Richard Nixon

In 1968, Richard Nixon was elected as the 37th president of the United States with his running mate Spiro Agnew, governor of Maryland. This was seven years after he proclaimed his departure from politics following his defeat in the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial election in 1962. However, he began his campaign in 1967. He was appealed especially to the right-winged voters, speaking out against the anti-war demonstrators and the hippie culture. He promised to win the Vietnam War, create a connection with China, initiate control against weapons in the Soviet Union, maintain peace in the Middle East, while lowering the crime rate, improve desegregation, and uphold the economy at home.
One of Nixon’s main endeavors was the Vietnam War. Upon entering the presidency, almost one thousand soldiers were dying per month in Vietnam. In March, he ordered a series of bombings in Cambodia against the Vietnamese. It was considered a success, and large withdrawals of American troops were ordered. He later visited South Vietnam and met Nguyen Van Thieu, the president. He enacted the Nixon Doctrine, also known as Vietnamization, which was the removal of American troops and replacing them with Vietnamese soldiers. However, he later bombed Laos, causing many strikes and protests in the U.S., especially among students. By 1973, all U.S. troops had been withdrawn from Vietnam.
Nixon was a supporter of desegregation, and helped desegregate school districts in the south. In the first years of his presidency, the number of students attending all-African-American schools dropped 52 percent. He also supported the Equal Rights Amendment and gave women more positions in his administration. Nixon also oversaw the NASA’s first flight to the moon. He permitted for the development of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program and placed a call from the White House to the Neil Armstrong while he was on the moon. In 1971, when the Indo-Pakistani conflict broke out, Nixon encouraged peace and a cease-fire and asked the leader of Pakistan to refrain from attacking. He favored the Pakistanis as to prevent India from taking over, as it would strengthen the Soviet Union. Nixon blamed the Soviets for provoking the war among the nations. Eventually, a cease-fire was created, thus creating Bangladesh.
After the Soviet Union and China split, Nixon fixed relations with China as to improve the U.S.’s standing in the Cold War. Eventually, the Soviet Union eased the tension between the nations due to the possibility of an alliance with China. In 1972, Nixon campaigned for presidency and won by a landslide, winning 49 out of the 50 states, losing only Massachusetts and Washington D.C. However, after allegations in the Watergate Scandal arose in 1973, efforts to have him impeached began. Nixon resigned August 9th, 1974.

Barr, Roger. The Importance of Richard Nixon. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1992. Print.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/RichardNixon/
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/richardnixon/p/pnixon.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon#Wilderness_years