Nixon
The enigmatic nature of the Nixon presidency combined comparatively progressive legislative initiatives with a flagrant abuse of presidential power and the public trust. His achievements in expanding peaceful relations with China and the Soviet Union stand in stark contrast with his continuation of the war in Vietnam. Finally brought down by scandal and duplicity, his administration did much to erode the citizenry's faith in government.
Episodes
Richard Nixon’s rise from a modest Quaker upbringing in Yorba Linda and Whittier, California, through Duke Law School and Navy service, to his hard-fought campaigns against Jerry Voorhis and Helen Gahagan Douglas. The Alger Hiss case makes him a national figure, the “Checkers” speech saves his place on Eisenhower’s ticket, and eight years as Vice President end in a razor-thin loss to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and a bitter defeat for California governor in 1962.
Nixon stages a political comeback and wins the presidency in 1968. In office he seeks a “generation of peace” with Henry Kissinger but expands the war into Cambodia, faces mass protests and Kent State, and builds a secret apparatus against leaks after the Pentagon Papers. His opening to China and the arms-control summit in Moscow mark the peak of his career, just as burglars are caught inside the Watergate complex.
The White House tries to contain the Watergate break-in while Nixon wins a landslide reelection in 1972 and ends America’s role in Vietnam. As the burglars talk and John Dean turns to prosecutors, the cover-up unravels through the Senate hearings and the discovery of the secret Oval Office tapes. On August 9, 1974, Nixon becomes the first president to resign.
