Quote:
Originally Posted by markg91359
In retrospect, the paranoid aspect of this is clear. Nixon was slated to win reelection in 1972. The economy was in good shape after experiencing a period of inflation. America had mostly withdrawn from Vietnam and in 1973 would sign the Paris Accords--at least temporarily ending that war. The huge protests and riots of the 1960's had mostly ended and many Americans saw the country as slowly returning to normal. We had signed a SALT Treaty with the USSR which made nuclear war a more remote possibility. We began communicating with communist China and developing a relationship with them. All these things were viewed positively. Nixon's best strategy would simply have been to ignore the democrats and his opponents. However, he was unable to do that.
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I am not writing to defend Nixon in any way. The problem that he had was the the economy's apparent health was deceptive; on August 15, 1971 Nixon slammed shut the gold window and devalued the dollar. In order to avoid a pre-election inflationary outburst, he imposed Phase I, and then Phase II wage and price controls. He was able to defer the inevitable shortages and other disruptions until after the election. On January 11, 1973 he materially loosened controls. Also Nixon obtained almost nothing but good feelings the rapprochement with China and Russia. And the Vietnam Peace Accords turned out to be merely delaying the inevitable conquest.
In short Nixon was aware that the era of good feelings of 1972 would quickly dissolve. Thus the necessity to ensure a victory and no upset from the Plumbers.
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