In the entire history of the United States of America, only one of their presidents voluntarily left office ahead of schedule. They became Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974. But not only by this act of his, he forever entered the annals of time. There were other outstanding moments in his work. Both positive and negative.
Childhood and youth of the President
Richard Milhouse Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in a town called Yorba Linda, in sunny California. Both of his parents belonged to the religious society of the Quakers and led a conservative lifestyle. Nixon's father Francis was an ethnic Scot from the Armstrong clan. The mother's name was Hannah, and it was under her influence that the whole family lived according to the canons of the Quakers.
In addition to Richard, named after King Richard the Lionheart, the couple had four more sons. Their names also kept the memory of the British monarchs. Unfortunately, two of the brothers were not lucky enough to live to adulthood.
The Nixon family was in poverty. Parentstried to farm, but nothing good came of it. Then it was decided to leave Yorba Linda and move to another California city, Whittier. There, the father of the family opened a small business, consisting of a gas station and a shop. His sons actively helped him in trade. Growing up modest, hardworking and thrifty.
The first school Richard attended was Furleton High School. Richard Nixon was distinguished by intelligence, great ambition, as well as sports and musical talents. He graduated from school as the eighth best student and immediately entered college. He was offered Harvard, but the family did not have the funds to pay for his son's accommodation in another city.
In college, the future 37th President of the United States proved to be a brilliant student and then also successfully studied at the University of Durham, where he mastered the profession of a lawyer.
Start in employment
After graduating from university, Nixon had grandiose plans for the rest of his life. He dreamed of getting a job at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but this venture was covered with a "copper basin". The young man had no choice but to return to California - to his native Whittier.
There he was taken with hands and feet to the oldest law office of Winger and Beli, where the newly minted lawyer from 1937 to 1945 handled various corporate litigations.
Of course, this was not the kind of career start the young ambitious man dreamed of. But he later admitted that this practice of law is muchgave him. And very useful in political activities. In addition, Richard Nixon became the youngest of the trustees of the college, which he himself had once graduated from. At that time he was only 26.
Activities during World War II
When World War II began in Europe, which America then entered, the future president already lived with his family in Washington and worked in the capital's price regulation department. As a Quaker, he was exempted from military service, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he could not sit at home. The US Navy accepted him into their friendly ranks. From 1942 to 1946, Nixon served as a supply officer in the very South Pacific. Returned home safe and sound with the rank of lieutenant commander.
Beginning of political activity
After being transferred to the reserve, Richard Nixon, whose biography was so abruptly interrupted by military events, decided to radically change his life. In this he was helped by familiar Republicans. Considering Nixon an ambitious, competent and promising figure, they invited him to nominate his candidacy from their political platform in the next elections to the US House of Representatives.
The offer was accepted without hesitation, and Nixon won the election. Two years later, in 1948, he was re-elected to Congress, and in the 50th he got into the Senate from California.
At the beginning of his political career, Richard Nixon proved to be an active anti-communist, thus successfully playing on the relevant prejudicesvoters. He was also noted for his participation in the development of the Marshall Plan.
Rise and fall
In 1952, Nixon was in for a serious career take-off. Republican General Dwight Eisenhower became President of the United States, and the heir to Scottish aristocrats, named after the legendary English king, became Vice President.
In this post, Richard Nixon managed to visit 56 countries of the world and really "steer" the USA. His influence on public policy was enormous. And since Eisenhower was often sick and out of work, his deputy actually became the head.
Nixon served as Vice President of America for 8 years - exactly as long as Eisenhower was the head of state, who was re-elected for a second term in 1956.
And at the end of the powers of the “boss”, his faithful ward himself tried to take the presidency, taking part in the 1960 elections. But lost the race to John F. Kennedy.
Two years later, the election of the governor of California ended with the same deafening failure for him. After that, Nixon decides to leave politics and re-engage in law. And leaves. True, not for long…
US President Richard Nixon: long-awaited position
In the second half of the 60s, the political situation in the country "whispered" Nixon to return. Republicans got stronger and were eager to fight. Having again led his own party, the former vice president made a second attempt to remove the prefix "vice" from the title of his position. And he succeeded!
In the 1968 elections, the Democrats represented by HubertonThe Humphies lost to the Republicans. The gap between the latter was very small, but it was enough for Richard Nixon to become the country's first person.
Of course, he put a lot of effort into this and applied a lot of tactics. One of the most successful tactics was flirting with voters in the conservative South and West, who traditionally vote for the Democrats.
In 1972, Nixon was re-elected for a second presidential term. Which, however, he did not manage to serve to the end.
Domestic policy
37 The US President came to power when the country was "hot" by the prosperity of the economy, which caused strong inflation. Remaining a moderate conservative, Nixon enacted a series of reforms that helped ease the hectic processes.
So, for example, under his leadership, monetization was carried out. Nixon also drastically reduced social benefits, introduced wage controls, and significantly centralized executive power in the country. All this practically stopped inflation, but by the end of the second term of the presidency, goods in the country began to rise in price again.
Of course, such tough actions caused protest moods in society. What did the cuts in subsidies to farmers cost alone…. Perhaps this explains the assassination attempt on Richard Nixon, which was prepared in 1974 by a certain Samuel Beek.
Bik worked as a salesman and was unsuccessful in his business. Troubles attributed to the authorities, and one day he decided to take revenge. He planned to hijack a plane so that he could crash it into WhiteHouse, destroying himself and the entire American elite - including the president, whom, as it turned out later, the unfortunate seller dreamed of killing for several years. Fortunately, the criminal was stopped in time and, except for himself, did not have time to harm anyone.
Richard Nixon's foreign policy
As for foreign policy, Nixon was guided primarily by one of his campaign promises, which was to withdraw the American wars from Vietnam and conclude an “honorable peace.”
To implement what the president promised, even a doctrine was adopted that went down in history as the “Nixon Doctrine”. According to it, the United States was excluded from direct participation in the fight against communist regimes in Asia. At the same time, the country did not relieve itself of the functions of the world arbiter of destinies, but announced that it would no longer send its soldiers to the fronts. And will provide support in other ways. The allies were advised to continue to rely more on their own forces.
Nevertheless, under Nixon, troops were sent to another country. Cambodia became it in 1970. As for relations with the Soviet Union, they became somewhat warmer during this period. President Richard Nixon visited the USSR himself and hosted Leonid Brezhnev, with whom they had rather pleasant, almost friendly conversations.
Watergate case and resignation
The 1972 election was both a huge victory for Nixon and an equally resounding defeat. He confidently beat themDemocrat George McGovern and received a "ticket" for a second presidential term. But in the end, everything turned out to be a great shame.
Shortly after the results of the vote were summed up, information was leaked to the press about spies with listening devices that had infiltrated the office of the Democrats, located in the Watergate Hotel. The identities of the owners of the "bugs" were established, and the "ears" clearly "grew" from the headquarters of the opponents - that is, the Republicans.
Personally, President Nixon denied his involvement in this scandal to the last. But later, under pressure from the public, evidence and facts, he was forced to partially admit it.
The US Senate and the House of Representatives launched impeachment proceedings. Before it reached the end, the disgraced president decided to resign himself. He announced his departure to the American people on August 9, 1974. This is the first time this has happened in US history.
After retirement
Nixon spent the rest of his life after leaving the presidency writing books. These were memoirs in which he tried to whitewash himself, as well as works on geopolitics.
And although the 38th US President Gerald Ford rehabilitated Nixon a month after the latter's resignation, the shadow on the protagonist of the Watergate scandal lay until his death. He was barred from entering politics, and officially prohibited from practicing law. At first, the Nixon couple led a quiet and inconspicuous life on their California estate, and in 1980 they moved to New York to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
Nixon's personal life
Richard Nixon only had one marriage. His wife is a teacherThelma Pat Ryan - he sought for a very long and painful time. Persistent courtship bore fruit, and in 1940 the wedding took place. The couple gave birth to two daughters.
Pat was a devoted wife. At the cost of her own he alth, she pulled Nixon out of the abyss of insanity into which he fell after the scandal and resignation. Tremulously nursing her husband, sitting over him day and night, Pat ended up with paralysis on the left side of her body. She died in 1993 from lung cancer. And her husband passed away exactly 11 months later, on April 22, 1994.
Unfortunately, Richard Nixon, whose domestic and foreign policies were quite effective, could not rehabilitate himself in the eyes of American society. Moreover, he cast a shadow on the very institution of the presidency and undermined the faith of Americans in the infallibility of the main person of the country. But time passes, some generations are replaced by others, and much is gradually forgotten.
