Editing History of the United States (section)

==== Nixon administration ====
{{Main|Presidency of Richard Nixon}}
[[File:Aldrin Apollo 11 original.jpg|thumb|[[Buzz Aldrin]] (shown) and [[Neil Armstrong]] became the first humans to walk on the [[Moon]] during [[NASA]]'s [[Apollo 11]] mission in July 1969.]]
President [[Richard Nixon]] (1969&ndash;1974) largely continued the New Deal and Great Society programs he inherited.<ref name=":2" />{{Sfn|John Greene}} Nixon created the [[Environmental Protection Agency]],<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Rothman |first=Lily |date=March 22, 2017 |title=Here's Why the Environmental Protection Agency Was Created |url=https://time.com/4696104/environmental-protection-agency-1970-history/ |access-date=2024-06-02 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|opened relations]] with China, and [[Vietnamization|attempted to gradually turn the Vietnam War effort over to]] the [[South Vietnam]]ese. He negotiated the [[Paris Peace Accords|peace treaty in 1973]] which secured the release of POWs and led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The war had cost the lives of 58,000 American troops. Nixon manipulated the fierce distrust between the Soviet Union and China to the advantage of the U.S., achieving ''[[détente]]'' with both parties.{{Sfn|John Greene}} He was also president during the U.S.' [[Apollo 11|landing on the Moon]] in 1969.

The [[Watergate scandal]], involving Nixon's cover-up of his operatives' break-in into the [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters, destroyed his political base and forced his resignation on August 9, 1974.{{Sfn|John Greene}} He was succeeded by Vice President [[Gerald Ford]].{{Sfn|John Greene}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pardoning Nixon |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/pardoning-nixon |access-date=2024-06-02 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}}</ref>