Richard Nixon (The Many Nations of North America)

Richard Nixon: 1913 – 1982

Born and raised in the final days of the USA and CSA, Nixon grew up in a very conservative household. When the two nations collapsed into civil war, Nixon was noted for his condemnation of the seceding states and the incompetent federal troops, referring to Hoover as a “F*cking incompetent Kraut.” To a group of fellow students during a meeting between several politically active friends.

After graduating from a Quaker run College, Nixon entered the Californian bar, until the outbreak of war with Mexico. Nixon was a member of the reserves during the 1933-1938 Mexican-Californian War. Though he didn’t see any actual action, Nixon took part in the occupation of New Mexico, rising to the rank of Sergeant due to his notable organisational abilities and competence in administrating the region under Californian command.

Nixon returned to California in 1939 returned to the law profession, accepting a job as a prosecutor in San Francisco. Nixon became known during his time as a lawyer as being ruthless and excessively aggressive, sometimes actually overlooking civil liberties in order to get a conviction. Nixon was noted for being a mixed bag, while he had one of the most successful runs as a prosecutor (Getting a notable 92% conviction rate), many of his native Californians were outraged by his rampant abuse of civil rights. The Californian government even went so far as to try to have him expelled from the bar only to give up when Nixon earned his most famous conviction in 1943 against the leadership of the Bing Kong Tong Society, effectively destroying most of the links between the Tong gangs and the Triads and setting back Triad interests in the city by about fifteen years.

Fresh off his conviction of the Bing Kong Tong society, Nixon set his eyes on a political goal. Namely, getting the Mayor-ship of San Francisco. With the retirement of Angelo Rossi in 1944, the office was up for grabs and Nixon seized his chance. Under a campaign that made much of the better points of his time as a prosecutor, Nixon won the Mayor-ship by a clear majority as running for the United Party. During his eight year term, Nixon would become a controversial figure throughout California and even America.

The first three years of Nixon’s term as Mayor saw him capitalise on his previous triumph by running through various anti-crime measures that hit criminals hard. Nixon was popular for his first few years when his anti crime measures were having positive affects and his liberal views on race and economics were resulting in a minor economic boom.

Nixon’s second term as Mayor also saw him gearing up as a candidate to the Californian Senate. His campaign was running smoothly until 1951 when the worst race relations incident in San Francisco history occurred. A young Chinese man was arrested by police over a jaywalking. When the Chinese man tried to resist, the police actually beat him to the ground, resulting in devastating injuries and he had to remain in a wheelchair for six months. The beating was caught on camera and the photos were in every major Californian newspaper the next day. To make matters worse, it turned out the man was an illegal immigrant and as such, not applicable to Californian law.

When it was revealed that the police officers involved were not to be charged, riots broke out in every China Town in California. Nixon became known during this event for authorising any means necessary to break the riots. As a result, twenty people were seriously hurt and three actually died from the actions of the police. Nixon stood by his actions and changed part of his campaign as a Senator as to one of an anti-immigration stance as a result.

When the election for Senator for San Francisco took place, Nixon won by a slim majority, his victory as being as a thank you by many people whose homes and businesses were saved by the violence. The Chinese Community in California never forgave Nixon however and he was branded a racist by many within it. As Senator for San Francisco, Nixon now had direct contact with the Senate and formed his own faction within the United Party to vote as he saw fit. Because of his control over his own faction, the Illegal-Immigration Act of 1953 was passed, stating that all illegal immigrants who had been living in California for more than six months were to be sent back to their country of origin. Nixon also helped enforce measures empowering local Native American communities, allowing them their economic freedom.

Nixon was re-elected to the Senate in 1958 and with that, saw his chance to go for the biggest prize in California. He announced his intention to run for President of California in the 1960 election and with it, he splintered the voters of California into two group, for-Nixon and against-Nixon. For those that supported him, Nixon was seen as a tough figure against lawlessness, illegal immigrants and competent at managing economic affairs. Against him were accusations of racism, a rush to use violent means and very little experience in foreign matters. The election was a long, hard fought one with Nixon getting into office by the skin of his teeth.

Now that Nixon had got into office, he intended to make the most of it. In the face of Texan aggression in Aztlan, Nixon increased military presence in the Nevada area. In the face of rapid deforestation due to new industries being created, Nixon also formed the Environmental Ministry, aimed at protecting and restoring the Californian environment. One other major domestic policy enacted by Nixon was the Economic Regulation Act of 1962 which enforced guidelines over all economic practices; the Act is seen as Nixon’s furthest reaching political move.

On the foreign policy front, Nixon had to deal with every problem that the Californian President had to face. The Pacific was seen as the playground of the three powers of Britain, Japan and Russia with California and Pacifica having the unenviable position of having to please all three. Nixon completely went against this by choosing a single Great Power as an Ally, realising that the Great Powers wouldn’t go to war over California, Nixon went for a coup de grace and went to the Japanese Empire in order to Ally to Japan and reach an agreement over the large surge in Chinese immigration. Because of his staunch anti Asian immigration stance, Nixon was the only person who could have done this without looking like a tool of the Japanese Empire. The phrase “Only Nixon could go to Japan.” Still resonates in American politics to this day.

An agreement was reached between Nixon and the Japanese government whereby, Japanese police would crack down on illegal immigrants to America much more harshly than they had done previously. In return, Nixon would allow Japanese investors and officials favoured status in businesses in California. The move was seen as satisfactory by everyone concerned, especially for Nixon as the favoured status clause was kept secret to avoid public backlash.

The last few months of the Nixon Administration saw the rise of the Liberal Movement which was to almost completely destroy the forces of Conservatism in California. Wanting to avoid any extreme Liberal government which he feared would wreck his entire legacy; Nixon had every last major Liberal Activist followed by the Californian Investigative Agency (CIA) in a bid to find some way to discredit them. None was found and in 1964, Nixon was forced to watch as the Californian Popular Front took power and turned his foreign policy on its head, openly allowing all immigrants from China and instead allying with Britain.

Nixon still remained an active force in Californian politics, being elected as the San Francisco Member of the newly created Californian Parliament in 1966. He remained an MP for the city until 1974 when he was voted out of office as the wave of Liberalism finally reached San Francisco and Nixon, a man known as ‘The Last Great Conservative’ was voted out of office. Going into retirement, Nixon enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle in the quiet Californian countryside, publishing his memoirs in 1979. All this was broken however in 1982 when documents were found concerning the role of the CIA in shadowing leading Liberals in 1964.

Nixon’s illegal use of government resources sported a huge public backlash with his memoirs being burnt in the streets and effigies being strung up. When a crowd of protestors actually went to his house and started to chant various slurs against Nixon and his tastes for barnyard animals, Nixon strode out and confronted them. A TV camera recorded the last moments of Nixon’s life and his final speech:

''“You haven’t got a f*cking clue have you? While you f*ckers were still sucking on your mother’s t*ts, I was working my f*cking balls off to make sure this nation didn’t go down the f*cking toilet! And you dare attack me now? Well you can all go and…”''

What Nixon was going to say next was never known (Though a shrewd guess can be taken). A rock thrown by a Chinese immigrant by the name of Wu Fei connected with Nixon’s skull and he fell to the ground, dead before he hit it. Wu Fei was convicted and sentenced to life in prison (With a minimum of twenty years). Nixon was interned in a Quaker cemetery in San Francisco, the city he had spent so many years of his life working for. Though Nixon remains to this day a highly controversial figure, his economic and environmental policies were to have a good long term impact on California. A fact recently acknowledged by the Californian government by the opening of the Richard Nixon Library in Los Angeles in 2003.