The Watergate Scandal
The Rise of Cynicism
The Nixon Years
Richard Nixon’s Political Career
•Anticommunist in 1950’s
•VP to Eisenhower
•Lost to JFK in 1960
•Elected President in 1968
The Many Faces of Nixon
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Part One, The Harmonizer
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Nixon Appeals to the “Silent Majority”
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Fear of rising crime rates
Fear of social violence
Fear of widespread drug abuse
Concerns about sexual permissiveness
Concerns about disdain for patriotism
Fear of racial tensions
Desire for law and order
Nixon
as “Harmonizer”
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Election of 1968
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Nixon Defeats Herbert
Humphrey
Nixon Defeats George
Wallace
Context for 1968
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Turmoil of the year: Tet, MLK, RFK
Growing anti-war protests
Convergence of Vietnam w/ Civil Rights
Movement
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MLK: “The bombs in Vietnam explode at
home”
Anti-war violence dovetails w/ racial violence
“White backlash”
The Election of 1968
Election of 1968
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Nixon and Republicans win
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See how to build new winning coalition
Wallace’s success lead’s to new electoral
strategy
The Republican “Southern
Strategy”
Appeal to the fears of blue collar workers
Appeal to Southern and suburban whites
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Demonstrate opposition to the forced integration of
schools
Moratorium on busing to achieve integration
Exploit social issues that mattered to Roman
Catholic voters
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Aid to parochial schools
Strong anti-abortion stance
Opposition to pornography and obscenity
Election of 1972
Election of 1972
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Why Such a Landslide?
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Press was tougher on Dems than Reps (curious but
true)
Democratic convention rules guaranteed a liberal
candidate: 1968 indicated a new conservative surge
Democrats had to drop the VP candidate, Thomas
Eagleton (mental health record)
Democrats supported immediate end to Vietnam;
Nixon’s “Peace with Honor” sounded better
The Watergate Scandal

What was Watergate?
The Watergate Scandal

Why did Nixon Do It?
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Desire for a “legacy”: assure victory in 1972
and undermine critics
Paranoia
Fears of radical forces on the left
 Hatred of the press
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Watergate Chronology
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
June 17, 1972: Burglars caught in DNC HQ
Feb. 7, 1973: Senate Select Cmte on
Presidential Campaign Activities
April 23, 1973: White House denies Nixon
knew anything
May 25, 1973: Special Prosecutor Appointed
July 16, 1973: Butterfield testifies that tapes
exist
Watergate Chronology
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
July 25, 1973: Nixon refuses to comply
w/ subponea for tapes
October 20, 1973: Saturday Night
Massacre”
July 24, 1974: Supreme Court orders
Nixon to turn over tapes
July 27, 1974: Impeachment article
adopted by House Judiciary Cmte
August 9, 1974: Nixon Resigns
Carter and Reagan

Introduction
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Legacy of Watergate
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Nixon forced to resign or face
impeachment
Gerald Ford becomes VP: only president
never elected
Credibility Gap very real; cynicism about
government and service to country at a
high
Carter and Reagan
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Ford Presidency
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Short-lived: August 1974-Jan. 1975
Heavy political burden: The Nixon
pardon
Claims of a “deal” were rampant
Party had no choice but to nominate and
support, but…
Carter and Reagan
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Policies (like most Presidents after 1968,
had to deal w/ hostile Congress
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Signed the 1974 Campaign Finance Reform Act
that created the FEC AND set limits on
corporate, individual and PAC contributions
(later declared unconsitiutional in Buckley v.
Valeo 1976)
South Vietnam fell on Ford’s “watch” further
weakening his presidency
The Carter Presidency
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Background
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Born in Plains, GA in 1924
U.S. Naval Academy (59 out of 820)
Nuclear engineer and peanut Farmer
Elected Governor of GA, 1966 and 1970
The Carter Presidency
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Capitalized on his status as a Washington
“outsider”
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Began all his campaign speeches and
appearances with “Hi, my name is Jimmy
Carter and I’m running for president.”
Campaigned as “honest man”; homey,
southern style, and “born-again” religion
helped reinforce
Attacked wasteful, inefficient federal
bureaucracy
Debates w/ Ford sealed the deal (Ford: “There
is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe”
The Carter Presidency
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Economic difficulties
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“Stagflation” still plagued the nation: inflation
(13.5% by 1980) and high unemployment (9%
in 1977); Keynesnian spending no good
Encouraged Americans to conserve energy and
water; Another energy crisis furthers inflation:
1979 OPEC hikes oil prices by 50%
a and b led to his unfortunate “malaise” speech
(July 1979) “a crisis of confidence”
The Carter Presidency
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Foreign Policy
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Stressed “human rights” in all U.S. foreign
policy
Biggest achievement of his presidency was the
Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and
Israel
Negotiated a treaty returning sovereignty of
the Panama Canal (plus $1 billion)
Responded to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
by halting grain shipments and boycotting the
1980 Summer Olympics
The Carter Presidency
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Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis
were final blows to Carter
Presidency;
The Carter Presidency
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Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis
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aborted rescue attempt seemed to
confirm the “crisis of confidence” and
military decline since Vietnam
Carter’s inability to negotiate their
release (444 days in captivity) seemed
to confirm his weakness as a leader
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Background
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The Vietnam/Watergate “hangover” seemed
perpetual
Politics and political leadership had practically
become “dirty words”
President Carter had alienated traditional
Democratic voters (esp. labor and African
Americans) with his spending cuts and tight
money policies
Time was ripe for new, innovative and dynamic
leadership
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Had all the right qualities to appeal
to Republicans
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Reputation as strong anticommunist
from movie days
Supported the war in Vietnam
Fiscal and social conservative
Cold Warrior
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Campaign focused on two themes
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“Are you better of today than you were
four years ago”?
Redeem America from moral pessimism
and permissiveness of 1965-1975: “join
me in my crusade to recapture our
destiny. God bless America!”
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Defeated Carter 489-49 (only GA,
MD,MN and D.C. to Carter)
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Election of 1980
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Reaganonmics
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The unlikely combination: cut taxes, increase
defense spending, deregulation and reduction
in social expenditures
Economic Recovery Act of 1981
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25% tax cut over three years
Incentives for IRA’s
Cut maximum tax rates and capital gains taxes (taxes
on profit made in stocks or other “speculative”
operations
Cut corporate taxes and windfall profit tax on oil
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Reaganonmics
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Deregulation/Smaller Gov
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Relaxed regulations on banking (interest-bearing checking
accounts and money markets)
Deregulated the airlines: lower fares and more competition
Tried to open new land to development; Sec. of Interior
James Watt was a lightening rod: leased off-shore drilling
rights and proposed opening national parks to timber
cutting
Broke the air traffic controllers union when they struck
Cut welfare by $35 billion, removed 400,000 families from
AFDC and took 1 million off food stamps
Wanted to dissolve the Dept’s of Education and Energy but
Congress refused (House solidly Democratic)
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Foreign Policy
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Reinvigorated the nation with aggressive
foreign policy
Nationalistic rhetoric helped enhance public
spirit: “It’s morning in America”
Invaded the tiny island of Grenada when proCastro group killed leading government
officials: first military “victory” after Vietnam.
Launched several air attacks against Libya for
support of terrorism and bogus claims of
airspace in the Med
Used a Navy task force to escort oil tankers
thru the Strait of Hormuz in defiance of Iran
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Reinvigorated the Cold War
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Hostages release after election Soviet Union is
“Evil Empire”
Rejected Carter’s “human rights” philosophy
and supported anti-communist dictators
regardless of record
Expanded activity of the CIA (eventually
causing his most damaging scandal)
Gave aid to anticommunist rebels all over the
globe (Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia,
Ethiopia, Nicaragua)
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Foreign Policy
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Supported right-wing governments in El
Salvador despite atrocities and aided
Nicaraguan “contra” rebels despite
congressional protest (and later law);
See Iran-Contra Scandal
Angered African Americans by
“constructive engagement” policy on
South Africa (Congress overrode his
veto of trade sanctions bill)
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Foreign Policy
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Lebanon disaster highlighted his
ineffective Middle East policies (241
Marines killed in truck bomb attack);
Embargoed arms sales to Iran, then
secretly made an “arms for hostages”
deal with Tehran
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Election of 1984
The “Reagan Revolution”
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Increased defense spending coincided with
Mikhail Gorbechev’s rise in the U.S.S.R. and led to
the “winning” of the Cold War
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Increased spending from $134 billion in 1980 to $290
billion in 1988
Used SDI to intimidate U.S.S.R. into arms reduction
talks: INF Treaty in 1986
Restored grain shipments to U.S.S.R. as Gorbachev
liberalized the Soviet Union with glasnost and
perestroika
GHW Bush reaped the Cold War harvest when the Berlin
Wall came down (1989) and Gorbachev renounced the
Brezhnev Doctrine; eastern Europe liberated itself and
later the U.S.S.R. collapsed (1991)