Nixon Essay -- essays research papers

Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States of America, was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda in Southern California to Francis A. and Hannah Milhous Nixon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nixon had a very rough childhood. Due to the illness of Richard’s brother, his mother was rarely around. Richard’s father was a very loud man who would beat his sons and enjoyed arguing with everyone, especially when it came to politics. Richard had to help out at the family gas station and grocery store while he was a college student. Nixon grew up harboring resentment toward people who were born into families and privileged and could trade on their social connections. Nixon attended Duke University and graduated from law school there. After graduating, Nixon applied to become an agent with the FBI and was rejected. He was also rejected when he applied to various major law firms. Eventually, Nixon found a job in a small law firm in Southern California. Nixon served as a Naval Officer during World War II. Afterward, he began to climb up the political ladder. He began by first serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and then in the Senate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout Nixon’s career, he used smear-politics to gain victory by viciously attacking his opponents. He used the public’s fear of communism during the Cold War years to his advantage by accusing several of his political enemies of being soft on communism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1952, President Eisenhower agreed to allow Nixon to serve as his running mate although he never really liked him. This was because Nixon would help Eisenhower win California. Six weeks before the election, a bombshell was dropped on the campaign. An illegal secret political fund of Nixon’s was discovered and publicized. Although Nixon was encouraged to withdraw from the ticket, he, instead, went on television and delivered a speech not about receiving bribes or money but about a little dog that his daughter had named Checkers. Eisenhower was convinced to keep Nixon on the ticket when he heard of the positive response of the American people to the â€Å"Checkers Speech.† Eisenhower and Nixon later won the 1952 election by a massive landslide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1956, Nixon was, once again, on the Republican ticket as the vice-presidential candidate. During his second term, Nixon became m... ...le from around the globe. These people included every president who was still living. A Eulogy was given by President Clinton in which he dwelled on Nixon’s great accomplishments, particularly in foreign affairs, rather than on his constitutional crimes such as those pertaining to the Watergate scandal. Summary Richard Milhous Nixon’s life started out being kind of tough but he eventually went on to be able to do great things such as becoming the President of the United States of America. Throughout his life, Richard Nixon did many things that were very great and very impressive but he was also responsible for doing many things that were definitely not so great and impressive. Nixon had a very impressive career when it came to foreign affairs but his career was far less impressive when you look at what was happening in the United States. If Nixon hadn’t been quite so paranoid and insecure in his own abilities, he would have made a far better president. After all, it was his paranoia and his insecurities that led him to forming the â€Å"plumbers† and to authorizing the things that ended up going on at the Watergate complex, which eventually led to his resignation from the Presidency.