Ask anyone about the 37th President and they’ll probably say one word: Watergate. It’s the brand that stuck. But honestly, if you look at the raw data and the actual laws passed between 1969 and 1974, a different picture starts to emerge. It’s complicated. It’s messy. Yet, there is a very strong argument that Richard Nixon was a good president when it came to the actual business of running the United States and shaping the modern world.
History is usually written by the winners, or in this case, the people who stayed until the end of the term. Nixon didn't. He left in a helicopter while his reputation dissolved into a puddle of grainy tape recordings and "I am not a crook" memes. But while the scandal was huge—and let’s be real, it was a massive breach of public trust—the legislative and diplomatic wins he stacked up were arguably more significant than almost any other president in the 20th century.
We’re talking about the guy who literally started the EPA. Think about that. The Republican party of today would probably call that "radical overreach," but Nixon saw the smog over Los Angeles and the rivers catching fire in Ohio and decided the federal government needed to step in. He wasn't just a politician; he was a pragmatist who knew how to pull the levers of power to get things done.
The Environment and the EPA: An Unexpected Green Legacy
Most people assume the Environmental Protection Agency was some grassroots liberal victory from the 60s. Nope. It was Nixon. In 1970, he signed the executive order that created the EPA, and he followed it up by signing the Clean Air Act. He basically invented the modern framework for how we protect the planet.
He didn't stop there, either. He signed the Endangered Species Act in 1973. He signed the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If you like seeing whales or breathing air that doesn't taste like a bus tailpipe, you actually owe a debt to Richard Nixon. It’s a weird reality to wrap your head around, especially given his "Tricky Dick" persona, but he viewed conservation as a common-sense necessity. He saw the environment as a bipartisan issue because, well, everyone breathes.
He was a master of the "big swing." He didn't just tweak things. He created entire departments. He looked at the chaos of the late 60s and decided that the government needed to be the "adult in the room."
Opening the Door to China
If you want to talk about why Richard Nixon was a good president, you have to talk about February 1972. Before that, China was a black hole to the West. We had no formal relations. We didn't talk. We basically pretended a billion people didn't exist while they sat behind the Bamboo Curtain.
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Nixon, the lifelong anti-communist, realized that if he could drive a wedge between China and the Soviet Union, the U.S. would win the Cold War. It was a brilliant, calculated gamble. He went to Beijing. He met with Mao Zedong. He ate with chopsticks on national TV.
It changed everything.
It shifted the entire global balance of power. By befriending China, he forced the Soviets to the bargaining table, leading to the SALT I treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks). He slowed down the nuclear arms race. He made the world a significantly safer place because he was willing to talk to his enemies. You don't see that kind of high-level geopolitical chess very often anymore. It was bold, it was risky, and it worked perfectly.
Ending the Draft and Domestic Wins
Let's talk about the draft. Young men in the early 70s lived in constant fear of a letter from the government telling them to go die in a jungle. Nixon ended it. He moved the U.S. to an all-volunteer military force in 1973. That’s a massive shift in how American society functions.
He also presided over the desegregation of Southern schools. People forget this. While LBJ gets the credit for the Civil Rights Act—rightly so—it was Nixon’s administration that actually handled the "how" of desegregation. Between 1969 and 1970, the percentage of Black children attending all-Black schools in the South dropped from 68% to 18%. He did it quietly, through local committees, avoiding the massive explosive violence that many predicted. He was a guy who cared about the "mechanics" of government.
Then there’s Title IX. 1972. The law that changed women’s sports forever? Nixon signed that. He wasn't necessarily a feminist icon, but he understood that equity in education was a logical progression for the country.
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The Economy and the "Nixon Shock"
Now, his economic record is where things get "kinda" controversial. He took the U.S. off the gold standard in 1971. Economists still argue about this late into the night over expensive scotch. At the time, it was a move to stop a run on the dollar and combat inflation. It worked in the short term, though the 70s ended up being a mess for other reasons (looking at you, oil embargo).
But check this out: Nixon proposed a "Family Assistance Plan" that was basically a Universal Basic Income. It would have given a guaranteed minimum income to every American family. It was too radical for the Democrats and too liberal for the Republicans, so it died. But the fact that he was even pushing for it shows he was thinking way ahead of his time on poverty.
He also started the "War on Cancer." In 1971, he signed the National Cancer Act and dumped a massive $100 million into research. He wanted a moonshot for medicine. We are still benefiting from the research infrastructure he funded over fifty years ago.
Why the "Bad" Outshadows the "Good"
It's impossible to ignore the elephant in the room. Watergate. The break-in, the cover-up, the paranoia. Nixon was a man deeply haunted by his enemies, real and imagined. He let his darker impulses drive him to subvert the democratic process, and for that, he lost his job and his place in the "Mount Rushmore" conversation.
But is a presidency defined by its worst moment or the sum of its parts?
If any other president had created the EPA, opened China, ended the draft, desegregated the South, and funded the War on Cancer, we’d be building monuments to them. Nixon did all of that while also being a deeply flawed, paranoid individual. He was a Shakespearean figure—great talent destroyed by a "fatal flaw."
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Most historians now look at the "Nixon era" as a period of massive legislative productivity. He was probably the last "liberal" Republican in terms of domestic policy. He increased Social Security benefits. He started OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). He actually cared if you fell off a ladder at work.
The Nuanced View
Was he a "good" man? That’s for biographers to fight over. Was Richard Nixon a good president for the nation’s progress? The evidence points to yes. He was an incredibly effective executive who knew how to pass laws that lasted.
Most of the things we take for granted today—clean water, the 40-hour work week's safety standards, the military structure, our relationship with China—are Nixon's house. We’re just living in it.
What You Can Do Next
If you want to really understand the complexity of the 37th President beyond the headlines, here are a few ways to dig deeper into the actual history:
- Visit the Nixon Library Records: Don't just read summaries; look at the declassified memos on the EPA and China. The "Nixon Tapes" are fascinating because they show both the brilliance and the paranoia in real-time.
- Study the 1970-1973 Legislative Session: Compare the amount of landmark legislation passed during those years to any modern four-year block. It’s eye-opening how much more "functional" the government was, even during a time of massive social unrest.
- Read "Nixon Agonistes" by Garry Wills: This is widely considered one of the best deep dives into the Nixon psyche and why he did what he did. It avoids the simple "hero or villain" trope.
- Re-evaluate the EPA's Origins: Look into the "Earth Day" movement of 1970 and how Nixon co-opted it into a federal powerhouse. It’s a masterclass in political maneuvering.
The reality of history is that it isn't black and white. You can acknowledge that a man was a "crook" in one room while acknowledging he was a visionary in another. Nixon was both. And that's exactly why he remains the most interesting president in American history.