Nixon, one of the greatest Presidents?

Nixon had his personality problems and his propensity towards paranoia was his undoing but is it really paranoia when they are actually out to get you?
Watergate aside the list of Nixon accomplishments is long and many of them were quite centrist which begs the question if democrats hated Nixon can any Republican ever work with them?

"Nixon proposed legislation that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). His revenue-sharing program, called “New Federalism,” provided state and local governments with billions of federal tax dollars."

Nixon ended the Vietnam war.

"Nixon’s most significant achievement in foreign affairs may have been the establishment of direct relations with the People’s Republic of China after a 21-year estrangement. "

"Nixon paid a state visit to Moscow to sign 10 formal agreements, the most important of which were the nuclear arms limitation treaties known as SALT I (based on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks conducted between the United States and the Soviet Union beginning in 1969) and a memorandum, the Basic Principles of U.S.-Soviet Relations, summarizing the new relationship between the two countries in the new era of détente."


"Back when Kennedy proposed the idea of getting to the moon, but was assassinated before he could fulfill this task. Nixon, however, made this a reality. This put us so far ahead in the cold war and showed the Soviets that we were still on top. I would present this to the museum because landing on the moon this put us ahead in the cold war. Being ahead in the cold war is a big thing."


"In 1973, President Nixon ended the draft, moving the United States Military to an all-volunteer force."


"Nixon opened the doors for women in collegiate sports when he signed Title IX in 1972, a civil rights law preventing gender bias at colleges and universities receiving Federal aid."

"Nixon initiated and oversaw the peaceful desegregation of southern schools."

"A great proponent of the 26th Amendment, Nixon lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, extending the right to vote to America’s youth."

"Nixon became the first President to give Native Americans the right to tribal self-determination by ending the policy of forced assimilation and returning their sacred lands."


If democrats hate this guy it proves anyone with an R behind their name is the enemy and there's no middle ground. No way to work with democrats except to beat them.

 

Nixon this .....Nixon that. He normalized relations with Communist China and I have a real problem with that!

 

At the time it was touted as a great peace initiative with China who was sabre rattling and threatening war. The theory was exposure to freedom and American values would seep into their culture and it has at the grass roots level but unfortunately the government just clamped down harder.

 

One of Nixon's primary accomplishments that goes largely unrecognized was his INSISTENCE that for all major decisions that the arguments be presented to him in WRITING by both sides. He would then read them alone and make his decision based upon what he read rather than who was the most eloquent person in the room at the time of the decision.

His WORST accomplishment that makes Watergate seem trivial in comparison was starting the insane "War on Drugs".

For that alone he deserves his lowly place on the presidential pecking order IMO.

 

Nixon was decent as a President, but was a corrupt SOB. Not just because of Watergate. Of course his corruption pales compared to Trump's.

BTW, you don't cite your source. But this sounds laughable....

I'm not sure if whoever wrote that thinks that the whole moon landing was developed in the six months that Nixon had been President, or if they believe that JFK thought he was still going to be President in 1969. In any case, the ignorance is tangible.

 

How exactly was Nixon corrupt? He attempted to hide the Watergate burglary after he found out about it but other than that?

 

He desegregated schools in all the states, not just Southern States.

 

The war on drugs was waged long before Nixon.


https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-war-on-drugs-721152

 

Nope!

Nixon MILITARIZED it into a WAR with the founding of the DEA!

From your own link;

 

My only point was it wasn't Nixon who suddenly decided drugs were bad for America.
I do however find it interesting you ignore all his centrist and even slightly left leaning accomplishments based on that one issue. Seems like an excuse to hate him not a reason.
Also keep in mind that many democrats since did not end the war on drugs including Obama.

And then there's this from the link I gave.


"But it was Eisenhower's establishment of the U.S. Interdepartmental Committee on Narcotics, in 1954, in which a sitting president first literally called for a war on drugs."

 

NONE of his other accomplishments were significant enough to raise him above where he is now.

Have YOU forgotten that it was Nixon's "southern strategy" that caused the GOP to embrace the Southern Racists?

Not exactly something that comes across as a ringing endorsement of his character. Instead it EXPOSES him as a CONNIVING shyster who played partisan politics over and above what was best for the nation as a whole.

 

So the following is nothing to you?


"Nixon proposed legislation that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)"


Oh and on the southern stratey...

"The shift in the South from Democratic to Republican was overwhelmingly a question not of race but of economic growth".
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10Section2b.t-4.html#:~:text=The Myth of ‘the Southern Strategy’. Everyone knows,— and as a result dominated the South.

 

Let’s not forget his cynical prolonging of the Vietnam War

He was NOT a good President

He may have done some things right but good? Not a chance

 

Ah... yes. I remember when there was a time in which that would have been enough to label a President as "corrupt"... Oh how Trump has lowered the bar. Compared to the Thug in Chief's crimes, Watergate looks like a "child's prank" However, there was also Tax evasion, and violations to the emoluments clause, contempt of Congress and various instances of abuse of power unrelated to Watergate There was no investigation of these, of course. Because Ford issued a "blanket" pardon. But the guy was a corrupt SOB. And the fact that Trump is an immensely more corrupt SOB does not eliminate this fact. I think the nation would have fared much much better if we had seen TV images of Nixon in prison. At a minimum, it might have made Trump think twice about committing his crimes. It would be a disaster for this country if we don't see Trump in an orange jump suit. Because the next corrupt Republican in power will be even worse.

 

As I suspected you can not validate your charges of Nixon corruption beyond vague charges with no evidence.

 

Nixon was before I was born. I did read several of his books and have seen some of his post-presidential interviews. He really was a smart guy. I am not sure of the humiliation reset him or what. He struck me as someone who would have been better as Secretary of State or a job that didn't require him to be unchecked. He really didn't know how to moderate his own use of power.

 

In what ways did he abuse his power?
Main point of the OP though is Nixon was left of center and democrats still refused to work with him. If they couldn't tolerate Nixon then there's nobody with an R behind their name they will work with.

 

Watergate is how he abused his power.

 

????

Validate? What does that even mean?

Weird post...

 

validate
[ˈvaləˌdāt]
VERB

1. check or prove the validity or accuracy of (something).

 

As I suspected that's all you have and that was a cover-up attempt not an abuse of power.

 

You want me to "prove" that Nixon committed a crime? Not even a prosecutor would bother to do that, given that he was pardoned for ANY crime he might have committee. You don't accept a pardon unless you committed a crime.

Look... the fact that he accepted this pardon is evidence enough for any rational human being. However, there was a document about his tax returns I had. Here.... if you want MORE evidence, here is evidence of his tax fraud.

https://uschs.org/wp-content/upload...y-Role-Joint-Committee-Taxation-Thorndike.pdf

 

Exactly.

All of the "heavy lifting" was done during the LBJ Administration.

 

Nixon was a very flawed man but perhaps the ultimate realpolitik president who accomplished much.

 

if Nixon was President today, the right would worship the man