Capone Nixon Richard Nixon vs.

Capone Nixon Richard Nixon vs. Al Capone -- Two lawbreakers, one of whom was an enforcer of the law Although one man became president of the United States and the other man became one of the world's leading criminal masterminds, both Richard Nixon and Al Capone share certain striking features in their personal psychology and methods of deploying their political power. Richard Nixon was born to a relatively poor Quaker family in California. Al Capone was an Italian-American working class boy. Both began their future professions relatively early in life.

Capone was a member of boy gangs, Nixon was a brilliant law student, and was elected to congress in 1947. Both men had intense inferiority complexes, merged with a determination to better their lots in life, whatever it took ethically and morally. Nixon's sense of inferiority was famously dramatized during his "Checkers Speech" to the American public.

When he was accused of soliciting illegal campaign contributions, Nixon made a sentimental plea that he would keep the little dog, Checkers, that his children loved, and not count it as a campaign contribution, and noted that his wife, Pat wore a plain Republican cloth coat, proof that he did not seek to enrich himself through politics. Capone also reportedly took great delight in outwitting the more educated G-men, or government men, employed to trace him to his illegal activities.

Nixon and Capone were both geniuses at capitalizing on the opportunities history afforded them during their early careers. Nixon was famous as a lawyer, and later notorious in congress for redbaiting his political opponents, or accusing them of being communist sympathizers because of their leftist leanings. Capone made organized crime profitable by capitalizing on Prohibition, an amendment to the constitution that made many ordinary Americans willing to break the laws of their nation, because they regarded it as an unjust law.

Nixon was even able to capitalize, politically upon his early, rabid anti-communism in creating his positive legacy as a president. He established formal diplomatic relations with China, a feat that few other presidents could have achieved without being accused of being soft on communism. This is one of Nixon's greatest achievements as a president, which even his critics have praised him for, despite his ignominious end.

The Watergate scandal that resulted in Nixon's shortened second term began with the arrest of several men accused of breaking into the Watergate Hotel that were traced back to the White House. They were spying on Democratic camp with the intent of providing evidence to the president. Nixon's authorization of such illegal surveillance was apparently common in the White House, as Nixon kept a famous "enemies list" of all of the people whom he disliked in America, and taped most conversations that took place in the Oval Office.

Capone similarly, as 'Boss' used underlings to do his dirty work. A "typical Capone murder consisted of men renting an apartment across the street from the victim's residence and gunning him down when he stepped outside.

The operations were quick and complete and Capone always had an alibi." ("History Files: Al Capone," The Chicago Historical Society, 1999) Capone was only finally incarcerated on charges of tax evasion, not orchestrating murders, which most law enforcement officials thought merely scratched the surface of his evildoings, much as many of Nixon's critics felt that his spying activities during Watergate were only the tip of a massive iceberg of corruption and lying to the American public that is the true legacy of the Nixon administration.

Nixon's Watergate involvement pales in comparison, according to his many critics, in light of his more lasting negative legacy regarding Vietnam and his bombing of Cambodia Still, despite his infamous status as the only president to ever have resigned from office, it is important to remember that Nixon was elected in a.