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The Richard Nixon Presidency

Based on the clues, guess these facts about Richard Nixon and his presidency.
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Last updated: October 25, 2016
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First submittedJuly 10, 2013
Times taken19,290
Average score59.1%
Rating3.95
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Hint
Answer
His middle name (Hint: a Simpsons character)
Milhous
His Vice Presidents
Spiro Agnew
Gerald Ford
His wife's first name
Thelma, aka "Pat"
State of birth
California
Scandal that forced him to resign
Watergate
Most well-known Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
Name for the "thawing" of relations with the Soviet Union
Détente
Name and number of the first mission to land on the moon
Apollo 11
Country the U.S. invaded in 1970
Cambodia
War the U.S. stopped fighting in 1973
Vietnam War
Nixon's nickname
Tricky Dick
1972 election opponent
George McGovern
1968 election opponents
Hubert Humphrey
George Wallace
1960 election opponent
John F. Kennedy
His religious denomination
Quaker
Nixon's political base
The Silent Majority
Family dog and name of his famous 1952 speech
Checkers
 
 
Fill the blanks in these quotes
Only Nixon could go to China
I'm not a crook
You don't have Nixon to kick around any more
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Jul 20, 2013
I was doing very well on most of these presidential quizzes, but this one I failed on pretty badly. Funny 80% got Milhous here while only 54% got it on my Presidential Middle Names quiz. I guess at least a quarter of the population knows more about The Simpsons than they do about presidential history.
burntfrost
+3
Level 48
May 20, 2014
I did pretty badly, too, but I can see why. All of this stuff happened before I was born, yet too recently to be in any textbook in any of my classes. Not that we would have learned about it if it was; I don't remember being taught any history beyond 1865.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Mar 26, 2015
When I took Civics in 8th grade and Government in 11th grade, recent US history was discussed a lot. In US History in 10th grade I distinctly remember going over the Civil Rights movement, the space race, and even the fall of the Berlin wall and cold war which had just happened a short while before. Did you guys not make it to the end of your text book? You really didn't talk about anything more recent than the Civil War? No World War 1? World War 2? Roosevelt and trust busting? Prohibition? Vietnam? Korea? Brown v Board of Education? Women's Lib? That seems incredibly odd to me. But sometimes comments from other Americans on this site make it seem like I received a much fuller education than some. For a while Fairfax County was the rated the #1 school district in the country. We always joked about it but maybe this was actually deserved.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Mar 26, 2015
I also remember learning about Watergate and the resignation of Richard Nixon. Though I don't believe his dog's name ever came up.
mikeb
+2
Level 66
Oct 24, 2016
The dog was from a 1952 speech.
Jayjaysciz
+3
Level 55
Oct 24, 2016
I was a child of the 1980s, graduated 1994. I have no memory of learning about Nixon. I feel like we stopped at WW2. Barely that. Never mentioned Vietnam, Nixon,Ronald Reagan or anything. I had to teach myself the rest and I have.

My daughter is in 6th grade and it's really scary what they don't teach any more and she's an all A and B student. She doesnt know the States or capitols, how to write in cursive at all, and forget about history. On the other hand she can speak Spanish really well IMHO, she has great reading comprehension and her computer skills are top notch. Her school gives every student a laptop/tablet. But my point is, A lot of teaching is missing in our schools.

AchillesFirstStand
+2
Level 78
Oct 24, 2016
I think a lot of schools wait a long time to buy new history textbooks. I just graduated high school this year and my 11th grade history book stopped at 9/11.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 82
Oct 25, 2016
If you're in 11th grade and your "history" text covers things that happened in your life time (less than 17 years ago), I'd call that pretty comprehensive. I also don't see any reason to lament not knowing cursive (learned that in 3rd grade myself); states and state capitals seems more significant to me (learned those in 4th and/or 5th grade, I think).
IsleAuHaulte
+2
Level 89
Oct 28, 2019
Either you have a terrible memory or a thoroughly unique school system that teaches you nothing of the past 150 years of human existence.
camus
+2
Level 78
May 11, 2020
My history classes in Germany didn't discuss much beyond WW2 either. Some of it was covered in political/social science but all in all there was much more about 1871-1945 than about 1945-.
Freestatebear
+2
Level 85
Jun 11, 2015
Even though I was a child during his presidency, I still managed to get 20/22. Surprisingly, the ones I missed were from later in his career - I got the ones about his (unsuccessful) campaign against JFK, and the famous "Checkers" speech.
Wardo
+3
Level 86
Oct 25, 2013
100% with 3;01 left. Nixon was first president I voted for so easy to recall all the answers.
Vincey
+4
Level 33
Jun 28, 2014
I got 100!
joeythelemur
+3
Level 84
Jul 15, 2014
A Quaker, huh?
joeythelemur
+2
Level 84
Oct 24, 2016
Still missed that one, and the dog.
Moosefight
+10
Level 60
Oct 24, 2016
Contrary to the front page comment, Nixon still looks pretty awful in hindsight.
snix
+4
Level 55
Oct 24, 2016
Yes.
IsleAuHaulte
+2
Level 89
Oct 28, 2019
He got shut down for far less obstruction and blatant admission of guilt.
Jacktheguy
+9
Level 89
May 11, 2020
Still somehow not as bad as the current administration though.
TravelingMama
+4
Level 73
May 13, 2020
Or the last.
Jacktheguy
+2
Level 89
May 14, 2020
Trump might be the last.
Algernon
+3
Level 72
Oct 24, 2016
Can you change the question on first mission to land on the moon, to mention that you want the number as well. I tried Apollo and gave up when it didn't accept it. Help idiots like me out a little. Lol
Quizmaster
+3
Level ∞
Oct 25, 2016
Changed the hint
Gamer1162
+2
Level 60
Oct 24, 2016
Funny how Trump signs also have the phrase "The silent majority".
Cyclonus
+2
Level 78
Oct 24, 2016
Why is it "funny"? That phrase has been associated to some degree or another with every republican presidential candidate since Nixon.
Quizmaster
+9
Level ∞
Oct 25, 2016
I'd say it was actually true with Nixon though. The hippies got all the press, but Nixon's base of conservative support was huge. One remarkable statistic is that, in 1969, only 4% of Americans had ever used marijuana.
Quizmaster
+16
Level ∞
Oct 25, 2016
And of course Trump's silent majority is neither silent nor a majority.
IsleAuHaulte
+4
Level 89
Oct 28, 2019
Nixon had guts to support lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 even though younger people during the whole Vietnam era weren't very likely to vote conservative. You don't see Turtle even take on Constitutionally mandated challenges.
ander217
+2
Level 75
May 12, 2020
All I could think of was Moral Majority but now I remember that came a bit later - more in the Reagan era.
raneman11
+5
Level 66
Oct 24, 2016
One of my favorite presidents. Its too bad he was so paranoid he did Watergate on his way to the 4th largest electoral landslide in a 20th century presidential race.
HectorVortac
+3
Level 48
Oct 25, 2016
I think of him as a shoulda/coulda president. What he did with relations in China and the Middle East was strong.
divantilya
+6
Level 37
Nov 25, 2016
Nixon's main flaw was his crippling sense of inferiority. He never felt that he could equal the "big boys", though I believe that he surpassed many intellectually. As a youngster I liked Kennedy because my Mom did (Bobby, was too young to remember John)

but as an adult, I can appreciate Nixon's greater substance. In

many ways he was a great president. It just goes to show how destructive it can be to not vanquish the feelings of inferiority.

Needle41
+7
Level 28
Apr 3, 2017
I think that Richard Nixon was a fine President, especially when you look at the scandals of many others. I've come to believe that Nixon's only real sin was getting caught...
markthoma
+4
Level 73
May 9, 2018
I highly recommend visiting the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. Just a short drive from Los Angeles, Disneyland, etc., so if you're in that area, check it out. It can be well seen in 2-3 hours, although you can certainly spend more time.

I found its handling of all the events of Nixon's presidency to be fairly even-handed.

Regardless of one's politics, he was a fascinating man.

jmellor13
+2
Level 67
May 11, 2020
Yes, and he managed to ascend by lacking any of the charisma that seems a prerequisite to the presidency these days. The guy had a lot of serious flaws, but he got where he was by having a strong command of policy, the law, and a lot of intellectual horsepower along to go with it. It's incredible that a Republican president in the 70's forced desegregation and established the EPA. The modern Republican party seems to be actively fighting to undo those gains.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Aug 29, 2020
If Nixon were running for office today the current GOP would probably call him a socialist.
HelveticaBold
+2
Level 71
Oct 25, 2016
Oh Milhous... I tried Homer, Ned, Apu, Clancy, Duffman, and was even tempted to try Bumblebeeman. I so wish it was that instead.
jajaco2017
+2
Level 57
Apr 21, 2017
Thelma Catherina Patricia Ryan Nixon
Paulk70
+2
Level 67
Aug 2, 2018
Aced it. Yet I'm terrible on all other American topics!
FredB
+7
Level 95
Aug 26, 2018
On his middle name I tried Krusty the Clown
DietWater
+2
Level 38
May 11, 2020
should have dine what musician he tried to deport John lennon
vermiciousknid
+3
Level 88
May 11, 2020
It took me awhile to get his wife's name; I knew Cynthia Nixon wasn't right but I couldn't get it out of my head.
kinjapan
+2
Level 72
May 11, 2020
Can you give some more spelling options for detente?
PrettyTiedUp
+2
Level 68
May 12, 2020
I learned almost all my US history from The Simpsons.
biffaroo
+3
Level 62
May 12, 2020
Got them all, even though I was born in 77. We did not cover a whole lot on the 70s and 80s when I was in high school, but I did take a class solely focused on Nixon in college. Checkers is awesome -- also remember the good Republican cloth coat from that speech.
USAsoccer9876
+2
Level 68
May 12, 2020
Nothing about him directing Secretary Connally to 'temporarily' suspend the convertibility of the US dollar into gold and other reserve assets
kalbahamut
+5
Level 82
May 15, 2020
The current administration is so full of flagrant criminals that have succeeded, where Nixon failed, in obstructing and subverting justice that Nixon is starting to look rather innocent by comparison. And, predictably, the Trump cheerleaders out there include many who seem to want to take this opportunity now to be revisionist historians and try and paint Nixon, who was absolutely a crook, as somehow the victim. A sad, sad state of affairs in the USA...
AlBysmal
+1
Level 56
Jun 6, 2021
Besides Watergate and appealing to racially motivated tendencies with "law and order" tactics and messages, Nixon really was a pretty decent president. He founded the EPA, opened relations with China, ushered in detente with the Soviet Union, and finally got America out of Vietnam. While he certainly wasn't a progressive by any measure, he enacted and achieved a fair amount of more progressive, forward-thinking policies and outcomes
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