Chapter 32: An Age of Limits
Section 1: The Nixon Administration
-November 1968- Nixon was elected president. He tried to steer the country in a conservation direction and wanted to stay away from federal control.
-During his 2nd term, Nixon and Kissinger were able to end Americans involvement in Vietnam.
Nixon’s New Conservatism
*New Federalism- Nixon’s program to turnover part of the federal governments power to state and local governments.
-Normally, the federal governments told state and local governments how to spend their federal money.
-Under *revenue sharing- state and local governments could spend their federal dollars however they saw fit within certain limitations.
Welfare Reform
-In 1969, Nixon advocated the so-called *Family Assistance Plan (FAP)- where every family of seven with no outside income would receive a basic federal payment of $1,600 a year and without a provision to earn up to $4,000 a year in supplemental income.
-He presented the plan in conservative terms- as a program that would reduce this supervisory role of the federal government and make welfare recipients responsible for their own lives. The Bill never passed the Senate.
-Increased Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments and made food stamps more accessible.
-Nixon worked to dismantle some of the nation’s social programs.
-Nixon had been elected in 1968 on a dual promise to end the war in Vietnam and to mend the divisiveness within America that the war had created.
-To accomplish this, Nixon used the full resources of his office –sometimes illegally.
* Southern Strategy- Nixon’s attempt to attract the support of southern conservative Democrats who were unhappy with federal desegregation policies and the Liberal Supreme Court. He also promised to name a southerner to the Supreme Court.
-In 1968, many Southern Democrats had grown disillusioned with their party. In their eyes, the party-campaign of the Great Society and civil rights had grown too liberal.
-Nixon slows integration to attract white voters in the South.
-He took the middle road on integration and even violated the Supreme Court second Brown v. Board ruling – which called for desegregation of schools “with all deliberate speed.”
-NAACP sued and Nixon was forced to abide by the Brown ruling.
-He did so reluctantly.
-Nixon also opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But despite his opposition, Congress voted to extend the Act.
-Nixon then attempted to stop yet another civil rights initiative, the integration of school through busing.
-In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in *Swann v. Charlotte-Meck. Board of Education- that school districts may bus students to other schools to end the pattern of all-black or all-white educational institutions.
-Nixon went on national television to urge Congress to halt the practice of integration through busing.
A Battle Over the Supreme Court
-Nixon felt that the Warren Court was too liberal.
-During his first term, four justices, including chief justice Earl Warren, left the bench through retirement.
-Nixon replaced them with more conservative justices.
-The court did not always take the conservative route.
Confronting a Stagnant Economy
-Between 1967 and 1973, the US faced high inflation and high unemployment, a situation economist called *Stagflation.
Causes: LBJ’s deficit spending, increased competition in international trade, and a flood of new workers including women and baby boomers.
-Another was the nation’s dependency on foreign oil.
*OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting)- oil producing nations that are able to regulate the price of oil.
-During the 1960’s, OPEC gradually raised oil prices.
-Then in 1973, the Youn Kippur War broke out, with Israel against Egypt and Syria.
-When the US sent massive military to Israel, its longtime ally, the Arab OPEC nations responded by cutting off all oil sales to the US.
-When OPEC resumed selling its oil to the US in 1974, the price had quadrupled.
Nixon’s Foreign Policy Triumphs
-The architect of Nixon’s foreign policy was his advisor for national security affairs, *Henry Kissinger, who would later become Nixon’s secretary of state.
-He promoted a philosophy known as *realpolitik- from a German term meaning “political realism.”
-According to it, foreign policy should be based solely on consideration of power, not ideals or moral principles.
-This marked a departure from the former confrontational policy of containment, which refused to reorganize the major communist countries.
-It largely meant negotiation as well as military engagement.
-Nixon agreed and together they adopted a more flexible approach in dealing with communist nations.
*Détente- a policy aimed at using cold war tensions.
-1972 - Nixon visited Communist China.
-China and the USSR officially broke ties in 1960.
-Nixon had thought about exploiting the fractured relationship for several years.
-His visit was a huge success with the American public.
-May 1972, 3 months after visiting Beijing, Nixon headed to Moscow- the first US president ever to visit the Soviet Union.
-Like his visit to China, this trip also received wide acclaim.
-Nixon and Brezhneu- signed *SALT I Treaty- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks - 5 year agreement to limit the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s) and submarines launched missiles to the new 1972 levels.
-Nixon would win reelection in 1972.
Section 2: Watergate: Nixon’s Downfall
*The Watergate scandal centered on the Nixon administration’s attempt to cover up a burglary of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, DC.
-Nixon expanded the power of the presidency and gave little thought to constitutional checks.
-As he distanced himself from Congress, Nixon confided in a small and fiercely loyal group of advisers.
-Critics charged that these men developed a sense that they were somehow above the law.
A Bungled Burglary
-At 2:30am, June 17, 1972 a guard at the Watergate complex in Washington DC, caught five men breaking into the campaign headquarters of the DNC.
-The burglars planned to photograph documents outlining the Democratic Party strategy and to place wiretaps, or “bugs,” on the office telephones.
-Even as the scandal continued, Nixon was able to win reelection.
The Cover-up Unravels
*James McCord- a security coordinator for a group known as the *Committee to Reelect the President (CRP)- an organization formed to run Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign.
-McCord was the Watergate leader.
-During the trial of the Watergate burglars, McCord indicated that he had lied under oath. He also hinted that powerful members of the Nixon administration had been involved in the break-in.
-May 1973, the Senate began its own investigation of Watergate.
-During the administration testimony hearings it was declared that President Nixon had been deeply involved in the cover-up.
-It was also discovered that Nixon had taped virtually all of his presidential conversations.
-A year-long battle for the “Nixon Tapes” followed *Saturday Night Massacre- a name given to the resignation of the US attorney general and the firing of his deputy in October 1973, after they refused to carry out Nixon’s order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate Affair.
-After the “massacre,” the House Judiciary Committee began examining the possibility of an impeachment hearing.
-Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after it was revealed that he had accepted bribes from Maryland engineering firms.
-Nixon nominated the House minority leader, *Gerald R. Ford, as his new Vice President.
Nixon Releases the Tapes
-Spring 1974- Nixon told a TV audience that he was releasing a 1,254 pages of edited transcripts of White House conversation about Watergate.
-Investigators wanted to unedited tapes.
-The case went before the Supreme Court. The high court ruled that Nixon must turn the tapes over.
-The court refused Nixon’s argument that turning over the tapes would violate national security.
-Even a President could not withhold -Evidence involving possible criminal activity.
-July 27, 1974- the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment, charging the President with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress for refusing to obey a congressional subpoena and release the tapes.
-August 5, Nixon released the tapes. They had contained many gaps, and one tape revealed a disturbing 18 ½ minute gap.
-One tape disclosed all the evidence investigators needed to change that Nixon knew about and tried to cover up and obstruct the FBI’s investigation in the scandal.
-August 8, 1974 before the full House vote on the impeachment began, Nixon announced his resignation from office.
-Still admitting no guilt, he said that some of his judgments “went wrong.”
-Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the US.
Section 3: The Ford and Carter Years
-These two administrations attempted to remedy the nation’s worst economic crisis in decades.
*A month after Nixon resigned, President Ford had granted Nixon a full pardon, costing him a good deal of public support.
Ford Tries to “Whip” Inflation
-Both inflation and unemployment continued to rise.
-After massive OPEC oil-price increase in 1973 gas and heating oil costs had soared, pushing inflation up.
-Ford responded with a program of massive citizen action called *“Whip Inflation Now” or WIN.
-Ford called on Americans to cut back on their use of oil and gas and to take other energy-saving measures.
-In the absence of incentives, through a “tight money” policy by cutting government spending and encouraging the Federal Reserve Board to restrict credit through higher interest rates.
-This triggered the worst economic recession in 40 years.
-Relying heavily on H. Kissinger, Ford fared slightly better in the international arena.
-Ford pushed ahead with registrations with China and the Soviet Union.
*Helsinki Accords- a series of agreements that promised greater cooperation between the nations of Eastern and Western Europe.
-This would be Ford’s greatest presidential accomplishment.
Carter Enters the White House
*Jimmy Carter- peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia.
-Carter won by a narrow margin. The new first family brought a down-to-earth style to Washington.
-Held Roosevelt - like “first side chats” on the radio and TV.
-Carter believed that the country had to cut their consumption of oil and gas. Many oil and gas producing states resisted, as well as automobile manufacturers.
*National Energy Act- a law, enacted during the Carter administration, that established a tax on “gas guzzling” automobiles, removed price controls on the US oil and natural gas, and provided tax credits for the development of alternative energy sources.
-US dependence on foreign oil had eased slightly in 1979.
-In the summer of 1979, renewed violence in the Middle East produced a second major fuel shortage in the US.
-The booming economics of West Germany and countries on the Pacific Rim (Japan, Taiwan, and Korea) cut into US markets.
-Many of the nations primary industries were iron, steel, rubber, clothing, and automobiles.
*Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)- the Supreme Court decided that the affirmative action policies of the University Medical School were unconstitutional.
-Carter believed that the US needed to commit itself to promoting *human rights- such as the freedom and liberties listed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights throughout the world.
-He cut off aid to Argentina and Brazil for imprisoning and torturing thousands of their own citizens.
Yielding the Panama Canal
- In 1977, the US and Panama agreed to two treaties, one of which turned over control of the Panama Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999.
- Pass Senate by 1 vote - helped with relations with Latin America.
- Carter’s firm insistence on human rights led to a breakdown in relations with the Soviet Union.
- June 1979- the US and USSR signed *SALT II- it did not reduce armaments, it provided for limits on the number of strategic weapons and nuclear – missile launchers that each side could produce.
- Senate did not like the treaty.
- December 1979, the Soviets invaded the neighboring country of Afghanistan.
- Carter refused to fight for the SALT II agreement, and the treaty died.
Triumph & Crisis in the Middle East
- In the area of ethnic, religious, & economic conflict, Jimmy Carter achieved on of his greatest diplomatic triumphs - & suffered his most tragic defeat.
-Carter helped forge peace b/t long-time enemies Israel & Egypt.
-In 1977, Egyptian President *Anwar el -Sadat & Israeli PM *Meachem Begin met in Jerusalem to discuss peace b/t the 2 nations.
-When peace talks staled, Carter invited the 2 leaders to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, to work on an agreement.
*Camp David Accords- after 12 days, the three leaders came to an on agreement.
*The Iran Hostage Crisis
-Jan 1979- the Muslim religious leader *Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini- led the rebels in overthrowing the Shah of Iran, (who was a US ally) & established a religious State based strict obedience to the Quran, the sacred book of Islam.
-In Oct 1979- Carter allowed the Shah to enter the US for cancer treatment even though he had already fled Iran in Jan 1979.
-On 4 Nov 1979, armed student seized the US embassy in Tehran & took 52 Americans hostage.
-The militants wanted to exchange the Shah for the hostages.
-Carter refused, and a year long standoff followed.
-The hostages were finally released on 20 Jan 1981, shortly after, Regan was sworn in as president.
Section 4: Environmental Activism
-During the 1970’s Americans strengthened their efforts to address the nations environmental problems.
The Love Canal
-Niagara Falls, NY- chemical companies dumped hazardous waste into the canal b/t 1890-1953.
-1953 – bulldozers filled in the canal & shortly thereafter a school and rows of homes were built nearby.
-Americans began to realize that their natural resources were limited; they could no longer take the environment for granted.
*Rachel Carson- a marine biologist, published a book entitled “Silent Spring.”
-In it, she warned against the growing use of pesticides- chemicals used to kill insects & rodents.
-She believed that they poisoned the very food they were intended to protect & as a result killed many birds & fish.
*Earth day- a day set aside for environmental education celebrated annually on April 22. (Began in 1970)
*Environmentalist- a person who works to protect the environment from destruction & pollution.