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John F. Kennedy

2012-08-19T01:06:38Z

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{{Officeholder
|name=John F. Kennedy
|image=John_kennedy.jpg
|party=[[Democratic]]
|spouse=[[Jacqueline Kennedy|Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy]]
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
|offices=
{{Officeholder/president
|country=the United States
|number=35th
|terms=January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
|vp=[[Lyndon Johnson]]
|preceded=[[Dwight Eisenhower]]
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Lyndon Johnson]]
}}
{{Officeholder/senator
|state=Massachusetts
|terms=January 3, 1953 – December 22, 1960
|preceded=Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
|former=y
|succeeded=Benjamin A. Smith
}}
{{Officeholder/representative
|state=Massachusetts
|district=11th
|terms=January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953
|preceded=James Michael Curley
|former=y
|succeeded=Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.
}}
}}
'''John Fitzgerald Kennedy''', often called '''JFK''', (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963) was the 35<sup>th</sup> [[President of the United States of America]], serving for 1033 days in 1961-63. He was the youngest person elected president and one of the most glamorous and popular. His record of presidential accomplishments remains a subject of significant debate among historians and the public, but after his assassination he became a legendary figure in whom admirers saw the ideals of American mythology incarnated.

The [[Kennedy Family]] had long been leaders of the Irish Catholic wing of the [[Democratic Party]]; JFK was middle-of-the-road on domestic issues and conservative on foreign policy, sending military forces into Cuba and Vietnam.

In Congress the [[Conservative Coalition]] blocked nearly all of his domestic programs, so there were few changes in domestic policy, even as the civil rights movement gained strength.

The Kennedy style called for youth, dynamism, vigor and an intellectual approach to aggressive new policies in foreign affairs. The downside was his inexperience in foreign affairs, standing in stark contrast to the vast experience of the president he replaced, Republican [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. Kennedy's rashness and inexperience caused a national humiliation in 1961 as he sent CIA-trained Cuban exiles into an ill-prepared attack on Castro's Cuba. At the [[Bay of Pigs]], all Kennedy's invaders were killed or captured, and he was forced to ransom them for cash. Kennedy's supporters blamed the fiasco on Eisenhower. Russian boss [[Nikita Khrushchev]], seeing for himself Kennedy's inexperience at a summit conference, threw up the [[Berlin Wall]] as the Soviets escalated the [[Cold War]] regarding the status of Berlin, predicting correctly that Kennedy's response would be weak. Khrushchev went too far in 1962 when he sent nuclear missiles into Cuba aimed at the U.S. For the first time since Pearl harbor -- or indeed since Washington and New Orleans were attacked in the [[War of 1812]]-- the U.S. was vulnerable to a major attack by an enemy power. Kennedy and Khrushchev reached a compromise whereby the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba publicly (giving Kennedy a public relations triumph), while Kennedy secretly removed American missiles from Turkey aimed at the Soviets, and also promised that America would never invade Cuba—a promise still in effect in 2009. Vietnam proved a trap for Kennedy as he sent in 16,000 additional military advisors to prop up an ineffective, corrupt regime in South Vietnam. Historians are uncertain whether or how Kennedy would have avoided the failures of [[Lyndon Johnson]] in Vietnam, for Kennedy himself had no definite plans of what to do.

He was assassinated on [[November 22]] 1963 while riding in his convertible limousine in [[Dallas]], [[Texas]]. A [[Communist]] sympathizer, [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], was allegedly the only assassin, and afterward Kennedy became a national icon and martyr. His reputation has since been dimmed by news of his repeated philandering. He is best known for his call to civic virtue:
{{cquote|'''And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country in the honor of duty, strength, and American dignity.'''|4=John Kennedy's [[John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address|Inaugural Address]]|5=<ref>http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm</ref>}}

==Career==
Educated at private schools and (following numerous relatives) Harvard College, young Kennedy was an indifferent student until the war in Europe focused his attention. Extensive interviews with major British politicians and observers led to an unusually precocious senior thesis that became an influential book Why England Slept (1940). As second son in the powerful [[Kennedy Family]], he was marked for an intellectual career as a writer or journalist, while his older brother Joseph was slated for politics by their hyper-manipulative father, [[Joseph P. Kennedy]]. The brother’s death in combat, combined with JFK’s heroic war record, set the stage for his political debut as a Congressional candidate in 1946.
===Medical===
Kennedy was the sickest president since [[William Henry Harrison]], but he successfully kept his multiple maladies a secret from the press and policy makers. Besides Addison's disease, Kennedy's most serious problem was chronic back pain, which surfaced when he strained an unstable back (probably birth-related) on a motor trip in 1938. He further aggravated it while playing tennis in 1940 and during PT boat service during the war. Surgery in 1944 only worsened the condition; by 1954 Kennedy found the pain so acute that he underwent back surgery once again despite the risk of an Addisonian crisis, which nearly took his life.<ref> Dallek (2003); James N. Giglio, "Why Another Kennedy Book?" ''Reviews in American History,'' Volume 31, Number 4, December 2003, pp. 645-656 in [[Project MUSE]]</ref>

As a teenager, Kennedy was in and out of the country's best hospitals for chronic colitis, stomach problems, and an undisclosed blood condition, which was at first mistakenly diagnosed as leukemia. Dr. Janet Travell, a specialist in the treatment of muscular disorders, was his primary physician after 1955, but other specialists tried any number of different treatments. As president he took seven powerful prescription drugs daily including hydrocortisone, fludrocortisone acetate, and Meticorten for Addison's disease, a malfunction of the adrenal glands; and T3 for hypothyroidism. In addition he regularly took Equanil for anxiety and tension; for his gastrointestinal problems he took anti-spasmodics Lomotil and Bentyl; for weight gain a daily dose of testosterone; and Chlor-Trimeton for his allergies. White House physicians were alarmed when they learned he was seeing Dr. Max Jacobson, a New York City celebrity physician, who injected him with a concoction of amphetamines, steroids, calcium, placenta, and vitamins, a potentially dangerous combination which pepped him up.<ref> Dallek (2003)</ref>

Historians have not identified a single policy decision that seems to have been affected by his physical condition or medical treatments; they believe he never took any illegal drugs.<ref> Giglio (2003)</ref>

==Politics==
Although the father had abandoned Boston in frustration, JFK’s return to the city restored the family’s traditional power base among the large and powerful Irish-American community in Massachusetts. Strong family connections with the Chicago Irish political community (led by Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]]) augmented his national Catholic base. JFK always had two sets of advisors, an inner circle of Irish politicians who planned his campaigns, and a Protestant-Jewish coterie of intellectuals (mostly from Harvard) who promoted his stature as the intellectual in politics. That image was solidified by the Pulitzer Prize awarded his ''Profiles in Courage'' (1956). JFK possessed powerful assets: an excellent speaker and glib commentator on major issues, a middle-of-the-road political record that offended no one, strong expertise in foreign policy, articulate anti-Communism, unfailing charm and stage presence, a national network of Irish allies, a Catholic base that comprised a fourth of the electorate, and an immense purse that was ready to fund his ambitions, not to mention innumerable relatives who campaigned endlessly on his behalf.

JFK fought his way into the Senate in 1952 by defeating incumbent Republican [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.]], the archetypal Yankee. With the national Democratic party leaderless, JFK largely ignored the old-boy Senate (controlled by his rival [[Lyndon Johnson]]) to display his talents through newspaper and television interviews, magazine articles, and highly publicized speeches to Democratic party gatherings in every part of the country. Aided by his closest advisor, his brother [[Robert Kennedy]], JFK appealed to conservatives by tolerating [[Joe McCarthy]]<ref>JFK's father Joe Kennedy was a major supporter and close personal friend of McCarthy, and Robert worked for a while for McCarthy. McCarthy dated at least one of JFK's sisters.</ref> and instead launching relentless attacks on corrupt labor leaders, especially [[Jimmy Hoffa]] of the [[Teamsters Union]].

The Kennedy family represented the conservative wing of the Democratic party, and was known for its anti-Communism and close ties with Republican Senator [[Joe McCarthy]] Many liberal Democrats, led by [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], distrusted JFK primarily because they could never forget the father’s break with Franklin Roosevelt or the family’s support for McCarthy. Yet with the fading away of [[Adlai Stevenson]] (the liberal Democratic candidate in 1952 and 1956), liberals lacked a viable candidate of their own.

==Nomination==
By 1960 JFK was the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination to face [[Richard M. Nixon]], with the biggest question mark whether his Catholic base of support would be outweighed by anti-Catholicism of the sort that hurt [[Al Smith]] so badly in 1928. Of course prohibition was no longer an issue, and fear of Tammany-like bossism had faded away with the demise of most big city machines. The Kennedy juggernaut defeated rival [[Hubert Humphrey]], a liberal, in the West Virginia primary, a state with so much poverty and so few Catholics that party leaders were convinced they had a winner. Kennedy won over the party’s intellectuals by his effective academic connections, while shaming doubters by a brilliant performance before the Protestant ministers of Houston. There he enunciated the position that he did not speak for the Catholic Church on matters of religion, and it did not speak for him on public affairs. He was able to take that position because there were no high intensity moral issues such as abortion before the public.

Although JFK’s religiosity consisted of nominal attendance at Sunday Mass, he excited tens of millions of Catholics who saw his election as president as confirmation of their full recognition as true Americans. With 8 of 10 Catholics voting for Kennedy, he ran up majorities in ethnic strongholds like Chicago that provided the narrow margin of victory against Richard Nixon. Apart from a few pockets of anti-popery among some Midwestern Lutherans and Southern Baptists, fears of Catholicism largely disappeared from the voting booth after 1960, and Kennedy gets credit for bringing Catholics into the American political mainstream.

==Foreign policy==
President Kennedy was primarily interested in foreign policy. Weeks after his [[John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address|memorable inaugural address]] sounded the tocsin for vigorous anti-communism, he encountered disaster when his invasion of Cuba failed at the [[Bay of Pigs]] in 1961, and he was forced to ransom thousands of soldiers who were captured by [[Fidel Castro]]'s Communist regime. Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]], sensing weakness, pushed hard on the Berlin issue, and was able to build the Berlin Wall despite Kennedy’s anguished rhetoric, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" ("I am a Berliner!")
===Peace Corps===
He launched the [[Peace Corps]] by executive order in 1961, putting his brother-in-law [[Sargent Shriver]] (b. 1915 ) in charge. It was not designed as a liberal antipoverty program; rather it was designed to be a powerful new weapon in the Cold War arsenal, one that could reach the people directly at the grass roots not merely their national leaders. Kennedy in the 1960 campaign promised to form the agency, saying:
:"I believe that as a counter to the flood of well trained and accomplished tacticians now helping nations with their problems that the Communists are sending out, I believe an American Peace Corps...could be trained to help these people live a life of freedom in agriculture, in handiwork, in road building, in government and other skills, young Americans who will represent the cause of freedom around the globe."<ref> Quote [http://www.jfklink.com/speeches/jfk/nov60/jfk041160_chicago02.html Nov. 4, 1960, Chicago speech online] see also T. Zane Reeves, ''The Politics of the Peace Corps & Vista'' (1988) p. 20.</ref>

The Peace Corps has been endorsed by all subsequent presidents; nearly 200,000 Americans have served and it is still in operation, albeit with a modest record of achievement.

===Ireland===
Kennedy paid a state visit to [[Ireland]] in 1962 - the first state visit of an American President to the country, which had secured independence from Britain forty years earlier. Kennedy visited his ancestral home in County Wexford, and was greeted by huge crowds in the cities of [[Dublin]], [[Limerick]] and [[Cork]]. He told crowds that once he had completed his term as president, he would like to become US Ambassador to Ireland, and live there. Among the many dignitaries at Kennedy's funeral a year later was [[President of Ireland|Irish President]] [[Eamon de Valera]].

===Cuban Missile Crisis===
see [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]

Khrushchev and Castro went too far in 1962, secretly setting up medium range missiles in Cuba equipped with nuclear warheads that threatened the southeast as far as Atlanta. In his greatest moment, Kennedy rejected invasion plans but imposed a blockade and demanded the missiles be removed immediately. Khrushchev publicly backed down, but privately got Kennedy to remove American missiles from Turkey, while Castro secured the promise that the United States would never invade his island. The Cuban missile crisis reversed JFK’s image of ineptness in foreign policy, but his quiet, continuous escalation of military involvement in Vietnam set the stage for the whirlwind reaped by his successor.

==Domestic policy==
As senator, JFK had shown limited interest in domestic affairs apart from labor union corruption. As president he ignored that issue. Working with his high-powered economic advisors he proposed a Keynesian program to stimulate the economy, not by higher spending but by tax cuts. No matter: none of his domestic policy initiatives went anywhere. Congress was effectively controlled a conservative coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats; the alignment remained unchanged after the status-quo midterm elections of 1962.

Kennedy authorized the de-segregation of federal housing and proposed the civil rights bill, passed after his assassination. He pledged to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s, a pledge that was later fulfilled after his death. Likewise he proposed tax cuts, which were approved after his death.

===Civil rights===
A new issue that Kennedy had not anticipated blazed into view as the civil rights movement in the South, led by Martin Luther King, produced dramatic confrontations with segregationist Democrats, especially Governor George Wallace of Alabama, and Ross Barnett of Mississippi. A month before the 1962 election Kennedy sent federal marshals and Army MP’s to enforce a federal court order that African American student James Meredith be admitted to the University of Mississippi. He met personally with Martin Luther King at some point but the results of the meeting have not yet been released to the press. It is said that the talks got extremely violent and King left the room in a hurry, looking disheveled. Though there was no comment to the press, it has been suggested that Kennedy had displayed a tendency toward favoring white supremacy. Violent resistance by townspeople left two civilians dead, hundreds injured, and 166 federals injured. The confrontation in Alabama in 1963 was nonviolent, and boosted Wallace’s visibility as a leader of southern Democrats. JFK ignored the risks to his southern base and spoke out in favor of civil rights legislation, but as in so many instances, no legislation was passed.

==Legacy==
[[Image:JFK bust.jpg|thumb|Bust of John F. Kennedy by Robert Berks.]]
Kennedy’s assassination in November, 1963, was a stunning shock to all Americans. Pierson (2007) argues that the liberal media turned Kennedy's death into a martyrdom against racism, ignoring Kennedy's weak interest in race and his strong opposition to Communism. Lee Harvey Oswald's Communist ties were downplayed, and instead, the conservative city of [[Dallas]] was made the guilty party. Incoming president Lyndon Johnson used the martyrdom theme to rally support for his liberal programs, painting them as memorials to Kennedy until Johnson won reelection in 1964 by a landslide over conservative leader [[Barry Goldwater]].

The Catholic community took his assassination hard, and immediately elevated JFK to a sort of sainthood status, celebrating the miracle that he had liberated them from second class citizenship. Johnson in 1964 successfully retained the Catholic base JFK had fostered, but that was the last hurrah. By 1966 Catholics started showing their disillusionment with Johnson, who never recovered from the wave after wave of urban riots that followed his civil rights bills, nor from the disillusionment of the intellectuals with his [[Vietnam War]] policy. With the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968, and the failure of youngest brother [[Ted Kennedy]] to recover his brothers’ national base, the Kennedy legacy increasingly became the romantic memory of Camelot. Disclosures of JFK’s astonishing sexual involvements, and detailed reports of his multiple grave medical problems fascinated the public but failed to break the myth that if only JFK had lived his second term would be a story of political triumphs that would restore the people’s faith in their government
The assassination was so incomprehensible that hundreds of conspiracy theories sprang up and new ones emerge every year. Over 350 people and organizations have been named as guilty of the assassination.

Kennedy appointed liberal Arthur Goldberg to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]], as well as [[Byron White]]. White's rulings combined both liberal and conservative positions.

Kennedy's image appears on the American half-dollar coin.
===Was Kennedy a liberal or a conservative?===
Kennedy was basically a conservative, but he had to appeal to a primarily liberal base, so he offered symbols for the liberals while following a conservative course in foreign and domestic policy. After his death Kennedy's legacy was picked up by liberals, and there is a vague notion to the effect that Kennedy was a liberal. He was actually more of a conservative..<ref> The best studies of Kennedy's relations with liberalism are William E. Leuchtenburg, ''In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan'' (2001) pp 63-120 [ excerpt and text search]; Alonzo Hamby, ''Liberalism and Its Challengers: From F.D.R. to Bush'' (1992) [http://www.amazon.com/Liberalism-Its-Challengers-F-D-R-Bush/dp/0195070305/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257264863&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]. Leuchtenburg is a liberal and Hamby is a conservative; both are excellent historians.</ref>

To be a liberal in the days when Kennedy was in politics, 1946-63, meant supporting the programs of the [[New Deal]], following in the footsteps of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and upholding the [[New Deal Coalition]]. Support for labor unions was important; support for civil rights was a minor issue (and one more associated with the Republican Party). Hostility to the Catholic Church was common among liberals. In foreign policy liberals had turned away from Roosevelt's détente with the Soviets and had adopted the [[containment]] policy. Liberals rejected [[rollback]], that is efforts to remove Communists regimes from power. Verbal support for the United Nations was standard rhetoric, although in practice it meant little. The symbolically most important issue of them all for liberals was opposition to [[Joe McCarthy]] and his style of aggressive anti-Communism.

On most of these points Kennedy was largely on the conservative side. He refused to call himself a liberal, but he had a base in Massachusetts with many strong liberals in academe and labor unions that had to be appeased, so he never attacked liberalism too loudly. He solved the state problem by a close alliance with the Democratic party organizations in the cities, controlled mostly by Irish politicians. JFK's campaign manager and chief confidante was his brother Bobby, a devout Catholic who was in close touch with the Catholic establishment as well as the local machines. JFK thus maintained very close ties to the Catholic establishment; he carefully followed the required public rituals such as Mass on Sunday and no meat on Friday. It was a major achievement by Kennedy in 1960 to resolve the religious issue and bring Catholics into the mainstream of American life and to the top ranks of national leadership.<ref>By contrast, the only Catholic in Eisenhower's cabinet was a plumber who was Secretary of Labor.</ref>

On foreign policy he was a leading anti-Communist hawk; he won in 1960 by attacking Eisenhower's foreign policies as not aggressive enough. When elected he sent forces to invade Cuba and rollback Communism; he increased the military presence in Vietnam by a factor of 16 and unleashed the CIA to undermine Communism in the South; he sent the Navy to a direct confrontation with the Soviets in the Cuban Missile Crisis, forcing the Soviets to withdraw. Liberals have misread these episodes--saying that the Cuban invasion was really Eisenhower's idea; that in Vietnam he might have changed his mind in a second term; and that in Cuba he was liberal because he did not blow the world up.

On the liberal side, he achieved the creation of the Peace Corps. To combat Communism in Latin America he proposed a liberal program of financial and technical assistance and free-food programs, and indicated he would take a sympathetic view of revolutionary movements that have the legitimate objective of bettering the life of the hemisphere's poor and downtrodden. Kennedy explicitly exempted any such movements dominated by "external"—meaning Communist—forces, thereby shutting the door on renewed diplomatic relations with Fidel Castro's Cuba

On domestic issues, as president he tried to cut taxes and blocked his liberal advisors who wanted deficit spending in 1961. Civil rights did not interest him and he put it on the back burner. He was no more active than Eisenhower in that regard. On unions, he built up a reputation of strong opposition to union corruption, especially in the Teamsters; he quietly kept on good terms with [[George Meany]], the AFL-CIO leader, while avoiding [[Walter Reuther]], the leader of the liberal wing of the AFL-CIO.

Kennedy had a pro-business reputation and sponsored policies such as tax cuts and low inflation that conservative businessmen wanted. On taking office he called for a "full-fledged alliance" with business. He did get into a brush-up with the steel industry when the steelmen broke their promise to him to keep prices down; that move made Kennedy more popular among the anti-business liberals, but Kennedy never proposed major legislation that business opposed. He named Douglas Dillon, a leading Republican businessman, as his Secretary of the Treasury. On dealing with unemployment, he never proposed New-Dealish programs but instead had a package that was acceptable to conservative Republicans.<ref> House Republican Minority Leader Charles Halleck said of those proposals: "We find no great quarrel with them, but we do not find them earthshaking." ''Time'' Feb. 10, 1961</ref>

Crime was a signature issue for Kennedy, and on taking office he promised a major crackdown on organized crime, thus appealing to conservatives. On appointing Brother Bobby as Attorney General, he quipped, "I can't see that it's wrong to give him a little legal experience before he goes out to practice law." On the liberal side, Kennedy asked Congress for federal aid for school construction and more money for federally assisted housing. They did not oblige.

Joe McCarthy was a close friend of the Kennedy family. Joe Kennedy was his biggest financial backer, and often brought the Wisconsin Senator to family outings--and encouraged him to date the Kennedy girls. Bobby Kennedy began his career as an aide to McCarthy. Liberals intensely hated McCarthy and that carried over to the entire Kennedy clan. JFK was not close to McCarthy, but he refused to attack him publicly or to vote for his Senate censure in 1954 when McCarthy's career was collapsing.

==Quotes==

* "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."

* "The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us." Oct 26, 1963

* "And so, my fellow americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

* "The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity." Speech in Indianapolis, April 12, 1959

== See also ==

*[[Gallery of American Heroes]]
*[[John F. Kennedy, Jr.]]

== External links ==
*[http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy]
*[http://www.jfklibrary.org/ John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]

==Further reading==
*Dallek, Robert, ''An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963'' (2003), a standard scholarly biography; strress on medical issues [http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Life-John-Kennedy-Dynasty/dp/0316907928/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
* O'Brien, Michael. ''John F. Kennedy: A Biography'' (2005), the most detailed scholarly biography [http://www.amazon.com/John-Kennedy-Biography-Michael-OBrien/dp/0312281293/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search]
* Parmet, Herbert. ''Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy'' (1980); ''JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy'' (1983), scholarly biography
* Reeves, Thomas C. ''A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy.'' (1991) conservative critique [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7D9143EF931A35755C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all New York Times Book Review]

===Bibliography===
* Balmer, Randall. ''God in the White House: A History--How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush.'' (2008)
* Bryant, Nick. ''The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality'' (2006) [http://www.amazon.com/Bystander-Kennedy-Struggle-Black-Equality/dp/0465008267/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-9 excerpt and text search]
* Bugliosi, Vincent. ''Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President,'' (2007) 1632 pp. Debunks dozens of conspiracy theories and concludes Oswald acted alone. [http://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-History-Assassination-President-Kennedy/dp/0393045250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227416692&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Burner, David. ''John F. Kennedy and a New Generation'' (1988)
* Clarke, Thurston, ''Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America'' ISBN 0805072136 [http://www.amazon.com/Ask-Not-Inauguration-Kennedy-Changed/dp/0805072136/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-5 excerpt and text search]
*Dallek, Robert, ''An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963'' (2003), a standard scholarly biography; strress on medical issues [http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Life-John-Kennedy-Dynasty/dp/0316907928/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
* Donaldson, Gary A. ''The First Modern Campaign: Kennedy, Nixon, and the Election of 1960'' (2007)
* Freedman, Lawrence. ''Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam'' (2000) [http://www.amazon.com/Kennedys-Wars-Berlin-Cuba-Vietnam/dp/0195152433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218513&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/library/book/kennedys-wars-berlin-cuba-laos-and-vietnam-by-lawrence-freedman.jsp full text online]
* Fursenko, Aleksandr and Timothy Naftali. ''One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958–1964'' (1997) [http://www.amazon.com/One-Hell-Gamble-Khrushchev-1958-1964/dp/0393317900/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218554&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search] adds information from Russian sources
* Giglio, James. ''The Presidency of John F. Kennedy'' (1991), standard scholarly overview of policies
* Harper, Paul, and Joann P. Krieg eds. ''John F. Kennedy: The Promise Revisited'' (1988), scholarly articles on presidency [http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=15070503 online edition]
* Hersh, Seymour. ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997), highly negative assessment focused on scandals
* Kunz, Diane B. ''The Diplomacy of the Crucial Decade: American Foreign Relations during the 1960s'' (1994)
* Lichtenstein. Nelson, ed. ''Political Profiles: The Kennedy Years'' (1976) 621pp; very good short, analytical biographies of 500 major players
* Leuchtenburg, William E. ''In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Barack Obama'' (2009) excellent analysis of how JFK tried to replicate FDR's appeal without his liberalism [http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-FDR-Harry-Truman-George/dp/0801487374/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257738655&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* O'Brien, Michael. ''John F. Kennedy: A Biography'' (2005), the most detailed scholarly biography [http://www.amazon.com/John-Kennedy-Biography-Michael-OBrien/dp/0312281293/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search]
* Parmet, Herbert. ''Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy'' (1980); ''JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy'' (1983), scholarly biography
* Paterson, Thomas G. ''Kennedy's Quest for Victory: American Foreign Policy, 1961-1963'' (1989) [http://www.amazon.com/Kennedys-Quest-Victory-American-1961-1963/dp/019504584X/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-11 excerpt and text search], Leftists approach disparages anti-Communism
* Piereson, James. ''Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Camelot-Cultural-Revolution-Assassination-Liberalism/dp/1594031886/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227415678&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search], conservative interpetation
* Pietrusza, David ''1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies'' New York: Union Square Press, 2008
* Preble, Christopher A. ''John F. Kennedy and the Missile Gap'' (2004)
* Reeves, Richard. ''President Kennedy: Profile of Power'' (1993), balanced assessment of policies
* Reeves, Thomas. ''A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy'' (1991) detailed assessment of his character flaws by conservative historian [http://www.amazon.com/Question-Character-Life-John-Kennedy/dp/076151287X/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218173&sr=8-10 excerpt and text search]
* Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. ''A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House'' (1965), major memoir by a close advisor [http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Days-Kennedy-White-House/dp/1579124496/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195218430&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. ''Robert Kennedy And His Times'' (2002)
* Smith, Jean Edward. "Kennedy and Defense: The Formative Years". ''Air University Review'' (March–April 1967) [http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1967/mar-apr/smith.html online]
* Sundquist, James L''Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years'' (1968), excellent analysis of the major political issues of the era.

===Primary sources===
* [http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/publications/ERP/ Council of Economic Advisors, ''Economic Report of the President'' (annual 1947- )], complete series online; important analysis of current trends and policies, plus statistcial tables
* Sorensen, Theodore. ''Kennedy'' (1966), major memoir by a close advisor

== References ==

{{reflist|2}}

{{USPresidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, John F.}}
[[Category:Democratic Party]]
[[Category:Irish-Americans]]
[[Category:American war heroes]]
[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:Cold War]]
[[Category:1950s]]
[[Category:1960s]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
[[Category: Kennedy Family]]
[[Category:Religion and Politics]]
[[Category:United States Veterans]]

Apollo 11

2012-08-19T01:03:54Z

Emperormeiji:

[[Image:Apollo 11 Launch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Apollo 11 launch]]
'''Apollo 11''' carried the first humans to the [[moon]]. On July 20, 1969, [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first person to set foot on the moon, stepping onto the lunar surface and saying: "''That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.''"
<ref> Armstrong insists he said "one small step for a man." Whether he succeeded in enunciated the word "a" is disputed. See [[Neil_Armstrong#One small step]] </ref>
[[File:NASA Moon Flag.jpg|left|200px]]
The crew consisted of Commander Neil Armstrong (a veteran U.S. navy aviator who was a civilian at the time of the mission), Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. (then an active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force), and Michael Collins (also a U.S. Air Force officer). Aldrin was the second person on the moon. Collins orbited in the command module, ''Columbia''; Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar excursion module, ''Eagle''. They broadcast their brief visit to the lunar surface live on international television. During their visit they placed the American [[Flag of the United States of America|flag]] along with a plaque which read: ''"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."'' They also gathered rocks and soil during their visit. Aldrin, a Roman Catholic, administered the Rite of Communion to himself while on the moon, but did not disclose this due to concerns that the act might be protested by secular activists.

The [[Saturn V]] rocket carrying Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins was launched on July 16, 1969 by [[NASA]] from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it entered lunar orbit on July 19.
[[Image:Apollo11-crew.jpg‎|right|thumb|250px|The Apollo 11 Crew]]
President [[John F. Kennedy]] had urged the United States to send a man to the moon before the end of the 1960s. By the time the landing was made, President [[Richard Nixon]] was in office. He spoke with the astronauts by radio shortly after they landed.

They returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Some skeptics have claimed that Apollo 11 and the five subsequent lunar landings were hoaxes filmed on television or movie sets. These claims have been debunked by the participants and scientific experts. Several of the landing sites have since been photographed from orbit by unmanned probes, strongly suggesting that humans did in fact visit the lunar surface.

==References==
<references/>
*http://www.nasa.gov/
*http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/apollo11/
*http://www.buzzaldrin.com/

==See also==

*[[Project Apollo]]
*[[Apollo 13]]
*[[Apollo 9]]

[[Category: United States]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space Exploration]]
[[Category: Astronauts]]

Apollo 11

2012-08-19T01:01:55Z

Emperormeiji:

[[Image:Apollo 11 Launch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Apollo 11 launch]]
'''Apollo 11''' carried the first humans to the [[moon]]. On July 20, 1969, [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first person to set foot on the moon, stepping onto the lunar surface and saying: "''That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.''"
<ref> Armstrong insists he said "one small step for a man." Whether he succeeded in enunciated the word "a" is disputed. See [[Neil_Armstrong#One small step]] </ref>
[[File:NASA Moon Flag.jpg|left|200px]]
The crew consisted of Commander Neil Armstrong (a veteran U.S. navy aviator who was a civilian at the time of the mission), Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. (then an active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force), and Michael Collins (also a U.S. Air Force officer). [[Aldrin]] was second person on the moon. Collins orbited in the command module, ''Columbia''; Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar excursion module, ''Eagle''. They broadcast their brief visit to the lunar surface live on international television. During their visit they placed the American [[Flag of the United States of America|flag]] along with a plaque which read: ''"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."'' They also gathered rocks and soil during their visit.

The [[Saturn V]] rocket carrying Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins was launched on July 16, 1969 by [[NASA]] from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it entered lunar orbit on July 19.
[[Image:Apollo11-crew.jpg‎|right|thumb|250px|The Apollo 11 Crew]]
President [[John F. Kennedy]] had urged the United States to send a man to the moon before the end of the 1960s. By the time the landing was made, President [[Richard Nixon]] was in office. He spoke with the astronauts by radio shortly after they landed.

They returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Some skeptics have claimed that Apollo 11 and the five subsequent lunar landings were hoaxes filmed on television or movie sets. These claims have been debunked by the participants and scientific experts. Several of the landing sites have since been photographed from orbit by unmanned probes, strongly suggesting that humans did in fact visit the lunar surface.

==References==
<references/>
*http://www.nasa.gov/
*http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/apollo11/
*http://www.buzzaldrin.com/

==See also==

*[[Project Apollo]]
*[[Apollo 13]]
*[[Apollo 9]]

[[Category: United States]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space Exploration]]
[[Category: Astronauts]]

Richard Nixon

2012-08-19T00:57:10Z

Emperormeiji:

{{Officeholder
|name=Richard Nixon
|image=Nixon 30-0316a.jpg
|party=[[Republican]]
|spouse=Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan
|religion=[[Quaker]]
|offices=
{{Officeholder/president
|country=the United States
|number=37th
|terms=January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974
|vp=[[Spiro Agnew]]<br/>[[Gerald Ford]]
|preceded=[[Lyndon Johnson]]
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Gerald Ford]]
}}
{{Officeholder/vice president
|country=the United States
|number=36th
|terms=January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
|president=[[Dwight Eisenhower]]
|preceded=[[Alben W. Barkley]]
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Lyndon Johnson]]
}}
{{Officeholder/senator
|state=California
|terms=December 4, 1950 – January 1, 1953
|preceded=[[Sheridan Downey]]
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Thomas Kuchel]]
}}
{{Officeholder/representative
|state=California
|district=12th
|terms=January 3, 1947 – December 1, 1950
|preceded=Jerry Voorhis
|former=y
|succeeded=Patrick J. Hillings
}}
}}
'''Richard Milhous Nixon''' was the 37th [[President of the United States of America]], serving from 1969 to 1974. He was the only U.S. President to resign the office. He also served as the 36th [[Vice President of the United States]] of America under President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] from 1953 to 1961.

In 1946, he was elected as a [[U.S. Representative]]. As a Congressman from [[California]], and as a member of the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities]], he investigated Communists and instigated the successful prosecution of [[Alger Hiss]] for spying for the Soviet Union during [[World War II]].

After two terms in the House, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in November of 1950.

After losing his first presidential race to [[John F. Kennedy]] by a narrow margin in 1960, he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of California in 1962, losing to incumbent Edmund G Brown.

In 1968 he was elected president, and was reelected in 1972 by a landslide, but resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974 due to a threat of impeachment by Congress for the [[Watergate Affair]]. The main impeachment charge was that Nixon obstructed justice by telling employees to mislead FBI investigators about the Watergate burglary.

==Early Life==
Richard Milhous Nixon was born in [[Yorba Linda, California]], on January 9, 1913. Soon after, his family moved to Whittier, California. Nixon's childhood years were not unusual for someone growing up in two small towns near Los Angeles. His parents, Frank and Hannah Nixon, were devout [[Quakers]]. Nixon had four siblings and saw two of his brothers die from [[tuberculosis]]. Nixon grew up relatively poor, as his father earned a modest income from his gas station and grocery store. But due to these hard times, he established a quality of determination and strong work ethic. A good student and a hard worker, Nixon excelled scholastically at both Whittier High School and Whittier College.

Nixon attended Fullerton High School and Whittier High School. He graduated second in his class from Whittier with honor in the study of [[Shakespeare]] and [[Latin]]. He was awarded scholarships to [[Harvard]] and [[Yale]] University, but declined due to his family's financial condition. He instead enrolled at [[Whittier College]], a local [[Quaker]] school, where he co-founded the "Orthogonian Society", a new organzation to the campus geared towards working-class students. At Whittier, Nixon, a formidable debater, was elected freshman class president, and served as student body vice president in his junior year and president in his senior year. While at Whittier, he taught Sunday school at [[East Whittier Friends Church]] and remained a member all his life.

A lifelong football fan, Nixon practiced with the team, but played little. In 1934, he graduated second in his class from Whittier, and went on to [[Duke University|Duke University School of Law]], where he received a full scholarship, was elected president of the Duke Bar Association, and graduated third in his class.

In 1942 Nixon became a lawyer for the Office of Price Administration, the wartime liberal [[New Deal]] program that regulated all prices and rationed basic commodities.

During World War II, Nixon served in the [[Navy]] as a reserve officer, serving in the supply corps on several islands in the South Pacific, commanding cargo handling units in the SCAT. There he was known as "Nick" and for his exceptional poker-playing skills, banking a large sum of money that helped finance his first campaign for Congress. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant commander and resigned in March, 1946.

==Congressional Career==
:''See related article : [[Legacy of Alger Hiss]]
After service in the Navy he entered an entirely unstructured California political environment-- parties hardly existed there in the 1940s, and many voters were recent arrivals. As a result Nixon never built a secure base in California (or anywhere else). In 1946 he defeated five-term Democrat Representative Jerry Voorhis, a leading liberal. Two years later, Nixon ran for reelection in both the Republican and Democrat primaries and won endorsement of both parties in the general election. <ref>Only California allowed this sort of "cross filing," and they later dropped it and went to normal intra-party primaries. Richard Matthew Pious, ''The Presidents,'' pg. 515</ref> Nixon took typical positions for a California Republican: he was hostile to [[Communism]], internationalist in outlook, and middle-of-the road in economic and social issues.

Nixon's first major breakthrough came in Congress, where his dogged investigation broke the impasse of the [[Alger Hiss]] spy case in 1948. The idea that Hiss--a former senior adviser to President [[Franklin Roosevelt]]-- was a Soviet spy alarmed the nation, and won the lifelong hatred of the left, whose veneer of patriotism was dissolved. [[Image:Eisenhower_Nixon.jpg|left|thumb|275px|Eisenhower and Nixon on a 1952 Campaign Stop.]]
In 1950 Nixon was elected to the [[United States Senate]] by defeating a leading Hollywood liberal, Helen Gahagan Douglas using tough campaign tactics that emphasized her votes with the far left.

==Vice Presidency==

Because of his membership of the California delegation at the 1952 [[Republican National Convention]], his strong anti-[[communist]] credentials, and his appeal to the [[west]]ern part of the [[United States]], Nixon was named as [[General]] [[Dwight Eisenhower]]'s [[Vice President of the United States of America|vice presidential]] [[running mate]].

In the midst of the campaign questions arose about a group of seventy-six [[business]]man from southern California who had contributed to a secret slush fund for Richard Nixon, being paid $900 a month (totaling $18,168 up to that point). There was talk on Nixon dropping off the ticket. Nixon claimed that money was used for office expenses only. On September 23, 1952 he gave the now infamous "Checkers Speech" in which he said that he and his wife, [[Patrica Nixon|Pat Nixon]] do not live lavishly, saying that his wife had not even owned a fur coat but only "a respectable Republican cloth coat." He went on to bring up a gift someone gave his [[child]]ren, a "little cocker spaniel [[dog]]" named Checkers, and said defiantly, "regardless of what they about it, we're going to keep it." The speech was meet with overwhelming public approval. In November, Eisenhower and Nixon swept their way in office, winning 55 percent of the vote, to 44 percent for Democrat opponent [[Adlai Stevenson]].

As Vice President Richard Nixon occasionally presided over the Senate and chaired the President's Commission on [[Government]] Contracts, which dealt with radical discrimination by government contractors, and the Cabinet Committee on Price Stability for Economic growth (although Nixon had little influence over it). Nixon also chaired the National Security Council. However, in a [[press]] conference President Eisenhower was asked to give an example of Richard Nixon's contributions as Vice President, to which Eisenhower replied, "If you give me a week, I might think of one."

Nixon did, however, have an influential role in [[White House]] political operations. He campaigned for Republican members of Congress in 1954 and 1958. Nixon positioned himself as Presidential and his famous 1959 "Kitchen debate" in [[Moscow]] with [[Soviet Union]] President [[Nikita Khrushchev]] boosted his public appeal. By the end of the Eisenhower administration Nixon had become the top contender to be the Republican nomination for the 1960 Presidential election.

[[Image:Johnfkennedyrichardnixon.jpg|left|thumb|275px|Vice President Nixon and Senator Kennedy in their 1960 Presidential Debate.]]

==1960 Presidential Campaign==

''Main Article: [[United States presidential election, 1960]]''

Nixon easily won the Republican nomination for the presidency, but ran a poor campaign in the general election. Despite division over the modern [[civil rights]] movement, the country was enjoying a period of relative prosperity.

The most prominent issues were the [[Cold War]] and the new assumption of power of [[dictator]] [[Fidel Castro]] of [[Cuba]]. Public opinion polls showed that the country trusted Nixon more on [[foreign policy]] issues while Democrat opponent [[John F. Kennedy]] was favored on domestic issues. 1960 marked the first presidential election in which televised debates were used. Kennedy won the debates, which resulted in him defeating Nixon by a razor-thin margin of 49.7 percent of the vote to 49.5 percent. Nixon believed that there was voter fraud in Cook County, [[Illinois]] which resulted in him losing that state, however Nixon chose not to contest the results. Kennedy's lead in the electoral college was such that he still would have been elected even if he had lost Illinois.

==1962 Gubernatorial Campaign==

After the election Nixon returned to California and ran for [[Governor]] in 1962 against incumbent [[Pat Brown]]. Brown defeated Nixon with 52 percent of the vote to 46 percent. In a post-election press conference Nixon announced the end of his political career and said to the press "you won't have Richard Nixon to kick around with anymore."

Nixon continued to campaign for Republican congressional candidates and traveled the world, sharpening his knowledge of foreign issues.

==1968 Presidential Campaign==

''Main Article: [[United States presidential election, 1968]]''

By 1967 Nixon's financial backers were raising funds to bankroll another bid for the White House. In the Republican primaries and caucuses moderates and liberals supported [[Michigan]] Governor [[George Romney]] and later [[New York]] Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]], while [[conservative]]s supported [[California]] Governor [[Ronald Reagan]]. Nixon was able to win support from southern conservatives and pass Reagan in the polls, eventually winning the nomination. In Nixon's second attempt for the Presidency the United States was in the midst of the [[Vietnam War]], with Democrats associated with the violence. With President [[Lyndon Johnson]] losing [[credibility]] because of the increasingly unpopular [[war]], he declined to run for another term. [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]] [[Hubert Humphrey]] narrowly won the Democrat nomination. [[Alabama]] Governor [[George Wallace]], a strong segregationist, entered the race as a third party candidate. Nixon promised to end the bombing in [[Vietnam]], unify the nation and restore law and order to the country.

President Johnson helped Humphrey after he announced that bombing in North Vietnam would be halted and that a cease-fire would follow, however his announcement was too late. On election day, Nixon defeated Humphrey by over 100 electoral votes, although he won the election with only 43 percent of the vote to 42 percent, partly because Wallace took 13 percent.

==1972 Reelection Campaign==

''Main Article: [[United States presidential election, 1972]]''

President Nixon's reelection campaign got underway in 1972. He had high approval ratings for his handling with China and the Soviet Union. Nixon's Democrat opponent, [[South Dakota]] Senator [[George McGovern]] was viewed too [[liberal]] by many Americans. However, there was still concern in the Nixon camp because of his close victory in 1968 and the United States' continued involvement in the Vietnam War. He chose to engage in tactics that included an effort to steal information in the Democrat Party's headquarters. Five Nixon supporters broke into the party's office at the Watergate complex in [[Washington, D.C.]] on June 17, 1972. This however did not become an issue in the campaign, with President Nixon trumping McGovern in 49 out of 50 states.

==Presidency (1969-1974)==

===Administration===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Office
! Name
! Term
|-
| [[President]]
| Richard Nixon
| 1969-1974
|-
| [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]]
| [[Spiro Agnew]]
| 1969-1973
|-
|
| [[Gerald Ford]]
| 1973-1974
|-
| [[Secretary of State]]
| [[William P. Rogers]]
| 1969-1973
|-
|
| [[Henry Kissinger]]
| 1973-1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Treasury]]
| [[David M. Kennedy]]
| 1969-1971
|-
|
| [[John Connally]]
| 1971-1972
|-
|
| [[George Shultz]]
| 1972-1974
|-
|
| [[William Simon]]
| 1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Defense]]
| [[Melvin R. Laird]]
| 1969-1973
|-
|
| [[Elliot Richardson]]
| 1973
|-
|
| [[James Schlesinger]]
| 1973-1974
|-
| [[Attorney General]]
| [[John N. Mitchell]]
| 1969-1972
|-
|
| [[Richard Kleindienst]]
| 1972-1973
|-
|
| [[Elliot Richardson]]
| 1973-1974
|-
|
| [[William B. Saxbe]]
| 1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Interior]]
| [[Walter Joseph Hickel]]
| 1969-1971
|-
|
| [[Rogers Morton]]
| 1971-1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Agriculture]]
| [[Clifford M. Hardin]]
| 1969–1971
|-
|
| [[Earl Butz]]
| 1971–1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Commerce]]
| [[Maurice Stans]]
| 1969–1972
|-
|
| [[Peter Peterson]]
| 1972–1973
|-
|
| [[Frederick B. Dent]]
| 1973-1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Labor]]
| [[George Shultz]]
| 1969–1970
|-
|
| [[James D. Hodgson]]
| 1970–1973
|-
|
| [[Peter J. Brennan]]
| 1973–1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare]]
| [[Robert Finch]]
| 1969–1970
|-
|
| [[Elliot Richardson]]
| 1970–1973
|-
|
| [[Caspar Weinberger]]
| 1973–1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Housing and Urban Development]]
| [[George Romney]]
| 1969–1973
|-
|
| [[James Thomas Lynn]]
| 1973-1974
|-
| [[Secretary of Transportation]]
| [[John A. Volpe]]
| 1969–1973
|-
|
| [[Claude Brinegar]]
| 1973-1974
|-
|}

=== Vietnam War ===

[[Image:PresidentNixon.jpg|left|thumb|275px|President Nixon points out the NVA sanctuaries along the Cambodian border in his speech to the American people announcing the Cambodian incursion, 04/30/70]] Two months after coming into office American deaths in Vietnam reached thirty-six hundred. Nixon appointed [[Harvard]] Professor [[Henry Kissinger]] as National Security Adviser, who had secret peace talks with the North Vietnamese. Peace negations dragged on throughout Nixon's first term. His Vietnam strategies included "Vietnamization," a policy aimed at reducing U.S. casualties and troops, while also convincing the American public that the Vietnamese people could assume the primary responsibility of waging war. To win support for the war among the [["silent majority,"]] Nixon pursued the [["politics of polarization."]] Instrumental to this cause was Nixon's first vice president [[Spiro T. Agnew]], who criticized opponents of the war as "nattering nabobs of negativism," and an "effete corps of impudent snobs." Nixon also sought to instill in the North Vietnamese the belief that he was volatile and unstable, and willing to use nuclear weapons in the war, a strategy known as the "madman scenario."

On April 30, 1970, ten days after announcing that 150,000 American troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam in the following year, Nixon announced that U.S. troops had invaded Cambodia. This announcement brought widespread protests and college and university campuses across the nation. Four students were shot by National Guardsmen at [[Kent State University]] in Ohio and two died at [[Jackson State University]] in Mississippi. Many campuses shut down, some for the remainder of the academic year. The [[Paris Peace Accords]] were signed on January 27, 1973, signaling the beginning of the peace process that ended with the evacuation of the last American personnel two years later on April 30, 1975. Pictures of the last U.S. Marines evacuating the American Embassy by helicopter while civilians, many of which were employed by the Americans during the war, attempted to climb aboard, has become a symbol of the U.S. defeat in Vietnam.

=== Policy of Detente ===

[[Image:Leonid_Brezhnev_and_Richard_Nixon.jpg‎|right|thumb|275px|Richard M. Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, 05/19/73.]] Nixon worked to establish a friendlier relationship with the Soviet Union and [[China]]. The Soviets were not pleased of Nixon, a man who spent his career attacking communism, had become President. Although still a strong anti-communist, Nixon understood the growing role of China and Western Europe, realizing that he had to be more diplomatic. With the help of National Security Adviser [[Henry Kissinger]], Nixon created an approach called Detente, which was relaxed tensions between the United States and its two major communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China. Nixon began the policy of detente by lifting trade and travel restrictions.

After a long series of highly secret negations between Kissinger and Chinese leaders, Nixon announced that he would visit China in February 1972. During the historic trip, the leaders of both nations agreed to have more normal relationships. Nixon told the Chinese during a banquet toast, "Let us start a long march together, not in lockstep, but on different roads leading to the same goal, the goal of building world structure of peace and justice." In taking the trip, Nixon hoped to both strengthen ties with China but also believed it would encourage the Soviet Union to be more diplomatic. He proved to be correct. Shortly after the public learned about China, the Soviets proposed an American-Soviet summit, a high level diplomatic meeting that was held in May 1972. President Nixon flew to Moscow for a week long summit, thus becoming the first American President since [[World War 2]] to visit the Soviet Union.

The two superpowers signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or SALT 1, a plan to limit nuclear arms that the two nations had been working on for years. Nixon and Soviet President [[Leonid Brezhnev]] also agreed to increase trade and exchange scientific information. President Nixon had made a significant mark on the world stage with major foreign policy triumphs.

=== Watergate ===

The event that ended the Nixon presidency began on June 17, 1972, when five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign (CREEP), were caught breaking into rival Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The intruders and two other accomplices were convicted of burglary and wiretapping in Jan. 1973. The [[Watergate affair]] ultimately caused Nixon to resign on August 9, 1974. On September 9, 1974, his successor Gerald Ford granted him "a full, free, and absolute pardon." This effectively ended investigation into the depth of Nixon's involvement in the break-in at [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters in the Watergate hotel, or any other criminal activities. Former White House Counsel John Dean testified to a Congressional investigating committee of Nixon's involvement in the cover-up.

[[Image:NixonFarewell.jpg|left|thumb|275px|President Nixon delivers his Farewell Remarks to the White House Staff in the East Room, with his family looking on, 08/09/74]] The Congressional hearings revealed Nixon had tape recorded conversations and telephone calls in his office. These recordings reveal that Nixon's role in the cover-up began as early as six days after the break-in. The tapes also reveal an immense scope of crimes and abuses that predate the Watergate break-in. These include campaign fraud, political espionage and sabotage, illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, illegal wiretapping on a massive scale, and a secret slush fund laundered in Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations. The president, citing [[Executive Privilege]], refused to turn the tapes over to the committee. In October 1973 Nixon ordered Elliot Richardson, the attorney general, to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor who had subpoenaed the tapes, but Richardson resigned in protest. Richardson's assistant, William Ruckelshaus, also refused to fire Cox and was fired by Nixon. Finally, Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox. The incident, which was trumped in the press as the "Saturday Night Massacre", led to widespread calls for Nixon's impeachment.

The White House released edited transcripts of the tapes in April 1974, and eventually the tapes themselves, after the Supreme Court rejected Nixon's claim to executive privilege. The House Judiciary Committee issued three articles of impeachment on July 30, 1974.

"In all of this," the articles of impeachment summarize, "Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States." After conferring with Republican Senators Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. Nixon was succeeded in office the same day by [[Gerald Ford]]. Ford later pardoned Nixon.

The Nixon White House was also involved in [[Henry_Kissinger#Latin_America| controversies in Latin America]], which included [[Henry_Kissinger#The_Schneider_Affair| an alleged assassination attempt]] in [[Chile]], among [[Henry_Kissinger#Major_Controversies| other questionable activities]].

==Family==

Nixon married Thelma Catherine Ryan, known as "Pat", in 1940. They had two children: Patricia (b. 1946) and Julie (b. 1948).

[[File:Pat nixon.jpg|300px|center]]

==References==
<References/>

==Further reading==

* Aitken, Jonathan. ''Nixon: A Life'' (1993).
* Ambrose, Stephen. ''Nixon'' (3v 1987-1991), the standard scholarly biography [http://www.amazon.com/Nixon-I-Stephen-E-Ambrose/dp/0671657224/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203808418&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search vol 1]; hostile to RN
* Black, Conrad. ''Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full'' (2007) 1150pp; by a conservative; friendly to RN
* Bundy, William. ''A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency'' (1998). [http://www.amazon.com/Tangled-Web-Making-Foreign-Presidency/dp/B000C4SRCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203808485&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Congressional Quarterly. ''Congress and the Nation, 1968-1972'' (1973). Detailed coverage of all the official actions in Washington
* Dallek, Robert. ''Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Nixon-Kissinger-Partners-Robert-Dallek/dp/0060722312/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200450337&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Frick, Daniel. ''Reinventing Richard Nixon: A Cultural History of an American Obsession''. (2008). 344 pages
* Greenberg, David. ''Nixon's Shadow: The History of the Image'' (2004), influential study of his changing reputation [http://www.amazon.com/Nixons-Shadow-History-David-Greenberg/dp/0393326160/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200450337&sr=1-9 excerpt and text search]
* Hoff, Joan. ''Nixon without Watergate'' (1994) a favorable estimate of the presidential years; also titled ''Nixon Reconsidered''; [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99580185 online edition]
* Kutler, Stanley I. ''Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon'' (1992), strongly hostile [http://www.amazon.com/Wars-Watergate-Crisis-Richard-Nixon/dp/0393308278/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200450532&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* MacMillan, Margaret. ''Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World'' (2007)
* Matusow, Allen J. ''Nixon's Economy: Booms, Busts, Dollars, and Votes'' (1998) [http://www.amazon.com/Nixons-Economy-Booms-Busts-Dollars/dp/0700608885/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203808547&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Nixon, Richard. ''RN: Memoirs'' (1978),a primary source; one of the most important presidential autobiographies [http://www.amazon.com/RN-Memoirs-Richard-Nixon/dp/0671707418/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203808583&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Pietrusza, David ''1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies'' New York: Union Square Press, 2008
* Reeves, Richard. ''President Nixon: Alone in the White House'' (2002). well-received study of the White House years (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/President-Nixon-Alone-White-House/dp/B000066TQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200450725&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Schoenebaum, Eleanora, ed. ''Political Profiles: The Nixon/Ford Years'' (1979), biographies of all the main political figures
* Small, Melvin. ''The Presidency of Richard Nixon'' (1999) [http://www.amazon.com/Presidency-Richard-Nixon-American/dp/0700612556/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200450643&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]; hostile
* Suri, Jeremi. ''Henry Kissinger and the American Century'' (2007)

==Primary Sources by Nixon==

*Victory Without War, New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1989.
*Beyond Peace, New York, NY: Random House, 1994.
*Four Great Americans: Tributes Delivered by President Richard Nixon. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973.
*In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat, and Renewal, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
*Leaders New York, NY: Warner Books, 1982.
*Nixon in Retrospect, 1946-1962: Selected Quotations. Silver Spring, MD: Research Data Publishers, 1973.
*No More Vietnams, New York, NY: Arbor House, 1985.
*Real Peace. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
*RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
*Seize the Moment: America’s Challenge in a One- SuperpowerWorld. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
*Setting the Course; The First Year, New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1970.
*Six Crises. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
*Summons to Greatness: A Collage of Inspirational Thought and Practical Ideas from the Messages and Addresses of Richard Nixon, Thirty-Seventh President of the United States, Washington, D.C.: Friends of President Nixon, 1972.
*The Real War, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1980.

==External Links==

* [http://www.nixonfoundation.org Nixon Birthplace & Library], in Yorba Linda, California
* [http://genealogy.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Nixon_(1913) Genealogy Wiki] Nixon Family History
* [http://www.californiaresortlife.com/orange/yorba_linda.htm Birthplace Tour]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/

http://www.nixonfoundation.org/

http://www.nixonlibrary.org/

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Richard}}

{{USPresidents}}
{{USVicePresidents}}
[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:Republican Party]]
[[Category:Diplomacy]]
[[Category:Cold War]]
[[Category:1960s]]
[[Category:New Deal]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United States Veterans]]

Apollo 11

2012-08-19T00:56:19Z

Emperormeiji:

[[Image:Apollo 11 Launch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Apollo 11 launch]]
'''Apollo 11''' carried the first humans to the [[moon]]. On July 20, 1969, [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first person to set foot on the moon, stepping onto the lunar surface and saying: "''That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.''"
<ref> Armstrong insists he said "one small step for a man." Whether he succeeded in enunciated the word "a" is disputed. See [[Neil_Armstrong#One small step]] </ref>
[[File:NASA Moon Flag.jpg|left|200px]]
The crew consisted of Commander Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins. [[Aldrin]] was second person on the moon. Collins orbited in the command module, ''Columbia''; Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar excursion module, ''Eagle''. They broadcast their brief visit to the lunar surface live on international television. During their visit they placed the American [[Flag of the United States of America|flag]] along with a plaque which read: ''"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."'' They also gathered rocks and soil during their visit.

The [[Saturn V]] rocket carrying Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins was launched on July 16, 1969 by [[NASA]] from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it entered lunar orbit on July 19.
[[Image:Apollo11-crew.jpg‎|right|thumb|250px|The Apollo 11 Crew]]
President [[John F. Kennedy]] had urged the United States to send a man to the moon before the end of the 1960s. By the time the landing was made, President [[Richard Nixon]] was in office. He spoke with the astronauts by radio shortly after they landed.

They returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Some skeptics have claimed that Apollo 11 and the five subsequent lunar landings were hoaxes filmed on television or movie sets. These claims have been debunked by the participants and scientific experts. Several of the landing sites have since been photographed from orbit by unmanned probes, strongly suggesting that humans did in fact visit the lunar surface.

==References==
<references/>
*http://www.nasa.gov/
*http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/apollo11/
*http://www.buzzaldrin.com/

==See also==

*[[Project Apollo]]
*[[Apollo 13]]
*[[Apollo 9]]

[[Category: United States]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space Exploration]]
[[Category: Astronauts]]

Apollo 11

2012-08-19T00:53:48Z

Emperormeiji:

[[Image:Apollo 11 Launch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Apollo 11 launch]]
'''Apollo 11''' carried the first humans to the [[moon]]. On July 20, 1969, [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first person to set foot on the moon, stepping onto the lunar surface and saying: "''That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.''"
<ref> Armstrong insists he said "one small step for a man." Whether he succeeded in enunciated the word "a" is disputed. See [[Neil_Armstrong#One small step]] </ref>
[[File:NASA Moon Flag.jpg|left|200px]]
The crew consisted of Commander Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., and [[Michael Collins]]. [[Aldrin]] was second person on the moon. Collins orbited in the command module, ''Columbia''; Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar excursion module, ''Eagle''. They broadcast their brief visit to the lunar surface live on international television. During their visit they placed the American [[Flag of the United States of America|flag]] along with a plaque which read: ''"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."'' They also gathered rocks and soil during their visit.

The rocket, a [[Saturn V]], was launched on July 16, 1969 by [[NASA]] from Kennedy Space Center, and it entered lunar orbit on July 19.
[[Image:Apollo11-crew.jpg‎|right|thumb|250px|The Apollo 11 Crew]]
[[John F. Kennedy]] had urged the United States to send a man to the moon before the end of the 1960s. By the time the landing was made, [[Richard Nixon]] was in office. He spoke with the astronauts by radio shortly after they landed.

They returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Some skeptics have claimed that Apollo 11 and the five subsequent lunar landings were hoaxes filmed on television or movie sets. These claims have been debunked by the participants and scientific experts. Several of the landing sites have since been photographed from orbit by unmanned probes, strongly suggesting that humans did in fact visit the lunar surface.

==References==
<references/>
*http://www.nasa.gov/
*http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/apollo11/
*http://www.buzzaldrin.com/

==See also==

*[[Project Apollo]]
*[[Apollo 13]]
*[[Apollo 9]]

[[Category: United States]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space Exploration]]
[[Category: Astronauts]]

Apollo 11

2012-08-19T00:48:41Z

Emperormeiji:

[[Image:Apollo 11 Launch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Apollo 11 launch]]
'''Apollo 11''' carried the first humans to the [[moon]]. On July 20, 1969, [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first person to set foot on the moon, stepping onto the lunar surface and saying: "''That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.''"
<ref> Armstrong insists he said "one small step for a man." Whether he succeeded in enunciated the word "a" is disputed. See [[Neil_Armstrong#One small step]] </ref>
[[File:NASA Moon Flag.jpg|left|200px]]
The crew consisted of Commander Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., and [[Michael Collins]]. [[Aldrin]] was second person on the moon. Collins orbited in the command module, ''Columbia''; Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar excursion module, ''Eagle''. They broadcast a live videotaping and placed the American [[Flag of the United States of America|flag]] and a plaque which read: ''"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."'' They also gathered rocks and soil during their brief visit to the surface.

The rocket, a [[Saturn V]], was launched on July 16, 1969 by [[NASA]] from Kennedy Space Center, and it entered lunar orbit on July 19.
[[Image:Apollo11-crew.jpg‎|right|thumb|250px|The Apollo 11 Crew]]
[[John F. Kennedy]] had determined to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade. However, by the time the landing was made, [[Richard Nixon]] was in office. He sent the astronauts a live message shortly after they landed.

They returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Some disruptive influences have attempted to undermine the idea that the moon landing was real by claiming that it was a hoax filmed on a set, but all these claims have been debunked, despite continuing controversy over the role of NASA, which has not managed to capitalize on its moon successes.

==References==
<references/>
*http://www.nasa.gov/
*http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/apollo11/
*http://www.buzzaldrin.com/

==See also==

*[[Project Apollo]]
*[[Apollo 13]]
*[[Apollo 9]]

[[Category: United States]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space Exploration]]
[[Category: Astronauts]]