The Cold Warrior who opened détente with Moscow and Beijing, then became the only U.S. president to resign
At the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, standing before a model kitchen, Nixon told Khrushchev, "There may be some instances, for example, color television, where we are ahead of you," in an impromptu debate that became known as the Kitchen Debate.
A tenacious politician who rose from anti-communist congressman to vice president, Nixon overcame two bitter defeats to capture the presidency in 1968. The quintessential Cold Warrior, he unexpectedly became the architect of détente, visiting Moscow in May 1972 to sign the ABM Treaty and the SALT I Interim Agreement with Leonid Brezhnev; the first legally binding limits on the superpowers' nuclear arsenals. He ended U.S. combat involvement in Vietnam and opened relations with Mao's China, yet his presidency collapsed in the Watergate scandal; on August 9, 1974, he became the only U.S. president to resign. He spent his final decades rehabilitating his image as an elder statesman, but his legacy remains suspended between the achievement of détente and the crimes that destroyed his presidency.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1946–1950U.S. Representative (CA-12); gained national fame through the Alger Hiss case on HUAC
- 1950–1953U.S. Senator from California
- 1953–1961Vice President of the United States (Eisenhower administration); 1959 Moscow 'Kitchen Debate'
- 1961–1968Law practice, writing; lost 1962 California gubernatorial race, then rebuilt politically
- 1969–197437th U.S. President; signed SALT I and ABM Treaty at the 1972 Moscow Summit, ended Vietnam War, visited China; resigned 1974 over Watergate
Related historical events
- 1955–1975The Second Indochina WarUS presidentWithdrew troops under Vietnamization while widening the war into Cambodia and Laos, and ordered the bombing of Hanoi in late 1972.
- 1966–1976The Cultural RevolutionVisited China in 1972Opened Sino-American rapprochement with the Shanghai Communiqué.
- 1969–1979Détente and the SALT NegotiationsU.S. president who initiated détenteAt the 1972 Moscow Summit he signed the ABM Treaty and the SALT I Interim Agreement with Brezhnev.
The 1952 Fund Crisis and the Checkers Speech
Nominated as Dwight D. Eisenhower's running mate in 1952, Nixon was soon engulfed in a political-fund controversy. A fund his backers had set up to reimburse his political expenses became public, raising conflict-of-interest charges; his own record of campaigning on public integrity left him exposed. As resignation pressure mounted, Nixon broke off his whistle-stop tour, flew to Los Angeles, and on September 23, 1952, delivered a half-hour radio and television address to the nation. He defended the fund as neither secret nor a source of favors, denied using it for personal expenses, and urged viewers to contact the Republican National Committee about whether he should stay on the ticket. He noted that he would keep one gift regardless of the outcome: a black-and-white cocker spaniel his daughter had named Checkers, which gave the address its popular name. Seen and heard by about 60 million Americans, the broadcast drew the largest television audience to that time, and millions of telegrams and calls supporting Nixon reached party offices. Eisenhower kept him on the ticket, and the two won in November. The speech is treated as an early example of a politician using television to appeal directly to the electorate, and the phrase has since been used for emotionally charged personal appeals by politicians.