Watergate: A New History

by Garrett M. Graff

Judged on paper and résumé alone, Nixon should stand among the giants who occupied the White House through the American Century. As a young congressman, he helped fuel the Red Scare and give life to McCarthyism, turning “Communist” into a career-ending slur. From 1952 to 1972, he was on the Republican Party’s national ticket five times; when he finally ascended to the presidency, he shaped, escalated, prolonged, and eventually wound down the Vietnam War as it roiled the nation; he signed the Clean Air Act and created the Environmental Protection Agency, signed the Occupation Safety and Health Act, transformed the Post Office into a quasi-private government enterprise, hiked Social Security payments, declared war on cancer, signed Title IX to give women opportunities in academia and on athletic playing fields, transformed the military by ending the draft and creating an all-volunteer force, and helped push forward civil rights.