Assignment due May 9

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1) Write at least two comments in response to this post discussing how Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan have been remembered after their presidencies.   If possible, spread out your comments by at least a few hours so you can enter at different points in the conversation.  I encourage you to include links to other web pages that support your points (e.g., news articles that review the legacies of one of these presidents).  Be specific about the source(s) you are using for evidence.

54 thoughts on “Assignment due May 9”

  1. Nixon was seen as a criminal shortly after his resignation, however in the distant future he would be used as an advisor to future presidents. The first few years after Nixon resigned the public did not look at him in a positive light. They did not agree with what he did, and they were outraged over the scandal. What made matters worse was the pardon granted to him by President Ford (his former VP). However, in the international world he was accepted with excitement. When Nixon visited China he was received warmly. “He dispensed his advice to all who would listen, including talking to President Jimmy Carter about normalizing relations with China in 1978. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush began to consult him although they did not publicize that fact.” Nixon later gave many speeches, and wrote numerous books, which were received rather well. A great moment in his post presidency was a 1986 Newsweek cover story, entitled, “He’s Back: The Rehabilitation of Richard Nixon.” This demonstrated that over time America began to forgive Nixon, and appreciate his wisdom.

  3. According to Eric Foner, Jimmy Carter’s presidency was remembered as a failure by most historians. After Nixon’s disgraceful scandal and Ford’s unjustified pardon of Nixon, Carter, who was an outsider to the central government, was elected as the president with the slogan “I will never lie to you.” However, Carter has became unpopular due to several incidents during his presidency. Those incidents include Carter’s failure to pass bills through Congress, allowing the country to experience rampant inflation after the increase of oil price, and his ineffective handling of the hostage incident in Iran. Moreover, the scandal involving Carter’s family members illegitimately receiving large sums of money from various sources also had negative impact on Carter’s credibility as an honest, humble president.

    Sources: “Give Me Liberty” by Eric Foner, and http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/1 ,the first useful site given by google.

  4. Being a strong believer in the state of Israel, my views on looking back at Jimmy Carter’s presidency will always tend to be a little skewed by his policy towards Israel and the Middle East. President Carter believes in a two state solution returning to the pre-1967 Six Day War boundaries.
    In June of 1967, Israel was attacked by Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. After just 6 days of brutal fighting, Israel emerged victorious and took control of the Gaza Strip, the Sianai Peninsula, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. In September 2005 Israel withdrew all Israelis living in the Gaza Strip and allowed the arab residents elect there own government. The residents of the Gaza Strips elected the terrorist organization of Hamas to control the Gaza Strip.
    Carter believes Israel should give the arabs of the West Bank freedom of to establish they’re own government independent of that of the state Israel.

    For a more detailed explanation of Carter’s 2 state solution follow the link below:
    http://www.onejerusalem.com/2009/06/17/jimmy-carter-and-the-two-state-solution/

  5. President Nixon will always be remembered for the Watergate scandal and how it took faith away from the people of the United State about their President. After his resignation and the pardon by Ford, Nixon was viewed as a person that committed a huge crime and got away with it. This cast a shadow over many of the things that Nixon did that could have made him remembered as a good president.
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Letter_of_Resignation_of_Richard_M._Nixon%2C_1974.jpg

    President Fords pardon of Nixon was such a cope out, How can you pardon someone for “every crime ever committed against the US. What the heck, what type of bargain was that. He is know as the “Bargaining President” to many people.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/presidents/pres38/pres38_intro.html

    Now, good ol’ Jimmy Carter, having read about carter and doing some research, i had to see that there was so much that Carter did that many people didn’t really see as a great thing especially compared to events such as the Iran hostile crisis, the 1979 Energy crisis and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Yet personally oppose to abortion, he supported legalized abortion after the Roe vs. Wade case, also I quote :”Carter quickly proposed state legislation to replace the death penalty with life in prison (an option that previously didn’t exist before becoming president. He form the United States Department of Energy (DOE)of course after the oil crisis and the United States Department of Education

    I believe that many of the events that occurred during Carters presidency made it hard for him to succeed in the eye of the public, especially after the last two presidents.

  6. Richard Nixon was disgraced after his Watergate Scandal. The public was disappointed and angered by his behaviors during his presidential election and his unapologetic resignation speech, and public anger erupted again when Nixon was pardoned from his crime.

    Branded as a filthy politician, Richard Nixon remained inactive for a long period of time after his resignation; however, he was involved with politics again once the public was less concerned of the Watergate Scandal. Richard Nixon carried out several important positions, such as the elder statement, consultant for the administrations of George Bush and Bill Clinton. Unfortunately, despite of the acts to redeem his reputation, Richard Nixon had never escaped the shame from his disgraceful resignation.

    Source: http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ni-Pe/Nixon-Richard.html

  7. During the election, Jimmy Carter was seen as a new leader. A leader that was just like the American people, one that represented exactly what America stood for (Codevilla). Although he was expected to do great things, he unable to follow through his plans. Once in office, he inflated several government programs like Yi Jun had mentioned. President Carter had poorly handled foreign policies with Soviet Union and failed to act efficiently in the Iran hostage crisis. Carter had even prohibited American from joining the Summer Olympics of 1980 in Moscow. In a way, Carter had entered a crisis with the best intentions but failed to produce the best result.

    Source:http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.499/pub_detail.asp

  8. Carter is remembered, for the historic 1978 Camp David Accords, where he mediated a historic peace agreement between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat.Carter strongly emphasized human rights.The end of his presidential tenure was marked by the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
    Source: http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/1

  9. Ronald Reagan believed in the “economic freedom” of the people. During his presidency, he pushed Congress to lower tax rates. The Tax Reform Act decreased the tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. In doing so, this upsetted the balance of distribution of wealth. Reagan’s supply-side economics did not go as plan either. It did not generate the revenue Reagan anticipated. The lower tax rates and increased interest rates spurred economic growth for the country but also increased the national debt. In essence, Reagan’s presidency left a deep impact on the economic sector of the country.
    Source: http://millercenter.org/president/reagan/essays/biography/8

  10. Carter’s popularity fell during much of his term, as inflation increased to more than 15 percent and the unemployment rate, after dropping early in his term, rose again to more than 6 percent. Interest rates rose to the 20 percent range, which made it difficult for people to purchase homes and consumer goods. The seizure of American diplomats in the embassy in Iran by “student” militants on November 4, 1979, and Carter’s inability to obtain their release by diplomatic means also caused his popularity to sink. An April 1980 attempt to rescue the hostages ended in failure with the death of eight U.S. servicemen in a helicopter crash in the Iranian desert. The abortive mission seemed to many Americans to symbolize U.S. military weakness in the post-Vietnam era. In July 1980 Carter’s popularity slid to 20 percent in the polls–lower even than Nixon’s during the Watergate scandal.
    Source: http://www.highbeam.com/publications/the-oxford-guide-to-the-united-states-government-p5327

  11. In many historian’s perspective, Richard Nixon is mainly remembered for his mistake of Watergate Scandal. His achievement during his earlier presidency did not help his rating. In the following reading, Richard Nixon is viewed as victim of Truman’s theory of president power. Because of World War II and Cold War, the world is very sensitive in foreign policy. After a serious failure in competing against Soviet Union in Missile development, US congress is under pressure to make the correct foreign policy for the situation. However, Congress’s failure in foreign policy, US citizens look for US president to defuse the Cold War tension. Richard Nixon succeed the mission. Such achievement gives Nixon much more power in foreign policy which lead to his series failure in Vietnam War decisions. Until April 22, 1944, Richard Nixon resign from the Presidential office and he is remember because of the Watergate Scandal.

    Source: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=108&sid=fdccdc69-bac4-4fa9-acd7-315a8261a527%40sessionmgr110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ahl&AN=56658930

  12. Watergate sandal decreased Nixon’s popularity. He resigned office with the very low public approval rates. The public revelations about Watergate contributed to the steep decline of public confidence in political institutions. Subsequent presidents entered office with lower rates of public approval, suffered steeper declines, and bottomed out at levels approaching Nixon’s lows. After his resignation Nixon attempted to restore his reputation as a statesman. He wrote his memoirs and six more books, most of them best-sellers, including several volumes on foreign affairs. He was treated respectfully and even admiringly as an elder statesman on his visits to the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, and more than a score of other nations.
    Source : http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Richard_Milhous_Nixon.aspx

  14. After Richard Nixon’s resignation, he felt disgraced. Although he was looked down for in the beginning for his Watergate scandal, he slowly got his recognition back. He did many things and still kept in contact with future presidents as a consultant.

    Richard Nixon, as George Bush puts it, will be forever remembered for what he’s done for both “foreign and domestic affairs.” He is known as the person that paved the good relations e have with China due to all his visits there. In addition, slowly gained his reputation back and Clinton thanks and compliments Nixon for his “resiliency” and effort he has given to this country

  16. Jimmy Carter is known for many things but one of the things that he is most remembered for is his success at camp David Peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. His accomplishment here also led to his future failure, as his focus towards led him to neglect the problems in the home front. As a result he lost his reelection against Ronald Reagan.

    Source: http://ww.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/carter.html

  17. When Nixon vizited China in 1972, it opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated detente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. On the domestic front, he implemented the concept of New Federalism, transferring power from the federal government to the states. New economic policies which called for wage and price control and the abolition of the gold standard. Sweeping environmental reforms, including the Clean Air Act and creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The launch of the War on Cancer and War on Drugs.
    http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.501/pub_detail.asp

  18. Jimmy Carter is known for his humanitarianism and informality. Carter was considered as an outcast in Washington and Congress did not give him support in meeting his campaign promises. During his presidency, Carter was blamed for the high interest rates, recession and inflation. Many people saw Carter as an incapable president who wasn’t able to move the nation forward. He was not able to gather the confidence of people by making promises similar to other presidents in the past.

    Source: http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Kennedy-Bush/Jimmy-Carter-Disaffection-of-the-public.html

  19. Most people remember Nixon’s Watergate scandal. However, Nixon also did a lot of contribution to the country. “During his Presidency, Nixon succeeded in ending American fighting in Viet Nam and improving relations with the U.S.S.R. and China.” In 1959, Nixon as vice president went to Moscow having the kitchen Debate with Khrushchev during the American National Exhibition. Also, he was the first the president visited and started relationship with China in 1972.
    Source:http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon

  20. Nixon will always be considered an effective politician and he has accomplished many things as mentioned by previous posters. However, the negative stigma of being impeached due to Watergate will always darken the outlook people have on him. Nevertheless, Nixon was considered a brilliant person who was able to effectively expel the Soviet Union from the Middle East whilst improving relations with them as well as the Chinese.
    http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1948.html

  21. When someone hears the name Richard Nixon, the first thing that comes to mind is the Watergate Scandal. However, Richard Nixon has contributed to America in many ways. In late 1972, Nixon spent one week in Beijing, China. This was the first time any American President visited China. Nixon spent the week in order to improve relations between the United States and China. By the end of his week there, China and United states came to an agreement that both countries will strive toward a better relationship.

    http://millercenter.org/president/events/02_21

  22. Most people remembered Richard Nixon after his presidency in a foreign policy under him; his foreign policy success includes the U.S withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973, by signing the Paris Peace Accords. The United States agreed to pull out its troops from Vietnam and the North Vietnamese agreed to release American prisoner of the war. However, in 1972, he opened a relationship with China; hoping that the friendship with China would put pressure on North Vietnam to end the Vietnam War. Also he introduced a policy of detente with the Soviet Union in 1972, by relaxing strained relation.
    http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/History/presidents/Presidents_37_Nixon.htm

  23. “Former President Ronald Reagan was remembered as a communicator, a peacemaker and a champion of conservative politics.” People have said that Ronald Reagan was one the greatest presidents of the 20th century. He was remembered as a great speaker, and as the main factor in ending the Cold War. He was able to do this because he was such an expert negotiator. He also was remembered for drastically improving the economy. He helped fix the economy with his ‘Reaganomics.’ The main thing is that Reagan was remembered as an honest and regular American. People loved him and they felt confident under his rule.

    http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/01/thinking-about-ronald-reagan-on-100th-birthday-hes-remembered/

  25. The greatest foreign policy success of the Carter presidency was the Camp David Accords. In 1977, Carter invited both Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister begin to Camp David, where the agreement was made. Under the Camp David Accords, Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in exchange for a peace treaty and the establishment for normal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
    http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/5

  26. During Carter administration, he made Human Rights as foundation of U.S. foreign policy. Carter explained that “U.S. support for human rights involved promoting human freedom worldwide and protecting the individual from the arbitrary power of the state.” His principles created the modern human rights movement. In his presidency, he denounced that the Soviet Union violated the human right, so he suspended the military economic aid to those countries which were suffering violation of human right.
    Source：http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/5

  27. While during his presidency, as many previously mentioned, Nixon is known for his various accomplishments regarding foreign and domestic policy such as his visits to Beijing and Moscow and his environmental policies on the home front. However, despite this, Nixon will always be remembered for the Watergate Scandal. After first learning about the Watergate Scandal when I was younger, whenever I hear his name, that is what comes to mind. This is because it was one of the biggest scandals in presidential history; nobody would have ever thought that a president would be involved in such a situation. The fact that Nixon tried to divert investigations into the crime showed that he obviously was involved and looked to cover up his tracks.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon

  28. Jimmy Carter had good intentions while he was in office. He fought for peace and human rights. He believed in the “aspirations of blacks” where as presidents before him where always on the fence or trying to stay neutral.
    He may have lost his popularity especially when it came to the economic crisis but he still won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. That must mean that he is in good standing the minds of most people.

  33. The Nixon legacy that many American’s remember the 37th president by despite his achievements in establishing diplomatic relations with People’s Republic of China and Detente with the Soviet Union would unfortunately be the Watergate scandal where Nixons subordinates unsuccessfuly broke into the democratic headquarters. If not for Nixon’s resignation, Nixon would have been known for being the first successfuly impeached president of the United States.

  34. The legacy that Carter left behind that many Americans remember his presidency by would be the Camp David Accords which set a “Framework for Peace in the Middle East” and established relations between Isreal and Egypt as well as signing SALT II ( Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)that limited the numbers of nuclear arms of both U.S and USSR.

    http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/salt2/index.html

  35. To many Americans, Ronald Reagan is consider one of the most effective presidents in history. With expert negotiation skills and leadership (Micheal Erdos) Reagan is easily consider an outstanding leader. However, like many presidents in the past, Reagan had made promises he had intended to keep. Some promises dealt with increasing military spending, cutting taxes and balancing the budget. To some extent, Reagan had fulfill the first two promises as military spending reached a record high and enforced major tax cuts mainly in upper income households. Reagan had failed to balance the federal budget and as a result nearly doubled the nation’s debt. Although there was some success to his economic policies, the 1980s had the slowest growth in economy in any decade following the post WWII era.

    Sources:http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0607-09.htm

  36. Jimmy Carter did many things during his time, both domestic and foreign affairs. For domestic, he reorganized several executive branches in that they focus on education, welfare and health. He also created the Department of Energy to help reduce the reliance of America on imported oils. As for foreign affairs, he was most accomplished with building stronger relations with the Republic of China as well as the Soviets. He attempted to ratify the SALT II treaty which would limit the arms they have. Although it was not ratified, both country agreed informally.

    Source: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car0bio-1

  37. I agree with everyone that Richard Nixon was remembered for his accomplishments in foreign affairs. He withdrew the troops from Vietnam and better relations with China. In addition, is also remembered infamously for his Watergate Scandal and how he was threatened to be impeached. As a result, rather than being impeached he decided to resign from his position.

    Source: http://ww.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/nixon.html

  38. Being a jewish Iranian, I do not have such a good taste in my mouth when I hear Jimmy Carter’s name being thrown around. In the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Radical Islam was ready to take a major step in history. The Ayatollah Khomeini who was exiled in France, came to power in Iran, Jimmy Carter who had the opputunity to stop him did not react. This lead to the murder of many Jews in Iran and is the main reason why Iran is such a dangerous threat to the world right now. My source is the movie Iranium whihc was released in 2011, and depicts what led to the Nuclear threat of Iran.

  39. Daniel, I completely sympathize with your feelings towards Jimmy Carter. I was not aware of the lack of help or involvement of both the President and the U.S., in helping to cease the reign of the Ayatollah Khomeini. It is in in fact alarming that the a President recognized as the “champion of human rights” would ignore the need to help. In addition, Jimmy Carter is awarded and recognized as one of the best freelance ambassadors for international missions, including to help countries resolve international disputes.

    http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/6

  40. I also have read loathing comments about Jimmy’s Administration online, adding to my previous comment, he even gave a speech named “crisis of confidence” that concerned the the abated level of confidence of Americans in the American Government. Well, that just shows how ineffective a leader Jimmy was since he was the head of state, its his responsibility to ascertain Americans in the validity of American Government.
    The speech can be heard on youtube…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IlRVy7oZ58

  41. The presidency of Richard Nixon was known for opening the gates. This includes Lancegate, Koreagate, Debategate,Contragate,etc. These other scandals were treated in the same manner as the watergate scandal during Nixon’s presidency. These brought about a presentation of scandal and corruption. With each event, confidence in the presidents and their aids diminished.

    Source:http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Kennedy-Bush/Richard-M-Nixon-The-nixon-legacy.html

  42. Among many inner city groups the outlook is less than favorable on Ronald wilson Reagan. He was accused of being the devil on the Animated Sitcom the boondocks, which cited that all 3 of his names have 6 letters (666). Further In Jay Z’s book “Decoded” he mentioned that he “Compared Osama Bin Laden to Ronald Reagan in their indifference to the destruction each of them brought to the city i lived in.” He was refering to the crack epedimic which a US DOJ report suggest may have been influenced by the Iran-Contra scandal

  43. Jimmy Carter was known as the president who tried to portray himself as a different type of democrat. He Faced challenges such as Iran, The energy crisis, soviet aggression and deep mistrust of citizens. He was always a president out of his position. His stubborn independence became his downfall causing his inability to do certain things that would have helped the US.

    Source:http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/9

  44. Richard Nixon fought for the nation and did overcome pressing situations for the country where others were unable to prevail. This includes his progress with foreign policy and his rebuilding of international relatoins. Nixon did go out with with a bang, unfortunately it was not the kind that anyone would have hoped. However, even to be remembered as the only President in history to resign, Foner states that less than a quarter of the nation approved of Jimmy Carter’s politics by 1980. This is amazingly even lower than Nixon’s the day he gave up office. Carter did not regain some of his reputaion until after the end of his presidency when he began to do work for Habitat for Humanity.

  46. During Jimmy Carter Presidency the thing that stood out to me was the Camp David Accord. This is when Carter created peace between Israel and Egypt. Carter brought Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat to Camp David to work out a treaty. In the end Carter got both sides to understand each other government and finally signed a peace treaty.

    http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/biography/5

  47. Ford’s proclamation granted a pardon to the Watergate Scandal in Jan 10 1969. In response to his pardon Nixon said that,”I was wrong in not acting more decisively and forthrightly in dealing with Watergate… No words can describe the depths of my regret and pain at the anguish of my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and presidency, a nation I so deeply love and an institution I so greatly respect.” In Ford’s proclamation he explained that Nixon’s pardon was to settle the country’s dramatic crisis at the time and prevent the nation’s credibility of government being challenged at home and abroad. Do think that’s an legitimate explanation to Nixon’s pardon? Or do you feel that the pardon was injustice?
    http://watergate.info/ford/pardon.shtml

  48. Richard Nixon had negative effect on the public when watergate incident happened. This caused the people to distrust the government. The distrust grew stronger when president Ford pardoned Nixon which disabled any further investigation to the case. Jimmy Carter did many good things such as returning panama canal back to the state,create 2 new cabinets and try to make peace in middle east. However, the Iran hostage crisis and the energy crisis lowered his popularity.

  51. Ronald Reagan is remembered by most Americans as a conservative peacemaker, accodring to Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Reagan is one of the two greatest presidents of all time. Most Republicans loved Reagan because he was conservative, and was still able to make peace even with country’s like Russia which was communist at the time. Reagan was known for being tough, however Reagonomics was a down side for him as taxes were reduced, however the National debt rose. Reagan’s ideas to have a strong army, was not so cooperative with the tax cuts given in his presidency. The source I used is http://articles.cnn.com/2004-06-06/politics/reagan.main_1_40th-president-great-president-communicator?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS

  52. Its quite obvious, that, anytime Nixon is brought up for disacussion (especially when looking back at the lagacy of his presidency) the Watergate scandal is going to be at the very top of the list – and of course this thread was no exception, nor could anyone have possibly expected it to be. That being said, I’d like to take an opportunity to consider something else about Richard Nixon, something thats depicted quite vividly in the movie “Frost-Nixon”, and that is the man rather than the president.

    Of course, the two are really one in the same…

    You may be able to tell by reading some of m y earlier blog posts (“King of Steel” in particular) that I like to take a look at the story behind greatness, or the life and significant events that shaped the person behind the legacy. While preparing for one of the interviews with the former president, Frost’s producer reminds him just what a powerhouse of a speaker, adn interviewee it is he’s dealing with. Its not mistake that richard nixon become president, and that point can only be strengthened by the fact that according to radio listeners he actually won the debate with President Kennedy during the 1960 presdential elections.

    GOing into great detail about Ricxhard Nixon would take alot more than a comment on this thread would require, but I guess I just wanted to call to attention how much worse Nixon’s fall from grace could have been. He won a second term after tyhe scandal had actually taken place, and if watergate could be left out of the equation, his presiodency would undoubtedly be looked at as quite a successful one….

    -C. Salama

  53. Nixson had similar thoughts as Kennedy. Like Kennedy he wanted more technologies make advancements in space exploration. He also wanted to confront the demons of the past like poverty, war, and ignorance in order to provide for a brighter future. He was also a resolution of the vietname war. He tried to fix conflicts in neighboring countries, such as negotiating a ceasefire with north Vietnam and ended the involvement of the war with United States.
    http://www.kennesaw.edu/pols/3380/pres/1960.html

  54. Ronald Regan was the 40th president of the United States. He was best known for his political frame work where he led the country to a conservative view. His Reaganomics – supply side theory helped with jump staring the poor economy that was suffering from high inflation, as well as cutting taxes. His very own Reagan Revolution help reduce government spending and controlling the money supply to reduce inflation.

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