Nixon’s presidency is defined by the Watergate scandal. There are some who may believe that, outside of the effort to supplant democracy, he was a good president. That is not exactly the case, as demonstrated by his policies. It is speculated that the way he paved the way to his electoral victory was done by committing treason to the US. Nixon urged South Vietnam to withdraw from peace talks in 1968, jeopardizing President Johnson’s efforts and prolonging the war for 5 more years (Dobbs, 2021). He promised South Vietnam a better deal if he were in charge, thus putting personal interests before that of both countries (Dobbs, 2021). He traded ambassadorships for public donations, once more viewing personal favors over competence. Finally, he was complicit in many foreign policy blunders, such as overthrowing the democratically-elected government of Chile, bombing Cambodia (100,000 civilians dead), and shielding Pakistani leaders against accusations of genocide in Bangladesh.
There were some occasional successes to his foreign policies, however. Many of his ventures towards the USSR were a success, resulting in agreements over non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. He also established diplomatic relations with China, ended the draft and, eventually, the Vietnam War. Finally, it was under his administration that the US landed on the Moon, and allegedly won the Space Race (despite losing to soviets with every other milestone) (Dobbs, 2021). His domestic policies were incremental at best, usually following the existing political climate. Due to relying on southern voters to win, he made a lackluster effort to repeal some of the civil rights won under the previous administration (Dobbs, 2021). To summarize, Nixon was a bad president and a dictator in the making, whose positive actions do not make up for his poor decisions.
Reference
Dobbs, M. (2021). King Richard: Nixon and Watergate – An American tragedy. Knopf.