Nixon with American Army soldiers, undated. Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the US (1969-74). He served as a representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President from 1953-61. His visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations, and he initiated d矇tente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. Domestically, his administration generally embraced policies that transferred power from Washington to the states. He initiated wars on cancer and drugs, imposed wage and price controls, enforced desegregation of Southern schools and established the EPA. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972. In 1973 he ended US involvement in Vietnam. His second term saw an Arab oil embargo, the resignation of his vice president, Spiro Agnew, and a continuing series of revelations about the Watergate scandal. The scandal cost Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9, 1974, he resigned in the face of impeachment and removal from office. He was controversially issued a pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at the age of 81.