Richard Nixon. Hero or Villain?

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It is often said the Public get the politicians they deserve, in this essay I will examine whether the American Public elected a ‘Hero or Villain’. Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving both terms, however was the only President ever to resign. I will examine Nixon’s political career leading up to his Presidency, his diplomatic work with the East, the handling of the Vietnam war, and of course the Watergate scandal Nixon’s Political career all started after Republicans approached the Lawyer and Serviceman to be South California’s congressman, which he accepted, and beat the 5 term democratic candidate. In Congress, Nixon sat on committee’s such as the Herter Committee. This took a very anti communist stance, where one report compiled by Nixon looked at the ‘Marshall Plan’ aimed at rebuilding Western Europe and more importantly, repelling communist ideology. Furthermore, Nixon became a very public member of congress, often speaking about international events, and criticising President Truman’s handling of the Korean War, and fighting the causes of international relief aid, but also becoming a public figure against the fight against communism, as the red scare took its toll on the public at the time, which would see the ideology demonised by the government after the second world war, which consequently led onto fear of both China and the USSR among the American public. This Anti Communist stance made Nixon an ideal running candidate for the Republicans in 1953 election, and was chosen by Eisenhower to be the Vice-Presidential Nominee, when in office, Nixon’s political career was excelling brilliantly, partly due to the similarities of the public ideologies of the time, and how Nixon managed to capitalize on this effect. In this respect, Nixon was a very highly favored politician in the Eisenhower administration, often playing
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