Richard Nixon (PJW)

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the 36th President of the United States.

A longtime senator from California, Nixon decided to run for president for the 1964 election due to the splintering of the opposing Democrat Party. Seen as a moderate, Nixon would unite the conservative and liberal wings of the Republican party. Unfortunately, due to a few gaffes and the choosing of Barry Goldwater as his running mate, Nixon did not have enough support to win the election outright; it was thrown into Congress, with Nixon finally being chosen as president in November 1965.

Nixon faced a country in disarray; the Soviet Union had gained a clear advantage in the Cold War, and there was still much strife domestically. Nixon preferred a slow deliberate approach for foreign policy; he preferred to back up coups, as in Chile and the Dominican Republic, than send in soldiers, which he would gradually do during his presidency. Domestically, Nixon promoted racial integration and tore down many walls and led the repeal of the Equal Housing Act.

As a result of the split election, Democrat Daniel Brewster would become Nixon's Vice President. Nixon was mistrustful and paranoid of Brewster, resulting in him secretly wiretapping Brewster's conversations as well as authorizing a break in to the Democrat National Committee headquarters during the 1968 presidential election. It is widely suspected that Nixon was responsible for leaking the details of the Brewster-Dominican Scandal to the media, though no evidence beyond circumstantial was found. Nixon would win the 1968 election and serve a second term.