Richard Nixon

7 Pages 1658 Words

“The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This
honor now beckons America-the chance to lead the world at last out of the valley
of turmoil and onto that high ground of peace that man has dreamed of since the
dawn of civilization.”1 These were words spoken by Richard Milhous Nixon. He
was the thirty-seventh president to take office. He was a skilled negotiator and
had a great understanding of foreign affairs. He probably is remembered most
for his achievements in foreign policy and the famous Watergate scandal that
forced him to resign his office.
Richard Nixon ran for president in 1960 against John F. Kennedy, but lost
the election. Not giving up hope, he ran again in 1968. His campaign strategies
were to unite the Republican party and he appealing to voters in border,
southern, and western states by enunciating conservative policies that
distinguished the GOP from the liberalism of the Democrats and the more
conservative views of the American Independent party. His opponents of this
election were Democrat Hubert F. Humpherey and Gov. George Wallace of
Alabama, candidate for the American Independent party. Nixon decided that he
did not want the Vietnam war to become a campaign issue; but he did pledge to
end the war if he was elected. Wallace talked about the issue the most. In
conclusion of the election, Nixon won 32 states, Humphrey 13 plus the District of
Columbia, and Wallace 5 in the South. Humphery and Nixon came close with
31,770,237 to 31,270,533 and 9,906,141 for Wallace. Nixon received 301
electoral votes, to 191 for Humphrey and 46 for Wallace.
President Richard Nixon inherited a country at war, aggravation, and
violence. His goal was to get all US troops out of Vietnam. He did reduce US
troops from 550,000 in 1969 to about 30,000 in 1972. Nixon did not immediately
set a date for the withdrawal of all US troops; he said that the United States
must leave Vietnam in...