Richard Milhous Nixon January 9, β April 22, was the 37th president of the United States , serving from until his resignation in A member of the Republican Party , he previously served as a representative and senator from California and as the 36th vice president from to under President Dwight D. His presidency saw the reduction of U. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.
His work on the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist. In , he was elected to the Senate. Nixon was the running mate of Eisenhower, the Republican Party's presidential nominee in the election , and served for eight years as vice president. He narrowly lost the presidential election to John F. After his loss in the race for governor of California, he announced his retirement from politics. However, in , he made another run for the presidency and narrowly defeated the Democratic incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey.
Seeking to bring the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table, Nixon ordered military operations and carpet bombing campaigns in Cambodia. He covertly aided Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War in and ended American combat involvement in Vietnam in and the military draft the same year.
His visit to China in eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations , and he then finalized the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. Domestically, Nixon pushed for the Controlled Substances Act and began the war on drugs. Nixon's first term took place at the height of the American environmental movement and enacted many progressive environmental policy shifts; his administration created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed legislation such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Air Acts.
He implemented the ratified Twenty-sixth Amendment , which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, and enforced the desegregation of Southern schools. Under Nixon, relations with Native Americans improved, seeing an increase in self-determination for Native Americans and his administration rescinded the termination policy.
