Nixon Today
Long before first black president, Nixon forged strong civil rights legacy
With President Obama now in the final year of his presidency, the discussions on the editorial pages and talk shows about his legacy will predictably increase in frequency. Some of that discussion, especially during this Black History Month, will understandably...
The Nixon Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan
“Without adequate health care, no one can make full use of his or her talents and opportunities. It is thus just as important that economic, racial and social barriers not stand in the way of good health care as it is to eliminate those barriers to a good...
Nixon Devotes Nationwide Effort to Finding Cancer Cure
In 1971, President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, designed to implement a series of reforms that would provide more funding and research opportunities in an effort to find methods of diagnosis and treatment, as well as a cure to the menacing disease. The...
Nixon’s “Report of Study and Surveys of the Hazards to Human Health…”
As a follow-up to the first annual report of the Council on Environmental Quality transmitted in 1970, President Nixon released a report titled, “President’s Report of Study and Surveys of the Hazards to Human Health and Safety from Common Environmental Pollution” in...
King Coal Smashes Atomic Future
A May 6, 1971 memorandum from Domestic council staff member Will Kriegsman to Council of Economic Advisors Chair Paul McCracken, describes a meeting between the coal industry and representatives of President Nixon's administration about the crash program for the...
A Matter of Simple Justice
On October 1, 1969, President Nixon established the President’s Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities to study the status of women in American life and to recommend what could be done on the governmental level to improve their lives and advance...
Enter Barbara Hackman Franklin
In a memorandum to the heads of the executive departments and agencies dated April 21, 1971, President Richard Nixon announced a program to recruit top women for mid- and high-level positions in the federal government. The president wrote, “it has been my desire to...
Diplomacy Under Smoggy Skies
“Tokyo Threatened by Killing Pollution” was the headline that greeted newspaper readers on December 9th, 1970. The article, a piece by Michael Hornsby written originally for the Times in London, detailed Japan's environmental struggles. It began by covering Tokyo's...
Changing Gender Roles and the Equal Rights Amendments
Historically speaking, women have been consigned to the confines of the private, domestic sphere; tradition dictates that women are the homemaker, the caregiver, and the mother. However, how has this tradition been reconciled with the trend of women moving into the...
The Origins of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 is one of the most important pieces of environmental policy passed in the 20th century. Often referred to as the Magna Carta of Environmental Policy, it laid out a uniform national approach to environmental issues. Its...