Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968 on a promise to end the Vietnam War. His policies of cutting the Ho Chi Minh supply trail through bombing campaigns destabilized Cambodia and Laos, while Vietnamization aimed to gradually withdraw U.S. troops by training South Vietnamese forces but ultimately failed as South Vietnam fell to North Vietnam in 1975. Nixon's presidency was cut short by the Watergate scandal after he was found to be involved in a cover up of White House-orchestrated burglaries at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. He resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment.
2. EARLY LIFE
• - Born in 1913 to Hannah and Francis
Nixon, devout Quakers and descendants of
early American Settlers.
• - Nixon was quoted as saying that: "We
were poor, but the glory of it was we didn't
know it”.
• - Worked hard for his family, turning down
a Harvard acceptance to support the family
business.
• - He did well at school, but was never top
of his class.
Richard Nixon’s Childhood Home
in Yorba Linda, California .
3. EARLY LIFE
• - After a successful stint as a lawyer, and
commended service in the U.S Naval Reserve
throughout World War 2, Nixon represented
California in Congress and later The Senate.
• - He ran for president against John F Kennedy
in 1960. but lost by the narrowest of margins:
0.2%.
• - Nixon would run again with success in 1968,
taking the helm as the most watched and
most powerful man in the world, with Spiro
Agnew as his Vice President.
• - His success in 68’ was mostly due to his
promise to end the unpopular Vietnam War.
Nixon campaigning for the Senate,
1950
4. VIETNAM
• 1969: US was spending between 60 and 80 million dollars a
day on the war.
• 300 US troops were being killed each week.
• Hugely unpopular with the public, particularly young
people.
• Nixon had two plans to end it:
-To cut the Ho Chi Minh supply trail.
-To “Vietnamise” the war.
5. CUT THE HO CHI MINH
SUPPLY
• - This was a crucial supply route for the
Viet Cong and NVA.
• - It gave the ability to have a constant flow
of weapons, ammunition and men against
the flanks of the allies.
• - The trail ran through Cambodia and Laos.
Its destruction involved the destabilisation
through mass carpet bombing.
• - It also meant involving Laos and
Cambodia in the war.
Map showing the Ho Chi Minh supply trail
into Vietnam during the Vietnam War
(1962-1975)
6. CUT THE HO CHI MINH
SUPPLY
• - Cambodia: 2.7 million tons of ordinates
were dropped, displacing 30% of the
population and killing as many as 500,000
people.
• - two million tons were dropped on Laos.
• - This essentially resulted in the rise of the
Pol Pot regime and Cambodian genocide
through destabilisation.
• - Nixon’s plan to cut the supply trail proved
ultimately a failure.
B-52 Stratofortress during Operation
Linebacker. US Air Force
7. VIETNAMISATION
• - A program to "expand, equip, and train
South Vietnamese forces and assign to them
an ever-increasing combat role, at the same
time steadily reducing the number of U.S.
combat troops.”
• - Through 1968 to 1972, Nixon withdrew
405,000 troops.
• - Nixon wanted Vietnamese to take over their
own war effort.
• - The US troops trained the Vietnamese
soldiers to fight the North.
• - South Vietnamese lacked the necessary
communication and command chains, as well
as skilled air support, which would prove fatal. U.S soldiers withdrawing from Vietnam, 1975
8. VIETNAMISATION
• - 1973 ceasefire between the US and the
North Vietnamese. The final US troops and
advisers were withdrawn.
• - The final stage of Nixon’s Vietnamization
was to take effect.
• - In two years, NVA overran the South and
War was over.
• - Successful in withdrawing the US from
war. However the plan was a catastrophe in
helping the South.
14 year-old sniper fighting for South Vietnam, 1969,
Da Nang, Vietnam
9. WATERGATE
• - The scandal led to the resignation of
Nixon, and the closest any President has
ever come to impeachment.
• - Nixon set up the Committee for the Re-
Election of the President, which successfully
wiretapped phones in the Democratic
National Committee HQ in Watergate
complex.
• - Upon a second infiltration, five men were
arrested for burglary and attempted
interception of communications.
• - Nixon: “I can say categorically that ... no
one in the White House staff, no one in this
Administration, presently employed, was
involved in this very bizarre incident.”
The Watergate complex, 2006
10. WATERGATE
• - Evidence of Nixon’s involvement in the
scandal was mounting quickly.
• - An anonymous informant called
“Deepthroat” had alerted journalists about
the money trail which connected the White
House to Watergate.
• - Former staff informed the media that the
president was involved in the cover up, and
recorded all the conversations.
• - Whitehouse attorney; John Dean testified
to the Senate that Nixon was involved
heavily in Watergate.
John Dean testifies before the Senate
Watergate committee in 1973. (George
Tames /The New York Times)
11. WATERGATE
• - Nixon’s recordings were handed over by
ruling of the supreme court to the
investigation.
• - The infamous ‘Smoking Gun’ Tape was
found.
• - The tape records Nixon discussing how
he’ll prevent the FBI from investigating and
his connection to the five burglars.
• - In a year: Nixon’s approval ratings
dropped from 67% to 29%. Thousands
protested.
• - On August 9th 1974, Nixon resigned “for
the good of the nation”.
Pres. Richard Nixon raising hands w.
trademark V signs in doorway of helicopter
after leaving White House following his
resignation over the Watergate scandal, 9th
August 1974.
12. CONCLUSION
• Nixon remains an icon of the 60’s and 70’s. His influence was far reaching.
• His presidency was fraught with both major world accomplishments, and
also serious failures.
• Although a bastion of democracy against communism, he undermined it
both domestically and internationally by expanding US hegemony, lying to
voters, using constant espionage, and installing murderous autocracies in
nations which had elected socialist leaders.
• Nixon’s entire political career was a contradiction.
• His actions as a president were not unique, but vitally important from a
historical, political, and democratic perspective.
• Reminds the world of the importance of accountability.
• Resonates even more powerfully in today's current political climate.
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• The Washington Post. (2018). The Watergate Story - The Washington
Post. [online] Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/politics/special/watergate/timeline.html.
• Biography. (2018). Richard Nixon. [online] Available at:
https://www.biography.com/people/richard-nixon-9424076.
• Perlstein, R. (2017). Watergate scandal | Summary, Timeline, & Deep
Throat. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Watergate-Scandal.
• En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Richard Nixon. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon.
