U.S. History Chapter 19 (some)

Election of 1968

Richard Nixon (republican), Herbert Hoover (democrat), and George Wallace (Independent)

• many Americans longed for an end to the turmoil of the 60s

What was Nixon’s aim?

“Middle America” and “Silent Majority”

• He promised “peace with honor" in Vietnam and Law and order at home

What else did Nixon promise?

A more streamlined government and a return to move traditional values

Southern Strategy

Nixon’s effort to attract more Southerners to the Republican Party

What happened in the Southern Strategy?

A meeting with South Carolina Senator, Strom Thurmond, he made several promises. He took steps to slow desegregation and worked to overturn civil rights policies. He won the vote by agreeing to appoint conservatives to the federal courts and a southerner to the Supreme Court

• large numbers of Southerners left the Democratic Party

New Federalism

Nixon’s plan to end several federal programs and give more control to state and local governments

Revenue-sharing (Nixon’s plan)

sharing, bills granted federal funds to state and local agencies. As states became more and more dependent on these funds, the federal government could impose conditions that unless followed, funds would be cut off

Welfare Reform

President Nixon wanted to reform this program. He proposed the Family Assistance Plan.

• the program was defeated in the Senate

Family Assistance Plan

provided families a yearly grant of $1,600,000 that could be supplemented by outside earnings

What did the welfare recipients complain about?

The grant was too low and conservatives disapproved of guaranteed income

Henry Kissinger

President Nixon’s National Security adviser who took the lead in helping shape Nixon’s foreign policy

Nixon Doctrine/Vietnamization

they worked toward a gradual withdrawal while training the South Vietnamese to defend themselves

• American allies would have to take responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in their own areas of the world

Detente

relaxation of tensions between the U.S. and China and the Soviet Union

What did Nixon and Kissinger believe the U.S. needed?

adjusting the growing role of China, Japan, and Western Europe

• they believed that negotiation with communists was a better way for the U.S. to achieve its international goal

Why did Nixon visit China in February 1972?

Nixon and Mao agreed to establish “more normal” relations between the U.S. and China

• this effort also brought the Soviets to talk

When did Nixon become the first president since WWII to visit the Soviet Union?

May 22, 1972

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I)

temporarily froze the number of strategic nuclear weapons

• Nixon and Leonid Brezhner (soviet leader) also agreed to increase trade and exchange scientific information

• President Nixon made his mark in Foreign Policy and the world stage

Watergate

this scandal led to the only time in the nation’s history where the President was forced to resign from office

• it directly involved the Nixon administration’s efforts to cover up its involvement in the break in of Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office complex

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post

began to investigate and uncovered the fact that the scandal directly involved the Nixon administration’s efforts to cover up its involvement in the break in

Atmosphere of the White House

President Nixon had fought so hard to become president that he had become defensive, secretive, and resentful of his critics

• as reelection approached, prospects were promising, but not certain

• his staffers began spying on opposition rallies and spreading rumors about opponents

The Truth

• trying to help the president, Nixon’s advisors ordered 5 men to break into the DNC headquarters to steal sensitive campaign information and placed wiretaps on the office telephones

• A security guard called the police and the men were arrested

• Although Nixon didn’t order the break-in, he did order a cover up

James McCord

one of the men from Nixon’s advisors, was a member of the Committee for the Reelection of the President

The Cover-Up

• White house officials destroyed incriminating documents and gave investigators false testimony

• With Nixon’s consent, administration officials asked the CIA to stop the FBI from investigating the source of the money paid to the buglers

What did the CIA tell the FBI?

the investigation threatened National Security. FBI Director, Mark Felt leaked information to the Washington Post anonymously

What was the name that Mark Felt used from leaking information to the Washington Post?

“Deep Throat”

The Tapes

• as the burglars went on trial, White House Aid Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had ordered a taping system installed in the White House and the tapes would tell what the president knew

Why did the Nixon administration refuse to hand over the tapes?

due to executive privilege (should remain confidential because of national security)

Archibald Cox

became Special Prosecutor to the prosecution to try and force the president to turn over the tapes. Nixon eventually got him fired

What did the Supreme Court rule?

Nixon had to surrender them

• one tape was missing 18 and ½ minutes (by accidental erasure), but another tape revealed that Nixon had ordered the CIA to stop the FBI investigation

Resignation

the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Nixon on the charges of obstructing justice, misusing federal agencies to violate the rights of citizens and defying the authority of Congress

August 9, 1974

President Nixon resigned from office because impeachment and conviction were inevitable

Vice President Gerald Ford

became the president after Nixon resigned urging Americans to put the scandal behind them saying, “Our long national nightmare is over.”

September 8, 1974

President Ford announced a full pardon for Nixon which drew public criticism and diminished his popularity