Richard Nixon

==== Civil rights ====
The Nixon presidency witnessed the first large-scale [[racial integration|integration]] of public schools in the South.{{sfn|Boger|p=6}} Nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist Wallace and liberal Democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some Southern whites.{{sfn|Sabia}} Hopeful of doing well in the South in 1972, he sought to dispose of desegregation as a political issue before then. Soon after his inauguration, he appointed Vice President Agnew to lead a task force, which worked with local leaders—both white and black—to determine how to [[School integration in the United States|integrate]] local schools. Agnew had little interest in the work, and most of it was done by Labor Secretary [[George Shultz]]. Federal aid was available, and a meeting with President Nixon was a possible reward for compliant committees. By September 1970, less than ten percent of black children were attending segregated schools. By 1971, however, tensions over desegregation surfaced in Northern cities, with angry protests over the [[Desegregation busing in the United States|busing]] of children to schools outside their neighborhood to achieve racial balance. Nixon opposed busing personally but enforced court orders requiring its use.{{sfn|Parmet|pp=595–597, 603}}

Some scholars, such as James Morton Turner and John Isenberg, believe that Nixon, who had advocated for civil rights in his 1960 campaign, slowed down [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]] as president, appealing to the racial conservatism of Southern whites, who were angered by the [[civil rights movement]]. This, he hoped, would boost his election chances in 1972.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979970|title=The Republican Reversal—James Morton Turner, Andrew C. Isenberg {{!}} Harvard University Press|via=www.hup.harvard.edu|date=November 12, 2018 |page=36|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674979970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108151027/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979970|archive-date=January 8, 2019|url-status=live|access-date=July 31, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo8212972.html|title=The Partisan Sort|series=Chicago Studies in American Politics |pages=24|publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=July 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731184243/https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo8212972.html|archive-date=July 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition to desegregating public schools, Nixon implemented the [[Philadelphia Plan]] in 1970—the first significant federal [[affirmative action]] program.{{sfn|Delaney|1970-07-20}} He also endorsed the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] after it passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and went to the states for ratification.{{sfn|Frum|p=246}} He also pushed for African American civil rights and economic equity through a concept known as black capitalism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Harambee City: Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland and the Rise of Black Power Populism.|last=Frazier|first=Nishani|publisher=University of Arkansas Press|year=2017|isbn=978-1-68226-018-0|pages=184–207}}</ref> Nixon had campaigned as an ERA supporter in 1968, though feminists criticized him for doing little to help the ERA or their cause after his election. Nevertheless, he appointed more women to administration positions than Lyndon Johnson had.{{sfn|PBS, Nixon, Domestic Politics}}