Nixon had maverick / surprising actions re the economy? (war, unemployment, presidents)

[robertpasa]

Didn't Pres. Nixon do things that would be considered left wing or even far left, even though he was a total conservative Republican? One example was that he tried to freeze wages and prices. That could almost be called Marxism, and in fact caused the birth of the Libertarian Party.

I think before Reagan was president, presidents weren't considered "liberal" or "conservative" all the time. Nixon or LBJ just did what they wanted and didn't care which "aisle" it would be in.

There was even a joke in Star Trek VI when Kirk is sent to make peace with the Klingons. Spock says, "Only Nixon can go to China." Which was accurate since no one mistrusted the Klingons more than Kirk.

This trivia list talks about Nixon's achievements including the EPA which, again, today would be called "liberal":

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...7MM6j-in2Q_lfA

Nixon was a president who "took big bites."

[jobseeker2013]

There was a consensus back then on what the government can and can't do. People smartly wanted more government in their lives.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by robertpasa

There was even a joke in Star Trek VI when Kirk is sent to make peace with the Klingons. Spock says, "Only Nixon can go to China." Which was accurate since no one mistrusted the Klingons more than Kirk.

The reason that "only Nixon could go to China" was that if any Democrat had tried it then Nixon would have been at the head of an army of Republicans screaming about selling out to the Reds and tarring that Democrat as a commie sympathizer and so forth.

[jobseeker2013]

Nixon did more to end the Cold War than Reagan. Nixon was a better President as well if it were not for Watergate.

[Dd714]

Yeah forget about the star trek quote - that's just a creative script writing point. All administrations were equally anti-communist up to that point.

The Wage and Price controls is really the only relevant topic here. It's not a sexy issue because it doesn't deal with war or forgein politics. But---WOW. Yeah it took everyone by surprise at that point.
It was imposed to curb inflation, then at 6% or so, and it worked....but only temporarily. It resulted in pretty much what economists thought would theoretically happen - artificial shortages, increased unemployment, etc., three years later we had double digit inflation and a worse problem than before! End result - FAIL.
A negative lesson regarding government intervention in the economy that we still have yet to learn.

[Canyon Cat]

"The Bretton Woods system ended on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended trading of gold at the fixed price of $35/ounce. At that point for the first time in history, formal links between the major world currencies and real commodities were severed". The gold standard has not been used in any major economy since that time."

What Was The Gold Standard?

I would say this one of the worst legacies of Nixon's presidency.