The Watergate Scandal has defined Richard Nixon's legacy
as a former President. Despite the fact that he was elected twice, served six full
years and successfully extracted us from an unpopular, protracted and expensive war, he
will always be remembered for his spectacularly bad judgement regarding this
scandal.
Not that I feel this is undeserved, it was a
criminal act by a President who had come to believe that he was above the law. He
deserved impeachment had he not resigned, but as a historian, I have to acknowledge
there were other important and positive things he did during his
Presidency.
The Clean Air and Water Acts were passed on his
watch, and he aggressively pushed for integration of schools through busing, which was
unpopular at the time, even if socially necessary. He successfully drove a wedge
between two adversaries, the Soviet Union and China through detente, and locally, where
I live, he gave Mt. Adams to the Yakama Indian tribe as sacred native
land.
Despite all of this and anything else he may have
achieved, he will always be, first and foremost, associated with the Watergate Scandal
and the other unconstitutional acts that came before and after
it.
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