NIXON ADMINISTRATION
DOMESTIC POLICY
Believed Federal Government was too
large
 Increased Social Security payments
 Evironmental issues
 Against school busing
 Took stand against drug crime
 New Federalism: Local govts could
regulate spending

Domestic Policies
Sought to put conservative judges on court
 Pushed forward Affirmative Action

Commitment to Environment
 All
federal programs condensed into
E.P.A.
 Clean Air Act
 Water
Quality Improvement Act (oil
spills)
 OSHA- safe employment
 26th
amendment- lowered voting age
 Apollo 10- moon Landing- Armstrong
Gains in Feminist Movement

Betty Friedan- Feminine Mystique

Society conned women into thinking their only
roles were traditional
ERA amendment
 NOW-1966

ERA Amendment
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Passed senate and sent to the states
Stop ERA Movement
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Roe v. Wade

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Time running out to ratify
Eventually died out
Ruled state-anti-abortion laws were unconstitutional
Abortion rose to 900,000
300,000 illegal abortions
Congress deflects issue by stopping federal funds
Arab Oil Embargo- 1973
OPEC = Oil Producing Exporting Countries
 Arab states place oil embargo on anyone
who supports Israel
 Created US oil shortage

Foreign Policy (other than
Vietnam)
Détente: relaxation of tensions between
West/ East
 Disarmament measures
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SALT Treaty: strategic arms limitation treaty
Main events in the presidential
election of 1972

Nixon was concerned about winning the
1972 presidential election and was not
above using illegal actions to help ensure
his re-election.

During his first term, Nixon advisors
created a group that came to be known as
the “Plumbers.”
 Their
job was to respond to “leaks” of
secret information
Watergate
 In
1971 the Plumbers tried to
damage the reputation of Daniel
Ellsberg—the man who had
leaked the Pentagon Papers—by
breaking into Ellsberg’s
psychiatrist’s office and looking
for information on Ellsberg.
Watergate
 In
early 1972 the Plumbers
decided to break into the offices
of the Democratic National
Committee at the Watergate
hotel to collect information
about the Democratic strategy
for the 1972 election.
WATERGATE Burglars
June 17 1972
 Bernard
L. Barker - Former
Central Intelligence Agency
operative. Barker was said to have
been involved in the Bay of Pigs
incident in 1962.
 Virgilio R. Gonzales - a locksmith
from Cuba
WATERGATE
Watergate
On June 17, 1972, police arrested five
men who had broken into the offices of the
Democratic National Committee.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the
Washington Post refused to let the story
die and continued to investigate the breakin.
Watergate Becomes Public


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Two Washington Post reporters, Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein, begin to
follow the story, despite having difficulty
getting information.
The reporters are assisted by an
anonymous FBI official known as
“Deepthroat.”
Deepthroat did not disclose, but
confirmed information that White House
aides controlled the actions of the
Plumbers, the burglars that had broken
into the DNC. They were revealed to be
the White House’s fix-it group.
Despite mounting evidence, Nixon will
continue to claim his innocence.
Watergate

The Post reported that the break-in was part
of a widespread spying effort by the Nixon
campaign, but this did not seem to affect
voters.

On election day Nixon won one of the most
overwhelming victories in U.S. history.
The Watergate Scandal
Nixon
continued to deny his involvement in
the break-in or a cover-up.
Public
confidence in Nixon was very low.
The
White House revealed that an 18-minute
portion of the tape had been erased.
There
Nixon
were calls for impeachment.
released some transcripts of the tapes
in the spring of 1974.
The Saturday Night Massacre

Nixon argued that executive privilege gave him the right to
withhold the tapes.

Investigators rejected Nixon’s claim of executive privilege and
Special Prosecutor Cox and the Senate Watergate committee
issued subpoenas demanding the tapes.

In response, Nixon executed the so-called Saturday night
massacre.

Nixon directed attorney general Elliot Richardson to fire
Cox. He refused and quit.

Nixon then ordered Richardson’s assistant to fire Cox. He
refused and resigned.

Finally, the third-ranking official in the Justice Department
fired Cox.

The president’s actions shocked the public.
Nixon Resigns

The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon must hand
over the tapes.

At the same time, the House Judiciary Committee
voted to recommend impeachment.

On August 8, 1974, Nixon resigned the
presidency.

He must have known that the tapes would reveal
clear evidence of his wrongdoings.
President Nixon Resigns

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The White House tapes reveal that
Nixon ordered the cover-up of the
Watergate break-ins.
Before he is impeached, President
Nixon will become the first and only
President to resign his position.
Americans will continue to down the
road of mistrust, not only of the
President, but the entire government
body.
Nixon will later reveal that he felt
that as President, he was allowed to
do anything as President.
Trial- John Sirca

7 men on trial
5 pled guilty, 2 convicted by jury
 Claimed they were pressured into guilty plee

White House aides: Haldeman and
Erlichman resigned
 Nixon denied any personal knowledge

More Drama
V.P. Agnew resigns- income tax evasion
 Gerald Ford takes position
 Nixon tries compromise on tapes

Removal of Nixon
16 impeachment resolutions
 Nixon refused to hand over tapes


Released 1,200 pages of edited transcripts
Judge Sirica releases report naming Nixon
as Conspirator in Watergate Cover-up
 3 tapes released publicly (smoking gun)
 Announces resignation -1974

POST NIXON YEARS
GERALD FORDWILLIAM CLINTON
GERAL FORD
BACKGROUND
TOOK V.P. WHEN SPIRO AGNEW
RESIGNED
 BECOMES 1ST PRES. NOT ELECTED AS
V.P. OR PRES.
 PARDONS NIXON FOR WATERGATE
 LIMITED AMNESTY FOR VIETNAM
DODGERS

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2 years public services
WIN Program- emergency surcharge on
corporate profits
What’s going on now?
Democrats have control of Congress
 Most governorships are Democrat
 Patty Hearst kidnapping
 Hank Aaron breaks homerun record
 Frank Robinson becomes first Black
manager
 Hyde Amendment- cut off funding for
abortions

FOREIGN POLICY

Cambodia
Mayaguez seized by Cambodians
 Military operation ( 15 deaths)

George Bush became CIA director
 OPEC oil prices increase

Energy crisis
 Trying to prevent future shortages
 Intensified debate over nuclear energy


Brown’s Ferry, Alabama
James Carter
th
39
President
ELECTION OF 1976
D= CARTER (MONDALE)
 R= FORD (DOLE )

1st debate between V.P. candidates
 Nuclear physicist
 Gov. of GA
 Cold, could not inspire
 Wants to cut spending

DOMESTIC ISSUES

EXPANSION OF FEDERAL
BUREAUCRACY
Dept. of Energy
 Dept. of Education

Congressional loans to bail out Chrysler
 National Women’s Conference

Houston, asking for ERA amendment
 38 needed

Military Actions
 77-
Neutron Bomb developed
 Reimposed draft registration
 Min. wage increased from $2.30- $3.35
 Bakke v. U of CA- racial quotas
 Shift to the Right in Am. Culture
 Moral
Majority- Jerry Falwell
 Conservative Christians
OTHER EVENTS…

THREE MILE ISLAND

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PENN., 1979
PANAMA CANAL TREATY
CAMP DAVID PEACE
CONFERENCE
 Carter
meets with
Egyptian Pres. Anwar-El
Sadat
 Israeli Prime Minister
Menachim Begin

PROBLEMS IN IRAN

SHAH OF IRANLEFT IRAN
 U.S. SUPPORTED

IRAN REVOLUTIONARIES SEIZE THE U.S.
EMBASSY
 TAKE 90 HOSTAGES (65 AMERICANS)

HELD FOR 444 DAYS
 HURTS CARTERS REPUTATION

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS SEVERED
 DESERT ONE –military rescue, aborted
 Released on next inauguration day

Ronald Reagan-40th
President
Blamed falling prestige of US on Carter
 “Discomfort context” (unemployment and
inflation)
 Reagan promises: Voodoo Economics

Tax reductions to businesses
 Balanced budget
 Supply side economics
 Cut income taxes
 Boost defense budget

Reagan
Opposes legalized abortions
 Stalls ERA
 Democrats make Reagan’s age a factor-69
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Reagan-Democrats
New Federalism
Census and elderly, 25%
 Those who retired rose 50%

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Shift of population to the
South=conservatism
REAGANOMICS
 ECONOMIC
RECOVERY TAX
ACT
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Designed to boost economy
Unemployment rose
High interest rate
1.Congress cuts $ from domestic programs
2. 1 million food stamp recipients cut
3. trickle down profits
4. largest tax cut in history- $750 billion
David Stockman- budget director
Increased military spending-$1.7 trillion
REAGAN
HIGEST EMPLOYMENT AND
INFLATION
 SANDRA DAY O’ CONNER
 SALLY RIDE
 ABORTION AMENDMENT FAILS
 Professional Air Traffic Controllers
Organization (PATCO)
 AIDS
1ST OBSERVED IN us IN 1981


Surgeon General- Everet Koop
MORE REAGAN

Assassination attempt
JOHN HINCKLEY
 Shot Jim Brady also

School Prayer amendment fails
 Sends forces into Lebanon, Nicaragua
 Invasion of Grenada
 A New American Emancipation

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Too much liberalism
Challenger explodes-86
Economic Issues
 Gramm-Rudman
Bill- called for a
balanced budget
 Debt
 Tax
grew $954 billion in 5 years
Reform Act-1986
 Lowered
personal income taxes
 Alan Greenspan- Federal Reserve
Board
 Stock
Market Crash –87
REAGAN SCANDALS
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Rita Lavelle and the EPA- perjury
Administrators of CIA and Dept. of Defenese
Iran- Contra affair ruined his image

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Libyian Airstrike
Latin America

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North and Poindexter
Manuel Noriega-drug trafficking
Troops sent in
Persian Gulf hostilities
Reagan Policies Continued

Election of 1988
R=Bush
 D=Dukakis

Solid South votes Republican
 Bush Administration

Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill
 Tougher Clean Air Act-1990
 Americans with Disabilities Act


Bush Congress agreement- raise taxes
MILITARY
INTERVENTIONS

IRAQ INVADES KUWAIT

BUSH SENDS FORCES
German Reunification- wall torn down
 Election of 1992

R= Bush, Quayle
 D=Clinton, Gore
 I= Perot

WILLIAM CLINTON

DOMESTIC ISSUES

HILLARY HEADS HEALTH CARE
PROGRAM
PROPOSAL TO LIFT BAN ON
HOMOSEXUALS IN MILITARY
 LIFTS RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTIONS
 RUTH BADER GINSBURG
