 While overseeing an initial <unk> of American involvement in the Vietnam War , he subsequently ended U.S. involvement in 1973 , and eliminated the draft . <unk> , his administration generally embraced policies that transferred power from Washington to the states . Among other things , he initiated wars on cancer and drugs , imposed wage and price controls , enforced <unk> of Southern schools and established the Environmental Protection Agency . Though he presided over Apollo 11 and the subsequent lunar landings , he later scaled back manned space exploration . In 1972 , he was reelected by a landslide , the largest to that date . The Watergate scandal , which would consume the larger part of his second term , resulted in his ultimate resignation on August 4 , 1974 . 
