什么是尼克森

Nixon, Richard M(ilhous)

美国第37届总统（1969～1974）。杜克大学法学院毕业後，1937～1942年间在加州执业。二次世界大战期间一度在军队服役，战後於1947年当选美国众议员，在选举中采用了严词厉句的策略。在希斯一案中开始引起公众注意，1951年又一次以疾言厉色的竞选当选为参议员。1952年身为艾森豪的竞选搭挡而当选副总统，1956年两人再次搭挡顺利当选。1960年竞选总统，以微弱票数输给了甘乃迪。1962年竞选加州州长失利後退出政坛，到纽约重拾律师旧业。1968年重返政坛参加总统竞选，采用「南方战略」争取两党在南部和西部各州保守派的选票，结果战胜韩福瑞当选。在总统任内，他一边命令向北越在寮国和柬埔寨的军事设施秘密投弹，同时试图终止越战，开始逐步撤出美国军队。对柬埔寨境内北越人避难所的攻击引起了广泛的反对。通货膨胀导致的经济问题使美国的预算赤字上升至有史以来的最高点，促使尼克森在1971年实行了和平时期史无前例的对工资和物价的监控。1972年他大幅领先麦高文再次当选总统。在季辛吉的协助下，他结束了越战。他重开与中国共产党的接触，对中国进行了国事访问。首次以美国总统的身分访问苏联，与对方签署了限制战略武器谈判双边协议。水门事件替他的第二个任期蒙上了阴影。他刻意隐瞒参与事件的真相和可能的弹劾导致他於1974年8月引咎辞职，成为美国历史上第一位辞职的总统。继任的福特总统赦免了他，尽管他从来没有被正式宣告有罪。尼克森退休後从事回忆录和有关国际政策问题的专着写作。

1913～1994年

Nixon, Richard M(ilhous)

37th president of the U.S. (1969-74). Born in Yorba Linda, Cal., he studied law at Duke University and practiced in California 1937-42. After serving in World War II, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1947, employing harsh campaign tactics. He came to national attention with the Alger Hiss case, and was elected to the Senate in 1951, again following a bitter campaign. He won the vice presidency in 1952 on a ticket with Dwight D. Eisenhower; they were reelected easily in 1956. As presidential candidate in 1960, he lost narrowly to John F. Kennedy. After failing to win the 1962 California gubernatorial race, he retired from politics and moved to New York to practice law. He reentered politics by running for president in 1968, and he defeated Hubert H. Humphrey with his “southern strategy” of seeking votes from southern and western conservatives in both parties. As president, he began to gradually withdraw U.S. military forces in an effort to end the Vietnam War while ordering the secret bombing of North Vietnamese military centers in Laos and Cambodia. Attacks on North Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia drew widespread protest. Economic problems caused by inflation made the U.S. budget deficit the largest to date, and in 1971 Nixon established unprecedented peacetime controls on wages and prices. He won reelection in 1972 with a landslide victory over George McGovern. Assisted by Henry A. Kissinger, he concluded the Vietnam War. He reopened communications with Communist China and made a state visit there. On his visit to the Soviet Union, the first by a U.S. president, he signed the bilateral SALT agreements. The Watergate scandal overshadowed his second term; his complicity in efforts to cover up his involvement and the likelihood of impeachment led to his becoming, in August 1974, the first president to resign from office. Though never convicted of wrongdoing, he was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford. He retired to write his memoirs and books on foreign policy.