# Lecture 26 Nixon I. Background A. Richard Milhous Nixon grew up on Southern California B. Raised in a Quaker family Quakers known for pacifism C. 1946 entered politics by defeating a liberal in the house of representatives D. Became a member of HUAC and extreme anti-communist E. 1950 election ran a smear campaign against the liberal Helen Gahagan Douglas, "pink right down to her underwear." F. 1952 he became the vice president i. A newspaper reported that Nixon had accepted $18,000 underhandedly from supporters in California platform that year was "Korea, Communism, Corruption." ii. Most advisors told Eisenhower to dump Nixon as his running mate iii. Went on national T.V. disclosed his entire finances like a Rap sheet and documented his purchases standard of living. iv. Conceding that the family pet "Checkers" could be considered an illegal gift, he vowed he wouldn't break his daughters heart by returning the cocker spaniel. v. What became known as the "Checkers Speech" won him huge popularity and he remained on Eisenhower's ticket. Vietnam A. When he took office in 1969 Nixon said, "I'm not going to end up like LBJ, holed up in the White House afraid to show my face on the street. I'm going to stop that war. Fast." B. He did begin to withdraw troops but added a few war innovations of his own. i. In the spring of 1969 Nixon began bombing Cambodia, which he hid from congress and the U.S. public for over a year ii. Trying to knock out North Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia he dropped more than 100,000 tons of bombs Vietnamese just hid in other places iii. In April of 1970 Nixon orders U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to invade Cambodia. iv. More than 100,000 students protested at the White House and hundreds of Universities held demonstrations v. On May 4th, 1970 students through some rocks at the National Guard units monitoring the demonstration vi. The N.G. opened fire, killing four and wounding 10 others. C. Meanwhile, in Cambodia.... i. Our strikes on Cambodia caused the North Vietnamese army to move further into Cambodia ii. Instigating a brutal civil war that lasted until 1975 iii. The communists won the civil war and imposed a savage rule that slaughtered millions of Cambodians and gave the name the "killing fields" to a land of historically peaceful people. D. In Vietnam, despite a decrease men, in Nixon increased bombing i. In march 1972 we dropped more bombs in 12 days on North Vietnam than they had during the three years from 1969-1971. ii. In January of 1973, the U.S. signed a truce and left Vietnam iii. Fighting resumed immediately between the Vietnamese iv. The North Vietnamese won total victory in April of 1975 E. Consequences of Vietnam i. It took Nixon four years to end the war in Vietnam ii. During that time it spread to Cambodia and Laos iii. The Domino theory did not materialize: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos did iv. The rest of S.E. Asia did not. v. Veterans had not traditional homecoming: One Veteran "The left hated us for killing, and the right hated us for not killing enough." vi. U.S. Spent 150 Billion
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vii. Sent 2.6 million men and women to the war viii. 58,000 never returned ix. 150,000 suffered serious injury x. Estimated 500,000 suffer from PTSD xi. Undermined the confidence in the government xii. Such thing as an unwinnable war Nixon's presidency A. Domestic policies i. renewed focus on anti-communism ii. strong national defense iii. limited role for the government in domestic affairs although he maintained many of the programs instituted by Johnson iv. condemned civil rights demonstrations v. fought against feminism vi. against liberal Supreme Court decisions vii. Basically, brought conservativism back to the mainline Watergate All the Presidents Men A. In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972 five men who were working for Nixon's reelection campaign were arrested after breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate hotel. B. Reports came forward that the corruption went all the way to the top, to Nixon. C. He appointed an independent prosecutor to investigate the charges that he was involved and then had him fired when he got too close. D. A White House aid disclosed that all conversations in the oval office were taped E. The prosecutor asked for the tapes and Nixon fired him F. He fired anybody who got too close in the investigation G. He finally turned over the tapes, but there was a crucial 18 minutes that had been erased. The secretary did it, saying it was an accident. H. What was in the tapes was enough to implicate him in the whole process I. In Februray 1974, the house voted for impeachment J. Rather than go through the impeachment process Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974.