Nixon's presidency is remembered for many things: not all of them positive. He faced major protests against his methods used in Vietnam and was disgraced by the Watergate Scandal, which lead to his resignation. But Nixon's tainted legacy overshadows one of the key facts about his presidency: he was the most environmentally conscious president since Teddy Roosevelt.
Nixon was accused of using his environmental stances for show due to controversy surrounding his Vietnam policy, but he ended up signing some very concrete laws that still affect how we all live today. Arguably the most important thing he did was create the Environmental Protection Agency (or EPA) by executive order in 1970. This agency still exists today and is responsible for many environmental laws in the U.S. The first piece of legislation passed by the EPA was the Clean Air Act, which allows the EPA to set and enforce regulations about certain air pollutants that are known to be harmful to humans. This law is still "The most significant air pollution control bill in American history." This bill is credited with reducing air pollution in the United States significantly.
Nixon was also passionate about protecting the species we share the planet with. He passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which was designed to protect marine mammals from human threats. The act still allowed native hunters to hunt whales if it was done in a sustainable manner. Nixon also passed the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries act of 1972, which is more commonly known as the Ocean Dumping Act. This law prevented anyone from putting anything in the ocean that could harm human health or the environment. In 1973, he passed the Endangered Species Act which established the list of federally endangered species and gave various agencies tools to help protect these animals and the lands they live on.
One more important act was passed by Nixon near the end of his presidency. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 helps protect various freshwater sources to allow safe and clean drinking water for all communities across the nation. This act means that over 92% of the population is receiving drinking water that meets all the health-based standards set by the EPA.
Nixon's legacy may be overshadowed by Watergate, but his environmental policies are what really affect all of us now. Without these groundbreaking pieces of legislation, our world could be a very different place today. Nixon may not have been a saint, but his impacts on the environment should not be forgotten.
Sources:
https://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Richard_Nixon_Environment.htm
https://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/richard-nixon-the-environmentalist-resigned-38-years-ago-today-14776
https://www.thoughtco.com/richard-nixons-environmental-legislature-1181980
https://www.epa.gov/sdwa
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ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of the oil spill on January 28, 1969 in Santa Barbara that was mentioned in a documentary we watched a couple weeks back. It turns out that this occurred less than a year after Nixon was officially inaugurated into office. After visiting the beach in March of that year, Nixon declared to the press that we must have "more concern for preserving the beauty and the natural resources that are so important to any kind of society that we want for the future." It can be said that this visit along with Nixon's recognition of the potential political power associated with environmentalism is what set his plans to save the environment into actions. Soon after, Nixon would go on to push Congress into passing a series of pollution-fighting laws/acts as well create the EPA, as you mentioned in the beginning of your blog.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/richard-nixon-and-the-rise-of-american-environmentalism
I really liked this post because it is true that when people think of Nixon they tend to only see the Watergate scandal and the shady parts of his presidency (which are obviously important), forgetting that he did do some good during his term. Another law passed by Nixon was the Clean Water Act, which addressed pollution in bodies of water. This law was fueled in part by the fires in the Cuyahoga River that we talked about class because the image of a river on fire stuck in the public's mind. After 10 months in Congress, the bill was passed in 1972.
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I really enjoyed this post because I found it super informative and intresting. I think a lot of people glaze over most of Nixon's career due to his mass amount of scandals and I personally did not know about his major enviromental involvment before reading this post. I think it is super important for people to know that the Enviromental protection agency or EPA was created by Nixon because it is an agency that is still so imporatant today and has grealty shaped the regualtion on Americas greatest industries. I think it was super important that you talked about these more long term effects that Nixon had on the country despite his rocky career and low levels of populatiry today.
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