Chapter 28: Politics and Economics
The Nixon Administration
The Election of 1968
Early Policies
US Relations with China, USSR
Henry Kissinger
The Election of 1968
 Nixon (Republican) v. Humphrey (Democrat) v. Wallace
(Independent)
 Role of Southern Voters
 Historically Democratic
 Effect of Alabama’s Wallace
 Nixon’s approach to Southerners
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South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond
Conservatives to federal courts, Supreme Court
Southern VP
Oppose court-ordered busing
And the winner is…Richard Nixon
Nixon’s Policies
 New Federalism
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Improve Government Efficiency
Dismantled Federal Programs
More Control to Local and State Gov’t
Results?
 Revenue-Sharing Plan
 Federal Funding to State and Local Agencies
 Conditional Funding Problems
 Impounded Funding
 Refusing to release funding appropriated by Congress
 Declared Unconstitutional
Henry Kissinger
 Background
 German Immigrant who fled Nazi Germany
 Served in US Military Intelligence during WWII
 Worked as a consultant on national security for Kennedy and
Johnson
 Took position as National Security Advisor for Nixon
Kissinger and Nixon
 Shared Views
 Vietnamization (Nixon Doctrine)
 Cannot abandon Vietnam (focus on gradual withdrawal)
 Work with South Vietnamese to defend themselves
 US Allies
 Take care of own defense
 US still provide aid and training
 No longer “conceive all the plans, design all the programs, execute all the
decisions, and undertake all the defense of the free nations of the world”
Detente
 Definition: Relaxing of Tensions
 Kissinger and Nixon: Multipolar world meant US adaptation
 Role of China, Japan, and Western Europe
 Relations with Communist states
 China: 1972 Visit, “Normalize Relations”, Political Tool with USSR
 USSR: 1972 Summit, SALT I, Proxy Wars
Watergate
Background
 June 17, 1972
 Nixon’s advisors order break-in of Democratic HQ to steal campaign
information
 Five men arrested for attempt to place wiretaps on phones and steal
information from Democratic National Headquarters (located at the
Watergate Hotel)
 One of the five men, James McCord, was a retired CIA agent
 Also a member of Committee for the Re-Election of the President
 Role of Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Watergate continued
 Reports that CRP funded burglars
 Funds coming from White House?
 Cover-up begins
 White House officials destroy incriminating documents
 False testimony to investigators
 CIA stops FBI from investigating
 Nixon’s press secretary: “White House has had no involvement”
 Effects on the Election?
1972 Election
 Nixon’s Reelection Campaign
 Effects of 1960 loss and 1968 Election
 Secretive, Defensive, Resentful of Critics
 Effects of Vietnam and riots
 China and Russia
 George Wallace drops out after attack
 South Dakota Sen. George McGovern
 Win at any cost—WATERGATE
 Nixon wins by one of the largest
margins in history (61% of popular
vote, 49 states, 520 electoral votes)
Watergate (post-election)
 1973: Burglars go on trial
 McCord testifies in front of grand jury and in front of the new
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
 Testimony leads to White House and campaign officials exposed
 John Dean (counsel to the president) made allegations against
Nixon
Testimonies
 John Dean:
 Attorney General John Mitchell ordered break-in
 Nixon active in cover-up (Nixon denies role)
 Who told the truth?
 Alexander Butterfield (White House aide): Recording system in
White House
 Would explain what Nixon really knew
 Legal Decision (US v. Nixon, 1974)
The Tapes
 Executive privilege?
 Confidential for National Security
 US v. Nixon
 Archibald Cox
 Special prosecutor appointed by Nixon to
handle Watergate
 Took Nixon to court to hand over tapes
 Nixon response
 Att. Gen. Richardson refused to fire Cox and
resigned
 Richardson’s deputy did same
 Solicitor General Robert Bork fires Cox (Saturday
Night Massacre)
 US v. Nixon results
After the tapes
 House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach Nixon on charges of
misconduct, obstructing justice, misusing federal agencies, and
defying authority of Congress
 Before House vote on impeachment evidence of Nixon’s involvement
surfaced
 CIA order to stop FBI investigation
Wednesday, August 6, 1974
Friday, August 8, 1974
Results
 Gerald Ford becomes president
 September 8, 1974: “full, free, and absolute pardon” to Nixon
 New Laws
 Federal Campaign Act Amendments
 Limits campaign contributions
 Established agency to administer stricter election laws
 Ethics in Government Act
 Financial disclosure in all three branches of government
 FBI Domestic Security Investigations Guideline Act
 Restricted political intelligence gathering activities
 Created Counsel for investigating high government officials
Exit Slip
“Watergate was probably a good thing for the country; it was a
good, sobering lesson. Accountability to the law applies to
everyone. The problem with kings and prime ministers and
presidents is that they think that they are above it…that they
have some special rights, and privileges, and status. And a
process that says: No. We have our laws and believe them,
and they apply to everyone, is a very good thing.”
-Bob Woodward, Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency
Do you believe Woodward that the laws in the US
apply to everyone? Why or why not?