Politics and Economics
The Nixon Administration
Created by: Mr. Chansen, Stephen T.
Department Head - Sunset High School
Dallas Independent School District
Appealing to Middle America
 By the Presidential election of 1968,
many people in the U.S. were
extremely frustrated.
 Many people turned to Republican
Richard M. Nixon
 He courted the vote of what he called
“Middle American” and the “Silent
Majority”
 Also promised to end the war in Vietnam
and bring “peace with Honour”
 Said he would bring the country back to
more traditional values
 His opponents
 Hubert Humphrey (Democrat)
 George Wallace (American Independent)
Nixon’s “Southern Strategy”
A Major Shift in American Political Parties
 Nixon went after the votes in the South. These had traditionally been Democratic
states going all the way back before the Civil War.
 He met with Southern senators like Strom Thurmond & promised to appoint a Southern
VP (Spiro Agnew – Gov. of Maryland), he would oppose the courts on things like busing
in the South, and he would only appoint conservatives to Federal courts, including a
Southerner to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 Strategy worked – White Southerners abandoned the Democratic Party and began a
steady switch over to the Republicans.
 Democrats were only victorious in one Southern state, Texas.
 4 Southern states went to Wallace though. He was a segregationist.
 After his victory, Nixon attracted more Southerners to him and the Republican Party
by slowing desegregation & even worked to overturn some Civil Rights policies.
A “Law-and-Order” President
 Another campaign promise of Nixon’s, had been
to uphold law and order.
 Went after anti-war protesters
 Attorney General Mitchell prosecuted those who
crossed state lines and started riots
 “We’re going to enforce the law against draft
evaders, against radical students, against
deserters, against civil disorders, against organized
crime, and against street crime.”
 Also opposed Supreme Court rulings that
expanded rights for accused criminals
 When Chief Justice Earl Warren retired, Nixon
replaced him with Conservative judge Warren
Burger.
 During his presidency, he also appointed another 3
conservative judges to the Supreme Court,
including 1 Southerner.
 These new Justices did not reverse older ruling,
but they refused to expand on them.
 Stone v. Powell (1976) – limited the right to appeal
state convictions to a Federal court.
 Reaffirmed capital punishment
 Another Nixon Campaign promise had been
to reduce the size of the Federal
Government.
 Policy of “New Federalism” – End several
government programs and give more control
and power back to the states. This was
supposed to be more effective.
 Congress passed new “revenue-sharing” laws
that would make state agencies more
dependent on Federal funding.
 Revenue-sharing – federal tax money that is
distributed among the states.
New Federalism 
Nixon set out to end or reduce in size
many of Johnson’s “Great Society”
programs.
 He vetoed funding for the Department of
Housing & Urban Development
 Eliminated the Office of Economic
Opportunity
 When Congress would approve funds for a
program he opposed, Nixon would
“impound” that money and refuse to release
it.
 Impound – to take possession of
 By 1973, Nixon had impounded about $18
Billion, the Supreme Court then said it was
Unconstitutional.
Family Assistance Plan
 One piece of social legislation
that Nixon actually pushed for
was his reform of the welfare
system.
 Program was called Aid to
Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC)
 1969 – Nixon tries to replace
AFDC with the Family Assistance
Plan
 Would provide needy families
with a $1600/year grant
 Liberals were thrilled &
supported the plan
 Conservatives were against
guaranteed income
 Passed the House of Reps. In
1970, but was defeated in the
Senate.
Nixon’s
Foreign Policy
 Despite his involvement in social
issues, it was said that Nixon had a
“monumental disinterest in domestic
policies,” and that he wanted a
“competent cabinet” to run the
country for him so he could focus on
foreign policy.
 Nixon choose former Harvard
professor Henry Kissinger as his
personal advisor for foreign policy.
 Kissinger had served under both
Kennedy and Johnson
 Nixon and Kissinger shared many
views
 Both thought that simply abandoning
the war in Vietnam would hurt the
U.S. internationally
 Implemented the Vietnamization
Policy
 Worked so well, that they expanded the
policy to other allies around the world.
It became known as the Nixon Doctrine.
 Soviet Union was upset about Nixon
become president, as he was known
as an anti-communist
 Nixon and Kissinger still wanted to
contain communism, but thought
that negotiating was a better
strategy
 Developed new policy called détente.
 Détente – a policy that attempts to
relax or ease tensions between
nations.
 This policy helped ease the tensions
between the U.S. and its 2 biggest
rivals, the communist nations of the
USSR and China.
 Proxy wars
 Even with improved relations the U.S.
still got involved in places like Chile,
when the CIA supported a coup of
President Salvador.
 Conflicts like these did not directly
involve the U.S. or the USSR, but
were supported because it was a part
of their international strategy.
Détente
Nixon Goes to China
 The détente with China was
particularly helpful in easing tensions.
 The U.S. had refused to recognize the
communist government there since their
successful revolution in 1949.
 Instead the U.S. recognized the exiled
regime that was on the Island of Taiwan.
 Nixon had previously supported this
policy, but now reversed it.
 After months of highly secret
negotiations between Kissinger and the
Chinese, Nixon said he would travel to
China in February, 1972.
 During the trip both sides agreed to a
“more normal” relationship
Easing of U.S./U.S.S.R. Tensions
 Nixon’s policy had worked, soon after the
world learned of the scheduled U.S./China
meet, the USSR proposed a summit between
the 2 nations.
 Summit – a meeting between heads of
government
 Nixon flew to Moscow on May 22, 1972.
 During summit, both nations signed the SALT I
Treaty.
 SALT – Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
 Agreement that both nation temporarily
“froze” the number of nuclear weapons.
 Increased trade
 Exchange of scientific knowledge
 Best period of US/Soviet relations through
entire Cold War
 Helped to inspire the Helsinki Accords held in
1975