Richard Nixon was the president of the United States throughout the early 1970’s and made a huge impact on the trust factor between the public and the government. Through investigation he was found to be in several situations involving corruption, greatly increasing the public mistrust in government. “On top of this came the political disgrace of the Nixon administration in the scandals that came to be known by the one-word label ‘Watergate,’ and which led to historic resignation from the presidency-the first in American history-of Richard Nixon in August 1974” (507). This quote basically gave an overview of both Nixon’s character and work ethic. Throughout his scandals he clearly demonstrated he had no regard for the level of respect between the people and the federal government nor did he care what impact his actions had on the country as a whole. Zinn mentions Nixon to demonstrate the level of confusion and mayhem within the country at this time, showing how even the leader of the country was one to not be trusted.