Richard Nixon

Nixon signed Reorganization Plan No. 3, creating the EPA to consolidate federal environmental programs. The agency was tasked with enforcing pollution control laws. This marked a major expansion of federal environmental regulation.

Nixon imposed a 90-day freeze on wages and prices to combat inflation, followed by Phase II controls. This was the first time such controls were used in peacetime. The policy temporarily slowed inflation but led to shortages and was eventually phased out.

Nixon visited China and met with Chairman Mao Zedong, ending 25 years of hostility between the U.S. and China. The Shanghai Communiqu

Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT I agreement, limiting the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. This was a key step in d

Facing imminent impeachment for his role in the Watergate cover-up, Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign. The scandal involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and subsequent obstruction of justice. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford.