The search for the explanation of Watergate, by many historians, is not in the institutional or social forces but in the personality of Richard Nixon. Extensive excerpts from conversations about Watergate in the White House Tapes emphasize Nixon’s lifelong resort to vicious political tactics and his longstanding belief that he was a special target of unscrupulous enemies and had to “get” them before they got him.
Nixon was most highly noted during his time in Congress for his participation to the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC), where he took lead role in the investigation of Alger Hiss. Hiss was a State Department official who was accused to have been a communist spy in 1948. This was at the height of American paranoia about communists in the government, and Nixon was no exception to this paranoia. Alger Hiss stood for everything Nixon stood against; Hiss was an ivy leaguer who had a silver spoon in his mouth since birth. In the first edition of his book the “Six Crises,” Nixon says he knew Alger Hiss was lying about being a communist because “he wore a spotted tie,” this insight to Nixon’s skewed perspective, was removed in later editions of the book.
Nixon was nothing if not an opportunist, and taking down a communist could do wonders for his goals of political advancement. Although Nixon was not the only politician behind the investigation, he made sure that he got full credit for the conviction of Hiss. As a result of the conviction, Nixon insisted that this was “an indictment on President Harry Truman himself”, who did everything to impede the investigation and insisted Hiss was innocent. Nixon had deployed the Hiss case to make himself the debating partner of the president. He was an undisputed leader of a leaderless Republican Party. Nixon had used his manipulative prowess and impeccable timing to advance himself a little further.
Once Nixon was on the ballot as Vice President for Eisenhower, Nixon gave his “Checkers Speech.” The speech was a plea to the American people to endorse him as a vice president candidate. In his speech, Nixon made himself out to be a “regular guy” by speaking of owing money to his parent, having several mortgages out on his houses, and driving a simple Oldsmobile. Nixon was good at reading people and knew exactly what the American wanted to hear. They wanted “one of them” in office, an everyday American who was looking out for the little guy.
Richard Nixon was sworn as president in 1968. His presidency, in domestic policy, was a mix of contrary ideology. Democrats heavily dominated Congress while he was in office and his ideology was very flexible if the results made him look good. Nixon was as conservative as he could be and as liberal as he had to be. Even thought there was a Republican president the 1965-1978 period was a major liberal activist era. Nixon established the Voting Act in 1970, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the establishment of the E.P.A in 1969 as well as expanding public welfare with the increase of food stamps, unemployment, and social security. When it came to domestic policy, Nixon believed “this country could run itself domestically without a President.” Nixon contradicted traditionally conservative ideals, for the sake of his likability around election time. He threw out the conservative view of curbing inflation at the expense of unemployment with the “New Economic Policy (of) fiscal stimulation” in 1972, which helped lead a small boom in the economy in the run-up to the 1972 election. Nixon was not so ideological as he was motivated to win at all cost.
Nixon was able to negotiate our way out of Vietnam and pushed our way in to talks with China and the Soviet Union. In Vietnam, his exit plan was slowly and strategically. Nixon insisted it was best to work one major communist, the Soviet Union, against the other, the People’s Republic of China.” It was later revealed in the Nixon tapes that he expected Vietnam to collapse when American troops were pulled out, and the war was only prolonged so he could be reelected in 1972. Nixon also eased Cold War tensions, which was a contradiction since he presented himself as very anticommunist and conservative. Nixon was an opportunist, out to “get himself a prominent place in twentieth-century history,”
Richard Nixon was a paranoid individual. He saw political enemies from all sides, and viewed American politics as one crisis after the other. His enemies included the media, Jews, the Ivy League, and intellectuals. He saw them as major threats to his continuing political gain. Nixon was worried that enemies and leaks to the press would undermine his international agenda. Nixon was so paranoid he hired a “plumber’s unit” made of CIA agents to find out information about his political enemies for him. The incessant inquiring about his political enemies lead to the scandal known as Watergate.
When evidence of Watergate started to pile up, Nixon did his best to distance himself from Watergate. He asked most of his closest staff to resign and in press conferences he blamed his resigned staff for covering up Watergate from the public and from him. When the White House tapes were later subpoenaed it was discovered that Nixon had asked his chief of staff to help cover up Watergate. It was also discovered that the President had been involved in many scandals and tampered with these tapes before submitting them for investigation. Watergate was an example of Nixon’s never ending hunger to one-up his competition. In the polls, Nixon was already ahead by double digits when the “plumbers” broke in to the Democratic Committee to try and gather information for Nixon’s benefit. For Nixon, it was not enough to win, he wanted to win the election by the greatest margin ever in a presidential race and as a result Nixon resigned office on August 9th, 1974.
Nixon’s pragmatism helped form domestic policies that aid the American people to this day, and his foreign policy, especially his negotiations with China and the easing of cold war tensions, prompted the start of our emerging world economy. Nixon’s all or nothing attitude would become a trademark of political careers. Nixon was sneaky, dishonest, and let “profits” overshadow the American public’s well being. He was one of the first politicians to strategize in this way, and his legacy still fuels mistrust for the government, that has affected the political world today.
Nixon was most highly noted during his time in Congress for his participation to the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC), where he took lead role in the investigation of Alger Hiss. Hiss was a State Department official who was accused to have been a communist spy in 1948. This was at the height of American paranoia about communists in the government, and Nixon was no exception to this paranoia. Alger Hiss stood for everything Nixon stood against; Hiss was an ivy leaguer who had a silver spoon in his mouth since birth. In the first edition of his book the “Six Crises,” Nixon says he knew Alger Hiss was lying about being a communist because “he wore a spotted tie,” this insight to Nixon’s skewed perspective, was removed in later editions of the book.
Nixon was nothing if not an opportunist, and taking down a communist could do wonders for his goals of political advancement. Although Nixon was not the only politician behind the investigation, he made sure that he got full credit for the conviction of Hiss. As a result of the conviction, Nixon insisted that this was “an indictment on President Harry Truman himself”, who did everything to impede the investigation and insisted Hiss was innocent. Nixon had deployed the Hiss case to make himself the debating partner of the president. He was an undisputed leader of a leaderless Republican Party. Nixon had used his manipulative prowess and impeccable timing to advance himself a little further.
Once Nixon was on the ballot as Vice President for Eisenhower, Nixon gave his “Checkers Speech.” The speech was a plea to the American people to endorse him as a vice president candidate. In his speech, Nixon made himself out to be a “regular guy” by speaking of owing money to his parent, having several mortgages out on his houses, and driving a simple Oldsmobile. Nixon was good at reading people and knew exactly what the American wanted to hear. They wanted “one of them” in office, an everyday American who was looking out for the little guy.
Richard Nixon was sworn as president in 1968. His presidency, in domestic policy, was a mix of contrary ideology. Democrats heavily dominated Congress while he was in office and his ideology was very flexible if the results made him look good. Nixon was as conservative as he could be and as liberal as he had to be. Even thought there was a Republican president the 1965-1978 period was a major liberal activist era. Nixon established the Voting Act in 1970, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the establishment of the E.P.A in 1969 as well as expanding public welfare with the increase of food stamps, unemployment, and social security. When it came to domestic policy, Nixon believed “this country could run itself domestically without a President.” Nixon contradicted traditionally conservative ideals, for the sake of his likability around election time. He threw out the conservative view of curbing inflation at the expense of unemployment with the “New Economic Policy (of) fiscal stimulation” in 1972, which helped lead a small boom in the economy in the run-up to the 1972 election. Nixon was not so ideological as he was motivated to win at all cost.
Nixon was able to negotiate our way out of Vietnam and pushed our way in to talks with China and the Soviet Union. In Vietnam, his exit plan was slowly and strategically. Nixon insisted it was best to work one major communist, the Soviet Union, against the other, the People’s Republic of China.” It was later revealed in the Nixon tapes that he expected Vietnam to collapse when American troops were pulled out, and the war was only prolonged so he could be reelected in 1972. Nixon also eased Cold War tensions, which was a contradiction since he presented himself as very anticommunist and conservative. Nixon was an opportunist, out to “get himself a prominent place in twentieth-century history,”
Richard Nixon was a paranoid individual. He saw political enemies from all sides, and viewed American politics as one crisis after the other. His enemies included the media, Jews, the Ivy League, and intellectuals. He saw them as major threats to his continuing political gain. Nixon was worried that enemies and leaks to the press would undermine his international agenda. Nixon was so paranoid he hired a “plumber’s unit” made of CIA agents to find out information about his political enemies for him. The incessant inquiring about his political enemies lead to the scandal known as Watergate.
When evidence of Watergate started to pile up, Nixon did his best to distance himself from Watergate. He asked most of his closest staff to resign and in press conferences he blamed his resigned staff for covering up Watergate from the public and from him. When the White House tapes were later subpoenaed it was discovered that Nixon had asked his chief of staff to help cover up Watergate. It was also discovered that the President had been involved in many scandals and tampered with these tapes before submitting them for investigation. Watergate was an example of Nixon’s never ending hunger to one-up his competition. In the polls, Nixon was already ahead by double digits when the “plumbers” broke in to the Democratic Committee to try and gather information for Nixon’s benefit. For Nixon, it was not enough to win, he wanted to win the election by the greatest margin ever in a presidential race and as a result Nixon resigned office on August 9th, 1974.
Nixon’s pragmatism helped form domestic policies that aid the American people to this day, and his foreign policy, especially his negotiations with China and the easing of cold war tensions, prompted the start of our emerging world economy. Nixon’s all or nothing attitude would become a trademark of political careers. Nixon was sneaky, dishonest, and let “profits” overshadow the American public’s well being. He was one of the first politicians to strategize in this way, and his legacy still fuels mistrust for the government, that has affected the political world today.
References
- Allison, Robert. “Reputation of Richard M. Nixon.” 1999. Web. 03 May 2014Glaister, Dan. “Recordings reveal Richard Nixon’s paranoia.” 3 December 2008. Web. 03 May 2014
- History.com Staff. “Richard M. Nixon” 2003. 03 May 2014.
- Hughes, Ken. “A Rough Guide to Richard Nixon’s Conspiracy Theories .” 2013. Web. 03 May 2014.
- Johnson, Evan L. “Conspiracy, Pragmatism and Style: An Analysis of Richard Nixon’s Antecedent Anti-Communist Conspiracy Rhetoric.” 2013. Web. 03 May 2014.
- Morgan, Ruth. “Nixon, Watergate, and the Study of the Presidency.” Winter 1996. Web. 03 May 2014.
- Sarias, David. “To Understand a Sandal: Watergate beyond Nixon. Web. 03 May 2014.
- Stathis, Stephen W. “Nixon, Watergate, and American Foreign Policy. Winter 1983. Web. 03 May 2014.