I challenged myself to look closer at the broader picture. Is it fair to call him the greatest President of the 20th century? These are some of the reasons I came to that conclusion. This is history I believe every American should know.
Vietnam was on just about everyone’s minds heading into the ’68 elections. The Democratic National Committee had just experienced massive riots after the country had been plagued with war for over a decade in a region of we had no reason to be in. However during the the 1968 elections, an unlikely series of events led to the rise of a former underdog of politics. That was Mr. Nixon who went up against a Kennedy and lost. He came back in an era of absolutely poverty crisis, crime sprees, rioting, and social unrest at a point in American history where we were beginning to feel the closeness of another Civil War. Where the Democrats promised chaos, the nation as a whole turned to the Republican Party to see what they had to offer. That was in the “failed” California politician that would take the country by a surprising storm.
Nixon’s upbringings were as humble as just about any political career. Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California, in a house built by his father, located on his family’s lemon ranch. His mother was a Quaker, and his father converted from Methodism to the Quaker faith. Nixon’s upbringing was influenced by Quaker observances of the time such as abstinence from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. Nixon had four brothers, two of whom died from disease at a young age. The four boys lived a rather poor lifestyle, often wearing clothes tailored by their mother. He way out of Yorba Linda was his acceptance into California’s public university system. One of the few Presidents to not attend an ivy league school. He was forced to decline a scholarship to Harvard and Yale as his struggling family needed him at home, instead attending nearby Whittier College, where he graduated summa cum laude. He was given a full scholarship to Duke University Law School, finishing third in his class with a tested IQ of 143. Nixon graduated from Duke Law School in 1937, and volunteered for the Navy after schooling under no obligation. Commander Richard Nixon while on active duty besides the Letter of Commendation, earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He was entitled to two engagement stars on the Asiatic- Pacific Campaign Medal for supporting air action in the Treasury- Bougainville operations from October 27th to December 15th, and for consolidation of the northern Solomons from December 15th 1943 to July 22nd 1944. Nixon transferred to the Retired Reserve of the Naval Reserve on June 1st 1966.
The accomplishment of Nixon’s career before stepping into the White House are significant. For one fact alone, he could be considered the first modern Vice President, working directly alongside Eisenhower on worldwide diplomacy and domestic affairs. There’s this idea that Walter Mondale created the ‘modern vice presidency’. But that honor would most certainly go towards, in my humble opinion, to Vice President Richard Nixon, who revolutionized the office. Prior to Nixon Vice Presidents were virtually unknowns and did not play a major role in the life of the administration. Nixon changed all that. He was an integral part of the Eisenhower Administration, and was the roving ambassador of the US, with Dick and Pat Nixon going all around the world. He was also the youngest to hold the office since 1860. Nixon made the Vice Presidency what it is today, with the VP being the logical choice of being the President’s successor. Mondale was merely a continuation of that tradition, which continued with GHW Bush and Al Gore.
Vice Presidents before that time had no real official duties, and Nixon sought to change that role. One of his most powerful moments was in helping draft the first of its kind 1957 Civil Rights Act, which kickstarted the Civil Rights Movement, and the end of Jim Crow desegregation. There isn’t enough room to discuss his work in Civil Rights here, but if you want to read more on him Nixon’s Civil Rights” by Dean Kotlowski is probably the best and most comprehensive book on this topic. Historian AM Schlesinger said… “He rang up governors and got them to integrate. 80% had not done so. This concluded visiting and agreeing to be photographed with Coretta Scott King after assassination… (when other politicians refused to do so because of fear of backlash and assassination attempts)
This same mode of thinking took place, when Nixon himself entered the White House, first lady Pat was given duties unlike any other first lady that came before her. The Nixon Foundation explains that she had shared her husband’s journeys abroad in his Vice Presidential years, and she continued the practice during his Presidency. Her travels included the historic visit to the People’s Republic of China and the summit meetings in the Soviet Union. Her first solo trip was a journey of compassion to take relief supplies to earthquake victims in Peru. Later she visited Africa and South America with the unique diplomatic standing of Personal Representative of the President. Always she was a charming envoy.
When images of Vietnam a President come to mind, sadly the image that is most often remembered is of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissenger, and watching the lottery numbers played out on television. Many may recall the “illegal bombings of Cambodia”, and even recite that Nixon had prolonged the war. However we have to take a look at the reality and conflict for what it was. Vietnam rooted in a conflict that started as early back as WWII, during what were labeled the Indochina Wars, which involved the Cambodian–Thai border, Sino-Vietnamese, and Khmer Rouge–Vietnamese. According to historians there were estimates of 100,000–150,000 assassinations under Việt Minh waging war against Roosevelt and Truman administration, in total civilian deaths are estimated at 400,000. Benjamin Valentino estimates that the French were responsible for 250,000 civilian deaths. The French Army went onto torture Việt Minh prisoners. By the early 1960s with Kennedy entering office, the conflict in Vietnam was only looking more rocky as time passed, and the Soviets determination to now expand to nations such as Cuba intensified the Cold War to new heights.
From 1961 to 1963, President Kennedy increased the US military presence in Vietnam, establishing the Military Assistance Command. President Kennedy increased 16,000 troops in 1962. It was Kennedy’s first understanding and vision being largely afraid of the Domino Theory of Communism, that the United States should be actively engaged in influencing world governments to pro-democracy forms of government. This was largely without declaring war and without Congressional approval. Between President Eisenhower and Kennedy, there were at least 20,000 United States troops stationed in South Vietnam by the early 1960s. This was over a decade before Nixon was about to step out of office. You can speculate and argue that Kennedy would have or had planned to do something else, but the great understanding should be that the Vietnam conflict was already well along the way before Nixon had even considered running for office again. When Johnson had taken the White House, his plan to escalate the Vietnam War had jumpstarted America’s involvement to a whopping half a million troops by the end of his term, and yes this was under the complete draft system.
During the ’68 election, the Democratic Party had exhausted its anti-war options. Hubert Humphrey was largely a pro-war candidate. Many seem to forget that the Nixon campaign ran on a platform of bringing peace and stability back to the nation. Nixon being a former pacifist Quaker sympathized with the youth’s position on the Vietnam War, and largely revolved his platform centered on bring new youth into the Republican Party. He did this by visiting colleges and not being afraid to approach hecklers and hippies in close contact, running psychedelic themes adverts on television featuring acts such as the Grateful Dead, and coordinating with rock and roll poster artists to spread new billboards throughout American city streets known as the Young Voters for Nixon. During this era a large amount of American youth protested and turned away from the Democratic Party, and Republicans saw this as an opportunity to form what was known as a silent majority. In other words, segments of the population who were too afraid to admit to their friends they liked Nixon, but at the polls they overwhelmingly voted in his favor. America’s youth was putting trust in a grandfatherly figure.
That was Dick Blumenthal, a young manga cum laude Harvard graduate who became attracted to Nixon’s policies and joined the Nixon Youth Corps. While a senior at Harvard, Blumenthal decided to focus his thesis on the Office Of Economic Opportunity’s Community Action Program. The man who knew a lot about that was Daniel Patrick Moynihan, selected by Nixon as councilor. During a two-three month period, Moynihan worked a generous amount of time with Blumenthal. “He, more than anyone else, guided the progress of the thesis”. The two kept in touch during Blumenthal’s study in England, and when Moynihan moved to the White House as liberal-in-residence, Blumenthal took a job as Staff Assistant to Nixon.
Anti-poverty programs engaged much of Blumenthal during this time. He helped draft the President’s message on the OEO and on welfare. Anyone should reading this article should go out and read on Nixon’s welfare proposals, and it may come as a shock to you.
“I am quite candid with friends that I don’t always agree with everything the President does. I will argue toughly for the President’s anti-poverty efforts”. — Richard Blumenthal (1969 Statement)
This strategy of bringing in moderates and Democrats paid off. During his one term in office he managed to switch every blue state to red, in the historic red wave election of 1972. Seriously can you imagine states like New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Oregon, voting overwhelmingly Republican today? Not only did Nixon put his trust and faith in the “youth of tomorrow”, as he called them, he followed through with action and sympathy for the issues they were fighting for, such as Vietnam deescalation, environmental concerns, and great reform and decriminalization our drug laws (not known by many). In office we saw more progressive and left leaning legislation passed under this Republican President, than perhaps any GOP President before or after him. This included creating the task force that would become the Environmental Protection Agency, signing into law Clean Air, Clear River, and Endangered Species Acts. Nixon is the reason we no longer breathe leaded fumes out of auto exhausts. His administration set fourth the foundation that made it illegal for companies to dump their raw sewage into lakes and streams behind them. He rallied behind the sympathy of labor unions and workers of America by pushing the greatest workplace safety legislation into law… OSHA. Even going so far as to pardon fellow Teamster Jimmy Hoffa from prison. All while sending a man to the moon not once, not twice, but six times. And after doing all of this, he gave his protestors and critics the right to vote against him, by lowering the voting age to 18. Imagine that?
On top of all of these accomplishments, Nixon himself had an uncanny attachment and closeness to the American public, something you would not see from any future President. He is the only President in recent history to have given up secret service, as he wanted to return to a humble life. He was known to show up to random events and parties unannounced and shake hands with crowds. I’ve heard stories of him going to cafes in New York City and sitting down with random strangers and having conversations. He was never afraid to approach crowds or protestors as depicted in Oliver Stone’s film.
“Yup there he was. All dressed up like that too. Wearing a hat at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Just to take his morning walk. He let us approach him without secret service. I asked if he thought Reagan would stay active. “I think so. He loves it too much,” was his response.” — Michael Condon (Morris County, NJ)
This was a side of Nixon that not many got to see unless you met him in person. Being played out on the press and in newspapers as the “animal in chief” with the big nose, there was no issue that divided the nation more than Vietnam. It is unfortunate that in many social circles, the Nixon and Kissinger team are commonly referred to as “war criminals” for the bombings in Cambodia as an example. Many criticisms point out the Lottery Draft as one of the worst ideas to ever hit the American shores. Others even go so far as to say that Nixon prolonged the war though “sabotage”. It is shouted Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young’s “ten soldiers and Nixon’s coming”. If we’re going to really dive into the basic events that occurred during Vietnam era, we would have to debunk a lot of the mistruths that are commonly believed. Let’s start with the basic functions of the Lottery Draft and why it was revolutionary for it’s time. It was perhaps in my view the single greatest event that could have occurred in America at its time, as painful as we may remember it.
Complaints towards the Lottery Draft, are ignoring the fact that for every war up until that point since the Civil War… there was a draft. Only prior to the Nixon administration it was very much approached in a different manner. Prior to Nixon changing the rules, students could apply for what was called a “college deferment” from the draft if they were pursuing a STEM field. This created in effect was were referred to as Fortunate Sons. The large majority protesting the war, were in fact upper middle class to wealthy college students on deferments not fighting out in the war. The poor city kids and many of whom were minorities with only a high school education, had no choice but to serve and be placed on enrollment. At the same time, the policy makers which were in favor of continuing the war, were not sending their kids out to fight in battle. They were protected through money and our education system. Nixon saw this as an opportunity, taking after a similar draft system already implemented at the time in Australia. Nixon said, okay if you guys are going to protest the war which has never happened before in history of American wars to that extent, let’s make the draft fair and introduce a non discriminatory lottery that is completely randomized.
Of course as you can now imagine the outrage was incredible, because now the Americans who were originally shielded from being forced to fight in war because of their economic class and statue, now had to give up their ivy league education and fight off in battle with the rest of the working class. Now all of a sudden this brought the entire intellectual establishment which before Nixon wanted to stay in Vietnam under LBJ, to now demand that we put an end to the Vietnam War because we were drafting their sons, and brought Congress towards almost unanimous support for ending the draft and bringing the war to a close, as well as reducing troops on the ground from 525,000 to 39,000 in one year. This would not have been possible had Nixon not introduced the Lottery. Also keep in mind that, a total of 306,998 men were drafted under Nixon’s lottery. That means less than 3% of the total soldiers that fought in Vietnam. Also note over 60% of those drafted were never sent to Vietnam and never saw combat. 66% of Vietnam vets said they would serve again if called upon. Just a little historical perspective. That is why I call Nixon one of the greatest peace Presidents we ever had.
Not only did Nixon effectively pull all manned troops from fighting overseas, he made the largest cuts to our military since Truman. Under LBJ at the height of the Cold War, we saw massive increase in military spending and bases. Nixon in an unprecedented move coined “whetting the Pentagon ax” by closing down a total of 274 military bases around the country in 1973. This saved the country an estimated $2.5 billion a year which would be $7 billion in modern dollars. Effectively massively reducing the military budget. President Nixon downsized the United States military more than any other President in recent American history. However, one aspect Nixon is criticized for is Kissinger’s Agent Orange and chemical warfare. I am now about to explain to you why I am a large advocate for agent orange and Nixon’s track record on chemical weapons.
Agent Orange was produced in the United States from the late 1940s and was used in industrial agriculture and was also sprayed along railroads and power lines to control undergrowth in forests. During the Vietnam War the U.S military procured over 20 million gallons consisting of a fifty-fifty mixture of 2,4-D and Dioxin-contaminated 2,4,5-T. Nine chemical companies produced it: Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto Company, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, Hercules Inc., Thompson Hayward Chemical Co., United States Rubber Company (Uniroyal), Thompson Chemical Co., Hoffman-Taff Chemicals, Inc., and Agriselect. We need to consider and face the reality that agent orange was not just used under Nixon. It was used in Vietnam as far back as 1961. The spraying of agent orange officially was put to a halt in 1971 within Nixon’s first term in office. Moreover, imagine the consequences of not using any pesticide on the foliage. When the United States went to battle, their number one priority was getting troops back home safely.
“Did it save lives? No doubt. Over there it did, but nobody knew it was going to be taking them later,” — Dan Stenvold, (President of the North Dakota branch of the VVA)
For there was great controversy with the use of such chemical pesticides and other forms of biological warfare and chemicals, but if we take a closer look at the Nixon administration’s records on bioweapons you begin to paint a different picture on the idea that Henry Kissinger was a war criminal.
Let’s talk about Henry Kissinger and chemical warfare. From Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter (Wisconsin) Octobert 23, 1971 Richard Nixon selected Melvin Laird as his Secretary of Defense in early 1969, with intention to eliminate the United States biological weapons programs which had ballooned in funding under Kennedy and Johnson. We then learned in leaked documents that the United States tested bio weapons on its own citizens. Laird’s push for a review of both the chemical and biological programs arose when Congress attempted to push the Pentagon for open, joint Congressional hearings on chemical-biological warfare (CBW). The Pentagon balked and the result was Laird’s memorandum to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger urging a review of those weapons programs.
In late May 1969 Kissinger directed key administration officials to begin a review of CBW “policies, programs and operational concepts” with a report to be issued no later than September. In June 1969 Kissinger asked a former Harvard colleague, Matthew Meselson to prepare a position paper on U.S. chemical and biological weapons programs. Meselson and Paul Doty then organized a private conference to discuss policy issues. The result was a September 1969 paper that not only urged U.S. ratification of the Geneva Protocol but an end to U.S. BW programs. Meselson and his colleagues argued that a biological attack would likely inflict a great toll on civilian populations while remaining largely militarily ineffective. Executive action on biological warfare was followed by Nixon pushing Congress to act, which resulted in August of 1969 when the Senate passed an amendment to the Military Procurement Bill unilaterally renouncing first-use of chemical weapons.
These actions resulted in the halt of 9 bio-weapons research facilities which included Pine Bluff in Arkansas and Building 257 in Long Island. Thanks to President Nixon’s legacy. It is now commonly misunderstood by many historians that the Nixon administration condoned chemical warfare. They did the exact opposite. This is often not well advertised.
Henry Kissinger is frequently shouted down by his critics in comparison to a Nazi war criminal, even though he himself was a Jew who fighting in WWII against the Nazis. He is frequently criticized for his push for the bombing campaign in Cambodia and arial raids of orange mist that left long lasting poison over civilian population, and led to bloodshed of millions of civilians. Right? Dr. Kissinger himself has never been afraid to confront his naysayers head one, and he came to the defense of the Cambodia bombings in a 2016 conference at the LBJ Library. In 1968 the Vietnam War had just about reached its peak in escalation. Kissinger described there was no carpet bombing, and that it was “absolutely nonsense” and not true. In the Johnson administration, the north Vietnamese moved four divisions into the border areas of Vietnam and Cambodia. On Cambodian soil, and established base areas for which they launched attacks into Vietnam. The divisions were put there in opposition to the local Cambodian government. The LBJ administration decided not to do this, but when Nixon came in he had already sent a message to the North Vietnamese that he was eager to resume negotiations. In the third week of the Nixon; presidency, they started an offensive in which every week, up to 500 Americans were killed, and more than half of these attacks came from the areas that were occupied by those four divisions, inside Cambodian territory. After we had suffered 1500 casualties, nearly as many as we suffered in 10 years of war in Afghanistan, Kissinger explained that Nixon ordered an attack on the base areas within 5 miles of the Vietnamese border, that were essentially unpopulated.
“The word war criminal should not be thrown around in the domestic debate. It’s a shameful reflection on the people who use it. So when the phrase carpet bombing is used, it is probably much less than what the Obama administration has done in similar base areas in Pakistan.” — Dr. Henry Kissinger (LBJ Library 2016)
While this was going on, simultaneously the world was arguably at its peak of the Cold War tension in the mid to late 1960s under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Upon Nixon stepping into the White House, he was determined to create “a generation of peace” as historian Ben Stein describes. He became the first President to engage in direct negotiations with both the Soviet Union and Red China, undercutting the Soviets in a move of triangulation. According to Silent Coup, Kissinger and Nixon setup a secret back channel from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For example, it was Kissinger who met with China for the first time in secret without telling the military first, that established relations with Nixon for the ultimate meeting. Generals were not pleased. In just a few years prior to this occurring no one thought it could be done. Nixon went on to form the SALT agreements which led to the first nuclear disarmament treaties, that commented in Helsinki in November of 1969 within his first year in office. 1972 would mark the first time a sitting President would attempt denuclearization. Working with Kissinger, Nixon successfully got the Soviets to agree to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty which banned the use of a “first-strike” strategic defense system. It would be the only denuclearization treaty every ratified by Congress. Unfortunately in the year 2002 after having honored the agreement for 30 years, President Bush removed the United States from Nixon’s treaty. However Nixon and Kissinger’s legacy led to an 87% reduction in nuclear stockpile.
This peace and stability we take for granted today was made when this photograph was snapped. It has to be pointed out that just in the year before, classrooms were ducking and covering, and hardware stores were selling fallout supplies. The Nixon years was the beginning of a new era for the American people and the world, and this is commonly overlooked but it really shouldn’t be. This was in no small part to Nixon’s own large understanding of world affairs.
In conversation with Nixon staffer from 1970–1972 Mike Ebbing, he explained he had 3–4 primary speechwriters who would write first drafts of his speeches. He would make notes and changes in margins of drafts or write them separately on his yellow 8 1/2 x 14 legal pad in every detail. There is a good exhibit of this at the Nixon Library. Although Ebbing had left the White House at the time, he knew his final farewell speech the day after he resigned was pretty much his own creation, a speech from the heart and one of his better speeches. Nixon was a debater and orator in High School and college, meaning he had the intellect to organize and project his thoughts. It takes a person with intelligence to do so with reasonable success. How about thousands of pages of yellow pads in his handwriting? If that’s not convincing, then how about thousands of hours of White House tapes telling his speechwriters what to put in his speeches followed by his edits? If those aren’t convincing, then how about thousands of pages of oral history transcripts with former staffers? This was his incredible approach to foreign strategy that perhaps no other administraiton before or after him attempted. Nixon was a foreign policy genius. He was even smarter than Kissinger, who was very smart. Together they made an incredible foreign policy team. If Watergate had not happened, they may have solved the Palestinian problem. They were going to try in Nixon’s second term. They ultimately set the groundwork for what developed into the Egypt-Israel peace treaty under Carter. Why this is not more well understood I could not explain to you.
It is often difficult enough to focus on one area of politics, but to excel in both foreign affairs and domestic policy is an extremely rare combination. Nixon appeared to excel in both. In 1969 the United States was facing major crisis on multiple fronts. We were fighting two major wars on the home front. A war on inflation and a war on energy. These were coined “runaway inflation” and “energy/oil crisis”. This was the first time that America was ever told they had to limit their consumption and economy, the first time the idea was tossed around that energy was limitless as long as you kept mining and digging underground. Nixon understood the dire need for an alternative energy source that would not be reliant on fossil fuels. As he put it, the idea that no future generation “would ever be reliant on a foreign land” for the energy we need.
After his famous State Of The Union address, he instructed the Atomic Energy Commission to speed up the licensing and requirements from 10 years to 6 years to bring nuclear power online at an unprecedented rate. Nixon envisioned 1,000 nuclear power plants by the turn of the century, and a complete energy independence by the year 1980. He labeled this “Project Independence” and it almost became a reality. During Nixon’s administration, of the new electrical generator capacity contracted for during 1972, 70% was nuclear powered. Today that number is a mere 5%, and we are still dependent on foreign oil.
“Let us set as our national goal, in the spirit of Apollo, with the determination of the Manhattan Project, that by the end of this decade we will have developed the potential to meet our own energy needs without depending n any foreign energy sources. Thus I’m asking the atomic energy commission to speed up the licensing and construction of nuclear plants” — (1973 SOTU Address)
This kickstarted hundreds of thousands of both construction and STEM engineering careers across the country. Almost all of the nuclear power plants in operation today were ordered and began construction under Nixon in the 1970s, and they are still supplying the majority of America’s carbon free energy. Ironically we have not built any new plants since Nixon. After the Three Mile incident under the Carter administration, a total of 68 plants which had already began construction were cancelled. The new motto heading into the Carter years was “turn your thermostat down in winter” and a “Crisis Of Confidence” that got rave reviews in the Soviet Union. Today we still rely on foreign oil to heat our homes and drive our cars. Had Nixon’s vision been followed, the climate crisis would be non existent. This is another part of his legacy that is not talked about nearly enough.
The youth growing up today do not know of rivers that ooze orange slime. They don’t know of cities full of carbon dust and leaded smog. One of the issues plaguing cities like Los Angeles for many decades was smog. Defeating smog received bipartisan support because it was a visible enemy. It received easy bipartisan support from both Republicans and Democrats who didn’t want to lose their seats in office, and it didn’t involve getting behind legalizing a dangerous narcotic that the hippies used, or getting in the middle of the divisive debate around the Vietnam War. This was an easy political victory to get behind, as who wouldn’t support breathing better air? After fighting for decades for anti-smog legislation on the federal level, President Nixon listened to the college kids and pressed his newly appointed EPA William Ruckelshaus with enforcing an “add-on” that could attach to an exhaust pipe and eliminate the problem for future generations.
That add-on was labeled the “catalytic converter” and considered a scientific breakthrough. It successfully improved air quality in cities in a dramatic way by using a particulate filter. Part of the reason why we had to switch to unleaded gas. Americans could see again while driving, and perhaps breathe again. No one today will ever know the feeling of getting light headed and migraines on the highways because of carbon monoxide exposure. The youth today do not know of a world where raw sewage is dumped into their drinking water, when rivers and lakes were catching on fire in the literal sense. Since its inception, the Clean Water Act has imposed environmental regulations on individuals and industries that dump waste into waterways, and has led to $650 billion in expenditure due to grants the federal government provided municipalities to build sewage treatment plants or improve upon existing facilities. Your children live in a much cleaner and safer world.
It was in 1971 that Nixon wrote the proclamation establishing the first Earth Day and Earth Week. His goal was to help further the education and awareness of environmental issues, especially among schoolchildren. This is when the nation’s first recycling programs began, since raw waste could no longer be dumped back into the environment. When Nixon stepped out of the White House, you could now go to prison for eating a Bald Eagle egg, and the first Superfund Sites were selected and expanded under Jimmy Carter.
The Nixon White House was the last administration of the last 50 years to support human space travel and funding for the sciences, being the President to watch over six Apollo missions as it was broadcast to the world. An era where NASA was regularly receiving upwards of 4% of the entire federal budget. Only stopping after the shock of Apollo 13 for obvious reasons. This is just a side note of everything else we saw come out of this era. Like all stories though, it wasn’t all roses. In the 1970s on top of the energy crisis, we saw the inflation crisis. The three biggest inflation spikes of the 20th century had followed the two world wars and the war in Korea in the early 1950s, and the budget tied to a fixed asset could no longer produce a balanced budget. It is commonly stated by many buyers of gold, that Nixon was responsible for destroying the US Dollar and creating the spending crisis we see today. On August 15th, 1971 in order to fulfill a campaign promise to end the Vietnam War quickly with bombing raids, Nixon closed the gold window. It was known as the “Nixon Shock”, that sent waves of economic crisis across the globe. Nixon took us off the gold standard, but it should also be noted that even before Nixon stepped into office the inflation rate was close to 6% and national unemployment was close to 7%. Our nation was already facing an inflation crisis under LBJ.
After we left the gold standard inflation was drastically reduced. In 2020 the inflation rate is hovering around 1%. It allowed us to spend our dollar more without inflating it, but on the downside it has increased debt. He also made it legal for individuals to own gold again. However as you can see on the graph, by the 1970’s the value of the dollar was at its lowest point already. Nixon truly prevented an economic collapse. So it’s simply not true to argue that leaving the gold standard was the cause to our inflation crisis. This is a common misconception.
Another common misconception when it comes to critiques of Nixon’s domestic policy, is when it comes to discussions surrounding the War On Drugs. It is commonly told that Nixon “started the war on drugs”. Just on Quora, I recently answered the question Why did Richard Nixon start the war on drugs? This is in fact probably one of the largest myths in politics ever made in popular media. There was never a “war on drugs” declared, and certainly not by Nixon. A change in our laws were much more gradual to blame one President. If we’re speaking of Nixon directly, he was actually very progressive compared to Republicans today. Did you know that during his time in office, not one drug was made illegal? Nixon did not support prohibition.
People forget what Nixon declared. Nixon did not declare a war on drugs, he declared a war on drug addiction. The actual bill was called the Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970”. Nixon was the first President to view drug abuse as a medical problem not a criminal problem as did Carter. The bill provided billions in funding for drug rehab programs across the country and shortened mandatory minimum sentences that were put in place by Eisenhower. Alcoholics Anonymous blew up across the country during the 1970s. Nixon started the first heroin rehab facilities across the country, known as then the controversial “methadone maintenance program” in 1971. People were changing their attitude about drug addiction in general because Vietnam veterans were coming back from Vietnam addicted to opiates. This went along with establishing the nation’s first fight against cancer with the National Cancer Act, a goal in fighting childhood leukemia and other cancers that got very little federal funding before. In 1971, the number of survivors in the U.S. was 3 million and as of 2019 has increased to more than 17 million.
You have to understand the history of drug prohibition to understand why it’s a myth. What about the narcotics themselves? LSD, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana; all criminalized before Nixon stepped into office. All made illegal under the FDR, Eisenhower, and LBJ administrations. Why then is there a myth that Nixon was hard on drugs, if every President before him was extremely more harsh on drugs? Harry Anslinger was the Federal Bureau of Narcotics who served under Roosevelt. He was a staunch supporter of alcohol prohibition. You can watch countless documentaries about the history of marijuana prohibition. Likewise, it was far removed from the Nixon administration. Not many realize this, but in the 1960s and 70s government and law enforcement had a different attitude about drugs including alcohol and marijuana. There was no DEA until 1973, which worked in paramount with the FBI to singlehandedly bring down organized crime, something the Kennedy administration failed on doing. This was during an era where it wasn’t uncommon for police officers to ask you to “throw that joint in the trash” or to help you drive home drunk from a night out at the bar. In the 1970s views towards marijuana and other drugs started to change. By 1978, 14 states had decriminalized cannabis including southern states. When Reagan stepped into office he cut funding for rehab and mental institutions, so that part of Nixon’s combatting of drug addiction was never fully realized. In this regard, Nixon’s stance towards narcotics was more progressive than anyone who came before him or after him other than maybe Jimmy Carter.
Nixon actually did enforce drug trade. The photo above is the aftermath. He started the DEA to enforce border security. He practically halted all trade along the Mexican and United States border for a month in 1969 to try and cut off supplies of Mexican weed. It was called “Operation Intercept”. This effort was successful at ending the Mexican marijuana trade, but other nations took up the slack for smuggling like Columbia. If Nixon can be thanked for one thing, it can possibly be that he is known for eliminating terrible “brick weed”.
Perhaps the most underrated and uncredited part of his entire career, was his post White House career. As the pundits discredited him as a defeated man, he continued serving as unofficial advisors to future administrations, always lending advice when asked. Continuing to conduct and host television shows and interviews, as well as being the author of ten novels, one of his most famously he called “No More Vietnams”. I’ve always been fascinated with how many modern problems he seemed to nail right on the head far before most could have seen it. Even calling out potential turmoil in the Far East long before Iraq was even on our radar. He called Iran one of the “dark pages” of American history under the Carter administration. He wasn’t afraid to shy away from speaking his mind and opinion on matters when asked. Most importantly though may have been his role in bringing down the Soviet Union? During the Reagan administration Nixon played a secret role that involved secret meetings with the Soviets. Ponderwall Magazine wrote “apart from his Soviet Union trips, Nixon had also visited Cairo, Peking, Paris and Jeddah. But the synchronicity of his come-back with Gorbachev’s rise, and the 1991 trip, show clearly that he had an active role in the strategy that led to the fall of the Soviet Union.” When the documents covering Nixon’s engagements with Gorbachev are declassified, especially his trip in ’91, I believe historians will begin to look upon Nixon in a better light. Is it fair to call Nixon a mastermind of foreign policy? More than the world may ever know? Reagan and Clinton themselves displayed high regards for his expertise.
“When he became President, he took on challenges here at home on matters from cancer research to environmental protection, putting the power of the federal government where Republicans and Democrats had neglected to put it in the past; in foreign policy. He came to the presidency at a time in our history when Americans were tempted to say we had had enough of the world. Instead, he knew we had to reach out to old friends and old enemies alike. He would not allow America to quit the world.” — President Bill Clinton (R. Nixon’s funeral Apr 27, 1994)
There is no doubt that Nixon’s legacy is tainted in corruption and mistakes, but perhaps as time has passed, we can look at what he accomplished with a new set of eyes. Perhaps we were focusing too much on one event, and not enough on an entire legacy of accomplishment. In comparison to the modern era of the Republican Party, Nixon would be viewed a little to the left of Bernie Sanders. Certainly the Ike/Nixon/Ford era would be unrecognizable today in the era of Trump. There is an interview with an aid of his on conversations with Bill Kristol, where he talks about Nixon and environmental policy. He said that Nixon told him that “business people should be kept out of a meeting on environmental regulations because whatever they say will be a joke.” Imagine that hearing something like that today. Is it ironic that so many liberals hated Nixon when he was in the White House?? I asked members of America’s youth today to write in with a simple question I asked them. Being so young yourselves, what made you look past Watergate?
“I originally got interested in RN because my grandparents who raised my brother and me were avid supporters. As I got older and asked more questions about what was going on in the world, I began to see a pattern. Realizing that RN was a visionary on the world stage despite his failings during the watergate period. I’m a big reader and was fascinated with how many modern problems he nailed right on the head far before most could have seen.” — Craig Petrie (33 year old @ Farmington, MI)
“I like him because he created the EPA.” — Jovan Andradae (35 year old @ Ashford, CT)
“I’m 29, which means I was only a year old when President Nixon passed away. And like many people, I originally bought into the caricature of Nixon as pure evil, as someone whose entire political career, indeed his entire life, should be judged by Watergate. When I examined Nixon’s entire record I decided that the good significantly outweighed the bad, and I think anyone else who objectively looks at the same evidence will come to the same conclusion.” —Evin Tucker (29 year old @ Saginaw, MI)
“17 year old me (now 18) got into Nixon because I always felt bad that he got ragged on so I wanted to see it for myself. Once I did further research, I realized his sets of ideals closely matched my own, he had a cool personal history, and he basically politically suicided himself for this country. So imo, he was the hero America deserved, we just failed to see it.” — Kyle Genzlinger (17 year old @ Chandler, AZ)
It is my view that Nixon is perhaps the most misunderstood man of the 20th century. I recall one of the defining moments that changed my views on Nixon personally, and it came in the unusual place of a theatrical film. Oliver Stone’s Nixon was mostly a negative caricature, but there was one gleam of humanity that shown through the screen. The moment where Nixon approached the protestors along the Washington monument, where he had a real conversation with the common folk. I came to find out this was actually based on a true story. It was really a defining moment for me. It started my journey down the path of learning more about the extremely complex person that Nixon was. No one is without their faults, but I am shocked to see this man still ranked towards the bottom of lists by many historians.
When the Trump impeachment trials and Russiagate hearings were taking place, along with the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, comparisons were being made between that and Watergate. To which former staffer and political writer Bill Kristol remarks, “Unfair to Nixon, who was for all his flaws a serious person.”
I find that the youth of today surprisingly, is open to taking another look at his administration. A youth that is not clouded by the memory of living through Watergate. For this article I interviewed many younger fans and asked their opinion. They realize that even Republicans like Ike are really from a different era. Noam Chomnsky referred to his legacy as the last “New Deal Republican”. A great book I can recommend called the “Last Liberal Republican” by John Roy Price, provides an insider’s perspective on Nixon’s surprising social policy. In his inaugural address, Nixon remarked that “the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker” a phrase that would later be placed on his gravestone. He spoke about turning partisan politics into a new age of unity. I think that this is perfectly summed up in Nixon’s own words. “I have great faith in American youth. The youth of today can change the world, and if they understand that, I think we’re going to go forward to a great age. Not just for Americans, but for peace and progress for all the people in the world.” As the title suggests, in the era of Trump, is it time to take another look at Tricky Dick?
