Nixon founded the Environmental Protection Agency
Nixon opened China
Two really stupid things
“Two really stupid things”
The stupidest thing of all was going off the gold standard.
To that snake advisor Kissinger.
They were not stupid decisions at the time, but they morphed into the Environmental Persecution Agency and dependency on what has become an enemy that wants to destroy us. He did some good, some bad. He started the lottery for the draft which I thought was fair, and he did get us out of Vietnam even though the withdrawal was a disaster. But I though Carter was a complete idiot, interest rates through the roof and a host of other dumb policies.
The opening to China was a card to play to put pressure on the Soviet Union. I don’t fault Nixon for playing it given the choices he had at the time. It was a cheaper and more effective play then continued increases in defense spending which Congress wasn’t going to do. The problem with the “card” it was blindly played for no good reason* by succeeding administration. Played even after the Tiananmen Square massacre which was the last opportunity to actually do something.
* The false notion that close trade relations prevent war. It didn’t in WWI, or any other conflict. Yet the notion prevails amongst the fevered thinking of “Foreign Policy Specialists”.