AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
The Stalemated Seventies: 1968 - 1980
Chapter 39 Themes:
Theme: As the war in Vietnam finally came to a disastrous conclusion, the United States struggled to create
a more stable international climate. Détente with the two communist powers temporarily reduced Cold War
tensions, but trouble in the Middle East threatened America’s energy supplies and economic stability.
Theme: Weakened by political difficulties of their own and others making, the administrations of the 1970s
had trouble coping with Americas growing economic problems. The public also had trouble facing up to a
sharp sense of limits and a general disillusionment with society. With the notable exception of the highly
successful feminist movement, the social reform efforts of the 1960s fractured and stalled, as the country
settled into a frustrating and politically divisive stalemate.
After studying Chapter 39 in your textbook, you should be able to:
1. Describe Nixon’s policies toward the war in Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and Communist China.
2. Analyze Nixon’s domestic policies, his appeal to the “silent majority,” his opposition to the “Warren Court,”
his “southern strategy,” and his landslide victory against George McGovern in 1972.
3. Examine the conflicts created by the secret bombing of Cambodia, the American withdrawal from
Vietnam, the communist victory there, and the “new isolationism” represented by the War Powers Act.
4. Discuss the Watergate scandals and Nixon’s resignation.
5. Explain the related economic, energy, and Middle East crisis of the 1970’s and indicate how Nixon, Ford,
and Carter attempted to deal with them.
6. Analyze the successes and failures of the détente with Moscow and the opening to Beijing pursued by the
American administrations of the 1970’s.
7. Describe the rise of the new feminist movement, and the gains and setbacks for women.
8. Describe the racial tensions of the 1970s, and the gains and setbacks for African-Americans. .
9. Discuss the Iranian crisis and its disastrous political consequences for President Carter.
Know the following people and terms. Consider the historical significance of each term or person.
Also note the dates of the event if that is pertinent.
A. People
+Richard Nixon
Spiro Agnew
Daniel Ellsberg
Henry Kissinger
Warren Burger
George McGovern
Sam Irvin
John Dean
+Rachel Carson
Gerald Ford
Phyllis Schlafley
Jimmy Carter
+Thurgood Marshall
Shah of Iran – Mohammed Reza Pahlevi
Ayatollah Khomeini
Leonid Brezhnev
Neil Armstrong
+=One of the 100 Most Influential Americans of All Time, as ranked by The Atlantic. Go to Webpage to see all 100.
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
B. Terms:
moratorium
Marxism
“boat people”
détente
impoundment
revenue sharing
executive privilege
Vietnamization
Nixon Doctrine
My Lai massacre
Cambodian incursion
Kent State
Twenty-sixth Amendment
Philadelphia Plan
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA)
Clean Air Act
Pentagon Papers
ABM treaty
southern strategy
“silent majority”
Watergate scandal
CREEP
enemies list
Saturday Night Massacre
War Powers Act
Title IX
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
Regents of University of California v. Bakke (Bakke case)
Miranda v. Arizona
Roe v. Wade
Alcatraz / Wounded Knee
SALT II Treaty
energy crisis
Helsinki accords
OPEC
Camp David Accord (Agreement)
Iranian hostage crisis
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
Three Mile Island (the Titanic of nuclear power)
Olympic boycott
C. Sample Essay: Using what you have previously learned and what you learned by reading
Chapter 39 you should be able to answer an essay such as this one:
How and why did Richard Nixon fall from the political heights of 1972 to his forced resignation in 1974?
What were the political consequences of Watergate?
D. Voices from the past:
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Neil Armstrong, July 20, 1969, stepping onto the Sea of Tranquility, Moon
In the fall of 1968, as I stopped at a traffic light on my walk to class across the campus of the University of
Denver, a man stepped up to me and said, “Hi.”
Without waiting for a reply to his greeting, he pointed to the hook sticking out of my sleeve. “Get that in
Vietnam?”
I said, “Yeah, up near Tam Ky in I Corps.”
“Serves you right,” he said.
As the man walked away, I stood rooted, too confused with hurt, shame, and anger to react.
Ten years have passed. The hurt, shame, and anger still flood over me with the memory. But of one thing
I am certain – none of the men I knew who served in Vietnam deserved to die or to be maimed, either
physically or mentally.
Former Lieutenant Frederick Downs in the preface of his 1978 book, The Killing Zone.
"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned
everything I've got."
President Richard Nixon, November 17, 1973, in an hour-long televised question-and-answer session with
400 Associated Press managing editors, maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case and promising to
supply more details on his personal finances and more evidence from tapes and presidential documents.
"Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of
nationhood."
President Jimmy Carter, December 1978
Timeline of Watergate Events – Road to Resignation
(“Watergate" is a general term used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974.
The word specifically refers to the Watergate Hotel and office complex in Washington D.C.)
Preliminary Events:
November 1968: Richard Milhous Nixon, the 55-year-old former vice president who lost the
presidency for the Republicans in 1960 (defeated by John F. Kennedy), reclaims it by defeating
Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and third party choice George Wallace in one of the closest
elections in U.S. history.
January 21, 1969: Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th president of the United States.
June 13, 1971: The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers -- the Defense
Department's secret history of the Vietnam War. The papers, whose compilation had been ordered
by Robert S. McNamara when he was Defense Secretary, demonstrated that the Johnson
Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about the war in
Vietnam. The U.S. Government sought and won a court order restraining further publication after
three articles had appeared. The Washington Post began publishing the papers later in the week.
They, too, were restrained. In an already politically charged environment, the Pentagon Papers
added fuel to the debate over America's military involvement in Vietnam. .
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
June 26, 1971: the Supreme Court agrees to take both cases, merging them into New York Times
Co. v. U.S. The question before the Court involves prior restraint: can the government block
publication of a controversial story before the public even sees it? On June 30th, the Court said
“No”. In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that the injunctions were unconstitutional prior restraints and
that the government had not met the heavy burden of proof required for prior restraint. Publishers
can be held responsible for the material after it is printed, but the government can not block its
publication. The justices wrote nine separate opinions, disagreeing on significant substantive issues.
September 9, 1971: The White House "plumbers" unit - named for their orders to plug leaks in the
administration - burglarizes a psychiatrist's office to find files on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defense
analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers.
1972
June 17: Five men are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National
Committee (DNC) at the Watergate hotel and office complex. There is evidence they are employed
by the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). Two former white house aides working for
CREEP, G. Gordon Liddy and
E. Howard Hunt, are also arrested. The seven men are indicted on September 15. Even though
their relationship to the election committee is established, none of the seven men connects the
committee or the White House to the break-in.
June 19: A GOP security aide is among the Watergate burglars, The Washington Post reports.
Former attorney general John Mitchell, head of the Nixon reelection campaign, denies any link to
the operation.
August 1: A $25,000 cashier's check, apparently earmarked for the Nixon campaign, is found in the
bank account of a Watergate burglar, The Washington Post reports.
September 29: John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled a secret Republican
fund used to finance widespread intelligence-gathering operations against the Democrats, The Post
reports.
October 10: FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from a massive campaign of
political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort, The Post reports.
October: A Gallup Poll shows that less than half of the American people have even heard of the
Watergate break-in.
November 7: Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking
more than 60.8 percent of the popular vote and 520 of the 537 electoral votes, crushing the
Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.
1973
January 30: Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of
conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Five other men plead guilty, but
mysteries remain.
February 7: Amid swirling rumors of widespread wrongdoing, corrupt financing and political dirty
tricks committed by the Nixon reelection committee, the Senate establishes a Select Committee on
Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin.
March 23: Former CIA agent James W. McCord, one of the seven men convicted in the break-in,
admits to Judge John Sirica that he and other defendants have been under pressure to remain silent
about the case. McCord reveals that others were involved in the break-in, and he eventually names
John Mitchell, the former Attorney General of the United States who is now chairman of the
Committee to Re-elect the President.
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
April 17: An official statement from the White House claims Nixon had no prior knowledge of the
break-in.
April 20: L. Patrick Gray, acting director of the FBI, resigns after admitting he destroyed evidence
connected to Watergate, on the advice of Nixon aides in the White House.
April 30: President Nixon appears on national television and announces the dismissal of
presidential counsel John Dean and the resignations of chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman and domestic
affairs assistant John Ehrlichman, describing them as two of his "closest advisers". The AttorneyGeneral, Richard Kleindienst, also resigns and is replaced by Elliot Richardson. Nixon denies any
knowledge of a cover-up or White House involvement in the Watergate break-in.
May 11: Charges against Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony J. Russo are dropped for their theft and
release of the Pentagon Papers. The judge makes the decision following the revelation that
Watergate conspirators E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy had burglarized the office of
Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in an attempt to steal Ellsberg’s medical records.
May 18: The Senate Watergate committee begins nationally televised hearings. Attorney Generaldesignate Elliot Richardson appoints former solicitor general Archibald Cox as the Justice
Department's Special Prosecutor for Watergate. He is sworn in on May 25.
June 25: Testifying in front of Sam Ervin’s Senate committee, John Dean accuses President Nixon
of involvement in the Watergate cover-up and says the President authorized payment of “hush
money” top the seven men arrested in the break-in. On national television, Dean recalls a
conversation in which he warned the President "there was a cancer growing on the presidency, and
if the cancer was not removed, the President himself would be killed by it."
July 7: Nixon tells the Senate Committee that he will not testify before it and will not grant access to
Presidential documents, claiming “executive privilege.”
July 15: White House aide Alexander Butterfield tells the Ervin committee that since 1971,
President Nixon has secretly recorded all Oval Office conversations and telephone calls. This
startling revelation provides the committee with a means to substantiate testimony implicating the
President in the cover-up of the Watergate burglary. It also sets off a constitutional crisis over the
President’s right to keep the tapes secret under the umbrella of executive privilege.
July 18: President Nixon reportedly orders the White House taping system disconnected.
July 23: The Senate Committee and Archibald Cox demand that Nixon hand over a range of White
House tapes and documents.
July 25: Nixon refuses to surrender any documents or tapes.
July 26: The Watergate Committee subpoenas several White House tapes.
August 9: The Senate Committee takes legal action against Nixon for failure to comply with the
subpoena.
August 15: Nixon delivers a second Address to the Nation on Watergate. Nixon claims “executive
privilege" for the tapes and argued that he should not have to hand them over. Archibald Cox and
the Senate Watergate committee request the Supreme Court instruct Nixon to surrender the tapes.
August 29: Judge Sirica orders Nixon to hand over 9 tapes for Sirica to review in private.
October 10: In an unrelated development that further damages White House credibility, Vice
President Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading nolo contendere (no contest) to tax evasion charges
dating from his days as governor of Maryland. He is sentenced to three years of unsupervised
probation and a $10,000 fine.
October 12: Under the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, President Nixon nominates
House Minority Leader Gerald Ford to succeed Agnew. Ford is sworn in on December 6, after
receiving Senate approval 92-3 and House approval 387-35.
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
October 19: Nixon offers a compromise to the Senate Watergate Committee, proposing that the
Democratic Senator from Mississippi, John Stennis, be permitted to listen to the tapes and prepare
summaries for Cox.
October 20: Cox rejects the Stennis compromise. In a series of events that became known as the
Saturday Night Massacre, President Nixon orders Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire
Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson and his assistant, William D.
Ruckelshaus, refuse to follow this order and both resign. Solicitor General Robert Bork, third in
Justice Department chain of command, fires Cox. The resignations and firing of Cox raise a storm
of protest in Congress, and the House actively begins to consider impeachment charges.
October 23: The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Peter Rodino, announces
an investigation into impeachment charges against the President. Under immense pressure, Nixon
agrees to comply with the subpoena and releases some of the tapes. Investigators later learn that
two of the requested tapes are missing.
November 1: Leon Jaworski is named as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor, replacing the fired
Cox.
November 9: Six of the Watergate defendants are sentenced for their roles in the break-in.
E. Howard Hunt receives a sentence of 2 ½ to 8 years. The others are given lesser sentences.
G. Gordon Liddy is sentenced to 20 years, in part because of his refusal to cooperate with
investigators.
November 17: Nixon declares, "I'm not a crook," maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case.
November 21: Investigators learn that one of the tapes contains a mysterious 18 ½ minute gap.
The White House claims that Nixon’s secretary, Rosemary Woods, accidentally erased part of the
tape while transcribing it.
1974
January: TIME Magazine names Watergate Judge John Sirica as Man of the Year.
January 4: Claiming executive privilege, President Nixon refuses to surrender 500 tapes and
documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
February 6: The House of Representatives votes to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to
investigate whether grounds exist for the impeachment of President Nixon.
March 1: Seven former White House staff members, including Haldeman, Ehrlichman and former
Attorney General John Mitchell, are indicted for conspiring to obstruct the investigation of the
Watergate break-in. President Nixon is named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
April 16: Special Prosecutor Jaworski issues a subpoena for 64 White House tapes.
April 29: In another nationally televised address, President Nixon refuses the subpoena and offers
a 1,200 page edited transcript of the tapes instead.
April 30: Both the committee and Jaworski reject the transcripts offer. As the public reads the
released transcripts, there is public shock at the general tone of the conversations and the foul
language used by Nixon and others. The expression "expletive deleted" enters the vocabulary.
May 9: Impeachment hearings begin before the House Judiciary Committee.
July 24: The Supreme Court, by a unanimous vote of 8-0 (William Rehnquist abstaining) upholds
the Special Prosecutor's subpoena, ordering Nixon to make the tapes available for the Watergate
trials of his former subordinates. The case is known as United States v. Nixon. Eight hours later, the
White House announces it will comply with the order.
July 27: The House Judiciary Committee adopts the first Article of Impeachment by a vote of 27-11,
with 7 Republicans voting with the Democrats. The Article charges Nixon with obstruction of the
investigation of the Watergate break-in.
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
July 29: The House Judiciary Committee adopts the second Article of Impeachment that charges
Nixon with misuse of power and violation of his oath of office.
July 30: The House Judiciary Committee adopts the third Article of Impeachment, charging Nixon
with failure to comply with the House subpoenas.
August 5: Nixon releases transcripts of three conversations he had with Haldeman 6 days after the
Watergate break-in. The June 23 tape becomes known as The Smoking Gun because it reveals
that Nixon ordered the FBI to abandon its investigation of the break-in. Nixon releases three more
tapes that prove he ordered a cover-up of the Watergate burglary on June 23rd 1972, six days after
the break-in. The tapes show that he knew of the involvement of White House officials and the
Campaign for the Re-election of the President, as well as revealing that Nixon ordered the FBI to
abandon its investigation of the break-in. The eleven Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who
voted against impeachment say they will change their votes. It is clear that Nixon will be impeached
and convicted in the Senate.
August 7: Three senior Republican congressmen meet with Nixon, advising him that his chances of
avoiding impeachment by the House and removal from office by the Senate are "gloomy". Around
the country, calls mount for Nixon's resignation, and speculation builds about Nixon's intentions.
August 8: In a televised address to the nation at 9 pm, Nixon announces that he will resign the
next day.
August 9: In the morning, Nixon delivers a farewell address to
the White House. As he flies out of Washington, Richard Milhous
Nixon resigns as the 37th President of the United States, the first
President ever to do so. His resignation letter is submitted to the
Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, at 11.35 am and around
noon, Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th president.
The new President spoke at 12:05 p.m. in the East Room of the
White House following administration of the oath of office by
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The oath of office and the
President's remarks were broadcast live on radio and television.
In his remarks, President Ford says:
“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”
.
August 10: Mrs. Masty gets married in Michigan; Mr. Jordan gets married in Pennsylvania.
August 21: President Ford nominates the former Republican Governor of New York, Nelson
Rockefeller, as vice-president. They become the nation's first unelected presidential duo.
September 8: In a surprise Sunday morning announcement, Ford grants a "full, free and absolute"
pardon to Nixon for "all offenses against the United States" committed between January 20, 1969
and August 9, 1974.
Aftermath
January 1, 1975: Four of the former White House staffers charged with obstruction of Justice are
found guilty. They are H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and White House attorney
Robert Mardian. A fifth, Nixon assistant Kenneth Parkinson, is acquitted. The Watergate chargers
against Charles Colson are dropped after he pleads guilty to crimes connected with the Ellsbergpsychiatrist break-in. A seventh defendant, Gordon Strachan, is tried separately.
November 1976: In the presidential election, Jimmy Carter narrowly defeats President Ford.
Besides the economic problems facing the country, Carter’s victory is widely attributed to the postWatergate atmosphere of cynicism and a very specific rejection of Ford for his pardon of Nixon.
AP United States History - Terms and People – Unit 13, Chapter 39 (13th Ed.)
HONOR PLEDGE: I strive to uphold the vision of the North Penn School District, which is to inspire each student to reach his or her highest potential
and become a responsible citizen. Therefore, on my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
E. Interpreting Political Cartoons
Awash In His Office
1. What is the title? ________________________________________________________
2. What is happening?
3. To whom? _____________________________________________________________
4. Where? _______________________________________________________________
5. What is this known as? ___________________________________________________
6. Critical or Supportive? ____________________________________________________