Richard Milhouse Nixon was a good president the only thing he did that other “good” presidents did was get caught. First we must define what is a good President. We will look at the three people who are generally considered the best Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Washington in that order. All of these men had their mistakes but like good presidents overall their policies helped the American people rather then in the long run hurt them or did nothing at all.  

Lets air it out into the open The Watergate scandal happened when five men were arrested after breaking in to the Watergate hotel the democratic party headquarters. These five men and the ones who orchestrated it were apart of the reelection committee an independent organization that Richard Nixon was not a part of but some his advisors were. Nixon according to most first hand sources was already elected before he knew that his advisors were directly involved in the Watergate scandal. Nixons “crime” (which were not made illegal untill Bill Clinton) was hiding the fact that Nixons men were involved because of the recent fallout from Vice President Spiro Agnew had that we will get too. Nixon later in life and according to other officials was going to reveal Watergate once the dust form Agnew’s Scandle settled after he resigned. Nixon hired a PI to investigate himself and congress opened an investigation. Nixon was Semi-corporative the big thing was refusing to give away the tapes that revealed he knew about the scandal till US v Nixon was lossed and he gave the tapes away. Realizing that his character had already been dragged through the gutter and he was going to be impeached no matter what even if he committed no crime he resigned and flew back home paying for the helicopter himself though congress reimbursed him. Nixon refused a pardon from Ford saying “I did not commit any crimes but if I did let them take me.” Ford convinced Nixon saying it was time for the country to heal.

The other Scandal Nixon was known for was that of Spirow Agnew’s the one Agnew resigned over. Nixon had no involvement but after watergate authors sought to demonize Nixon he was added into. The Scandal was Spiro Agnew using his connection to stop already shaky peace talks, due to Lyndon B. Johnson  making  the war last for ~5 more years. So that Nixon and Agnew could end it which he did. Again Nixon had no involvement and didnt even know till the Scandal hit the press.

Unlike presidents such as Licoln and Teddy Roosevelt who did things that they knew were unconstitutional they did it anyways and didnt resign Nixon didn’t do anything unconstitutional and resigned for the good of the nation so it could heal. 

Now with most of his Presidency’s dark sides out of the way Richard Nixon is a good president due to his

1. Environmentalism

2. Civil Righs

3. And Forigen Policy

Humanity and Civil Rights-

Nixon has one of the best Civil RIghts record when it comes to any President he comes second only to Lincoln. While LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act it was Nixon who made sure it was implimentad fairly, Nixon was the one to end segregation mostly in schools peacefully it is the Nixon system of determining schools we still used today. The Nixon administration says that you go to the school closest to you. This led to African American students now going to the fancy white schools while former all black schools suddenly were upgrading so that White students would have equal opportunity which Nixon and his advisor Schultz intended. Also Nixon gave 100,000$ to colledges that except black students 750,000$ today which led to more Colledges accepting African Americans without implementing Affirmative Action. Nixon also desegregated companies and Labor Unions, With another of bill Nixon introduced to the house a majority of White and Black Labor Unions merged creating a stronger bond. Nixon also removed anybody he found that was connected to the KKK. 

The other great work he did was that for Women and Students introducing the first legislation to stop the Gender Pay Gap as well as made Maturninty leave.

For Students Nixon introduced the Pell grant and promoted the Treasury to start buying up student loans. For low income students he put in many scholarships as well as promoted a Universal Basic Income Systym a Radical Policy to this day. As well as gave them the right to vote at 18 personally sponsoring the amendment.

Nixon also wanted the government to be friendlier implimanting a systym of redesigns of government logos to be more what americans are rather then the government.

This is not to mention how Nixon was the main force behind eisenhowers Civil Right movements

Enviormentalism-

Nixon did more for enviormentalism then any presidents according to political scientists Byron Daines and Glenn Sussman. From Presidents Bill Mcknley to Donald Trump, Not only is Nixon the only Republican President to help the environment but the one who did it the most. Nixon made National Enviormental Policy Act The Endangered Species Act, The Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency, The Clean Water Act, and many more.

Nixon Pioneered managing Waste Water slowing factory output windmills and clean forms of energy. He also was the President to put Global Warming on the list of crisis which no President has taken off that list. He also spread the environmentalism message to the Republican Party which since Calvin Coolidge was ignored but due to Nixon still most Republican have environmentalism in many issues. He also pushed these policies on Nato and China.

Foreign Policy- 

The Nixon Governemtn best work is that in it foriegn policy not only is the Nixon Doctrine the Doctrine that every presiden sincet has used except Reagen and Biden The Nixon Doctrine that of only sending support unless a Nation and it people majorly threatened interestingly during the Nigerian civil war following this Doctrine The US fought with minimal combat with the USSR Britain against Canada China and France

Nixon also went for a policy of detente signing more then any president arms treaties including the ones banning nuclear weapons from space.

The other big achievement of Nixon was ending the Vietnam War as we adressed it was Agnew who was the one that sabotage peace negotiations but the thing is that was not the only failed negotiations. Nixon policy for ending the Vietnam war was that of setting up the south to be able to hold on. Nixon for two years lead a safe orderly evacuation of US troops instead a full on withdrawal as we see does not work as we have seen in Afghanistan. Nixon sabatoge the north by hitting supply lines and giving control to the South Vietnamies to there military basses rather then abadoning them and the equipment. The dis order came when Nixon was pressured from Agnew’s scandal and Watergate slowly creeping up he kept his promise and ended it.

The last big foriegn policy achievement done by Nixon was that of opening trade with China. Nixon was not only the first president to be on friendly terms with china but also the one that led for the PRC to be reconized Nixon opened up trade with China on US terms avoiding the trade deficit we see today which was mostly caused by Clinton, Carter, and the first Bush. This allowed for large amounts of prices to be cheaper while combating inflation.

His policy for American economic sytym to try and once again raise wages and to get the US inflation under control was immensely important The Nixon Shock as it was called is when France demanded gold at the US fixed standard at the time which would have devastated the nation but Nixon put the US on a floating system or taking us off of the gold standard Nixon was smart and had a wage freeze which meant companies couldn't cut wages as an excuse till the economy stabilize. Political Scientist agree that this greatly helped put the US on the world stage as a Super Power and not as a declining power like Britain. 

Nixon was overall friendly with all world leaders except Pierr Elliot Trudeu who tried to back stab the US multiple times.

Conclusion

Nixon would be remembered as a great president if it wasn't for the fact that he was caught multiple presidents broke the law we learned in later years. Nixon had the decency to resign even though he did nothing Illegal. Nixon helpt Environmentalism become aware, Nixon Helped expand equal rights as well as the rights of students. Nixon Helped the US not just to stop communism but stopped injustice and stop war. Nixon is a good president.

As a side note Nixon is innocent as he never was found guilty in a court of law.