After reading Chapter 40, respond to the below question using examples from the reading and previous knowledge. Click on “comment” to respond.
“Discuss the reasons Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency. How was his presidency both similar and different to past presidents in how he handled either domestic or foreign issues.”
Nixon’s presidency was considered imperial because of how uncontrolled he acted. For example he abused his power with the irs and the tape recorder incident. Nixon also had the Vietnamization policy that somewhat slowed down the war but dragged it on longer then it should have in my opinion. Nixon also used wire taps to find out how the leaks were coming out about his campaign.
By abusing his power with the irs Nixon showed the public how untrustworthy he was. This was all done secretly to find out what his opponents where trying to do and their secrets. Nixon was not proven to have ordered these attacks but he was trying to cover up the incidents and I believe that bring up red flags.
Nixon’s next big attempt was his vietnamaztion policy that gradually withdrew troops from Vietnam. This would be a way to slow down the fighting, however it will eventually prolong the war and its death toll. During this time, Nixon was secretly bombing Cambodia and this lead to riots in the us. Henry Kissinger tried to negotiate with north Vietnam but eventually lead to the bombing of north Vietnam as well.
My dear friend, although you did mentioned why Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic (how uncontrolled he acted), you did not talk about how his actions were similar and different to other presidents.
I like that you got into detail and really discussed the reasons Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency. But I realized you didn’t answer the second part of the question on how the way he handled domestic and foreign issues was both similar and different to past presidents. For example you could compare his abuse of power to past presidents and how there is similarity there or how he was different by actually going out there to different countries such as Russia and China to resolve foreign issues.
you answered the question very well but you failed to compare and contrast Nixon’s presidency with other presidents.
In the paragraph you used ” in my opinion”, and what I like about that is how you implemented this phrase in your discussion because it gives off a professional vibe that you indeed know what you are talking about and you do intend to give your views on the matter.
You failed to include how his actions were similar or different to past presidents but over all your claim and whole essay was well written
In the paragraph you used ” in my opinion”, and what I like about that is how you implemented this phrase in your discussion because it gives off a professional vibe that you indeed know what you are talking about and you do intend to give your views on the matter. This makes your response seem more reliable.
In the paragraph above you used ” in my opinion” in one of your statements, and what I like about that is how you implemented this phrase in your discussion due to it gives off a professional vibe that you indeed know what you are talking about and you do intend to give your views on the matter. This makes your response seem more reliable and trustworthy.
Richard Nixon was elected in 1968, and re-elected in 1972. The largest issue in America at the time was with the highly opposed Vietnam War, one of the longest wars in American history. Civil rights and women’s rights were also burning issues in 1970s America. Nixon’s presidency was called imperialistic because he overrode his executive powers and because of his disgraceful Watergate scandal.
The 60s saw a huge rise in the antiwar movement, primarily amongst the American youth. These “doves” were very angry when Nixon ordered an invasion of the neutral Cambodia in 1970 without Congressional approval. The doves took to the streets to protest, where they violently clashed with the police. Clearly, Americans disapproved of Nixon’s arbitrarily expanded war powers. Nixon’s war actions are similar to Abraham Lincoln’s, who broke many rules when dealing with the Civil War. For example, Lincoln suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus in 1863, and expanded the size of the military. The difference between these two expansions of power is that Lincoln’s was largely approved by the Union and the Republican-controlled Congress, while virtually everyone was outraged by Nixon’s actions.
In response to Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, Congress tried to pass legislation to cut off appropriations, but Nixon vetoed it. Then Congress tried to pass the War Powers Act to limit the president’s war powers, and had to override Nixon’s veto. Nixon’s excessive use of the veto power was a large part of his administration’s imperialistic tendencies. In this act he was similar to Andrew Jackson, who took executive action that defied Congress, and repeatedly vetoed legislation, earning himself the snarky title of King Andrew I. However, they are different because Nixon eventually agreed to compromise, ending the Cambodian bombings, while Jackson never really compromised with Congress.
Before Nixon’s re-election the Watergate Scandal happened, in which Republican-hired burglars broke into the DNC headquarters with bugging devices. This was clearly illegal and showed the lengths Nixon would go to secure his re-election. Watergate was not only an overreach of executive power but was also illegal in general. This was similar to the Grant administration because both were deeply corrupt, with Grant’s Credit Mobilier scandal. However, Grant’s scandals paled in comparison to Watergate, which was unparalleled in its disgrace.
“Nixon’s excessive use of the veto power was a large part of his administration’s imperialistic tendencies.” The power to excessively veto was an unprecedented action by King Andrew, which is not considered imperial when used by Nixon, but a precedent taken by him [Nixon].
I disagree with your comment Abdulhakeem because considering the context, on what Nixon was actually trying to veto (the War Powers Act), it could be considered as an imperialistic tendency. Vetoing this bill would enable Nixon to take action in foreign land without immediate knowledge of Congress, which is undoubtedly imperialist. While true that Jackson did set the precedent, her comparison to Jackson had more purpose in showing the similarity of how both presidents overstepped (debatable) their role in excessively using the power of a veto.
Your writing is as impressive as always, and you go into great detail about how Nixon addressed issues in the Vietnam War and how he abused his presidential powers in the Watergate scandal.
It seems, however, you did not go into much detail about how he addressed domestic issues such as civil rights which are mentioned in your opening paragraph.
You’re right– I seem to have misread the question! For the part about foreign and domestic policy under the Nixon administration…
Richard Nixon was a conservative Republican, but he handled domestic issues like the liberal-minded FDR. In fact, Nixon expanded New Deal policies such as Social Security, and started similar programs like the AFDC and Supplemental Security Income. In this he was different from Calvin Coolidge, who sought to reduce federal spending.
Nixon had the same ideas about the Vietnam War as JFK and LBJ, so he upheld their promises to help South Vietnam against North Vietnam. However, his policy (the Nixon doctrine) was different because he wanted to remove American troops.
Also, Nixon was similar to Harry S Truman in that they both tried to bomb their enemies into surrender. While the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did lead to Japan’s surrender, the bombing of North Vietnam did not win the war.
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency because of the amount that Nixon has done without congress knowing/consent. Some things that Nixon did was his secret bombing campaign across Cambodia without congress knowing and he also used government agencies like the IRS and CREEPS to spy on the democrats and “silence” people who spoke out against his plans/about the government (Pentagons Papers). With foreign issues, Nixon fought against communism like many other presidents (JFK) but ended badly in Vietnam when the North invaded the South after America left. With the Cold War, JFK uses force ( using troops for say) while Nixon negotiated with China and Russia, making an agreement and having better relationships with them, slowly making a path for the end of the Cold War.
Hey Cornelius I believe in a lot you are saying but what happened during the IRS that wasn’t really used to silence the people, it was used to spy on them and to find out what his “enemies” were trying to do before they get to him. another area you missed what when Nixon secretly bombed areas of Vietnam to almost speed up the war, so I wouldn’t call that negotiating.
Nixon used the IRS and CREEPS to actually spy on his enemies. The whole CREEPS group was actually meant to raise voices instead of silencing them.
Nixon’s presidency is considered imperial following a few actions to strengthen the executive branch. The Imperial presidency is an unprecedented action taken by the president to solve national and international issues. Nixon follows a loose interpretation of the constitution. Some imperial actions Nixon has taken was having relations with CREEP during the Watergate Scandal and the bombing of Cambodia.
Other presidents have done similar actions. King Andrew vetoed many laws giving him the name, people’s president. FDR created the New Deal to help the United States out of the Great Depression. In these cases, they did abuse the power of the presidency, which strengthened the executive branch, but they did have supporters from people of the lowest social class and farmers. As for Nixon, he abused the presidential authority without pleasing anyone, except for the Watergate scandal, appealing for himself.
I don’t think that creating the New Deal was a bad thing. FDR didn’t abuse his power because it was a recovery from the Great Depression. It was a good thing that helped the people after and made them feel secure.
The New deal was certainly not bad, all I meant was that he expanded the power of the executive branch by overusing his presidential power.
FDR creating the New Deal policy was not really an abuse of power. It only became that way once he wanted to pack Congress to get more deals passed.
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency because he was out of control and kept trying to increase the amount of power he had. During Nixon’s presidency he was proven to be a part of the Watergate scandal which in itself proves he was an imperialist president because he used illegal tactics to win his reelection further increasing his political power.
Nixon also had power over the executive branch, he reorganized it and made decisions without consulting congress. He also wouldn’t disclose any information on the decisions he was making. He also refused to spend funds that most people agreed should’ve been spent. He was acting irrational and again out of control.
Nixon’s administration overall just abused their power to their own benefit which isn’t what any president should do, they made decisions that were done discreetly which further proved he abused his power. The whole “making decisions secretly” thing was a major red flag and his imperialist ideals could have, in my opinion, been somewhat prevented if people forced his decisions to be made public.
I agree with your claims as to why Nixon’s presidency was imperial, however, you didn’t really address the second part of the question in your response.
Well done, I agree with most of your statements and judgement of Nixon’s Presidency, I couldn’t have said it any better. But after reading it I noticed that you forgot to mention how his presidency was similar or different to other presidents. This is a major part of the question, which shouldn’t be ignored.
I think the whole Cambodia affair was the most thing that showed Nixon was imperialistic because he abused his power and made decisions while keeping everyone else in the dark about it.
Nixon’s presidency reflected heavily on imperial beliefs. It was not uncommon for him to act without informing congress beforehand. Such as the Cambodia bombing incident. He would also frequently disregard congresses concern, and vetoed bills liberally. His violent international actions heavily impacted the doves, the people who were very anti-war. It was from this point his lack of empathy for the people’s opinions really showed his imperialistic nature. Like Lincoln before him, he did pretty much whatever he wanted and even got dirty. It was not the first time this has happened, in fact it was very common for presidents to abuse their power, and veto many bills, but in Nixon’s case he did it simply to please nobody but himself, and made the American people very upset.
His watergate scandal also made him unpopular with the people. And the way the IRS was trying to find all the negative talk with the people to secure his presidency for the next term also made him look really bad. Overall his actions as a president were very self serving and hedonistic. His dismissal of the views and actions of not only the American people but also Congress really peice that
did Lincoln not have permission unlike Nixon
I really like how you answered the questions very straight to the point. Brief but also detailed. I haven’t seen anyone compare Nixon to Lincoln in any of their responses and I love that you did.
Hi Alnajim! You did really good! I would just say that you could have gone more in depth with the second part of the question, overall. You could have included specific evidence to support the foreign or domestic issues regarding the presidents similarities and differences.
Nixons presidency was considered imperial because of how controlling he acted. He domestically abused his right of using the bureaucracy by replacing cabinet members of the White House with his own people. He also abused his power with the tape recorder and hid his tracks so that he wouldn’t look like the bad person. Only later for people to really see his true form.
His presidency was different to past presidents in how he handled either domestic or foreign issues by Kennedy’s campaigning skills decisively outmatched Nixon’s, who wasted time and resources campaigning in all fifty states while Kennedy focused on campaigning in populous swing states. Ronald Reagon was similar to Nixon by they both thought that the government was the problem. Reagon wanted to shift power from the federal government to the states. Both of them didn’t believe that the government helped at all and that it was never a solution for anyone.
Nixons presidency was considered imperial because of how controlling he acted. He domestically abused his right of using the bureaucracy by replacing cabinet members of the White House with his own people. He also abused his power with the tape recorder by lying and covering up his tracks which made him look very bad to everyone. It revealed how Nixon was a wrongful president and resigned due to the fact that it was an obstruction of Justice.
His presidency was different to past presidents in how he handled either domestic or foreign issues by Kennedy’s campaigning skills decisively outmatched Nixon’s, who wasted time and resources campagining in all fifty states while Kennedy focused on campaigning in populous swing states. Ronald Reagon was similar to Nixon by they both thought that the government was the problem. Reagon wanted to shift power from the federal government to the states. Both of them believed that the government wasn’t a solution.
President Richard Nixon had imperialistic policies that continued the involvement in Vietnam, determined to win, and expansion in Cambodia. His views changed the path of history as it pertained to foreign policies and domestic affairs.
President Nixon continued the Vietnam war to check the spread of communism and end American involvement. Therefore, Nixon expanded the war, involving neighboring countries such as Cambodia. However, resentment at home, which included Kent State University that protested against the bombing in Cambodia, helped bring the unpopular war to an end.
President Nixon had helped in preventing the spread of communism similar to past presidents like JFK, however it was seen as unsuccessful as he introduced the “detente” that said to respect the differences between countries. This helped increase trade and relations between the USSR, China, and the U.S which was different.
Your essay was very well written but Nixon did not continue the Vietnam war to end American involvement.He did in fact when running for election promise to pull America out of the war but with his many actions it is apparent that he was determined to win by any means necessary.Even bombing Cambodia without congressional approval.
Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic because he made decisions without consulting the members of congress or anyone in the Cabinet. One example was the decision to secretly bomb Cambodia, thus expanding the war to Cambodia. When that fact was brought to light he said it was a response to Northern aggression. But it was still an abuse of power. He felt that as president of the United States, he didn’t need to explicitly follow the Constitution.
I’d say Nixon’s Vietnamization was in a way similar to Mcnamara’s flexible response. Both limit America’s intervention in foreign issues by allowing American troops to help to an extent, then removing them from the situation and sort of letting the people of whatever country they’re in fend for themselves.
I agree with how you related Nixon presidency to being imperialistic due to the course of his actions. It is a cleaver matter to relate Nixon’s Vietnamization to Mcnamara’s flexible response, since they are both great examples of how presidents wanted to dodge out American troops from these foreign nations that the United States was fighting the war for.
I think you had good connections with other presidents although I don’t think he was considered imperial because he did not consult members of congress but because he abused his power for political purposes and broke laws such as The Logan Act where he committed treason.
I like the way you connected Nixon’s secret bombing in Cambodia to the actions of Sec. McNamara, where he used the idea of a flexible response to other nations. However, you could have also connected Nixon’s bombing to the American involvement in the Philliphines and Cuba, even though many believed that US was becoming too imperialistic.
First let’s define what an imperial presidency is. An imperial presidency is when the president takes action without consulting congress;acting in secrecy. Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency because he did act on without consulting congress and operated at times in secrecy. In fact he resigned out of office and ended his presidency because of congresses discovery of his involvement in the Watergate Scandal which was considered impeachment for obstruction of power. He was also found with tape recordings of oval office conversations.
Another example is when he invaded Cambodia without congress approval and what he said in response to defend his authority to order the invasion was his title of commander-in-chief. Thus, abusing his power as the head of the executive branch.
His presidency was both similar and different to past presidents in the way he handled either domestic or foreign issues as he did abuse his powers as president trying to handle foreign issues (Cambodia) and many presidents prior to him did the same. But what was different about his presidency to past presidents is he did what did not to please an outspoken majority group of people but instead the silent majority.
I disagree with your definition of an imperialistic presidency. You were very specific with you definition, which is good most of the times but once you don’t define it right it isn’t as helpful in the essay. To counterargue your definition, Andrew Jackson was very outspoken of his actions towards congress and the public. He would specifically say stuff like “i will kill the bank before it kills me”. Also actions like the Indian removal and overruling the Supreme Court were all outspoken actions that he didn’t quite hide from congress or the American public. In other words your definition was somewhat correct but it isn’t necessarily true all the time.
For the second part of your writing, you didn’t present any specific president which would have been nice to see. You also gave a pretty open statement and should of went into more detail on the events that lead up to his actions (why he went to please the silent majority) and the events that happened in that time frame.
To contextualize the event, Nixon invaded Cambodia because North Vietnam was receiving supplies from them, and it felt like an uneven war. Therefore, Nixon bombed the Trail/Cambodia without approval and it killed many innocent people in that country. Cambodia was neutral during this time.
First off, I liked how you defined what an imperial presidency is. I also liked how you gave detailed explanations on how Nixon did actions without consulting with congress. Although, the watergate scandal isn’t the only reason for his impeachment. Obstruction justice, abuse of power for political purposes, defying Judiciary Committee subpoenas, and tax evasion, were also the reasons for Nixon’s termination. Something that you could’ve improved on, was giving an example of a past president that was similar to Nixon, and one that was different from Nixon. Overall, I liked your detailed examples and thoroughly specified examples based on the question.
Very nice, I like the context used before talking about examples, etc. The way you first defined and then showed how it really was is immaculate. However, branching out slightly more in the region about Cambodia would strengthen your essay.
Following the years after WW2, the United states changed its international role from a strict isolationist policy to containment of communism and interventionism. With the United States being more involved in foreign affairs, future presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon’s domestic and foreign policies took a turn towards imperialistic actions. Richard Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic because of his executive powers/policies and militant actions pertaining to the Vietnam War.
Throughout american history there has been many presidents who corruptly overused their power, Nixon notably being one. Richard nixon was president in an era in need of a stringent president to regulate foreign and domestic affairs such as those concerning politics and war. The Watergate scandal showed Nixon’s obstruction of justice and how willing he was to become re-elected. This showed domestic imperialism because he was trying to control the presidential elections so he can do as he wills with affairs pertaining to the Vietnam War. This can be similarly represented by President John Adam’s midnight justice appointments in which he appointed federalist judges to their supreme court upon leaving office. This was similar to Nixon’s actions because he wanted to control US government policies in his party’s favor. However this differed from Nixon in that John Adams changed government officials to gain control of more domestic affairs while Nixon wanted presidency to control foreign affairs(Vietnam, USSR, and China).
The Majority of the American public, most commonly the “young youth” was outraged at the declaration of war against vietnam. Although the role of US involvement was controversial at the beginning of the war, the public later shifted to a much stronger position opposing war due to the secret bombings of Cambodia. The bombings greatly increased the “credibility gap”. This was viewed as an imperialist action mainly because it was unnecessary and non-relevant to the war objective. The fact that this was kept secret from the Public added fuel to the fire. Willing to contain the spread of communism, Nixon forced american influence over countries not in danger of communism without informing the public because he didn’t want objection to his imperialistic actions. This was similar to Theodore Roosevelt’s actions in taking control over the philippense because both presidents forced american influence upon other nations with military action. Both policies differed becauses of the causes of both president’s actions. Theodore took over the philippians because he believed the US had a moral duty to “civilize” the Philippines as mentioned in “our country, its present crisis and possible future”. One may argue Nixon’s actions were urged by a strong desire to contain the spread of communism.
* I tried limiting myself to 45 min so i didn’t have time for a conclusion:).
Hey, I really enjoyed your essay, although the phrase “young youth” could be phrased better. This is only because the word youth itself means young. However, your essay was amazing and you could tell that you knew exactly what you were saying. As I praised enough, young youth is like referring to a big giant, it’s weird to say/write.
Thank you!
Don’t mix up the terms imperialism or imperialistic era and imperial presidency. Although they both are similar in context they have different meanings. Theodore Roosevelt can be considered imperial due to actions such as big stick policy, and trust busting, but not the era itself. Imperialism is the ideology that a country is more powerful when they have rule over other foreign nations.
Man Mustapha your a stud, this was GREAT!!! Conclusion who?
Is this a graded assignment
Yes
Nixon entered office promising to end involvement in Vietnam by a process he called Vietnamization.Vietnamization is the withdrawing American troops and turning the war over to the Vietnamese.Similar to previous presidents Nixon believed in containment of communism. Nixon’s presidency was considered imperial because of his abuse of power.
The bombing of Cambodia without congressional approval stirred up massive protest with the doves who believed that the United States should not have invaded neutral Cambodia. The bombing of Cambodia without congressional approval further expressed the extent in which Nixon was willing to go to win the war even if it was illegal.
Nixon like Truman,Eisenhower, and Kennedy perceived the Soviet Union and communism as major threats to the security of the United States.But Nixon unlike Truman,Eisenhower, and Kennedy formulated an approach called detente,a policy that called for countries to respect each other’s differences and cooperate more closely.
Answered both parts of the question carefully and nicely. Although more detail could be used.
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency because of how he went behind congress back and his abuse of power. He went behind congress back by his secret bombing across Cambodia and he also used government agencies like the IRS and CREEPS to spy on the democrats. He also abused his power by using the bureaucracy by replacing cabinet members with people of his choice.
Like other presidents Nixon helped prevent the spread of communist like JFK. But he did abuse his power which no president should do. A Lot of his decisions was based on his own benefits.
Richard Nixon lead an imperialistic presidency from the years 1969-1974. This means he broke many laws while in presidency. A couple examples of this are the Watergate Scandal and the bombings in Cambodia.
The Watergate Scandal showed the abuse of power during Nixon’s presidency in the years from 1972-1974. Five men, part of the Committee to Re-Elect the President known as CREEP, broke into the Watergate building and illegally planted microphones and obtained information found in confidential files. After much digging, it was revealed that Nixon was behind this and covered it up. This was deemed unconstitutional by Congress and led Nixon to resign so that he would not face impeachment.
In addition to this, Nixon’s presidency was imperialistic due to the Cambodia bombing. Although the bombings were technically legal, once the public found out he disregarded their opinions completely. Congress kept trying to pass laws that he continued to veto until the War Powers Act was passed. It was only then he compromised and stopped the bombings. He continually didn’t care what the public thought until a law was passed against him.
A way Nixon was like a past president was when he tried to put more close-minded people in the courts because of how it was leaning liberal. Another president who did something like this was John Adams. He put a lot of Federalists in the night before his presidency was over, known as Midnight Judges. Both presidents did this so they could get what the laws they wanted to pass.
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency because of all the things he did behind congress back like when he invaded and bombed Cambodia. Another thing was the watergate scandal where Nixon was accused of ordering wiretaps on the government to stop leaks which they later found were true and he was using the IRS to spy on people who opposed him or the Vietnam war.
Nixon’s presidency was similar to things that Abraham Lincoln did during the civil war to help them like increasing the size of the military but the difference between them is that Lincoln did it to help the nation and he was supported by most people but Nixon only did it for his own selfish needs which made people angry.
You attacked the question in a very detailed yet very accurate response. I like how you compared Nixon to Lincoln. That hasn’t been used so far.
Nixon took several actions which exceeded his power as president and excluded the public, Congress, and the Constitution while dealing with foreign (and domestic) issues. As a result, his presidency was considered an imperial presidency.
The secret bombing of Cambodia was one example of Nixon’s abuse of power. Not only was this action hidden from the public, it was also never approved by Congress. Another instance where Nixon abused his power as president was his involvement in the Watergate Scandal, where five members of CREEP were caught snooping files and planting microphones in the Democratic Party’s headquarters. It was also revealed that Nixon was involved in a cover-up of illegal activities and had been secretly recording conversations in the Oval Office.
Similarly to Nixon, Thomas Jefferson resorted to abuse of power when dealing with issues, specifically the Louisiana Purchase. However, while Jefferson excluded Congress in his decision to make the Louisiana purchase, he was able to justify his actions by stating that the constitution gave him the authority to make a treaty. Unlike Jefferson, Nixon’s actions were conspicuously unconstitutional and unjustifiable.
Your paragraph was really good and you got to all the points.I liked how you used Jefferson as a example of how their presidency was the same and different.
Thank you!
Richard Nixon has gone down as the most controversial president of the modern era. Many consider him an imperialist because of his ties and control over foreign affairs and how he dealt with them. He did share similarities as well as differences with other past presidents on this subject.
Richard Nixon was sworn in at the same time as the height of the Vietnam War. He continued fighting and bombardment of North Vietnam, which caused anger and hatred for many Americans who were forced into the war by the draft. Him being so concerned with the containment of communism makes him resemble presidents such as Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.
He was far from being an isolationist like many presidents before him. Even in war time, many past presidents such as Woodrow Wilson tried to stay isolated in times of war and foreign affairs. Nixon was not a fan of that tactic, instead forcing many young men to go into the war, many of whom did not return. He differentiated the most from most previous presidents because of the Watergate Scandal. This caused an uproar from citizens. This forced him to retire, which no president has ever done.
I really liked how you were able to bring in isolationist I feel like I could have never thought of it and it was a different idea to see. But I do feel as if you maybe could have gone more in-depth when talking about how Nixon was an imperial president, maybe a few more examples but other than that very well written!
I really liked your response to the question and I feel as if you gave a different view on the topic by bringing up isolationist and made it work, but I do feel as if you could have gone more in-depth towards the Nixon imperialist I felt as if you were a tad vague and could have elaborated more on your thoughts. Other than that it was a very well written piece and great information!
Nixon’s presidency was considered an Imperial Presidency because he did things without the approval or opinion of congress. This is very well represented by the Watergate Scandal, which started when burglars were caught placing wiretapping phones and stealing important documents. Nixon tried his best and hardest to cover up for the burglary. As later proved by evidence, Nixon’s CREEP ( Committee to Re-Elect the President ) were behind this. He also pushed the CIA to seize or prevent the FBI from investigating, which is another example of how he abused his power as president. He was then forced to turn in the tapes and resigned.
Your paragraph was really good and you hit every point but you forgot to answer the second part of the question which says to connect it to past presidents.
The Vietnam War became highly unpopular to Americans as the years dragged on. Weary of the war, many desired an immediate end, and this idea would be highly popular among younger people, as seen in events such as the Kent State University incident. Also decreasing the moral of the war were the Pentagon Papers, which truly showed how terribly the U.S. was performing. Those who opposed the war, which became known as Doves, pressed this issue in the upcoming election of 1968.
To gain support, Nixon promised Vietnamization under the Nixon Doctrine. This promised an end to the war and returning of troops. And indeed, it helped Nixon gain support, and helped him win the election. But the actual implementation of his promises would be questionable in the following actions he took as president. Instead of fulfilling this promise, Nixon ordered an attack on Cambodia because of the Ho Chi Minh Trail without consulting and gaining permission of Congress. This was seen as a clear abuse of power considering that only Congress had permission to wage war. Nixon widened the power of his role in government and in so took a higher stance in intervention to other countries. He also took advantage of his power to excessively veto bills, much like Andrew Jackson.
Cambodia was not the only example of Nixon pursuing imperial policies. His foreign policies in general, for example, the actions he took with the U.S.S.R. and China, can all be seen as intervening in foreign affairs. In comparison to actions taken by president Harry Truman during the Cold War, Nixon decided to pursue ideas such as disarmament following peace talks in China and the USSR. But despite bringing a time of detente, it should be noted that Nixon was still boldly against communism.
The perceived American loss against Northern Vietnam wouldn’t be the main reason as to why Nixon resigned. Scandals and bribery became apparent under his administration, much like Grants presidency. His actions in foreign affairs and his misuse of power at the home front proves that Nixon was an imperial president.
I found your answer to be very enlightening. I see some similarities between the Doves and anti-war activists from the time of the Mexican War such as Henry David Thoreau. Both groups were unable to prevent the start of the wars, but helped usher the end. I also find it interesting that Nixon was staunchly anti-communist while he expanded New Deal era policies that some would argue are borderline socialist. I agree that Nixon’s presidency saw a lot of misuse of power and corruption comparable to that of Grant’s and Jackson’s.
Rereading the question made me realize I didn’t go into much detail about Nixon’s domestic policies. Under Nixon’s presidency, many laws were passed in protection of the environment, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, etc. This is very similar to how Teddy Roosevelt was a conservationist; as they both passed laws to deal with this specific issue.
To add on to the previous conversation on the federal government and war, this wasn’t the first time the presidents powers overstepped its boundaries. There are multiple instances where the government took a firm grip on society in times of war, such as Lincoln in the Civil War or Roosevelt in World War 2 (Lincoln increased power by instilling Martial Law in some areas, Roosevelt increased power by taking control of the economy for military production). However, Nixon never received permission from Congress to attack Cambodia, which was completely unprecedented.
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency due to his abuse of executive power that was often constitutionally dubious or flat out unconstitutional. For example, in April of 1970 he expanded the Vietnam War by ordering American forces to invade neutral Cambodia without consulting Congress or formally declaring war, thus directly violating the constitution. After that, he further abused his war-making powers by secretly bombing Cambodia. He bombed North Vietnamese forces in that country even after a cease-fire had been declared. Once the war ended, Nixon continued to misuse his power against those he considered political enemies. He directed the CIA and IRS to harass opponents of his policies, he orchestrated a “plumbers unit” to ensure that no confidential information be leaked, and, most infamously, he was directly involved in the Watergate scandal. Although Nixon initially denied his involvement, he actively partook in the cover up. During his impeachment investigation he also refused to hand over incriminating tapes, citing “executive privilege.” Even after relinquishing the tapes, there were still long segments missing, which upon request Nixon flatly refused to turn over. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that “executive privilege” gave Nixon no right to withhold information that was pertinent to a criminal investigation. Facing multiple impeachment charges, Nixon eventually resigned in order to retain any semblance of dignity.
Regarding Nixon’s involvement in domestic affairs, he outwardly paralleled Lyndon B. Johnson by expanding the “Great Society.” During his presidency Nixon promoted welfare programs and attacked racial discrimination in his so-called “Philadelphia Plan.” Also, assisted by the Supreme Court, he broadened employment and educational opportunities for minorities and women through cases such as that of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. Privately, however, Nixon devised a scheme to ensure his re-election in 1972 by appealing to white voters in the south in what was called the “southern strategy.” Essentially this called for soft-pedaling civil rights and openly opposing school busing, which was intended to achieve racial balance in education. This demonstrated that his push for civil rights had no real passion behind it, separating him from Johnson.
When it comes to foreign policy, Nixon acted in a very similar manner to Eisenhower. His interventionist actions such as assisting in the Arab–Israeli conflict and staging a coup in Chile (something not mentioned in the textbook) were very similar to Eisenhower’s approval of a coup in Iran and his funding of the South Vietnamese in their own conflict. One stark difference between Nixon and his predecessors Johnson and Eisenhower was his success in establishing diplomatic relations with mainland China.
Throughout Nixon’s presidency, there were many different social/political parties that increased the gap of national division. At the time of his presidency, 1969, the united states was in the middle of the Vietnam War, which called for much social and political leadership by Nixon. With that being said, Nixon was known to being one of the most imperialist presidents of the United States, due to his abuse of power.
The destruction of Nixon’s presidential term can be portrayed in the well-known Watergate Scandal, which is considered an impeachment for obstruction of power. During the reelection, Nixon and former FBI/CIA agents were accused of illegally going through Democratic candidates papers and phone calls, in order to win the election. This comes to sum up just how much Nixon, was willing to risk in order to obtain the presidency. This compares to president Trumps Impeachment due to both being accused of abusing their offices. 🙂 (*I know you said past presidents but this is included for fun).
Nearing the end of the war, Americas “youth” were mainly antiwar and in that sense called “doves.” They were fueled to protest when president Nixon ordered booming strikes on neutral Cambodia. The booming was irrelevant to the war objective and thus was portrayed as executive power abuse due to the lack of consultation of congress. Congress passed acts, that were repeatedly vetoed by Nixon, in order to hinder the unnecessary booming. The repetition of vetoing congress’s desires was also portrayed in Andrew Jackson’s presidency, in regards to the bank problem. The matters are different due to one being about war and the other being about a political matter (bank). Nixon then gives up to congress allowing the booming to come to an end while Jackson continued to fight for what he desired overrunning congress.
President Nixon took various actions that exceeded the president’s limits and were considered uncontrollable. His imperialistic behaviors included acting without the approval of congress and working privately behind people’s backs. He was willing to go to great extents for his own desires and flat out lie to the public. During the Watergate scandal, Nixon was stealing information and abusing his presidential power to try to stay in office. He then denied this which made him very unpopular and eventually led to his impeachment.
Another imperialistic advance Richard Nixon took on was when he replaced cabinet members with conservative justices he chose. This is similar to Andrew Jackson’s spoils system where he appoints people that are loyal to him. Similarly, FDR attempted to appoint more democrats in the Supreme Court to pass more of his New Deal acts which backfired on him.
Lastly, Nixon established Vietnamization when he withdrew his troops so that we wouldn’t be providing an excessive amount of troops. Nixon then ordered to invade Cambodia so congress passed the War Powers Act which he would soon veto. This shows the extent that Nixon has stretched the president’s power to an uncontrollable degree. This is similar to Andrew Jackson’s “my way or the high way” where he would veto bills that weren’t in line with his beliefs.
I think your response was great but I think it would’eve been better if you mentioned that Nixon wanted to end communism when he helped the South with the Vietnamization. Containing communism was the whole point in helping them and the bombing of Cambodia was primarily because the northern communist were using Cambodia to hold their supplies.
Richard Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic due to his immense abuse of executive power. Nixon shared similar beliefs on communism as former president JFK. To “contain” communism Nixon ordered “Vietnamization” to train the South who were fighting for democracy against the Northern Communist who threatened to subdue them. His abuse of power began when Nixon secretly bombed Cambodia, claiming the Northern Communist were using it for their supplies. Keeping this from the public angered the people, who believed Nixon was abusing his power by making his own decisions before consulting Congress first. Protests began to turn violent at Kent University and this brought the war to an end. Congress passed the War Powers act which repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and limited the involvement of the president in the war. Nixon Vetoed this which showed a mass correlation to FDR and both their willingness to conform to congress.
The Watergate Scandal also showed the extreme abuse of the executive branch. Nixon ordered CREEP to secretly sneak into the democratic building and spy on the results to secure his spot in the reelection. Nixon denied any participation in the CREEP’S actions, but when he was exposed, he refused to give up the tapes which worsened his reputation. Nixon avoided impeachment by resigning and Gerald Ford automatically won the presidency. The Watergate Scandal revealed the extent Nixon would go to secure his presidency and how he deceived the public for his own benefit.
Another factor that added to Nixon’s imperialistic empire was when he could not accept that congress was shifting liberal. Nixon being a conservative himself began appointing his own conservative justices. This is an example of the abuse of executive power because Nixon defied congress by wanting everything to go his way. Appointing his own justices meant that he could do whatever he wanted without the objection of congress
unwillingness*
You could have been more specific when explaining how he put people he picked in his cabinet and gave an example but other than that this is perfect;) smarty
To be more specific, you could’ve written about Andrew Jackson and his spoils system or FDR and how he wanted to appoint more people to the Supreme Court.
I would’ve mentioned more about Nixon’s presidency in relations to others like adding on how JFK shared his views on communism like how they both wanted and attempted to contain it and probably adding another person as another example.
unwillingness*
Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic because of him taking actions into his own hands and not consulting congress. An imperialistic is one who makes a policy to extend a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force.
One of the biggest issues was the antipathetic Vietnam War. The War went on for many years, but the way that Nixon handled it was unethical. He made decisions by himself and didn’t ask congress. Citizens of the US didn’t know what was going on in their own country. In response to Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, Congress tried to pass legislation to cut off appropriations, but Nixon vetoed it. Nixon’s use of excessive vetos led his termination, but not mainly.
One example of Nixon taking actions to his own hands was the Watergate Scandal. The Watergate scandal was a major federal political scandal in the United States involving the administration of United States President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 which resulted in the end of Nixon’s presidency. President Richard Nixon vetoed the bill in 1972.
Nixon’s veto and his accompanying rationale reveal several staple thought processes of Cold War politics in the United States. He said that the bill would implement a “communal approach to child-rearing,” tying it to broad-based fears of Communism. Nixon also vetoed The Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. This Act was Vetoed by Nixon. Nixon also proposed the establishment of the EPA, which is an independent agency, specifically an independent executive agency, of the United States federal government for environmental protection.
His presidency was both similar and different from past presidents in how he handled either domestic or foreign issues.
Regarding Nixon’s involvement in domestic affairs, He expanded the Great Society, which was proposed by Lyndon B. Johnson. Other presidents have done similar actions. King Andrew vetoed many laws giving him the name, people’s president. FDR created the New Deal to help the United States out of the Great Depression.
Trhis has very important info and could help those who don’t fully understand Nixon’s views and what he did. The only criticism I would give this is you put too much presidents and didn’t really focus on similarities but it was very good nonetheless.
This time period of Nixon, which indeed was devout towards imperialism. Was put into this highly imperialistic domestic era due to many factors. For Example, we know that a presidency is considered to be imperialistic when the president especially relies on powers beyond provided by the Constitution.
This is backed up by the fact that in 1970, President Nixon ordered an “intervention” into Cambodia without Congressional Approval (domestic affairs) thus leading to a revokal of the Tonkin Gulf resolution. THIS IS EXTREMELY similar to President Theodore Roosevelt when he sent troops into the Caribbean, therefore, creating new governments without Congressional Approval. This detrimental act was still not fully fixed represented by Nixon. BUT, on the flip side of Nixon, Alexander Hamilton, for example, supported the neutrality of “America” in the French Revolutionary wars whilst others might have opposed it.
Thus using these different analogies and comparisons we can conclude that each president has their own sets of beliefs regarding foreign interventions, and how to handle domestic affairs; from neutrality to full out war we can see the effects they leave behind.
I agree with the conclusion that each president has certain beliefs in terms of foreign intervention.
Richard Nixon was a conservative, a politician, and he disregarded civil rights. His presidency was considered imperialistic. This means that he broke laws and did things without proper authorization. Nixon ordered CREEP to plant microphones in the Democratic Headquarters, pursued the Nixon Doctrine, invaded Cambodia, and began appointing many conservative judges.
When Nixon invaded Cambodia, it was to stop the supplies going through the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This trail led to the North Vietnamese. United States were currently in war with the North Vietnamese because of the communism and they wanted an even fight, therefore Nixon bombed Cambodia without consent of the congress. This started protests in the US. Theodore Roosevelt has done something similar to this for a good outcome. He wanted to secure colonies for Manifest Destiny because he wanted America to remain the strongest in the world with the most possible trade capacities. To remain the strongest, one would have to make sure all playing fields in war is equal with no cheating.
Chief Justice Earl Warren was a liberal and his cases showed a similar trend of new developments. Nixon detested this. Prayers were taken out of school, abortion was legalized, and everyone was entitled to a lawyer. Nixon tried to slow this down by adding in four conservative judges. Andrew Johnson did something similar to this. He wanted to replace his Secretary of War, removing him, and violating the Tenure of Office Act. They changed something about the congress and courts, two big deals, either indirectly or directly.
Nixon also sent spies to go through files of the Democratic headquarters. He had voice recordings of all conversations and kept denying he didn’t, and to attempt solving this he fired the Watergate investigators, making things suspicious. In 1974, he gave in all the tapes and resigned before impeachment.
During Nixon’s time and election a very controversial and very deadly war was taking place. This war was referred to the Vietnam war. Through his election a presidency Nixon’s promised Americans that he will stop the war and return troops. This helped gain him followers and made hime popular with people. As people hoped were up Nixon abolished that plan and then did an attack on Cambodia whiteout the congresses approves. Nixon’s presidency was most referred as imperial presidency because he beloved the president of the country should have some exemption from the laws that are for the avarge civilian. This belief then ignited the Cambodian attack and went against the Tonkin golf compromise. But he also did a bit of good placing the clean water act and the environmental act. These actions were similar to a president before hime named Theodore Roosevelt. His actions were similar because Both presidents thought in way or another they were higher than congress such Roosevelt attack on the Caribbean or his new deal plan which helped him gain popularity and elected for more than 3 terms.
The idea of imperial presidency in Nixon’s made him do a lot of questionable things one such idea was as the Congress was shifting to a liberal side Nixon implanted conservatives. Another way Nixon’s had a imperial presidency was the watergate scandal. This scandal was a critical part in his career and was the reason that when given an inch he would take a mile this ending his career. Nixon’s proved that the reason we have checks and balances was to have stability and balance In Power so no one person would take over such as in a monarchy which resulted the pioneers to come to America and what was America built in the first place. Domestic and internationally Nixon’s sought out to prove and show that he could be the most powerful Wuxi.resulted in a bad ending both in his political career and in his image to the public.
I agree with what you said when it came to his comparison with Theodore Roosevelt as he was the one I compared him to as well. It really seemed like they cared for making the enviornment a better place.
Nixons presidency was considered very imperialistic since he directly betrayed the American precedents set by the presidents of America beforehand. He overused and outright abused his right of using civil service by removing multiple members of his own cabinet throughout the years and replacing them with people who fit his agenda. He also exploited his power with the tape recordings by lying and covering them up which then made him look ill fit to rule. It truly showed how not suited for presidency Nixon was. Nixon then resigned due to the infamous Watergate scandal.
Nixons presidency was very odd compared to prievous presidents in how he handled domestic or foreign affairs. JFK was a much better campaigner compared to Nixon who drained most of his time going around every single state while JFK was more determined in visiting Swing or Populous states. Reagean although very different to also shared some of Nixons Ideals like the fact that they both concurred that big government was the true problem with America. Reagean wanted the states power to be more secure and more effective then the federal government’s power just like Nixon.
Very well written. What first caught my eye was the inclusion of American precedents and how Nixon betrayed or broke them. I like how you included this in your essay because I haven’t seen anyone else include anything about precedents set by past presidents in their essay yet. One thing you could have probably added is Nixon’s Vietnamization policy, or Nixons involvement within the Vietnam war. Overall, good job.
Many presidencies have been very imperialistic in the sense they didn’t abide by their constitutional limits. Many presidents did this, such as Lincolns suspension of Habeas Corpus around the Civil War, and Andrew Jackson’s Spoils system. They both abused the limitations of their presidencies, which resulted in Congress disdaining them. With Richard Nixon, he caused Congress to dislike him by using the blank check from the Tonkin Gulf Resolution during JFK’s presidency to which congress responded symbolically by repealing the resolution as their form of protest. Although Nixon didn’t handle the Vietamaizese war well, he did help expand a lot of Great Society programs by increasing funding and creating new programs like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) along with other programs. In that sense, Nixon had very similar presidential ideals like LBJ and FDR. Nixion also attempted to resolve environmental issues by creating the (EPA) Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
You talked about the blank check from the Tonkin Gulf resolution but you did not justify what exactly he used this for and why. Nixon used this to contain communism and abused his power by bombing Cambodia which was neutral. This angered everyone who hated the fact that he secretly bombed a nation that had no involvement in the war without the approval of congress thus his imperial rule. Overall the comparisons of the diff presidents were great.
Nixon’s presidency was considered imperial because there are examples of him acting upon things that were not consulted by any of the members of congress. Nixon greatly abused his power and it was evident when he secretly bombed Cambodia and had the whole Watergate scandal, where he sent agencies to spy on the democrats.
During the Cambodia bombing incident, president Richard Nixon took it upon himself to invade Cambodia and bomb it. As bad as the situation already was, he did this with no approval from the congress. And to make matters even worse, he completely ignored what the public had to say when they found out. In the Watergate scandal that occurred, 5 of the CREEP members were found looking into files that belonged to some of the democrats. They also planted microphones to listen in on everything that was being said amongst the Democratic party.
If I had to compare Nixon to any of the other presidents, I think one of the best options would be president Dwight Eisenhower. This is due to the fact that he was well aware of how peril communism was to the safety of the nation, similar to Richard Nixon. However, they differ in the sense that Nixon had the Detente policy.
Hey Israa, I would have mentioned that Nixon tried to cover up the Watergate break-in instead of firing the men who were apart of CREEP that were responsible.
Hey there french buddy! In your final paragraph I would take out/change your starting sentence of “If I had to compare”. Overall I liked it! 🙂
I think your comparison is interesting, and focuses on a perspective I agree with. 🙂 Eisenhower shows another similarity with Nixon through his Eisenhower Doctrine, which aided Middle Eastern countries in need of economic assistance and U.S. military forces. In the same way, Nixon ordered the containment policy to be enforced in the Vietnam War to aid South Vietnam, which was another foreign country that also needed the U.S’s military assistance.
Nixon is well known for his Watergate scandal,he stole information on political opponents.His presidency was imperial in the fact that he was very active in foreign policy for example his role in Vietnam.His campaign promise was that he will pull out,but it took him 2 years in where he pulled out a few troops at a time,leading to many deaths both vietnamese and american.He also convinced the vietnamese gov. to hold out for “better terms” that never came.Nixon also replaced the democratically elected leader Chile Salvador Alledle with a brutal dictator in fear of Chile becoming communist.Nixon also normalised trade and relations with China to prevent further growth of communism in exchange for trade and influence.Finally he also took the american dollar off the gold standard and instead took the oil standard with an alliance with the Arab Saudi monarchy.This caused stagflation where the economy stagnates and inflates at the same time.
Your examples and evidence are solid and relate to the question perfectly but you need to state your reasoning, I can understand it but you need to write it down. Also the answer to the second question is missing. Except what I already stated I thought it was perfect and showed your understanding of Nixon’s presidency was deep and correct.
Your response to the first part of the questions was very well written. I liked how you went into detail about some of the stuff he did. You did forget to include the second part the question in your response though, which was to compare Nixon to a previous president
An imperial president is uncontrollable, and exceeds the power assigned by the constitution. After citing the definition of an imperial president i cannot help but think of Nixon’s presidency. Nixon is imperial on so many levels. When Nixon was president he exceeded the power given to him by the constitution by carrying out illegal acts. One of these illegal acts was the Watergate scandal in which he used illegal tactics to win his re-election further increasing his power politically. He did whatever he can for his own benefit
Nixon also controlled the executive branch. He made decisions without ever consulting the congress on whether he should’ve taken them. He acted on whatever he felt right. he acted out of control and selfish. An example of this is his bombing on Cambodia in 1970, which he executed without any congressional approval.
Nixon’s Presidency was somewhat unique compared to previous presidents when it came to him handling domestic and foreign issues. Nixon didn’t have the great negotiating skills needed, however Nixon, like JFK, helped contain communism from spreading. Though it was said that he was unsuccessful in this “containment”, since he introduced the detente which said that he would respect the differences between countries. Although it didn’t help contain communism it did increase trade relations between USSR , U.S, and China.
I agree with your connotation that the Watergate scandal was an example of an unconstitutional use of power. Especially as the firing of investigators was definitely an obstruction of Justice. However, although it may seem unconstitutional, the initial invasion of Cambodia of 1970 was definitely not an unconstitutional use of his powers. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution had expanded the president’s powers to do whatever is necessary to contain communism, and depending on how elastically the document can be interpreted, Nixon could’ve done whatever he wanted in the name of stopping communism.
Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic due to the way he handled certain issues. He would make decisions without informing/receiving approval from congress about it (basically taking matters into his own hands).
He had secretly made 3,500 secret bombings in Cambodia in hopes of weakening United States’ enemies. Nixon then went with “Vietnamization” in order to terminate American involvement with the South Vietnamese forces. It became the Nixon Doctrine. However, the conflict didn’t end peacefully. Unlike the silent majority, the doves were affected to an extent, they protested as much as they could. They practically wanted to leave as soon as they heard about it. Nixon appointed people that were conservative in order to change the courts liberal trends even though they ended up legalizing abortion in 1973 (but that’s getting off track). Anyways, Nixon went on to send five men to spy and plant microphones into a Democratic Party’s HQ. They found out they were part of CREEP.
Nixon’s presidency was similar to JFK’s because they articulated similar messages in their campaigns, nomination speeches. It shares a message of hope through sacrifice. However, a difference would be the way they portrayed the media.
Our 37th president Richard Nixon had fulfilled many actions that many were not fond of and many did not even know of. This had led many people to view Nixon as an imperial president. Nixon had done many things that were not very noble and hid lots of things from the country and citizens were starting to catch on and were getting upset.
In the Pentagon Papers citizen were now shown how truly corrupt our government is towards the Vietnam War, with them keeping many things from the citizens and how their current and former presidents have been keeping information from them. The bombing of Cambodia is a prime example of how Nixon is imperial he had made all these plans on how he was going to end the Vietnam War but behind the back of the country, he went off and bombed Cambodia. Not only did Nixon go behind the back of the country in the bombing of Cambodia but also in watergates, where employees of Nixon broke into democrat headquarters, Nixon yet again went behind the back of America. These all show us how he was imperial due to the fact he was not consulting with the rest of the government and citizens on what do, he did as he pleased.
Nixon’s presidency would be similar to Lyndon B. Johnson’s due to the fact of how the two of them were hiding information towards the war. Lyndon B. Johnson like Nixon withheld information about the Vietnam War with Johnson it was toward My Lai Massacre where many were killed and Johnson did not bring it up to Americans. But one way the two differed from one another was that Nixon was a conservative president he was not big on new deal policies while Johnson was and even had his own twist on it in the Great Society.
An imperial presidency is an term used to describe a president as an emperor who acts without consulting Congress or acts in secrecy to evade or deceive Congress. Nixon’s presidency was from January 9,1913 to April 22,1994 . His presidency was considered imperial because he abused his power and this is obviously unconstitutional . For instance ,when Nixon invaded Cambodia without Congress’s permission . This caused the Tonkin Gulf resolution to be invalid . The Watergate scandal was also an example of how Nixon abused his power . He tapped into peoples phones and stole documents .He also spied on the democratic building to look at the results of the reelection . He had help from the CREEPS .But once this scandal was revealed he denied having any part in it which made everything so much worse . At the end he resigned because he was just running his reputation. He abused the power of the executive branch . Nixon is similar to Kennedy because they were both extremely against communism . I mean that why Nixon bombed Cambodia . Kennedy and Nixon had different ways of presenting themselves . Kennedy believed that your apperence matters that people were more likely to vote for you if you looked nice and if you confident when you gave your speeches while Nixon disagreed with this philosophy .
By displaying these different examples they proved that Nixon’s presidency was an imperial presidency . We can also see that each president has their own way of dealing with issues and how they deal with these issues we can see the consequences of their actions whether it was good or bad
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency due to his abusing of power as president of the United States. This can be seen in many instances during his time as president. One of which is the Watergate Scandal where Nixon’s men wiretapped the offices to find things against the other candidates. Nixon also violated The Logan Act where he interfered in foreign regulations.
Nixon also abused his power during the war with Vietnam where he took long to end the war which resulted in millions of Vietnamese and thousands of American troops died for no reason. Because of the many times Nixon had abused his power and done things that did not favor the people of America, he was hated and almost impeached. He resigned in order to keep some of his secrets safe and so he would not be held accountable for his crimes.
Nixon’s presidency was different than other presidents, an example is Abraham Lincoln where they broke laws and abused their power during a time of war but on one end of Lincoln he was supported by the people and on the other of Nixon he was not. Nixon had similar ideas to president John F. Kennedy regarding communism.
Richard Nixon is considered an imperialist because of the measures he’d go in order to get things accomplished like the Watergate scandal and because of overruling congress like the invasion of Cambodia. The Watergate scandal is when five men a part of CREEPS broke into the democratic party’s headquarters to snoop through files and place down microphones all for the re-election of Nixon. It was later discovered by former White House Lawyer, John Dean, that Nixon had indeed tried to “cover-up” this mess, which was considered impeachable behavior. The Cambodia incident was in mid-1973 when it was discovered that the U.S had planted 3,500 secret bombs in Cambodia. This led to Congress’ new law called War Powers act which essentially said that the president shall warn congress 48 hours in advance when putting American troops in “harm’s way in a foreign country”.
Nixon’s imperialistic views have similarly related to many presidents in the past like Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. In terms of his domestic affairs, Nixon set up many acts to protect nature like the Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act. This is just like Teddy’s conservational acts including the Forest Reserve Act (1891). Regarding foreign affairs, Nixon was simialr to Jefferson in a small way. Jefferson did not get Congressional approval for the purchase of Louisana and so didn’t Nixon when it came to the Cambodia bombs.
The presidential term of Richard Nixon (1969-1974) reflected an extreme shift towards American Imperialism throughout the mid-20th century. Throughout his presidency, Nixon extended his reach beyond his constitutionally-set boundaries by commiting actions without the approval of Congress.
During the early 1970’s, North Vietnam began using Cambodia for staging-ground for attacks on it’s southern counterpart. In retaliation, Nixon invaded Cambodia in order to level the playing field. However, Cambodia remained neutral, which angered the Americans because they believed that the invasion was unnecessary and that they were at war with North Vietnam and not Cambodia. Even after this, Nixon continued secret attacks in Cambodia which the American people soon learned of in 1973. This was somewhat similar to the actions of president Woodrow Wilson during World War I where he continued to fund the Allied Powers even when many Americans believed that America should not have got involved in the European affairs. Even though what Wilson did was not unconstitutional, many Americans did not support it. This is also similar to president William McKinley’s actions in Cuba and the Philliphines in 1898 where he shifted the American ideal to a somewhat imperialist power.
In conclusion, Nixon’s presidency included many uses of unconstitutional acts that showed the growing imperialism of the United States, both domestically and internationally. It showed the growing American involvement in international affairs compared to the involvement during the terms of other presidents and showed a clear example of abuse of leadership by a president.
Nixon’s administration was viewed as an imperial administration as a result of what he secretly did without congress knowing. He used his power for his own benefits. A few things that Nixon did was his mystery shelling effort across Cambodia without congress knowing and he likewise utilized government organizations like the IRS and CREEPS to keep an eye on the democrats and spy on individuals who stood in opposition to his arrangements/about the administration (Pentagons Papers) or who held different views than what Nixon was heading for. With outside issues, Nixon battled against socialism like numerous different presidents (JFK) however it didn’t end well in Vietnam when the North attacked the South after America left. With the Cold War, JFK utilizes power ( utilizing his military power) while Nixon tried to come to agreements with China and Russia. Though he didn’t always use the Friendly Neighbor approach, it still led to having better associations with them, clearing for a path of the end of the Cold War.
Nixon’s presidency that took place during the years of 1969 to 1974 were heavily focused on foreign relations and overall internationalism. From the Vietnam war to tense relations with the Arab peninsula Nixon shared almost none of the same sentiments as the previous isolationist America.
In the debate between anti-war doves and pro-war hawks over the Vietnam War, Nixon at first, to win over the election, tried to find the middle ground. After winning, Nixon favored the hawks seeing as they were the silent majority. Of course by doing this Nixon also became more imperialistic. The secret bombing of Cambodia without the ok from Congress showed that it was mainly Nixon with the imperialistic ideals.
Compared to all other U.S presidencies, Nixon’s is most closely related to the short 3 year presidency of Johnson’s. Both held no respect for the vital checks and balances placed on government roles. Their corrupt ways threatened the democracy that many Americans worship. Although, rather than staying around long enough to be impeached and placed under the question of whether or not to be kicked out of office like Johnson was, Nixon left on his own accord.
Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperial presidency because he would never consult with any of the congress members for the majority of his decisions. Imperialism is extending a country’s powers beyond the given limits. Nixon ordered a secret bombing in Cambodia. Nixon’s goal was to hurt the communist there and to help the non-communist. This action led to the War Powers Act which was passed by congress which stated that the president must report to congress within 48 hours of putting troops in harm’s way in a foreign country and there would be a 60 to a 90-day limit. People started questioning the president’s strategy of shortening the way by escalating it. This caused a protest to take place at Kent State University which got out of hand and the national guard was called in and opened fire and killed four protesters.
Nixon made a lot of decisions that upset the people, for example: during the Watergate Break-in five men, who were a part of CREEP (the committee to reelect the president) had been caught breaking into the democratic party’s headquarters in the Watergate building. They were going through files and planting microphones. Nixon was never directly involved in the Watergate break-in, however, instead of firing the corrupt officials responsible for the crime he tried to cover up the scandal. Later white house tape later reveals a “smoking gun” proving that he had ordered the CIA to stop the FBI from investigating the Watergate break-in.
President Nixon’s presidency was considered an imperialist presidency due to the many reasons in which he relied on his own decision making and power, choosing to not consult with congress. Nixon refused to spend funds suggested by congress, changed cabinet positions without going by congress, and ordered bombing raids + harbors to be mined, during the Vietnam War, without going by congress first.
Nixon’s presidency being similar to President Theodore Roosevelt’s, due to both presidents wanting to act on domestic issues based on their terms and showing the possibility of them abusing their executive power. Yet, differing due to Roosevelt not abusing his executive power, by consulting with Congress on how the government should act on the domestic issues of the United States. Whereas Nixon ended up abusing his executive role countless times, by acting on the domestic issues of the United States by himself, and not consulting with Congress.
Nixon’s presidency had the reason to be called an imperial presidency due to Nixon’s aggressive foreign policies. Both, with the war in Vietnam and the secret bombings of Cambodia, especially after Nixon supposedly retreated.
Additionally, Nixon’s intention to withdraw from the war with the U.S.’s “honor” intact could be interpreted as egotistical in some manner, just like a king.
Nixon’s war powers, given by congress with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution several years before he entered office, were unchecked up until the War Powers Act. Thus, the unchecked powers for war led to Nixon going all out leading to the initial attacks/invasion of Cambodia. Therefore, this was a clear example of how Nixon’s presidency was called an imperial one.
The invasions in Cambodia were met with strong opposition in the United States and the doves, who had protested the war, had really affected Nixon by making him retreat after only two months. That’s democracy right there, power of the people, they don’t want something, so the president doesn’t do that something. Clearly, Nixon overrode that, and to me, that was the strongest violation of democracy in his presidency, especially after appearing to listen to the people.
Interestingly, Nixon’s approach to domestic affairs had struck a similarity with Washington’s domestic policy in response to the whiskey rebellion as Nixon sent out the national guard and 6 total protestors were killed. Nixon’s approach to foreign affairs was similar to JFK and LBJ in terms of how he was known to be a fierce fighter of communism and how he had tried to carry out the containment policy yet his simultaneous eased tensions were different to JFK’s, where instead of racing the Soviets in weapons and aerospace, he reached out to them in hopes to reduce arms.
I really like how you went into the specifics of the invasions of Cambodia, not only as to how it affected others, but how it came to be in the first place. However, you could have cited more examples of other violations, one of the biggest was the Watergate scandals or smaller ones such as his appointment of strict interpreters of the constitution into the Supreme Court (which backfired on him as they were reluctant to repeal liberal rulings of the Warren Court).
Richard Nixon’s many undesirable actions surpassed his presidential powers. Endeavors such as the Watergate Scandal and the bombings in Cambodia are what ultimately resulted in the inquiry of an imperial presidency during his term.
Nixon’s abuse of power included the bombing of Cambodia. This action was never approved by Congress, as it has the power to grant permission to wage war, and was hidden from the public. Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate Scandal was another example of his misgovernment. Members of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) were caught planting microphones and sneaking out classified files in the Democratic Party’s headquarters. Nixon’s effort to cover up the scandal inevitably led to his impeachment and end of presidency.
Comparable to Nixon was Thomas Jefferson and his obstruction of power during the Louisiana Purchase. He violated the constitution by expanding the president’s power without consent. Contrary to Nixon, Jefferson justified his venture by stating that, although he didn’t involve Congress in his verdict to forge the Louisiana Purchase, his conduct was justified since the constitution grants him authority to make a treaty.
Despite the nation being a “silent majority,” opposing its involvement in the Vietnamese war, Richard Nixon continued to lead through imperialistic actions and entanglements with foreign affairs throughout his 1969 presidency. He represented such with his involvement in Vietnam, displayed through his invasion of neutral Cambodia, despite Congress’s objections he continued so by excessive veto. U.S. troops bombings and occupation of Cambodian land during 1970 resulted from its Vietnamese communist bases. Nixon preceded to support South Vietnam by encouraging attacks against the communist North Vietnam, such as his 1972 bombing order. Regardless, assaults towards the South of Vietnam occured, the My Lai Massacre, when U.S. soldiers slaughtered women and children when passing through a village, sparked the hearts of many distraught Americans during 1970. Nixon’s continuous abuse of power whilst increasing overseas involvement, which was extremely opposed by many, resulting in primarily college riots, did much to establish his imperial stance.
On the home front, Nixon generated an unpopular presidential role. Due to his corrupt administration and dishonest government policies, his repeated misrule rose to become a domestic issue. This can be demonstrated through his group CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President), whose relentlessness led to the Watergate scandal that would later end Nixon’s career. In June of 1972, men pursuing the republican presidents reelection took drastic steps to break into and steal from democratic headquarters in Watergate. Nixon was left to cover up and cut the ties to these illegal activities, but examples such as hiding conversation tapes even with his “executive privilege,” proved to be inefficient in his defense, resulting in his impeachment. Similar to Nixon, President Warren G. Harding was hit with an immense scandal during 1922. Like Nixon, Harding’s administration was spreading corruption through the teapot dome scandal, men in workings with Harding sold federal oil reserves through bribes. Harding was inadequate at settling the manipulation and dishonesty of his term, establishing himself an untrustworthy government in the eyes of Ameicans.
Richard Nixon constructed a presidential period revolved on foreign affairs, despite being warned in his predecessors, President Washington’s Farewell Address to abstain from foriegn alliances. While Nixon disregarded the advice, Presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt continued in compliance to the isolationist position. During Nixon’s term, he continued intervening in conflicts, such as relations with China. Due to his Detente policy to ease tensions of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, Nixon began collaborating with the USSR in the formation of SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) treaties in hopes of limiting nuclear weaponry. Contrary to Nixon’s dealings with foreign issues, FDR settled his troubles through isolationism. On the bridge of WWII, America was in the midst of trade conflicts involving the European nations. Expected to form an alliance, FDR therefore created the Neutrality Acts of 1937, banning weaponry distribution with foreign countries, and instilling a Neutral nation.
Nixon was one of the many presidents who abused their presidential power and acted carelessly beyond their limits secretly without the consult of congress or knowledge of the people. This was expressed in the bombing of Cambodia after speculating that they were helping North Vietnam by supplying them with arms, even though Cambodia was neutral. The attacks that were publicized caused several protests led by youths or “doves” who were against war.
In the Watergate scandal, Nixon was exposed for all his illegalities, including his impeachable offenses that
removed him from office (but not really).
In some way, Abe. Lincolns action of going against the constitution in a state of an emergency during the Civil war and suspending Habeas Corpus could relate to Nixon since both terms were at time of war and constitutional violation. One way I saw Nixon differently was in regards to his appeal to the “silent majority” of people who supported the war but were not outspoken or public about it.
President Nixon was viewed as a good president at the beginning of his presidency. He signed treaties with Russia, and China. He was also essential in ending the Vietnam war. But as his time in office passed by he started to abuse his power. One of his most famous indiscretions include the watergate scandal, where he was responsible for secretly recording and or listening to democratic party’s. Nixon and Kennedy shared a common factor to stop the spread of communism. Although while Nixon wanted to continuously act on foreign affairs, Kennedy saw it was nothing but trouble.
An imperial government will take over weaker countries to grow stronger. Under Nixon’s presidency, the government was run imperialistically, as he escalated the Vietnam War by bombing Vietnamese bases, and improved relations with China, to pressure the Soviet Union into creating treaties with the U.S..
During the Vietnam War, Americans protested for the war to end, and Nixon promised to end it soon. He disobeyed his promises, and abused his power as President when he secretly bombed North Vietnam’s communist bases in Cambodia, which ran through the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This had imperialistic attributes because he had agreed to stop fighting the war, but went against Congress and the public, and bombed smaller, weaker, and more unattended countries, knowing that they would not be strong enough to retaliate, or even prepare for such vicious attacks made by the U.S.
The Republic of China, and the Soviet Union had idealistic differences in socialism and Marxism, which led to mutual distrust and the Sino-Soviet Split. At the same time, the Soviet Union was fighting against the U.S. in the Cold War. Nixon and his foreign policy adviser, Henry Kissinger, decided to take advantage of this split, and in 1972, Nixon visited China’s leader Mao Zedong to discuss a new foreign policy, D`etente, which relaxed tensions between the U.S. and China. This befriending between the U.S. and China worried the Soviet Union because they feared that the recently eased tensions between two of its recent enemies, might lead to an alignment against the Soviets in the Cold War. This pressured the Soviet Union into taking steps to lessen some of the tensions with the U.S. as well by limiting antiballisitic missiles and nuclear weapons under the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. This was imperialistic because the U.S. essentially weakened its enemy (the Soviets) by inflicting fear from the other countries joining the war against them, giving the U.S. the better end of the deal, and strengthened the U.S. by helping to slow the arms race and Cold War.
Nixon handled foreign issues through containment and D`etente policies. Nixon entered a foreign war, the Vietnam War, to stop communism from increasing, the same way Truman created his doctrine to protect Greece and Turkey from communism during WWII. They both used containment as foreign policy during their presidencies. However, Nixon also introduced a new foreign policy, the D`etente, which relaxed foreign tensions and improved relations with other countries. This is different from past presidents like Calvin Coolidge who restricted immigration from certain countries, which only increased foreign tension.
Imperial Presidency is term that is used to describe a president that was uncontrollable and that broke the constitutional limits. History would portray President Nixon’s presidency as one, this is due to the actions that caused him to resign in the end for example when C.R.E.E.P, (a committee that focuses on re-electing a president through illegal means) was discovered breaking into the Watergate building. Nixon claimed to have not know nor have any ties to this group, but the suspicious part was when those responsible for looking into the matter were fired by Nixon thus making him look even more suspicious then before. This is the ending of a long road of suspicious activity that Nixon did to only grow his own power.
If we look even further back we can see during the Vietnam war Nixon ordered an invasion on Cambodia that was unauthorized by the senate, not only did this get him in trouble with the senate but the people of america saw this as an illogical warfare which reduced any faith the people had in him, thus causing the Watergate Scandal to insure he would get a second term, but alas that was his downfall, as he knew most of his political support was gone and instead of getting impeached he resigned.
This could be comparable to Andrew Jackson as he was seen as an imperialist as when he “interpreted” the Indian removal act and instead of doing things peacefully like intended he forcefully removed the Indians with military force, an event now known as the Trail of Tears. Though Jackson did this in domestic affairs, Nixon did this in foreign affairs.
Nixon’s presidency was considered imperialistic because Nixon believed that the president was not required to follow certain laws, he took action without the approval of congress. Just like John F. Kennedy, Nixon was more interested in foreign policy than in domestic affairs. Nixon’s foreign policy was different due to the fact he wanted to ease strained relations between the Soviet Union and China, as he sought to move away from traditional ideological conflicts and the policy of containment.
For example, Nixon ordered an intervention into Cambodia without congressional approval in 1970, which led to the Tonkin Gulf resolution being revoked by Congress. Another example is the Watergate scandal, where abuse of power of the executive branch was evident as Nixon abused his power as president to try and stay in office. Unlike past presidents who have abused their power such as Lincoln, Nixon abused his power as president to benefit no one but himself, which the people did not like. Due to John F. Kennedy’s campaigning skills, he easily beat Nixon in the election critically outmatching Nixon’s, who wasted time and resources campaigning in all fifty states while Kennedy focused on campaigning in populous swing states. Nixon and John F. Kennedy both had the same ideals for the Vietnam war, so Nixon did what was promised, to help South Vietnam in opposition to North Vietnam. However, Nixon’s policy, the Nixon Doctrine was different because he wanted to remove American troops instead.
– An imperial president is a president who is not in check by checks and balances, his power and what he desires to do with it isn’t limited by the constitution. President Nixon was a perfect example of this, using his powers constantly, ignoring and sneering opposing opinions, continuing a war despite both being unpopular by the people and the government. An example of this was the continuation of the Vietnamese war. The public had a strong opposition to this war as it drained military resources, as well as destabilizing the economy of the U.S. This would not compare to the secret bombing of Cambodia.
Another trait of an imperialistic president is to get as much power as possible, to once again, limit opposition. President Nixion attempted to do this by appointing others who had a “strict” view of the constitution, as to limit what he deemed were “radicals”, “criminals”, and “bums”. This is similar to the debate of Thomas Jefferson versus Alexander Hamilton, in which it was argued over which interpretation of the constitution was best for the U.S.
But perhaps the biggest example comes in the form of the Watergate scandals. In which many crimes and burglaries were being committed for the sake of re-electing president Nixon, an example of this was CREEP, which would fake democratic documents against the Democratic nomination of 1972, George McGovern. Another example included the use of the Deferral Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency to hush political opposition. This would soon be exposed to the public, including an “enemies list”, which contained innocent citizens with opposing opinions. The public and the courts would soon get to know of bugging equipment equipped in the white house, under Nixon’s demand. Nixon, however, would refuse to release the tapes and recordings for several months, until the Supreme Court would finally cut back on his imperialistic ways and declared he could not withhold the tapes.
President Nixon was similar and different in many ways, both positive and negative. He had many imperialistic traits, all too similar to president Andrew Jackson, who would constantly fight against the concept of a National Bank despite it being constitutional, believing it was best for the people, as Nixon has said to justify his actions in his retirement speech. Another president Nixon had similarities was President Hardings and the Teapot Dome Scandal, the use of scandals in both of their administrations, involving bribery and corruption, severely ruining their reputations. Some similarities Nixon had to other presidents were his skills in foreign affairs, similar to President Roosevelt’s, however, brought upon different results, one continuing war, and one constantly ending them.
Nixon’s administration was viewed as royal as a result of how uncontrolled he acted. For instance he manhandled his capacity with the irs and the recording device occurrence. Nixon likewise had the Vietnamization approach that fairly hindered the war yet hauled it on longer then it ought to have as I would like to think. Nixon additionally utilized wire taps to discover how the breaks were turning out about his battle.
By mishandling his capacity with the irs Nixon demonstrated the open how conniving he was. This was completely done covertly to discover what his adversaries where attempting to do and their privileged insights. Nixon was not demonstrated to have requested these assaults however he was attempting to conceal the occurrences and I accept that raise warnings.
Nixon’s next large endeavor was his vietnamaztion approach that bit by bit pulled back soldiers from Vietnam. This would be an approach to hinder the battling, anyway it will in the long run drag out the war and its loss of life. During this time, Nixon was furtively bombarding Cambodia and this lead to riots in the us. Henry Kissinger attempted to haggle with north Vietnam however in the long run lead to the shelling of north Vietnam too.
Basically, Nixon secretly did stuff without Congress consent which makes him a imperial president.
Come on man show more effort lol.