Editing Richard Nixon (section)

==== Governmental initiatives and organization ====
[[File:State of the Union Speech in the US Capitol - NARA - 194346 Retouched.jpg|thumb|upright|Nixon gives the 1971 [[State of the Union Address]]]]
[[File:Richard Nixon - Presidential portrait.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Official Nixon portrait by [[James Anthony Wills]], {{circa|1984}}]]
[[File:US incarceration rate timeline.gif|thumb|upright|Graph of increases in [[Incarceration in the United States|U.S. incarceration rate]]]]
Nixon advocated a "[[New Federalism]]", which would devolve power to state and local elected officials, though Congress was hostile to these ideas and enacted few of them.{{sfn|Aitken|p=395}} He eliminated the Cabinet-level [[United States Post Office Department]], which in 1971 became the government-run [[United States Postal Service]].{{sfn|USPS, Periodicals postage}}

Nixon was a late supporter of the [[conservation movement]]. Environmental policy had not been a significant issue in the 1968 election, and the candidates were rarely asked for their views on the subject. Nixon broke new ground by discussing environmental policy in his [[State of the Union speech]] in 1970. He saw that the first [[Earth Day]] in April 1970 presaged a wave of voter interest on the subject, and sought to use that to his benefit; in June he announced the formation of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA).{{sfn|Aitken|pp=397–398}} He relied on his domestic advisor [[John Ehrlichman]], who favored protection of natural resources, to keep him "out of trouble on environmental issues."<ref name="Distillations"/> Other initiatives supported by Nixon included the [[Clean Air Act of 1970]] and the [[Occupational Safety and Health Administration]] (OSHA), and the [[National Environmental Policy Act]] required [[environmental impact statement]]s for many Federal projects.<ref name="Distillations">{{cite magazine|last1=Rinde|first1=Meir|title=Richard Nixon and the Rise of American Environmentalism|magazine=Distillations|date=2017|volume=3|issue=1|pages=16–29|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/richard-nixon-and-the-rise-of-american-environmentalism|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405024821/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/richard-nixon-and-the-rise-of-american-environmentalism|archive-date=April 5, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Aitken|pp=397–398}} Nixon vetoed the [[Clean Water Act]] of 1972—objecting not to the policy goals of the legislation but to the amount of money to be spent on them, which he deemed excessive. After Congress overrode his veto, Nixon [[impoundment of appropriated funds|impounded]] the funds he deemed unjustifiable.{{sfn|Aitken|p=396}}

In 1971, Nixon proposed health insurance reform—a private health insurance employer mandate,{{Efn|name=voluntary|Voluntary for employees}} federalization of [[Medicaid]] for poor families with dependent minor children,{{sfn|NHI: CQ Almanac 1971}} and support for [[health maintenance organization]]s (HMOs).{{sfn|HMO: CQ Almanac 1973}} A limited HMO bill was enacted in 1973.{{sfn|HMO: CQ Almanac 1973}} In 1974, Nixon proposed more comprehensive health insurance reform—a private health insurance employer mandate{{Efn|name=voluntary}} and replacement of Medicaid by state-run health insurance plans available to all, with income-based premiums and [[cost sharing]].{{sfn|NHI: CQ Almanac 1974}}

Nixon was concerned about the prevalence of domestic drug use in addition to drug use among American soldiers in Vietnam. He called for a [[war on drugs]] and pledged to cut off sources of supply abroad. He also increased funds for education and for rehabilitation facilities.{{sfn|Ambrose|1989|p=418}}

As one policy initiative, Nixon called for more money for [[sickle-cell disease|sickle-cell]] research, treatment, and education in February 1971{{sfn|Office of the Federal Register|pp=179–182}} and signed the National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act on May 16, 1972.{{sfn|The American Presidency Project}}{{sfn|National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute|p=2}}{{Efn|See especially page 2 (after introductory material) in which a bar graph displays NHLBI funding for sickle cell research from FY 1972 through FY 2001, totaling $923 million for these thirty years, starting at $10 million for 1972, then about $15 million a year through 1976, about $20 million for 1977, etc.}} While Nixon called for increased spending on such high-profile items as sickle-cell disease and for a [[war on cancer]], at the same time he sought to reduce overall spending at the [[National Institutes of Health]].{{sfn|Wailoo|pp=165, 170}}