President Nixon Domestic Issues
26th Amendment
• Page 9 timeline book.
• The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18
grew across the country during the 1960s, driven
in large part by the broader student activism
movement protesting the Vietnam War.
• The amendment became part of the Constitution
on July 1, 1971, three months and eight days
after the amendment was submitted to the states
for ratification, making this amendment the
quickest to be ratified.
Regulation and Social Legislation
• OSHA
– The federal government took an active role in
preventing on-the-job accidents and deaths when
Nixon in 1970 signed into law a bill to create the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA).
Regulation and Social Legislation
• Rising concern about the environment led him
to propose an Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and a National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Environmental Issues
• Nixon signed amendments to the 1967 Clean
Air Act calling for reductions in automobile
emissions and the national testing of air
quality.
Other Environmental Issues
• Other significant environmental legislation
enacted during Nixon's presidency included
the 1972 Noise Control Act, the 1972 Marine
Mammal Protection Act, the 1973 Endangered
Species Act, and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water
Act.
Earth Day
• Page 4 timeline books.
• Each year, Earth Day is celebrated April 22.
• Marks the anniversary of what many consider
the birth of the modern environmental
movement in 1970.
• Thanks in part to Rachel Carson’s New York
Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962.
Earth Day
• Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging
consciousness, channeling the energy of the
anti-war protest movement and putting
environmental concerns front and center.
Video on Watergate Scandal
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHnmriyX
Yeg
Watergate- The Break In
• Page 17 timeline book.
• In the address books of two of the burglars,
police found the name H. Howard Hunt.
• Over time, it became clear that Hunt was part of
a group nicknamed the 'Plumbers,' because they
stopped political leaks and who'd been
conducting a 'dirty tricks' campaign against the
Democrats for over a year. Their activities
included canceling Democratic rallies, spying on
candidates, and stealing confidential files.
Watergate- The Cover Up
• In the summer of 1973, the Senate began its
hearings. During the testimony, they learned
about a recording system installed in the White
House, one that taped practically every
conversation held in the Oval Office.
• The Senate committee insisted on having the
tapes from the White House, so they could
establish if the President knew about the break-in
or the attempted cover-up that followed.
Watergate- The Cover Up
• The President resisted, claiming that the
conversations were protected under executive
privilege.
• On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled
unanimously that the President had to release
the tapes, and Nixon finally relented. During the
examination of the tapes, investigators found an
18 ½-minute gap in a conversation.
– The President's secretary claimed she had accidentally
recorded over this portion of the tape, which was
later deemed unlikely.
Nixon Resignation and Pardon
• Page 27 timeline book.
• August 9, 1974- Nixon resigns from the
presidency.
• Mounting criticism over the Watergate
Scandal, and the revelations of the Cambodian
bombings in the Pentagon Papers proved too
much for Nixon to bear.
• September 8, 1974- President Ford pardons
Nixon.
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
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They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And they put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
•
•
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•
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot