Mr. WellsMr. WellsHickory Ridge HSHickory Ridge HS

Richard M. NixonRichard M. Nixon

• New Federalism• Southern Strategy• Stagflation• OPEC• Foreign Policy• Watergate

New FederalismNew Federalism• Reduce government

responsibilities from Great Society

• Expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

• Took away money from health, housing, and education programs

Southern StrategySouthern Strategy• Attract southerners

unhappy about desegregation

• Tried to slow down desegregating schools

Swann v. Charlotte Meck. Board of Ed.

• Appointed 4 justices to Supreme Court with conservative agenda

StagflationStagflation• Stagflation = high inflation & high unemployment

too much govt. spending on Great Society & Vietnam War

• Nixon froze business prices and wages for 90 days

OPECOPEC• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries• Made up of Middle East countries• Refused to ship oil to U.S.• Why? U.S. supports Israel in the Yom Kippur War against

Egypt and Syria• After war, oil was 4 times higher than what it was

Foreign PolicyForeign Policy• Realpolitik

foreign policy decision based on a country’s power not morals came from Henry Kissinger (Sec. of State)

• Détente negotiating with communists• Nixon visits China to ease

tensions• SALT I Treaty with Soviets limits ICBM’s Nixon first president to visit

Moscow

Video Clip: Frost NixonVideo Clip: Frost Nixon

WatergateWatergate• Nixon insecure & secretive

confided only to a select group of people (inner circle: H.R. Haldeman-John Ehrlichman-John Mitchell-John Dean) tape recorded his conversations in the Oval Office

• June 17, 1972: 5 men caught breaking into Democratic HQ at the Watergate Hotel

• White House began to cover-up link to President by shredding documents

WatergateWatergate• Woodward and Bernstein were two

reporters from Washington Post that uncovered evidence linking burglary to White House

• VP Spiro Agnew resigned because a grand jury indicted him for accepting bribes while being governor of Maryland

• Gerald Ford becomes new VP• Saturday Night Massacre

Nixon orders Attorney General to fire Archibald Cox (special investigator)

WatergateWatergate• 1974: Nixon releases edited tapes

of conversations in Oval Office. • US v. Nixon: Supreme Court orders

him to give up the unedited tapes • Nixon came on TV saying “I am not

a crook”• July 27: House of Representatives

impeach Nixon• August 8th: Nixon resigns but

admitted no guilt• American people view image of

presidency destroyed

Nixon FarewellNixon Farewell

Gerald R. FordGerald R. Ford• Ending Watergate• Troubled Economy• Hostile Congress• Cold War Tensions• Southeast Asia• Assassination Attempts

Gerald R. Ford - 1933Gerald R. Ford - 1933

University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan

Ending WatergateEnding Watergate• Ford only Vice-President and

President never elected• September 8, 1974: Ford issues

Proclamation 4311 giving Nixon a full and unconditional pardon

• Believed pardon was in the best interest of the nation

• Critics said a “corrupt bargain” had been struck

• At the same time, he announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers

The Economy & Hostile The Economy & Hostile CongressCongress

• WIN= Whip Inflation Now• Asked Americans to reduce their

spending and consumption of gas• OPEC raised the cost of gas• He tried to cut government spending• Triggered worst economic recession

in 40 years• Battled Democratic Congress

- vetoed 50+ pieces of legislation

Cold War TensionsCold War Tensions• Continues negotiations with

Soviet Union and China• 1975: Helsinki Accords 35 nations promised

cooperation between Eastern and Western Europe

Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia• April 29, 1975: Fall of Saigon

1,373 U.S. citizens evacuated 5,595 Vietnamese evacuated• Communist Cambodia seized U.S. ship

Ford responds w/ massive show of military force

• Panmunjon: village in middle of DMZ (Koreas) North Korea attacks and kills two U.S. officers who were trimming a tree in joint occupation area

Ford sends in B-52 bomber and North Korea backs down and offers an apology

Saigon & PanmunjomSaigon & Panmunjom

Assassination AttemptsAssassination Attempts• September 5th, 1975 (Sacramento)

Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme follower of Charles Manson she pulled a Colt 45 handgun and pulled the

trigger but Secret Service Agent grabs gun… no round in firing chamber

sentenced to life in prison but paroled August 14, 2009

• September 22, 1975 (San Francisco) Sara Jane Moore

38 caliber revolver former Marine, Oliver Sipple grabbed gun

and deflected shot sentenced to life in prison but paroled

December 31, 2007

James Earl CarterJames Earl Carter• Election of 1976 Ford vs. Jimmy Carter Carter: former governor of GA Outsider to D.C. politics• Carter promised not to tell a lie to

American people• Carter wins• Alienated Congress because he refused

to play “insider” deal making both parties worked together to block his policies

Energy CrisisEnergy Crisis• Most important issue

- Carter believed U.S. relied too much on foreign oil- 100 proposals on energy conservation- National Energy Act (1978): tax on gas guzzling cars and tax credit for alternative energy

Human Rights & Cold War Human Rights & Cold War TensionTension

• Cut off relations with countries who imprisoned and tortured citizens

Argentina and Brazil put on that list• Relations with Soviet Union sour because

Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and Carter refuses to sign SALT II to limit nuclear arms

U.S. boycotts 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow

U.S. secretly arm Afghan rebels to fight Soviets (Osama Bin Ladin)

Boycotting Olympic Boycotting Olympic GamesGames

Panama CanalPanama Canal• U.S. owned Panama Canal since 1914

Theodore Roosevelt’s greatest foreign policy achievement (Big Stick Diplomacy)

• Panamanians resented U.S. occupation• 1977 : U.S. agreed to turn over canal on December 31, 1999• Result: Improved relations with U.S. and Latin America

Camp David AccordsCamp David Accords

• Carter invites Prime Ministers of Egypt and Israel to Camp David Anwar Sadat (Egypt)

Menachem Begin (Israel)• Signed a Peace Agreement Israel agreed to withdraw from Sinai Peninsula which it got after 6

Day War in 1967 Egypt recognizes Israel’s right to exist

Iran Hostage CrisisIran Hostage Crisis

• Jan. 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini led rebels to overthrow corrupt Shah of Iran U.S. supported the Shah

• U.S. let Shah into U.S. for cancer treatment• Nov. 4, 1979

Armed students take over U.S. embassy in Tehran… hold 52Americans for 444 days

Demanded U.S. send Shah back to Iran Carter refused