Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: White House photograph, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain
Richard Nixon
- Country
- United States
- Era
- 1913–1994
- Tradition
- Conservative realism
President who opened relations with China, created the Environmental Protection Agency and imposed wage and price controls — and resigned rather than face impeachment over the Watergate cover-up.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Opened diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1972, reversing two decades of American policy
- Pursued détente with the Soviet Union, signing the first strategic arms limitation treaty
- Created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act
- Imposed national wage and price controls in 1971 and ended the dollar’s convertibility to gold
- Campaigned on "law and order" and a Southern strategy that realigned white conservative voters towards the Republican Party
- Proposed a guaranteed minimum income through the Family Assistance Plan, which Congress rejected
- Directed the cover-up of the Watergate break-in and resigned in 1974 facing certain impeachment
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
55
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Documented
The state in the economy
46
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
25
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Well documented
Tradition and change
35
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Documented
Nation and the world
62
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Power and its limits
22
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Well documented
Environment and growth
62
Production firstProtection first
Evidence: Well documented
Crime and punishment
18
PunishmentRehabilitation
Evidence: Well documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Religion and the state
Sources
- United States and China, Joint Communiqué of the United States and China (Shanghai Communiqué) · 1972
- Rick Perlstein, Nixonland · Scribner · 2008
Last verified: