History vs. Richard Nixon - Alex Gendler — Transcript

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1. 0:06The presidency of the United States of America
2. 0:09is often said to be one of the most powerful positions in the world.
3. 0:13But of all the U.S. presidents accused of misusing that power,
4. 0:17only one has left office as a result.
5. 0:21Does Richard Nixon deserve to be remembered
6. 0:23for more than the scandal that ended his presidency?
7. 0:26Find out as we put this disgraced president's legacy on trial
8. 0:31in History vs. Richard Nixon.
9. 0:35"Order, order.
10. 0:36Now, who's the defendant today, some kind of crook?"
11. 0:39"Cough. No, your Honor.
12. 0:42This is Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States,
13. 0:46who served from 1969 to 1974."
14. 0:50"Hold on.
15. 0:53That's a weird number of years for a president to serve."
16. 0:56"Well, you see, President Nixon resigned for the good of the nation
17. 1:00and was pardoned by President Ford, who took over after him."
18. 1:04"He resigned because he was about to be impeached,
19. 1:06and he didn't want the full extent of his crimes exposed."
20. 1:10"And what were these crimes?"
21. 1:12"Your Honor, the Watergate scandal was one of the grossest abuses
22. 1:16of presidential power in history.
23. 1:19Nixon's men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters
24. 1:23to wiretap the offices and dig up dirt on opponents
25. 1:27for the reelection campaign."
26. 1:30"Cough
27. 1:31It was established that the President did not order this burglary."
28. 1:35"But as soon as he learned of it, he did everything to cover it up,
29. 1:38while lying about it for months."
30. 1:41"Uh, yes, but it was for the good of the country.
31. 1:44He did so much during his time in office and could have done so much more
32. 1:48without a scandal jeopardizing his accomplishments."
33. 1:53"Uh, accomplishments?"
34. 1:54"Yes, your Honor.
35. 1:56Did you know it was President Nixon
36. 1:58who proposed the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency,
37. 2:02and signed the National Environmental Policy Act into law?
38. 2:06Not to mention the Endangered Species Act,
39. 2:08Marine Mammal Protection Act,
40. 2:10expansion of the Clean Air Act."
41. 2:13"Sounds pretty progressive of him."
42. 2:15"Progressive? Hardly.
43. 2:17Nixon's presidential campaign courted Southern voters
44. 2:19through fear and resentment of the civil rights movement."
45. 2:23"Speaking of civil rights,
46. 2:25the prosecution may be surprised to learn that he signed the Title IX amendment,
47. 2:29banning gender-based discrimination in education,
48. 2:33and ensured that desegregation of schools occurred peacefully,
49. 2:38and he lowered the voting age to 18, so that students could vote."
50. 2:42"He didn't have much concern for students
51. 2:44after four were shot by the National Guard at Kent State.
52. 2:49Instead, he called them bums for protesting the Vietnam War,
53. 2:53a war he had campaigned on ending."
54. 2:56"But he did end it."
55. 2:57"He ended it two years after taking office.
56. 3:01Meanwhile, his campaign had sabotaged the previous president's peace talks,
57. 3:06urging the South Vietnamese government to hold out for supposedly better terms,
58. 3:11which, I might add, didn't materialize.
59. 3:14So, he protracted the war for four years,
60. 3:17in which 20,000 more U.S. troops, and over a million more Vietnamese,
61. 3:22died for nothing."
62. 3:25"Hmm, a presidential candidate interfering in foreign negotiations --
63. 3:29isn't that treason?"
64. 3:31"It is, your Honor, a clear violation of the Logan Act of 1799."
65. 3:36"Uh, I think we're forgetting President Nixon's many
66. 3:40foreign policy achievements.
67. 3:42It was he who normalized ties with China, forging economic ties that continue today."
68. 3:49"Are we so sure that's a good thing?
69. 3:51And don't forget his support of the coup in Chile
70. 3:54that replaced the democratically-elected President Allende
71. 3:57with a brutal military dictator."
72. 4:00"It was part of the fight against communism."
73. 4:03"Weren't tyranny and violence the reasons we opposed communism to begin with?
74. 4:07Or was it just fear of the lower class rising up against the rich?"
75. 4:12"President Nixon couldn't have predicted the violence of Pinochet's regime,
76. 4:16and being anti-communist didn't mean neglecting the poor.
77. 4:19He proposed a guaranteed basic income for all American families,
78. 4:23still a radical concept today.
79. 4:26And he even pushed for comprehensive healthcare reform,
80. 4:29just the kind that passed 40 years later."
81. 4:32"I'm still confused about this burglary business.
82. 4:35Was he a crook or not?"
83. 4:37"Your Honor, President Nixon may have violated a law or two,
84. 4:41but what was the real harm compared to all he accomplished while in office?"
85. 4:46"The harm was to democracy itself.
86. 4:50The whole point of the ideals Nixon claimed to promote abroad
87. 4:53is that leaders are accountable to the people,
88. 4:56and when they hold themselves above the law for whatever reason,
89. 4:59those ideals are undermined."
90. 5:02"And if you don't hold people accountable to the law, I'll be out of a job."
91. 5:07Many politicians have compromised some principles to achieve results,
92. 5:11but law-breaking and cover-ups threaten the very fabric the nation is built on.
93. 5:17Those who do so may find their entire legacy tainted
94. 5:21when history is put on trial.