Presidential Biographies | Nixon Administrations - Nixon and Congress

Nixon and Congress

The very close election of 1968 that brought Nixon to the White House also resulted in Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. Nixon was to preside over the Ninety-first, Ninety-second, and part of the Ninety-third Congresses between 1969 and 1974, where there were Democratic majorities. Nixon never worked well with them and so did not accomplish as much, especially in domestic policy, as he might have otherwise.

Nixon always complained that it was because he was stuck with a Democratic Congress that limited his achievements. Many analysts have countered that his efforts to move Congress in the direction he wanted it to go were ineffective. In fact, it has been said that Nixon was the least effective president in dealing with Congress since Herbert Hoover. The best example of this is the Family Assistance Program, a welfare reform of historic significance (See also, Domestic Issues). Nixon...