What is a tragic hero? When we hear this phrase most of us think about Shakespeare, and the characters he illustrated in his plays, but are tragic heroes only in fictional plays or are there some actual tragic heroes in history? Well, how can you classify a tragic hero? They must have the following characteristics: must be of high social rank, must have a tragic flaw- an error in judgement or a character defect, must suffer complete ruin or death, and must face his/her downfall with courage and dignity. In this case, I want to bring up a modern tragic hero that has all these characteristics. His name is Richard Nixon.
Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda,California. He was the second of five sons. Nixon struggled early in his life to make a living. While serving the U. S Navy during World War 2 he won large amounts of money playing poker. He later used that money to start his first political campaign. In 1946 Richard Nixon launched his political career. He gained a position as a congressman. Nixon served on the House Un-American Activities Committee. Nixon was elected again to congress two years later. Two more years later Nixon won a seat in the U. S. Senate.
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States of America. Richard Nixon won his high political rank because people thought he was a very ambitious man in a positive way. Nixon launched a campaign for governor after his loss to John F. Kennedy for president. He lost this campaign as well, many believed his career was over after his loss for the spot of Governor. Six Years after losing the governorship to his home state Richard Nixon made a memorable comeback and claimed his party’s presidential nomination. He won the election. Richard Nixon had a strong political background throughout his whole life and career. Richard Nixon although suffered as a tragic hero would.
Richard Nixon had one of the biggest political scandals in American history. Richard Nixon is a modern tragic hero because he was of high social rank as president of the United States, he suffered complete ruin because of the famous Watergate scandal, and he faced his downfall by courage and dignity. Furthermore, The first reason why Richard Nixon is a perfect example of a modern tragic hero is because he was of high social rank as the 37th president of the United States. Richard Nixon had a high social rank because of his outstanding political background. As president of the United States Nixon had the highest social rank in America.
When Richard Nixon had a hard time sleeping during the 1968 campaign. “(Cavna). This quotation shows that Richard Nixon ran a campaign for president in 1968. Nixon eventually got elected as president and achieved his high social rank. Nixon also had a high social rank as vice president before he became the president of the United States. ” Richard NIxon in 1968 ran as a former vice president and beat Hubert Humphrey”(Gerstel). Basically, before Richard Nixon became the 37th president of the United States he became a vice president. Nixon also had a high social rank before he became a vice president. ” Richard Nixon was a ongressman”(Hammond).
The quote shows that Richard Nixon had many high social ranks before he became president of the United States. He was a politician which allowed him to have this high social rank. Nixon became a congressman before he became vice president. Overall, Richard Nixon had a high social rank throughout his life and career. Moving right along, another reason why Richard Nixon is an excellent example of a modern tragic hero is he because he suffered great ruin because of the infamous Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred during Nixon’s presidency. It was a break-in at the
Democratic National Committee headquarters, and President Richard Nixon’s administration attempted to cover-up of its involvement. Richard Nixon suffered great ruin in his life just like a tragic hero. Nixon was forced to resign because of the Watergate scandal. Nixon lost all the respect that he had and his career as a result of the scandal. ” The one resignation, of course, was Richard Nixon in 1974 because of Watergate. That’s about one-fifth, or 20 percent, of our presidents. “(McNally). This quotation is explaining what Nixon had lost. This quote states that Nixon lost his presidency and his high social rank because f the scandal.
Losing his presidency and his was his complete ruin. “And Republicans didn’t feel compelled to defend Watergate: they drove Richard Nixon out of office. “(Martin). The quotation is stating Nixon was a republican and that after the Watergate scandal his fellow republicans did not support him. ” In America, there was Richard Nixon, who lied over Watergate (pretending the White House had not been Involved in the burglary of the headquarters of the Democratic Convention) and was finally forced to resign. ” (Glover). This quotation is basically explaining, due to his actions while being president, Nixon was forced to resign.
Nixon tried to cover up the scandal and lied about the whole thing. To conclude, Nixon suffered a complete ruin just as a tragic hero. Nixon lost his presidency as well as the support of his republicans. Nixon suffered a great downfall. In addition, the final reason why Richard Nixon is an Excellent example of a modern tragic hero is because he faced his downfall by courage and dignity. A few years after Richard Nixon resigned because of the Watergate Scandal he apologized in a live interview. Four years after Nixon’s resignation, he agreed to a series of interviews with David Frost, a british journalist.
The first series of interviews started in May of 1977. Nixon states in this interview “… I just can’t stand seeing someone else cry .. I must say I sort of cracked-up … pushed my chair back… I blurted out, and I said: “I’m sorry. I just hope I haven’t let you down. “(Nixon) This quote shows how Nixon feels and that he doesn’t try to lie about the igh social rank scandal, but yet takes full responsibility for it. “I had. I let down my friends. I let down the country. I let down our system of government, the dreams of all those young people that ought to get into government but will think it’s all too corrupt and the rest. (Nixon).
In this quote Nixon apologizes for his mistakes and states that he let people down. This shows Nixon is not afraid to take responsibility for his actions. ” Yup, I let the American people down, and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life. My political life is over. I will never again have an opportunity to serve in any official position. Maybe I can give a little advice from time to time. ” In this quote Nixon shows courage and dignity by admitting to his career being over and that he let the american people down. This shows Nixon has complete courage and that he accepts the fact that he had essed up with dignity.
To conclude, Nixon faces his downfall with courage and dignity. In conclusion, Richard Nixon is a modern tragic hero because he was of high social rank as president of the United States, he suffered complete ruin because of the famous Watergate scandal, and he faced his downfall by courage and dignity. Basically, Richard Nixon was a man of high social rank that faced complete ruin, and faced his downfall with courage and dignity. Richard Nixon’s life was the american dream until he started the Watergate scandal, Nixon was respected and honored, bust as a result of his actions he lost that too.