Memorable Quotations from Richard Milhous Nixon

Born in Yorba Linda, California, Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994) was the 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974. As a Republican U.S. representative from California (1947-1951) he achieved national distinction for his investigation of Alger Hiss. In the Senate (1951-1953), he criticized the Democratic administration as being complimentary to Socialism. Nixon was elected to the vice presidency on the Republican ticket with Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952; they were reelected in 1956. As a well-informed vice president, Nixon played an essential role in government affairs. He ran for president in 1960 but was beaten by John F. Kennedy, and in 1962 he was defeated in the race for governor of California. In 1968 he again secured the Republican presidential nomination and, with his running mate, Spiro T. Agnew, defeated Hubert H. Humphrey and George C. Wallace. As president, Nixon attained a cease-fire in the Vietnam War, but only after he had directed invasions of Cambodia in 1970 and Laos in 1971 and the bombing of North Vietnam. In further areas of foreign affairs, he opened strategic arms limitation talks with the Soviet Union in 1969 and visited the People's Republic of China in 1972. Domestically, he undid many of the social and economic welfare programs of President Lyndon Johnson's administration and, hoping to entice the South into the Republican Party, undermined the federal government's pledge to racial equality. His administration was beset by economic woes that led to the burden in 1971 of wage and price controls. Notwithstanding these setbacks, he and Agnew were effortlessly reelected in 1972, attaining a landslide win over George S. McGovern. Agnew was driven to resign in 1973 and was replaced by Gerald R. Ford. Probes into the Watergate affair and findings by the Internal Revenue Service revealed extensive corruption in Nixon's administration, and in 1974 the House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings. After finishing its investigations, the House Judiciary Committee recommended three articles of impeachment: obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and failure to comply with congressional subpoenas. On August 5, 1974, Nixon acknowledged that he had instructed the FBI to halt investigating the Watergate burglary. On August 9, 1974, he became the first president to resign. His successor, Gerald R. Ford, granted him a full pardon, quelling the likelihood of criminal proceedings. In retirement Nixon continued to speak publically, often persuasively, on foreign affairs and penned his memoirs in 1978 and wrote numerous other books.