37th

We can argue all we want about his legacy of failure, lies, and deception. He resigned his office in disgrace, he left his party in the lurch, and his pardon was suspect as well. What people tend to forget is the good that he did while in office. I am referring to President Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States.

Yes, Watergate and his resignation are the things we remember the most. We see the crime and the cover up, we see how the Republican Party was viewed as the CIA of the political system, spying on others, secretly bombing Cambodia and Laos, and we saw a man hide behind the labels, Executive Privilege, and National Security. There was so much more that we don't recognize. We don't always see the good when the bad was so much more memorable.

He did so much more than Watergate. He was responsible for changing the voting age nationwide to 18. He wanted to see more and more of our youth take an active part in the world and knew that making them wait to 21 when the world could change. Knowing that the Vietnam War was such a big issue concerning American, and American youth, he wanted to give them their voice.

Staying with the Vietnam War, he also ended the draft making it illegal for the U.S. to draft men and women into military service. His view was the military strength was good enough and that conscription or the draft was no longer necessary. He helped make it a worth while choice for men and women to enter the military by providing them with greater pay and greater benefits. The Gates Commission has helped make our military the strongest in the world by training the best and brightest and most capable, rather than taking men off the street and throwing them into battle for no reason.

He created the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency to help make our planet better by encouraging recycling our natural resources and protecting the air by passing the Clean Air Act. He is responsible for our Nuclear Powers Plants cleaning pollution and not making it unlivable around these places.

He took politics to a new level and is responsible for creating the modern day Republican party where issues are the focal point and not the person delivering the issue. In the past, it was more about the man and then it was the issue. The American voice was wrapped up in the presentation making the face more important than the office he was running for. Nixon turned that around making the issue more important than the person running for office.

However, it seems rather ironic that he took this stand when he was digging up dirt on Democrats and changing people impressions of them so that Republicans came out looking better.

Nixon was also responsible for opening China to trade with the west. China, a communist nation, was not recognized by America as a nation that it wanted to do business with. Nixon knew that in order for growth to take place, economically on a global scale, things needed to change, the world needed to change. He began negotiations with China during the Vietnam War that resulted in a free and open exchange of ideas with China that also resulted in a trade agreement between the two nations.

Say what you will about the man, and there's a lot to say that is negative. History books tend to look upon the negative aspects of his presidency. I don't think that this is good. We need to see the whole picture. We need to see the man for the good he did, not just the bad. Here, I have presented just a small scale version of what he did that was good for America. I encourage you to look up the rest.

Maybe, just maybe, the man who is currently President has some good in him as well, I just don't see it... yet. I will keep looking, but I will be honest, I am not holding my breath.

Until next time
P