Chapter 39
The Stalemated Seventies
AP Notes
Objectives….
• Describe Nixon’s policies toward the
war in Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and
Communist China
• Examine the conflicts created by the
secret bombing of Cambodia, the
American withdrawal from Vietnam,
and the “new isolationism”
represented by the War Powers Act
The Nixon Presidency
Who was Richard M. Nixon?
• Shy and remote
• Born into poverty – always felt an
outsider
• Often seemed stiff and lacking in
humor and charm
• Few close friends – spent time with
family at estates in Cal. and Fla.
(lavishly redone at government
expense)
Nixon’s Vice President?
• Spiro T. Agnew
• Treated dissent as
treason
• Called the media
“an effete corps of
impudent snobs”
and “nattering
nabobs of
negativism”
The Democratic candidates?
• Hubert H.
Humphrey
(LBJ’s Vice
President)
• Edmund Muskie
the senator
from Maine
American Independent Party?
• George Wallace – Alabama governor
• “Segregation now! Segregation
tomorrow! Segregation forever!”
• Against school busing, antiwar
demonstrations, urban uprisings
• Running mate – Curtis LeMay proposed
nuclear weapons in Vietnam – “bomb
the North Vietnamese back to the Stone
Age”
The Election of 1968
•Wallace won 13.5 % of the vote
•5 southern states
• middle-class white northerners
tired of inner-city riots and anti-war
protests – (“White backlash”)
•Humphrey took 42.7% of the vote
•Richard Nixon won with 43.4%
Henry Kissinger
• National Security
Council Advisor
1969-1973
• U.S. could not
appear weak and
retain global
leadership
• Shaped Nixon’s
foreign policy
What was the Vietnam
legacy?
• No victory parades for Vietnam Vets
• Many faced bitterness and hostility
• Many had debilitating injuries and drug
dependencies
• 15% or 3.3 million soldiers developed post
traumatic stress disorder
• 58,000 US troops were killed
• $150 billion
• Millions of Vietnamese were killed chemicals like agent orange have polluted
the environment and caused birth defects
and cancer, 400,000 re-educated by the
communists
• The Communists forced 1.5 million people
out of Vietnam - 50,000 boat people perished
• Cambodia’s civil war in which Khmer Rouge
led by Pol Pot killed 3 million Cambodians
Nixon’s Foreign Policy
• Kissinger promoted the idea of the
“realpolitik” - political realism (Foreign
policy is based on consolidation of
power)
• US should confront and deal with the
powerful nations
(Negotiations/Militarily)
• Nixon and Kissinger had a flexible
approach in dealing with Comm.
• Pushed for “détente” or a relaxing of
Cold War tensions
“Playing the China Card”
• “Ping-pong” diplomacy began in 1971
• Take advantage of the rift between the
China and the USSR
• Feb., 1972 – Nixon visited China symbolic - opened up diplomatic and
economic relations
• Major shift in U.S. foreign policy
• Both would cooperate and participate
in scientific and cultural exchanges
Ping Pong
Diplomacy
July, 1971
- The ice
breaker
between
China & US
Nixon and Premier Zhou En-lai
Nixon’s Visit to the USSR
• In May 1972, President to visit Moscow
• Nixon met with Soviet leader Leonid
Brezhnev
• They signed the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT I) - limited
ICBM’s and sub missiles to 1972 levels
• Nixon offered to sell $ 1 billion in wheat
crop to the USSR
• Détente
“Shuttle Diplomacy”
• Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
traveled between
Middle Eastern
countries
• In January 1974 Egypt
and Israel signed a
peace accord
• In May Israel signed a
cease fire with Syria
The
Apollo 11
Launch
July 16,
1969
A
P
O
L
L
O
11 Neil Armstrong, Michael
Collins & Buzz Aldrin
Man Walks on the Moon!
Objectives…
• 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…
Nixon appealed to the “silent
majority”
• Appealed to hostility toward
protestors and counterculture
• Americans who worked, paid
taxes, and did not protest
• “People who love their country”
• Restore law and order
Nixon promised…
• To appoint federal judges who
would undercut liberal civil
rights interpretations and be
tough on crime
• To role back the Great Society
• Restore law and order
Southern Strategy?
• Democrats alienated the South – Civil
Rights Act of 1964
• Sunbelt – retirement communities and
rise of high tech industries  growing
pop.
• Military bases, defense plants, and
increasing influence of Protestant
evangelism  conservative region
Nixon’s New Conservatism
• Nixon was determined to turn the
US into a more conservative
direction with a sense of order
• The US was intensely divided over
‘Nam
• Nixon felt LBJ’s Great Society
programs gave the federal gov. too
much power
Two Sides to Nixon’s New
Federalism
• The Nixon Administration
– increased Social Security, Medicaid, and
Medicare
– made food stamps more accessible
– Subsidized housing for the poor
– Oversaw creation of Environmental Protection
Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
– Supported Family Assistance Plan
(guaranteeing minimal income for the poordefeated in the Senate)
And the other side….
• Nixon tried to eliminate the Job Corps,
and in 1970 he denied funding for
(HUD)
• By 1973 Nixon had impounded more
than $15 billion in funds for housing,
health, and education (Courts
overturned the impounding)
• Nixon abolished the Office of Economic
Opportunity
Law and Order Politics
• He played to the “silent majority”
• Nixon used the FBI and CIA to investigate
American dissidents and political enemies
• The IRS was used to audit anti-war and civil
rights activists returns
• Nixon had a “enemies list” of who to harass
• VP Agnew attacked liberals, the media, and
anti-war protestors ( Pit-bull)
What was Stagflation?
• Inflation…..
• Stagnant economy……
What factors contributed to
stagnation?
• Presence of women and teenagers in job
market….
• Declining investment in new capital
• Cost of government safety and health
regulations
• Shift – manufacturing  services
• Vietnam War…
• International economic competition….
What factors contributed to
inflation?
• Vietnam War + Great Society – inflationary
spending with no check (higher taxes) –
put money in people’s hands but fewer
goods
• Drastic increase in the price of oil
Oil problems?
• OPEC raised the price of oil in 1960s
– The Six Days War in 1967
– The 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel
and Egypt and Syria
• The US military aid to Israel  Arab OPEC
nations cut oil sales to the US (Oil Embargo)
By 1974 price increased 4x
• Major gas lines and shortages in the US
early, mid 1970s
Nixon Battles Stagflation…
• To reduce deficit - raised taxes and cut
the budget (Congress opposed)
• Tried to reduce the inflation by
pushing for higher interest rates
• Took the US off the gold standard
• In 1971 froze wages, rents, fees and
prices for 90 days-it helped temporality
but the recession continued
The Environment…
• Nixon supported the creation of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Improved the Clean Air Act of 1963
• Supported the Water Quality Improvement
Act of 1970
• In 1973 the Endangered Species Act was
passed
• Membership in the Sierra Club took off due
to new concerns over the environment
• On April 2d, 1970 the first Earth Day was
held
The 1972 Election
George
McGovern
Democrat
George McGovern
Liberal Democrat
• Anti-war…
• Reduce in defense spending
• $6,500 minimum income
• ERA Amendment & abortion
• Amnesty for draft evaders
Dirty Tricks…
Results of the 1972
Election
Elector/ % Pop Vote
Nixon:
520… 60.7%
McGovern: 17… 37.5%
1972 Election
Nixon’s “Victory Salute”
Objectives….
• Discuss the Watergate
scandals and Nixon’s
resignation….
The Imperial Presidency
• Nixon expanded the power of the
Presidency with little thought of
Constitutional Checks
• Impoundment of funds for fed.
programs
• Invading Cambodia without the
approval of Congress
• Nixon felt the office of the Presidency
was above the law
The President’s Men
• Fierce loyal
advisors
• H.R. Haldeman –
Chief of staff
• John Ehrlichman –
Chief Domestic
Advisor
• John N Mitchell –
Attorney General
• John W. Dean III –
White House
Council
Nixon’s dirty tricks…
• Nixon used the FBI to gather info
on political rivals
• Manufactured, irrelevant, cruel &
incorrect rumors
• Nixon laundered $ to accept
illegal campaign contributions
• CREEP & “The plumbers”…
Hunt and Liddy
Committee to Re-elect the
President (CRP or CREEP)
A private group
supporting RMN by
using its money to pay
for & later cover up
"dirty tricks”
The Plumbers
July, 1971
• RMN’s covert White House
group
• Established to stop info
from leaking to the media
• Employed by CREEP…
Responsible for Watergate
The Pentagon Papers
• A secret study prepared by
the D of D - Analysis &
summary of U.S. political &
military involvement in
Vietnam
• The PPs show that the gov.
deceived the public
47 Volumes
7,000 pages
Daniel Ellsberg
D of D
employee
who
releases
the PPs to
The NY
Times
The significance of the
Pentagon Papers…
• Eroded public support for
the war & made it difficult
for RMN to fight the war
• As SC case it establishes
the people’s right to
privileged gov. info
Ellsberg & dirty tricks…
• RMN orders the D of D to
prosecute
• The Plumbers break into
Ellsberg’s psychiatrist office
seeking info. that will
discredit him
• CIA is given orders to
“incapacitate“ Ellsberg
Watergate
• CREEP breaks into the DNC
(Watergate Hotel) - 5 arrested
& convicted
• RMN denies knowledge
The Cover-Up
• Documents were shredded in
Haldeman’s office
• The White House asked the CIA to urge
the FBI to stop investigating the breakin
• CREEP passed out $450,000 to the
burglars to buy their silence
• The burglary was of little interest to the
public and the press
• Washington Post Reporters
(Woodward & Bernstein)
follow evidence back to the
oval office… “Deep Throat”
–Later revealed as FBI’s Mark
Felt
W
a
t
e
r
g
a
t
e
The Cover-Up Unravels
• In Jan. 1973 McCord (burglar) sent a letter to
Judge John Sirica (Presiding Judge)
• He lied under oath, and hinted others were
involved
• On April 30th, Nixon fired John Dean and
announced the resignations of Haldeman,
Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard
Kleindiest
• Nixon went on TV to promote his new
Attorney General Elliot Richardson and
he suggested a “Special Prosecutor”
be appointed to investigate Watergate
The Senate Investigation
• Senator Sam Ervin began called
Administration officials to give
testimony
• Dean admitted the President had been
deeply involved in the cover-up (White
House denial)
• Presidential Aide Alex Butterfield
revealed the tapes of Oval Office
Conversations
• A year long battle for the tapes
began
The Saturday Night
Massacre
• The special prosecutor (Cox)
demanded the tapes… Nixon
refused claiming “executive
privilege”…
• Nixon ordered Attny. Gen.
Richardson to fire Cox
• Richardson refused and was
fired
• The Deputy Attny Gen refused
to fire Cox
• He was fired
• Solicitor General (Robert Bork)
fired Cox
• Nixon apptd. new special
prosecutor – Jaworski
So what did Jaworski do?
• He asked for the tapes
• The Supreme Court ordered
Nixon to turn the tapes over
The Fall of Nixon
• March 1974 a Grand Jury indicted
seven presidential aids on charges of
conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and
perjury
• Nixon released 1,254 pages of edited
transcripts
• In July 1974 The Supreme Court
ordered Nixon to give up the unedited
tapes “I am not a crook!”
• In Aug. Nixon released the tapes with an 18.5
min. gap (Rose Mary Woods accidentally
erased the most crucial part)
The Nixon tapes reveal…
• Anti-Semitic attitudes
• Nixon ordering government
agencies to harass private
citizens
• Nixon ordering the
Watergate break-in & coverup
What? No Vice –President?
• 10 days before the Saturday Night
Massacre
• Spiro Agnew resigned – accused
of income tax evasion and taking
bribes
• Gerald Ford appointed Vice
President under the 25th
Amendment
Impeachment or Resignation?
• The House Judiciary Committee
approved three articles of
impeachment: obstruction of justice,
abuse of power, and contempt of
Congress
• On August 8th , 1974 Nixon announced
his resignation
• Nixon admitted no guilt, some
judgments “were wrong”
• Gerald Ford was sworn in as President
• Ford gave Nixon a full Presidential
pardon
• 25 administration members served
prison terms
RMN: Resigns August 9, 1974
* The first President to resign.
Gerald Ford
The Ford and Carter Years
1974-1980
Ford’s Unusual Road to the
Presidency…
• Never elected to the VicePresidency or Presidency
• Only person to become President
and Vice-President under the 25th
Amendment
• Nelson Rockefeller became VicePresident under the 25th
Amendment
The Nixon Pardon
• Ford gave Nixon a full pardon for
Watergate
• Covered crimes Nixon committed or
may have committed as Pres.
• Ford wanted to spare the country a trial
• Some Americans were outraged
• None of Nixon’s former employees
were pardoned and nearly all served
prison terms
1973 – OPEC – Oil Embargo
• Inflation rose from 6% in ’73 to 10% in
’74
• Ford started the “WIN” campaign,
(Whip Inflation Now) It failed.
• Ford urged Americans to cut back on
use of oil and gas
• He cut government spending, interests
rates went up triggering the worst
recession in 40 years
Foreign Policy
• Ford kept Kissinger as Sec. of State
• Helsinki Accords – 1975
– Legitimized Soviet drawn borders in
E. Europe
– Agreement allowing for more open
exchanges of people and information
– Milestone
– One-sided
Vietnam…
• Wanted to continue to give money
to aid South Vietnam, Congress
refused, the South fell in 1975
–140,000 Vietnamese left
–Cost to U.S. - $118 billion
–56,000 Am. dead and 300,000
wounded
–U.S. lost respect
Feminism in the 1970s
• Movement showed vitality
• Title IX to the Education
Amendments
• ERA
• Court cases: Reed v. Reed and
Frontiero v. Richardson
• 1973 – Roe v. Wade
First Women’s March for
Equality - 1970
Anti-Feminism
• Nixon vetoed
nationwide public
day-care
• Phyllis Schlafly –
STOP ERA –
blamed for rising
divorce rate
Civil Rights….
• Courts: Milliken v. Bradley – 1974
–Desegregation could not require
across district bussing
–Reinforced “White Flight”
–Pitted poor whites and blacks
against each other
Bakke v. Board of Regents
• 1978 – Allan Bakke denied admission to
U. of Cal. – Davis Medical School
• Sued – said his scores were better than
the minorities who were accepted
• Supreme Court – preference for admission
can not be given to any group
• Racial factors may be used in overall
admissions process
• Bakke admitted – “reverse discrimination”
Native Americans
• Asserted status as separate semisovereign peoples
• Seized Alcatraz 1972 – Wounded Knee
1972
• United States v. Wheeler – 1978
– Indian tribes possessed a “unique and
limited” sovereignty
– Subject to the will of Congress – not the
states
Alcatraz
Carter in the White House
• Former peanut farmer and Gov. of
Georgia
• Promised he would never lie to the
American people
• Carter and Ford squared off over
energy, inflation, and unemployment
• Carter won by a close margin
• He talked to the American people
through FDR like “fire-side” chats by
radio and TV
•
•
•
•
•
How did the economy change in
the 1970s?
Less manufacturing jobs
More jobs in communication,
transportation, and retail
Greater overseas competition
U.S. iron and steel and clothing –
plant closings and lay-offs
OPEC raised oil prices
Carter’s Domestic Agenda
• Carter urged Americans to cut back
their consumption of oil and gas
• The National Energy Act – taxed
gas guzzling cars, removed price
controls on oil and gas produced in
the US, and gave tax credits for
development of alternative energy.
• In 1979 inflation hit 11.3%, 14%
by ’80.
• Famous “malaise speech” complained of a “crisis of
spirit” in Americans.
Carter and Draft – Evaders?
• Wanted to end divisions in the
country
• Gave full pardons to draft
evaders
• No pardons for deserters
• Few protested the pardons (put
Vietnam behind us)
Three-Mile Island?
• March 1979 – nuclear power plant at
Three Mile Island broke down  at risk
for nuclear meltdown
• Caused widespread fear
• Some Americans doubted nuclear
energy was safe
• Nuclear power plants were held to
stricter safety standards
Carter and Civil Rights?
• Appointed more women and
African Americans to his
administration than any other
previous administration
• Appointed Andrew Young as
US Ambassador to the UN
Carter’s Foreign Policy
• Based upon human rights
• Publicly criticized the Soviet Union
and South Africa
• Most countries that violated human
rights no longer received U.S.
foreign aid
• Panama Canal Treaty – gave canal
back to Panama on December 31,
1999
Camp David Pace Accords
• Carter invited Anwar Sadat (Egypt) and
Menachem Begin (Israel) to Camp
David
• 13 days – negotiation
• Two agreements
– Conditions for general peace talks
– Conditions for peace between Egypt and
Israel
– 1979 – peace treaty signed
Carter and Soviet Union?
• 1979 attempted to improve on
SALT I by negotiating SALT II –
impose additional limits on certain
nuclear weapons
• Conservative Republicans and
Democrats opposed SALT II –
died in the Senate
Carter and China?
• Formally recognized the People’s
Republic of China as the sole
legitimate government of China
• 1979 – trade and cultural contacts
increased
Afghanistan?
• Hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism
• The government backed by S. U.
• S. U. invaded to protect government
against fundamentalists
• Carter protested  suspended grain and
high-tech sales to Soviets
• Boycotted 1980 Olympic Games in
Moscow
Iranian Hostage Crisis?
• Shah of Iran a strong ally of the U.S.
• 1978 Shah was overthrown by Islamic
fundamentalists – Ayatollah Khomeini
• Carter allowed the Shah to enter the U.S.
for cancer treatment
• Nov. 4, 1979 Khomeini’s followers seized
U.S. embassy in Tehran – 52 hostages
• Hostages released 444 days later –
January 20, 1981
Miracle at Lake Placid 1980