What were some major events that occurred during the presidency of Richard Nixon?
There were several major events that occurred during the presidency of Richard Nixon. For one, the Vietnam War was still proceeding. After taking office, President Nixon introduced Vietnamization, a method to extract the United States (U.S.) from the war. It consisted of training South Vietnamese soldiers so that they can maintain their own defense while slowly withdrawing American soldiers. A peace agreement between North Vietnam and the U.S. was established in January of 1973, and in March of that year, the last American soldiers were removed from Vietnam (Richard M. Nixon, 2019). However, the North Vietnamese took advantage of this and seized the South in 1975.
During this time, President Nixon was also focused on reducing the hostility between the U.S., China, and Russia. He took actions such as visiting China and signing treaties to deter any use of nuclear weapons. Diplomatic agreements were achieved when President Nixon and Soviet Premier Aleksey Kosygin held a summit conference in 1972 (Sage, 2014). A Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty was also signed during his time in office. His effort to reduce these tensions prevented the Cold War from turning into a nuclear war.
One of the most memorable events to occur during President Nixons time in office was the Watergate Scandal, which led to him resigning. This scandal consisted of a burglary at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee performed by personnel associated with his campaign (Richard M. Nixon, 2019). President Nixon denied any accusations of being involved in the act, but there was video evidence proving that he tried to cover it up. Half way through his second term on August 9, 1974, President Nixon resigned in order to prevent his impeachment (Richard M. Nixon, 2019).
References:
Richard M. Nixon. (2019, May 16). History. Retrieved from .
Sage, H. J. (2014). Cold War part 2: From Johnson & Nixon through George H.W. Bush. Sage American History. Retrieved from https://content.umuc.edu/file/75b539c8-5a04-4104-a323-bc775dcfa0ea/1/ColdWarPart2.pdf.
