Nixon was elected President in the 1968 US presidential election, defeating Hubert Humphrey. He ended the intervention in the Vietnam War in 1973 and brought the prisoners of war to American soil, in addition to ending compulsory military service.
Nixon's visit to China in 1972 established diplomatic relations between the two nations. He also initiated the Detente between the United States and the Soviet Union, promoting the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In socio-economic policy, Nixon imposed controls on salaries and prices for a period of ninety days, imposed the desegregation of southern schools, and created the Environmental Protection Agency. Nixon presided over the landing of Apollo 11, which marked the end of the space race. The electoral triumph of Nixon in 1972 has been one of the most overwhelming in the history of the United States, defeating to George McGovern.
However, the year 1973 brought the Oil Crisis, the rationing of gasoline, and continued public revelations about the Watergate scandal. This last event in particular caused Nixon to lose much of his political support. Nixon resigned as President on August 9, 1974 before an inevitable process of impeachment inevitable.