Nixon won the Republican nomination for president in 1968 by putting together a coalition that included Southern conservatives led by Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. In exchange for Southern support, Nixon promised to appoint “strict constructionists” to the federal judiciary, to name a Southerner to the Supreme Court, to oppose court-ordered busing, and to choose a vice presidential candidate acceptable to the South. With Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew as his running mate, Nixon campaigned against Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George Wallace on a vague platform promising an honourable peace in Vietnam—Nixon said that he had a “secret plan” to end the war—the restoration of law and order in the cities, a crackdown on illegal drugs, and an end to the draft. Humphrey, who as Lyndon B. Johnson’s vice president was heavily burdened by the latter’s unpopular Vietnam policies, called for an end to the bombing of North Vietnam as “an acceptable risk for peace.” Johnson himself halted the bombing on October 31, less than one week before the election, in preparation for direct negotiations with Hanoi. Had he taken this step earlier, Humphrey might have won the election, as polls showed him gaining rapidly on Nixon in the final days of the campaign. Nixon won the election by a narrow margin, 31.7 million popular votes to Humphrey’s nearly 30.9 million; the electoral vote was 301 to 191.

Richard M. Nixon (right) accepting the Republican Party's U.S. presidential nomination in 1968. At left is Gerald Ford, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives.

Results of the American presidential election, 1968. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).

Prior to 1973 the most important of Nixon’s domestic problems was the economy. In order to reduce inflation he initially tried to restrict federal spending, but beginning in 1971 his budget proposals contained deficits of several billion dollars, the largest in American history up to that time. Nixon’s New Economic Policy, announced in August 1971 in response to continuing inflation, increasing unemployment, and a deteriorating trade deficit, included an 8 percent devaluation of the dollar, new surcharges on imports, and unprecedented peacetime controls on wages and prices. These policies produced temporary improvements in the economy by the end of 1972, but, once price and wage controls were lifted, inflation returned with a vengeance , reaching 8.8 percent in 1973 and 12.2 percent in 1974.

Despite expectations from some observers that Nixon would be a “do-nothing” president, his administration undertook a number of important reforms in welfare policy, civil rights, law enforcement, the environment , and other areas. Nixon’s proposed Family Assistance Program (FAP), intended to replace the service-oriented Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), would have provided working and nonworking poor families with a guaranteed annual income—though Nixon preferred to call it a “negative income tax.” Although the measure was defeated in the Senate, its failure helped to generate support for incremental legislation incorporating similar ideas—such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which provided a guaranteed income to the elderly, the blind, and the disabled; and automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security recipients—and it also prompted the expansion and improvement of existing programs, such as food stamps and health insurance for low-income families. In the area of civil rights , Nixon’s administration instituted so-called “set aside” policies to reserve a certain percentage of jobs for minorities on federally funded construction projects—the first “ affirmative action ” program. Although Nixon opposed school busing and delayed taking action on desegregation until federal court orders forced his hand, his administration drastically reduced the percentage of African American students attending all-black schools. In addition, funding for many federal civil rights agencies, in particular the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), was substantially increased while Nixon was in office. In response to pressure from consumer and environmental groups, Nixon proposed legislation that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). His revenue-sharing program, called “New Federalism,” provided state and local governments with billions of federal tax dollars.

Fearing communist revolution in Latin America , the Nixon administration helped to undermine the coalition government of Chile’s Marxist Pres. Salvador Allende , elected in 1970. After Allende nationalized American-owned mining companies, the administration restricted Chile’s access to international economic assistance and discouraged private investment, increased aid to the Chilean military, cultivated secret contacts with anti-Allende police and military officials, and undertook various other destabilizing measures, including funneling millions of dollars in covert payments to Chilean opposition groups in 1970–73. In September 1973 Allende was overthrown in a military coup led by army commander in chief Gen. Augusto Pinochet .

Nixon was less successful in the Middle East , where his administration’s comprehensive plan for peace, the Rogers Plan (named for Nixon’s first secretary of state, William Rogers ), was rejected by both Israel and the Soviet Union. After the 1973 Arab-Israeli war (the “Yom Kippur War”), Kissinger’s back-and-forth visits between the Arab states and Israel (dubbed “shuttle diplomacy”) helped to broker disengagement agreements but did little to improve U.S. relations with the Arabs.

The rapprochement with China, undertaken in part to take advantage of the growing Sino-Soviet rift in the late 1960s, gave Nixon more leverage in his dealings with the Soviet Union. By 1971 the Soviets were more amenable to improved relations with the United States, and in May 1972 Nixon paid a state visit to Moscow to sign 10 formal agreements, the most important of which were the nuclear arms limitation treaties known as SALT I (based on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks conducted between the United States and the Soviet Union beginning in 1969) and a memorandum, the Basic Principles of U.S.-Soviet Relations, summarizing the new relationship between the two countries in the new era of détente .

Nixon’s most significant achievement in foreign affairs may have been the establishment of direct relations with the People’s Republic of China after a 21-year estrangement. Following a series of low-level diplomatic contacts in 1970 and the lifting of U.S. trade and travel restrictions the following year, the Chinese indicated that they would welcome high-level discussions, and Nixon sent his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, to China for secret talks. The thaw in relations became apparent with the “ping-pong diplomacy” conducted by American and Chinese table-tennis teams in reciprocal visits in 1971–72. Nixon’s visit to China in February–March 1972, the first by an American president while in office, concluded with the Shanghai Communiqué, in which the United States formally recognized the “one-China” principle—that there is only one China, and that Taiwan is a part of China.

After intensive negotiations between National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho , the two sides reached an agreement in October 1972, and Kissinger announced, “Peace is at hand.” But the South Vietnamese raised objections, and the agreement quickly broke down. An intensive 11-day bombing campaign of Hanoi and other North Vietnamese cities in late December (the “Christmas bombings”) was followed by more negotiations, and a new agreement was finally reached in January 1973 and signed in Paris . It included an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of all American military personnel, the release of all prisoners of war, and an international force to keep the peace. For their work on the accord, Kissinger and Tho were awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize for Peace (though Tho declined the honour).

Aiming to achieve “peace with honor” in the Vietnam War , Nixon gradually reduced the number of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam. Under his policy of “ Vietnamization ,” combat roles were transferred to South Vietnamese troops, who nevertheless remained heavily dependent on American supplies and air support. At the same time, however, Nixon resumed the bombing of North Vietnam (suspended by President Johnson in October 1968) and expanded the air and ground war to neighbouring Cambodia and Laos . In the spring of 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacked North Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia, which prompted widespread protests in the United States; one of these demonstrations—at Kent State University on May 4, 1970—ended tragically when soldiers of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of about 2,000 protesters, killing four and wounding nine.

While conducting negotiations with North Vietnam, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon began a program of “de-escalation,” or reduction of U.S. combat forces, and of “Vietnamization,” or development of South Vietnam's ability to wage war on its own. From Vietnam Perspective (1985), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.

Watergate and other scandals

Renominated with Agnew in 1972, Nixon defeated his Democratic challenger, liberal Sen. George S. McGovern, in one of the largest landslide victories in the history of American presidential elections: 46.7 million to 28.9 million in the popular vote and 520 to 17 in the electoral vote. Despite his resounding victory, Nixon would soon be forced to resign in disgrace in the worst political scandal in United States history.

American presidential election, 1972 Results of the American presidential election, 1972. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The Watergate scandal stemmed from illegal activities by Nixon and his aides related to the burglary and wiretapping of the national headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.; eventually it came to encompass allegations of other loosely related crimes committed both before and after the break-in. The five men involved in the burglary, who were hired by the Republican Party’s Committee to Re-elect the President, were arrested and charged on June 17, 1972. In the days following the arrests, Nixon secretly directed the White House counsel, John Dean, to oversee a cover-up to conceal the administration’s involvement. Nixon also obstructed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its inquiry and authorized secret cash payments to the Watergate burglars in an effort to prevent them from implicating the administration.

Several major newspapers investigated the possible involvement of the White House in the burglary. Leading the pack was The Washington Post and its two hungry newshounds, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose stories were based largely on information from an unnamed source called “Deep Throat.” The mysterious identity of Deep Throat became a news story in its own right and led to decades of speculation. ( W. Mark Felt, a top-ranking FBI official at the time of the investigation, revealed himself as the informant in 2005.) In February 1973 a special Senate committee—the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by Sen. Sam Ervin—was established to look into the Watergate affair. In televised committee hearings, Dean accused the president of involvement in the cover-up, and others testified to illegal activities by the administration and the campaign staff, including the use of federal agencies to harass Nixon’s perceived enemies (many of whose names appeared on an “enemies list” of prominent politicians, journalists, entertainers, academics, and others) and acts of politically inspired espionage by a special White House investigative unit, known as the “plumbers” because they investigated news leaks.

Watergate Scandal White House reporters watching the televised Watergate address by U.S. President Richard M. Nixon on April 30, 1973. © Archive Photos

In July the committee learned that in 1969 Nixon had installed a recording system in the White House and that all the president’s conversations in the Oval Office had been recorded. When the tapes were subpoenaed by Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the Watergate affair, Nixon refused to comply, offering to provide summary transcripts instead. Cox rejected the offer. Then, in a series of episodes that came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, and Richardson resigned rather than comply. Nixon then fired Richardson’s assistant, William Ruckelshaus, when he too refused to fire Cox. Cox was finally removed by Solicitor General Robert Bork, though a federal district court subsequently ruled the action illegal.

Richard M. Nixon and the Watergate scandal U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon announcing that he would release tapes of White House conversations regarding the Watergate scandal, November 17, 1973. Public Domain

Richard M. Nixon and the Watergate scandal U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon speaking about the release of the Watergate tapes (“I am not a crook”), November 17, 1973. Public Domain See all videos for this article

Amid calls for his impeachment, Nixon agreed to the appointment of another special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, and promised that he would not fire him without congressional consent. After protesting in a news conference that “I am not a crook,” Nixon released seven of the nine tapes requested by Cox, one of which contained a suspicious gap of 18 and one-half minutes. Although damning, the tapes did not contain the “smoking gun” that would prove that the president himself ordered the break-in or attempted to obstruct justice. Jaworski later subpoenaed 64 tapes that Nixon continued to withhold on grounds of “executive privilege,” and in July 1974 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon’s claims of executive privilege were invalid. By that time the House Judiciary Committee had already voted to recommend three articles of impeachment, relating to obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and failure to comply with congressional subpoenas. On August 5, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling, Nixon submitted transcripts of a conversation taped on June 23, 1972, in which he discussed a plan to use the Central Intelligence Agency to block the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in. The smoking gun had finally been found.

Richard M. Nixon resignation announcement U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon announcing his resignation from the presidency, August 8, 1974. Public Domain

Faced with the near-certain prospect of impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate, Nixon announced his resignation on the evening of August 8, 1974, effective at noon the next day. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, whom he had appointed vice president in 1973 after Agnew resigned his office amid charges of having committed bribery, extortion, and tax evasion during his tenure as governor of Maryland. Nixon was pardoned by President Ford on September 8, 1974.