Richard Nixon's Personality

Richard Nixon was an excellent politician and was a very intelligent person. He graduated third in his class at Duke University and succeeded in many different areas of law and logistics. He was in the Navy during World War 2. Rising up the political fields, Nixon was very hardworking and never quit on his objectives, which he said soon before he resigned as President. Nixon was a shrewd politician, visiting China despite being anti-communist, his decisive Vietnam war strategy, and his environmental protection acts represent this. He was also a great debater and public speaker, although he lost his first Presidential running against John F. Kennedy, he later won the position and became convincing in his addresses to the people. For his religion, Nixon was a quaker, but it didn't influence any of his decisions when he was in office.

Yet what seemed like the most perfect, professional man on the outside, Nixon had some negative traits that lead to his demise. Nixon was dishonest, especially when it came to the Watergate scandal. He was also very insecure and overly formal at times, he did not have many friends and was described as socially awkward. He sometimes wore a suit and tie at his house or on vacation, and wore a tie and jacket when he was a boy, which caused some bullying. He was also insecure about his face, "this is the face I've got," he once said, "I've got to accept this". He refused to look at clips from his debate against John F. Kennedy because he thought he looked ugly.  Finally, Nixon was paranoid, he was always fearful that someone or something would take him down. He created his "enemies list", which included members of the press and political opponents. He also tapped the white house due to his mistrust of his white house members, which later turned into a piece of evidence for the watergate scandal. He was also a strong supporter of McCarthyism, which was based off of paranoia of communists in the US. Although Nixon was an exceptional politician, his insecurities and fears ultimately lead to the demise of his great political career.

Sources:
https://www.trivia-library.com/a/president-richard-m-nixon-physical-description-behavior-and-personality.htm
http://www.biography.com/video/richard-nixon-personality-27940419961