■Essential Question:
–Do the negative effects of the
Watergate scandal truly deserve
to overshadow the positive
foreign policy accomplishments
of Richard Nixon?
■Reading Quiz Ch 29B (1070-1087)
The Presidency of
Richard Nixon
Nixon Video
Nixon was the first candidate to appreciate the
Theimportance
Republican
new
of theResurgence
“Sunbelt”:
high-tech
industries,
Nixon
claimed
toRepublicans
represent
the “silent
majority”
■Inmilitary
1968,bases,
benefited
retirement
communities,
anti-segregationists
who
worked,
paid
taxes,
& did not protest
from
the
Vietnam
disaster
&
made the South more conservative than before
division in the Democratic party:
–Richard Nixon (R) ran as the
one candidate who could restore
order in America
–Humphrey (D) was plagued by
anti-war protesters
–George Wallace (3rd) attacked
blacks & liberals
The End of an Era
■The presidential election of 1968
ended 30 years of:
–Liberal reform—Americans
began to favor conservative
political leaders
–Activist foreign policy—Vietnam
proved that Containment failed
to be applied to global scale
■A “silent majority” seemed fed up
with protest, violence, long hair,
drug use, & sexual promiscuity
Foreign Policy
Nixon
hoped for
a relaxing
■Nixon
proved
to be
an effective
of Cold War tensions
foreign-policy president:
–Most foreign policy decisions
were made by Nixon & National
Security Advisor Henry Kissinger
■Developed a plan for détente:
–An “honorable” exit from Vietnam
–Using U.S. trade to induce
cooperation from the USSR
–Improved relations with China
These
bombings
were
conducted
without
In 1973,
Congress
passed
the
War Powers
Act
Ending
the
Vietnam
War
the consent
or approval
requiring
Congress’
approval of
to Congress
send U.S.
■Nixon’s
plan
for
an
“honorable
forces into combat for more than 90 days &
was “Vietnamization”:
mustpeace”
inform Congress
within 48 hours as to
the
reasons for
military intervention
–Gradual
withdraw
of U.S. troops
–Handing
over
the&fighting
to
Protests
at Kent
State
Jackson State
South
troops
resultedVietnamese
in bloody confrontations
between students
National
■Privately,
Nixon&hoped
forGuard
a
“knockout blow” & ordered U.S.
troops into Cambodia & Laos
■The effect was the largest series
of protests in American history
Kent
Ohio student
protests
Kent State,
State student
protest,
1970
Ending the Vietnam War
■In January 1973, the U.S. & North
Vietnam agreed to a cease fire
–By March 1973, U.S. troops
were withdrawn
–By 1975, the South Vietnamese
capital of Saigon fell & Vietnam
became unified under the
Communist government
–Vietnam proved Containment
could not be sustained
In
Search
of
Détente
“Ping-pong diplomacy”
■In Feb 1972, Nixon became 1st
U.S. president to visit & recognize
the People’s Republic of China:
–These improved Sino-American
relations helped eased Cold War
tensions & forced the USSR to
consider diplomacy with the U.S.
–Presented the U.S. with its 1st
economic access to China
But…the SALT
treatyof
didDétente
not target the
In Search
construction of Multiple Independently
■Nixon
Moscow
to meet
Targetedtraveled
Reentryto
Vehicles
(MIRVs)
with Soviet leader Brezhnev:
–The U.S. agreed to sell the
USSR $1 billion worth of grain
–USSR agreed to Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks (SALT), the 1st
Cold War nuclear arms treaty
■Kissinger negotiated an end to the
Yom Kippur War in 1973 between
Israel & Egypt
Nixon’s Covert Operations
■Despite Nixon’s public détente
with the USSR & China, most
foreign policy was covert:
–CIA funded the leaders of brutal
gov’ts in Iran, South Africa, the
Philippines, & Nicaragua
–CIA assassinated Chilean
president Salvador Allende
Nixon’s Domestic Policy
■Nixon
entered
office
asjustice
a
Replaced
retiring
chief
moderate
whowith
kept
LBJ’s
Great
Earl Warren
Warren
Burger
Society
in placeHarry Blackmun,
Nominated
LewisNixon
Powell,
& William
Rehnquist
–But,
shifted
responsibility
for social problems to state &
local governments
–Nixon reshaped the Supreme
Court along conservative lines
when 4 justices retired
Nixon’s Domestic Policy
■Nixon oversaw the creation of:
–Environmental Protection Agency
–Occupational Safety & Health
Administration (OSHA)
–A failed plan to replace welfare
benefits with a minimum income
–Quotas for minority construction
firms for gov’t projects
–Ended the gold standard in 1971
Nixonomics
■The economy
was a“Nixonomics”
challenge:
Democrats coined
to
describe
Nixon’s
failed
plan
–Nixon inherited inflation & deficit
spending
from the Vietnam War
This “Great
Nixon Turnaround”
ended
the
recession
–Nixon’s decrease in government
spending & increase in interest
rates led to the 1st American
recession since 1958
■In 1971, Nixon responded with a
90-day freeze on wages & prices
& imposed a 10% tax on imports
The 1972 election
a shift in
The saw
Election
ofvoting
1972patterns:
Only blacks, Jews, & the poor voted
■In 1972, Nixon
ran for
re-election
overwhelmingly
Democratic
while
the GOP
continued
its dominance
–Democrat
Georgein the Sunbelt
McGovern was
labeled an “outsider”
who supported “acid,
abortion, & amnesty”
–Nixon won in the 4th largest
margin of victory in history
■But…the Watergate scandal
ended the Nixon presidency
■Essential Question:
–Do the negative effects of the
Watergate scandal truly deserve
to overshadow the positive
foreign policy accomplishments
of Richard Nixon?
■Warm-Up Question:
–What was the Watergate
scandal about? How did it
change American society?
Watergate:
A Crisis of Democracy
The Watergate Scandal
■In 1972, a break-in at Democratic
candidate George McGovern’s
headquarters revealed a wellfunded plan of espionage &
sabotage by the Committee to
Re-Elect the President (CREEP)
■The Watergate cover-up led to
Nixon’s resignation & a changed
American perception of the gov’t
& the role of the media
The Watergate Scandal
Visit the following link for an
overview of the
Watergate scandal
Washington Post Overview
The Watergate Complex
Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein of the
Washington Post broke the Watergate story
Their investigation revealed…
The Burglars
Formation of the “Plumbers”
“All the President's Men”
Daniel Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers
Nixon’s Enemies List
■Jane Fonda
■Paul Newman
■Edward Kennedy
■Joe Namath
■Daniel Schorr
■Bill Cosby
■Several 100 more U.S. citizens
The Watergate Scandal
■The Watergate scandal began to
unravel in 1973:
–The discovery that Nixon
Duerecorded
largely to Washington
Post
reporters
conversations
proved
Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein
most damning
ObstructionCourt
of justice
–The Supreme
ordered
Nixon
to turn Contempt
over all tapes
to a
Abuse
of power
of Congress
Senate investigative committee
–The House brought 3 articles of
impeachment against president
Stonewalling
Teddy Roosevelt
began the trend
of a stronger
The Watergate
Scandal
president
than
Congress;
a
trend
that
continued
■Impact
of
the
Watergate
scandal:
th
throughout the 20 century until Nixon
–26 members of Nixon’s
After Nixon, Congress enacted campaign
administration
were
sent
to
jail
finance reform, made it easier for the Justice
Dept–The
to investigate
the Executive
Branch,as
press began
to be seen
took back
some control over
of the the
federal
budget,
a “watchdog”
gov’t
passed the Freedom of Information Act, &
–An
independent
reigned
in CIA covertjudiciary
operationsbranch
was vital to protect individual
freedom & national interests
–Power shifted from the
president to Congress
Conclusions:
Politics After Watergate
■The Watergate scandal eroded
public trust in their own gov’t
■The growing tension between
president & Congress prevented
strong, effective leadership from
meeting foreign & domestic
problems in the 1970s
■The discontent of the 1960s &
1970s revealed an America at war
with itself
Ranking Presidential Scandals
■Examine & rank order presidential
scandals in American history:
–Ulysses Grant Crédit Mobilier &
Whiskey Ring
–Warren Harding Teapot Dome
–Richard Nixon Watergate
–Ronald Reagan Iran-Contra
Affair
–Bill Clinton Whitewater & Monica
Lewinski Affair