"Nixon accomplished much both in domestic and foreign policy, in spite of facing Democratic majorities in Congress. Nixon initiated relations with China (a relationship botched by future presidents), negotiated the first nuclear arms limitation treaty and extricated (imperfectly) the nation from its multi-decade misadventure in Vietnam. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), increased aid to people with disabilities and worked to devolve power to the states. Trump’s foreign policy is, at best, a draw. While the Abraham Accords and a few trade deals were completed, he failed to get out of Afghanistan and got ripped off by China. That he cut through the policy inertia to move toward leaving Afghanistan is to his great credit. But he could not close the deal — something Nixon would never have let fall through the cracks. His domestic policy accomplishments included a tax cut and a raft of executive orders that his successor wiped out within weeks of his inauguration. And Trump faced far less adversity that Nixon. Nixon had to deal with inflation sparked by Lyndon Johnson’s spending and Vietnam escalation, the subsequent collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system, war in the Middle East and an energy crisis caused by decades of increasing dependence on imported oil. Trump entered office with low inflation and low unemployment. He faced one major crisis in the COVID epidemic and, unsurprisingly, fumbled it badly. Trump’s hesitating, vacillating response ended up dooming his reelection. In times of crisis, the American people tend to rally around their president, but that only lasts as long as the president demonstrates leadership and determination. Trump only demonstrated confusion, indecision and doubt."
Richard Nixon

January 1, 1970