For most people, Nixon's legacy is just the Watergate Scandal, which is his involvement in the break-in at the Watergate Hotel to steal Democratic National Committee information and guarantee Nixon a 2nd term. Because of this, he is currently the only U.S. president to resign from the position.

There was also a large counter-culture movement at the time, many people know it as the Hippy Movement. This caused many members of the movement to dislike the Republican president (though he was far from conservative). There was also the Kent State shooting, where a protest at Kent State University in Ohio got out of hand and lead to Ohio National Guard shooting into the crowd, killing 4 students and injuring 9 more in May of 1970.

These events overshadow much of the other parts of his presidency. Nixon's administration saw the eventual end of the Vietnam War after slowly pulling out troops, the signing of Roe v. Wade (Legalized Abortion), Opening up trade with China, Successful diplomatic talks with the Soviet Union, The Nixon Doctrine (The United States will honor its standing defense commitments, but in the future, other countries will need to fight their own wars without counting on the support of U.S. forces.), and taking certain powers from the federal government and giving them to local and state offices.

This is just a very brief summary of some of the key points of Nixon's administration. It's not a simple time in U.S. history, and from many people's passing knowledge of history, the things that come to mind with Nixon are the Watergate Scandal, the Vietnam War, and the Hippy Movement, which makes many people see him as corrupt or a liar, overlooking the other aspects of his presidency.