“Learning to Lead our Lives”
Nixon and Reagan; who was the more successful
President?
Skill: Historical Enquiry.
NGfL: USA
All images/ cartoons are believed to be in the public domain. Many of the images were sourced
from the internet encyclopaedia wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org
What makes a good President?
Democrat President
John F. Kennedy
What qualities did he possess?
Who was the better Republican
President?
Task: Who was the better
Republican President?
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
Qualities and Achievements
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Qualities and Achievements
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Failures
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Failures
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How successful was…
Richard Nixon?
Nixon was elected Republican President for the first time in 1968. He won
the election by wining support from the middle classes, promising to
restore ‘law and order’ and ‘bring the GIs home’ from the war in Vietnam.
4th May 1970: Anti-war protest at Kent State
University. Hundreds of students wanting to
protest threw stones at the National
Guardsmen. They fired without warning at
the crowds and shot 4 students dead. This
provoked a mass wave of protests at
universities across the whole of America. 2
more students died after being shot by the
National Guard.
www.47ipsd.us
How successful was…
Richard Nixon?
1972: The SALT Talks.
There had been talks before, but these were a breakthrough! The USA promised to
accept Communism as a system of government and promised to increase trade with
communist countries. America agreed to supply cheap grain to the USSR.
The USA agreed to recognise East Berlin as a communist nation, in return the USSR
would recognise East Berlin’s security.
Nixon’s achievements with Communist nation
China.
China had heavily supported the North
Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. Nixon referred
to them as ‘Red China’. Surprisingly as part of
the diplomatic revolution, Nixon announced he
would visit China in 1972. This was a landmark
move. Nixon visited all the tourist attractions
and said iit was like ‘going to the moon’. His visit
helped the SALT talks.
How successful was…
Richard Nixon?
Nixon hated Communism. Yet as president he started friendlier relationships
with Communist countries like China and the USSR. Nixon understood that in a
nuclear war there could be no winners, and he could not defend the USA or
protect the people if nuclear war started. America had been defeated in
Vietnam. Nixon opened links with Communist China and began US-Soviet
nuclear arms control, which bought about a relaxation of tension in the Cold
War – ‘Détente’.
Nixon came up with a new foreign policy: ‘diplomatic revolution’, trying to
limit Communist expansion and the arms race. China and the USSR
cooperated. They too had their own problems and could not continue to
afford a costly Cold War. They had been arguing with each other, and had
become more hostile and fearful.
How successful was…
Richard Nixon?
Nixon attempted to bring peace to Vietnam by starting peace talks. He promised
to withdraw troops but increase military support, a policy called ‘Vietnamisation’.
But secretly he was ordering heavier bombardment of the North Vietnamese. He
even allowed the fighting to spread to neighbouring states, including Cambodia.
In 1973 Nixon did manage to bring about a ceasefire between the North and
South Vietnamese troops. Nixon started moving troops out but promised that GIs
would return if the ceasefire was broken.
In 1972 the War Powers Act was passed. This ensured that all future Presidents
must justify sending soldiers to war within 30 days.
In 1975 the North Viet Cong launched a massive invasion of the the south. Nixon
refused to help and the South was quickly conquered. All of Vietnam was now
Communist. The US had failed to contain Communism.
The Vietnam War was America’s first military defeat. 58156 GIs had been killed.
Over 300,000 men had been inured, of which 100,000 had lost at least one limb.
How successful was…
Ronald Reagan?
Reagan’s background
Reagan had been a popular actor in the 1940s and
1950s – before James Dean and other youth role models
came on the scene
He had then been Governor of California and
criticised the hippy movement
He had extremely conservative views – he believed in
the importance of respect and the family
He was a smooth and confident speaker – both in
public and to individuals
www.ronaldreagan.com
How successful was…
Ronald Reagan?
Reagan himself was a fierce anti-Communist, believing the USSR was the ‘evil
empire’. He believed that the only way to counter the Soviet threat was to ensure
the USA was militarily as strong as possible. In 1980, Reagan said: “We know only
too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when
they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.”
What Reagan promised and did
•Reagan promised massive tax cuts which he delivered between in his first term
of office (1981-1985). The American government became bankrupt, but
individual Americans supported his tax cuts.
How successful
was…
Ronald Reagan?
Reagan and
Gorbachev
www.wikipedia.org
•In the early 1980s Reagan supported anti-Communist movements around the
world. He gave money to the Contras in Nicaragua. Strictly speaking this was illegal,
so Reagan found the money by selling weapons to Iran. This was politically
explosive, since at the time the US was supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war.
•Reagan massively increased defence spending in order to deal with the threat
from the Soviet Union. He embarked upon a project called ‘Star Wars’ where
American missiles would shoot down Soviet nuclear missiles in space. This could
have increased tension with the Communist country, but the Soviets could not
afford to develop their own defences. Instead, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
started to reduce the numbers of Soviet missiles.
How successful was…
Ronald Reagan?
Speaking in front of the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987 Ronald Reagan
challenged reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, exclaiming: "Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
“Learning to Lead our Lives”
Nixon and Reagan; who was the more successful
President? lesson 7 part II
Skill: Evaluation
NGfL: USA
What do you
think is
happening in
this picture?
Richard Nixon departs from the
White House before Gerald Ford
was sworn in as President
Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives and Records Administration
Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
In 1972 there was another Presidential election which Nixon wanted to
win. The Republicans were very popular and looked likely to get the
majority in Congress. On the 17th June 1972 important officials working for
Nixon broke into the headquarters of the Democrats, to ‘bug’ the office.
Nixon claimed he had no prior knowledge of this break in. The Democrats
were outraged and called it ‘political espionage’.
Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
Nixon did not take this issue seriously in the run up to
the election, thinking he could ‘sweep it under the
carpet’. He won the election.
However, as Nixon attempted to ‘cover up’ this
problem, information was leaked to the American
newspapers who turned it into a scandal. It emerged
that Nixon paid 1 million dollars to try to quieten the
burglars. Nixon was using his Presidential power for
his own personal gain. He tried to stop the police and
even Congress from investigating the issue. But the
newspapers still exposed new allegations. Eventually
US Senate (the highest court in the land)
investigated, taking witness statements. This was
shown on TV!
Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
Nixon denied publicly that there was ‘no whitewash at the Whitehouse’ in April
1973, promising his public that he was innocent of any cover up. But, evidence to
prove him guilty was found by Senate. The Watergate tapes!
These tapes recorded conversations between Nixon and members of his staff in
meetings, proving that Nixon was trying to cover up the burglary. He used foul
language I the meetings, and sounded more like a powerful gangster than a
President. Nixon clearly thought he was ‘above the law’.
Demands were made by newspapers ant the public that the Senate should
impeach Nixon. He resigned in August 1974, the first American President to ever
resign.
The Watergate Scandal had a bad effect on American politics. The American
public had lost faith in their government, and it was clear that the President had
too much power at this fingertips.
The Washington Post
• Write a news article from the point of view of Bob
Woodward and karl Bernstein, journalists who originally
broke the Watergate Scandal to the public.
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You should include paragraphs about:
What it was, Who was involved
Where and When it took place
Why
The effects of the Watergate Scandal
You can quote the President, or a Democrat…
‘Countdown’ Conundrums
Republican
Watergate
swrarats
Star
wars
hmiepac
egweattra
cinbpeurla
Impeach