Nixon governed in contrast with modern conservatism (founding the EPA and OSHA, enacting the first nuclear treaty with the USSR and entering into detente, reengaging China, as some examples). Were these in contrast with contemporary 'conservatism' in his time, or is this hindsight?

by td4999

or is this question based on misconceptions?

Alieneater

I am going to pick just one of these things, the EPA.

Creating the EPA actually made things easier for corporations alleged to be involved in pollution. This is because there were many court orders and precedents that created obligations on corporations that were potentially distributed amongst various government agencies.

If you were a polluter at the time, you could be dealing with the Army Corp of Engineers and the Department of Commerce and various US Attorneys offices.

The EPA created a single bureaucratic entity that businesses generally had to deal with. It didn't create a new set of barriers -- it actually made it easier to comply with a complex set of judicial rulings and federal regulations because now there was a single entity that they could interface with.

The creation of the EPA did not create any new rules to comply with. It simplified the range of agencies that businesses had to deal with, saving them money and time. Without the EPA, businesses would have the same federal laws and legal rulings to comply with, but they would be dealing with far more individual agencies in the process and incurring greater regulatory expenses.

It could be argued that the creation of the EPA was an exercise in conservatism, making it easier for businesses to comply with government regulations.