Episode 67 : RICHARD NIXON The Man Who Saved the Union (Part 13) The Christmas Present to the Nation; Bretton Woods, Drugs, Wars, Spies and the National Cancer Act of 1971

Send us a Text Message.

In our Season 4 finale we look at several of the initiatives that Richard Nixon began at the end of 1971 that we are still benefitting from or are impacted by today. 

In 1971 Richard Nixon changed the monetary system for the United States ending the Breton Woods system and taking the United States off the Gold Standard. It was a dramatic economic move that is still debated. It certainly unleashed the amount of money flowing into the economy but it has led to ever increasing amounts of debt that is now at a crisis level in this country. 

In 1971, Richard Nixon also went to war to stop the abuse of drugs in America. The War on Drugs has largely been seen as a failure and often those who don't know the history of that war blame President Nixon because he gave it a name and made it a priority. But Nixon's "War on Drugs" was a dramatic success, he caused the burglary rate to plummet, and the drug addicted were getting the help they needed because Nixon focused on the demand side of the problem and helping those addicted with treatment programs, and in the case of heroin,  an experimental methadone program, that produced real positive results. It was later Presidents who changed everything focusing almost totally on the supply side of the problem. Richard Nixon did both, and it was a success, at least until Watergate forced him from the national scene. 

We also examine the Moorer - Radford Affair when Richard Nixon became the victim of a spying operation from the Military high brass. If you ever wanted insight as to why Richard Nixon felt that his administration was under siege and that he could not trust the bureaucracy around him, here is an example of why. That many of the Administration's best laid plans seemed often  to end up on the front pages of the national newspapers. This story will give you insight as to why and why it became such an obsession for the President, an obsession that played a large role in how the Presidency would be wrested away from Richard Nixon in 1974. 

Finally, we will look back on what President Nixon considered his greatest achievement as President. It was the thing he was most proud to have begun. In December of 1971, in what Richard Nixon called his "Christmas Present to the nation", he signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law. The results of the act may have fallen short of finding the cure for Cancer as Nixon had hoped by 1976, but it has truly changed the world in ways we can all be thankful for. In 1971, a Cancer diagnosis was almost certainly a death sentence. Today enormous strides have been made in genetic research and  treatments. Today cancer is often treatable, curable, or beatable. The survival rate is far better across the board than it was in 1971 and it is time that Richard Nixon gets the credit he deserves for this monumental achievement. 

The Richard Nixon Presidency had weathered some great and mighty storms by December 1971. The nation had up to this point suffered from moments of violent upheaval that stretched back to the 1960's, and we still had a war that was dragging on and on. But by this time in his Administration, Richard Nixon had laid the groundwork for one of the most dramatic, and historically successful periods in all of American History.  While most Americans may not have realized it yet, Richard Nixon was about to enter a season of absolute triumph for himself politically but also for a beleaguered, divided and tired land. 1972 would be the year Richard Nixon would lay the foundation for over a q

Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcasts
Thanks for listening!!