Richard M Nixon New Federalism

Richard M. Nixon • • • New Federalism Southern Strategy Stagflation OPEC Foreign Policy Watergate

New Federalism • Reduce government responsibilities from Great Society • Expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid • Took away money from health, housing, and education programs

Southern Strategy • Attract southerners unhappy about desegregation • Tried to slow down desegregating schools Swann v. Charlotte Meck. Board of Ed. • Appointed 4 justices to Supreme Court with conservative agenda

Stagflation • Stagflation = high inflation & high unemployment too much govt. spending on Great Society & Vietnam War • Nixon froze business prices and wages for 90 days

OPEC • • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Made up of Middle East countries Refused to ship oil to U. S. Why? U. S. supports Israel in the Yom Kippur War against Egypt and Syria • After war, oil was 4 times higher than what it was

Foreign Policy • Realpolitik foreign policy decision based on a country’s power not morals came from Henry Kissinger (Sec. of State) • Détente negotiating with communists • Nixon visits China to ease tensions • SALT I Treaty with Soviets limits ICBM’s Nixon first president to

Watergate • Nixon insecure & secretive confided only to a select group of people (inner circle: H. R. Haldeman-John Ehrlichman-John Mitchell-John Dean) tape recorded his conversations in the Oval Office • June 17, 1972: 5 men caught breaking into Democratic HQ at the Watergate Hotel

Watergate • Woodward and Bernstein were two reporters from Washington Post that uncovered evidence linking burglary to White House • VP Spiro Agnew resigned because a grand jury indicted him for accepting bribes while being governor of Maryland • Gerald Ford becomes new VP

Watergate • 1974: Nixon releases edited tapes of conversations in Oval Office. • US v. Nixon: Supreme Court orders him to give up the unedited tapes • Nixon came on TV saying “I am not a crook” • July 27: House of Representatives impeach Nixon • August 8 th: Nixon resigns but admitted no guilt • American people view image of presidency

Nixon Farewell

Gerald R. Ford • • • Ending Watergate Troubled Economy Hostile Congress Cold War Tensions Southeast Asia Assassination Attempts

Gerald R. Ford - 1933 University of Michigan

Ending Watergate • Ford only Vice-President and President never elected • September 8, 1974: Ford issues Proclamation 4311 giving Nixon a full and unconditional pardon • Believed pardon was in the best interest of the nation • Critics said a “corrupt bargain” had been struck • At the same time, he announced a conditional

The Economy & Hostile Congress • WIN= Whip Inflation Now • Asked Americans to reduce their spending and consumption of gas • OPEC raised the cost of gas • He tried to cut government spending • Triggered worst economic recession in 40 years • Battled Democratic Congress - vetoed 50+ pieces of legislation

Cold War Tensions • Continues negotiations with Soviet Union and China • 1975: Helsinki Accords 35 nations promised cooperation between Eastern and Western Europe

Southeast Asia • April 29, 1975: Fall of Saigon 1, 373 U. S. citizens evacuated 5, 595 Vietnamese evacuated • Communist Cambodia seized U. S. ship Ford responds w/ massive show of military force • Panmunjon: village in middle of DMZ (Koreas) North Korea attacks and kills two U. S. officers who were trimming a tree in joint occupation area Ford sends in B-52 bomber and North Korea backs down and offers an apology

Saigon & Panmunjom

Assassination Attempts • September 5 th, 1975 (Sacramento) Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme follower of Charles Manson she pulled a Colt 45 handgun and pulled the trigger but Secret Service Agent grabs gun… no round in firing chamber sentenced to life in prison but paroled August 14, 2009 • September 22, 1975 (San Francisco) Sara Jane Moore 38 caliber revolver former Marine, Oliver Sipple grabbed gun and deflected shot sentenced to life in prison

James Earl Carter • Election of 1976 Ford vs. Jimmy Carter: former governor of GA Outsider to D. C. politics • Carter promised not to tell a lie to American people • Carter wins • Alienated Congress because he refused to play “insider” deal making both parties worked together to block his policies

Energy Crisis • Most important issue - Carter believed U. S. relied too much on foreign oil - 100 proposals on energy conservation - National Energy Act (1978): tax on gas guzzling cars and tax credit for alternative energy

Human Rights & Cold War Tension • Cut off relations with countries who imprisoned and tortured citizens Argentina and Brazil put on that list • Relations with Soviet Union sour because Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and Carter refuses to sign SALT II to limit nuclear arms U. S. boycotts 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow U. S. secretly arm Afghan rebels to fight Soviets (Osama

Boycotting Olympic Games

Panama Canal • U. S. owned Panama Canal since 1914 Theodore Roosevelt’s greatest foreign policy achievement (Big Stick Diplomacy) • Panamanians resented U. S. occupation • 1977 : U. S. agreed to turn over canal on December 31, 1999 • Result: Improved relations with U. S. and Latin America

Camp David Accords • Carter invites Prime Ministers of Egypt and Israel to Camp David Anwar Sadat (Egypt) Menachem Begin (Israel) • Signed a Peace Agreement Israel agreed to withdraw from Sinai Peninsula which it got after 6 Day War in 1967 Egypt recognizes Israel’s right to exist

Iran Hostage Crisis • Jan. 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini led rebels to overthrow corrupt Shah of Iran U. S. supported the Shah • U. S. let Shah into U. S. for cancer treatment • Nov. 4, 1979 Armed students take over U. S. embassy in Tehran… hold 52 Americans for 444 days

What forces gave rise to the environmental movement, and what impact did it have? The rights revolution of the 1960 s and 1970 s extended to people’s right to clean air and clean water. Public awareness of environmental issues prompted debate about the government’s role in environmental regulations.

In 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published a book about the deadly impact of pesticides on animals and the environment. The impact of Silent Spring eventually forced Congress to ban the pesticide DDT.

In 1969, fire ignited the sludge-filled Cuyahoga River in Ohio. Carson’s book and the Cuyahoga River fire caused growing concern about the environment.

Twenty million Americans participated in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Earth Day was a nationwide protest to focus attention on environmental concerns and to move this issue into the mainstream political arena.

President Nixon recognized the need to clean up the environment. Environmental legislation in the 1970 s created: • the Environmental Protection Agency • the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act • the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

In the late 1970 s investigators discovered toxic wastes in Love Canal, New York. Residents of the area had unusually high rates of cancer and birth defects. This contamination prompted Congress to establish a Superfund to clean up toxic waste.

The federal Superfund cleanup project continues in the twenty-first century.

In 1979, a nuclear accident occurred in Pennsylvania. • • • A nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island malfunctioned, causing its core to start melting. Authorities declared a state of emergency because there was a possibility that the reactor would release radioactive gas. Authorities then shut down the reactor.

Emergency workers contained the accident. President Carter and his wife toured the reactor to reassure people but public concern grew. Most Americans opposed nuclear power plants so the government stopped building them.

• Some people opposed environmental regulations. Conservatives said the laws violated people’s property rights. • Industry leaders argued environmental regulations would limit businesses and jobs. Americans were divided about what the government should do to protect the environment.