Richard Nixon was at least not a bad President

President Nixon was the only president to resign from his office is disgrace. His implication in the Watergate Scandal undermined everything his administration accomplished. Worse still, it undermined the office he held and caused the American people to lose faith in their government. His policies were progressive in many respects, but many of those policies were half-measures that came too little too late or had to be reversed by future presidents, because they simply did not work. On the issue of foreign policy, Nixon did take several steps in the right direction in the Vietnam War. He expanded the war into North Vietnam by bombing Hanoi and mining their harbors, which influenced the North Vietnamese greatly when it came to convincing them to discuss peace. These were half-measures however, what was really needed was a decisive military action in North Vietnam itself. In his book, "Carnage and Culture," author Victor David Hanson argues that the Vietnam War was lost, because of half-measures and a tendency for senior policy makers to avoid decisive shock battles, which lead to a prolonged conflict and an erosion of public opinion. While Nixon did not start the Vietnam War, he did preside over the prosecution of five years of the conflict. His policy of Vietnamization proved to be indecisive, and instead of expanding the war where it needed to be expanded (North Vietnam,) he illegally expanded the war into Cambodia and Laos. The bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail proved to be ineffective, and the ground campaign proved just how poor a policy Vietnamization was, when the American trained South Vietnamese ground forces were unable to achieve a decisive victory. In regards to opening relations with China, President Nixon was merely taking advantage of the Sino-Soviet split. However, he did not capitalize on this new relationship with China. He failed to recognize that China and North Vietnam were traditional enemies, despite shared Communist ideals. If he had recognized that and capitalized on it, the Vietnam War may have turned out differently. Even with all the blunders Nixon made in regards to foreign policy, he still could have achieved a limited victory in Vietnam if it hadn't been for Watergate. The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 were signed with the understanding that if aggression resumed between the North and South, American air power would break the back of a Northern offensive and support Southern forces. Due to the Watergate scandal all remaining popular support for this arrangement was lost, and Nixon's successor proved unwilling and unable to save South Vietnam. Dï¿½tente proved to be short sighted as well. Dï¿½tente only succeeded in taking pressure off of the Soviet Union. In fact, once Nixon's Dï¿½tente was reversed by Ronald Reagan the Soviet Empire would crumble under the economic and political pressure placed on it by the United States a mere eleven years after the reversal of the policy. This is why Ronald Reagan is remembered as a great president, and Nixon is remembered as a disgraceful one. In regards to the economy, Nixon again falls short. He caused the 1973 oil crisis, which lead to gasoline rationing for the first time since World War 2, by supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War-an action that proved unnecessary, since Israel managed to break through Arab lines before American supplies even arrived in Israel. When Nixon took office he recognized that President Johnson's Great Society programs had cause inflation, but he did little to repeal them until the election year arrived. When the election year arrived he merely took temporary measures to reduce inflation, but these measures would later to lead to even worse inflation during his second term and during the term of his successor. In fact some economists make the argument that Nixon not reversing the Great Society programs and his mishandling of the foreign policy in the Middle East contributed greatly to Stagflation in the late 70's. Furthermore, Nixon's enactment of wage and price controls lead to food shortages in America. Civil Rights is another category that Nixon is found wanting in. Nixon was an anti-Semite and a racist, whom only enforced the rule of law by desegregating schools. He was moving with the political climate, he was not spear heading a progressive agenda for civil rights, he was actually trying to avoid the issue entirely. In conclusion, Nixon focused almost entirely on his foreign policy and so called Nixon Doctrine, only touching on the economy and civil rights agenda to garner enough support for reelection. Upon close observation it becomes apparent that his economic policies lead to further inflation, and supply shortages. Even his foreign policy was mismanaged. This all on top of the fact that he had to resign in disgrace, cementing himself in history as one of the most disgraceful and dishonest men to hold the highest office in the land.