Republican Reaction: the Nixon Presidency, 1968-1974

what caused the republicans to gain some popularity in the 1966 congressional elections

growing dissatisfaction over vietnam and the riots

evidence of nixon's wide support base

supported by preacher billy graham (pro civil rights) and storm thurmond (segregationist)

who did johnson lose to in the first primary

eugene mccarthy, anti-war candidate for the democrat party

won 41% of the vote

what catalysed johnson's decision not to run for president

bobby kennedy announcing he was running for the presidential nomination

won the california primary

when did johnson withdraw from the presidential race

31st march 1968

bobby kennedy death

shot by sirhan sirhan on 6th june 1968

which four candidates were running for the democratic presidential nomination

hubert humphrey - incumbent vp

eugene mccarthy - anti-war candidate

bobby kennedy - racial equality and civil rights

george wallace - segregationist

how did nixon position himself in comparison to his opponents in the election campaign

in the middle of wallace's blatant racism and humphrey's very liberal approaches

who replaced bobby kennedy as candidate for the democratic nomination

george mcgovern

how many police were mobilised in case of disturbance at the 1968 DNC in chicago

23,000

how many protestors arrived to 'shut down' the DNC

10,000

SDS, the Yippies, the national mobilisation committee to end the war in vietnam

on what day did rioting involving beating and tear gas take place during the DNC

28th august 1968

role of media during chicago DNC riots

switched between shots of humphrey celebrating the nomination and the protests

how many letters of support did mayor daley supposedly get praising his handling of the dnc protesters

130,000

how did the disastrous DNC benefit nixon

increased nixons lead in the polls to double digits

nixons advantage over humphrey

courted big business which gave him significantly more donations than humphrey could manage to get

spent heavily on advertising

the southern strategy

nixon's plan to persuade conservative southern white voters away from the democratic party

appealed to white resentment of civil rights and white racism but in a way that wasn't as explicit as wallace

led to switch from southern states supporting democrats to supporting republicans for decades on

how did nixon sabotage vietnam peace talks

knew that failed peace talks with debilitate humphrey's reputation further

nixon's campaign team privately spoke with south vietnamese government to hold off on the peace talks because they would get a better deal when nixon won

how did wallace help nixon win

won 10 million votes in the south on segregationist campaign

split the vote for humphrey

by what % did nixon win the 1968 election

43%

what were the problems with vietnam that nixon faced

the issue of winning the war

the economic cost of continuing to fight

the social costs of protest and the damage that was being done to the national image

unemployment and inflation when nixon came to office

3.3% unemployment (low)

4.7% inflation (highest since end of korean war)

new federalism

nixons plan for a reduction of the size and involvement of the federal government

which act provided funding to states and municipalities and how much money did it provide

1972 state and local assistance act

gave $4 billion per year, amounted to $83 billion in total

what did nixon do to tackle issues of the environment

created the environmental protection agency (EPA)

discussed environmental issues in his state of the union speeches

passed 1970 clean air act

what did nixon do to tackle issue of substance abuse

1970 comprehensive drug abuse prevention and control act

declared drug abuse to be 'public enemy number one' following report of prevalent heroin abuse by vietnam veterans

created 1973 drug enforcement administration (DEA)

who did nixon appoint to the supreme court which led to a more conservative period in court afterwards

warren burger 1969

what republican party weaknesses benefited nixon

reagan's lack of preparedness

rockefellers hesitation over standing

romney's lack of reaction to the riots

silent majority

predominantly white and working class group who felt they were being ignored in favour of the 'vocal minority' who had facilitated the erosion of traditional conservative values

progressive change happening during johnson that the silent majority didnt agree with

- minority ethnic groups getting more civil rights and influence in politics

- rapid advancement of technology

- supreme court ruling in favour of liberal cases eg roe v wade rather than conservative

how many americans believed there were too many people receiving welfare money that should be working

84% in 1968 poll

proportion of children on welfare under nixon

1 in 9 children

1 in 3 black children

rise in the number of families with dependent children receiving aid under nixon (AFDC)

1960 - 3 million

1970 - 8.4 million

how did nixon attack the principles and programmes of the great society

shrank OEO

closed job corps centres

cut federal funding for housing and youth programmes

family assistance plan (FAP)

replace bureaucracy-heavy aid schemes (eg food stamps) and give direct cash payments to those in need

all recipients would have to either work or do vocational training

how much money would welfare recipients receive per year under FAP

$1600

critics said that this was insufficient for a family of four

how many more americans were eligible for aid under FAP

13 million

opponents of FAP

conservatives - disliked idea of guaranteed annual income for the workshy

unions - saw it as a threat to the minimum wage

bureaucrats - feared job losses

public - addition of working poor would expand welfare by millions

what happened to FAP

died in 1972 bc of unpopularity and unaffordability

which act did nixon veto because it was too expensive

1971 child development act

would've provided free childcare to enable poor mothers to work

what shows that nixon still cared about poor americans

spent more on social programmes than johnson

nixon increased federal expenditure on...

- education

- private healthcare

- social security

- medicare and medicaid

nixon healthcare proposals

1971 - health insurance reform and the federalisation of medicaid for poor families with dependent children

1974 - even more comprehensive health insurance reform

acts introduced by nixon that imposed more bureaucracy on business

1972 noise control act

1973 endangered species act

1974 safe drinking water act

which civil rights policy from under johnson did nixon revoke

busing - transferring students from under privileged neighbourhoods to better neighbourhoods and vice versa in order to end de facto segregation

what did nixon and middle america think of the democrats approach to law and order

thought they had been too liberal and soft on crime

eg 1966 miranda ruling - felt that they were giving the accused more rights than the victim

example of nixon dealing with radicals harshly

28 black panthers killed by the police

prosecution of the chicago eight in 1970 for anti-war riots

how many troops in vietnam were removed in 1969

85,000

nixons strategies for dealing with anti-vietnam protests

1. withdraw troops

2. alter the criteria for the draft

3. conceal the most damaging realities of vietnam

4. use speeches to question the patriotism of anti-war protesters

vocally anti-war celebrities that damaged the war effort

john lennon and yoko ono ('give peace a chance')

muhammad ali

musicians: bob dylan, jimi hendrix, joan baez

kent state university shooting

1970

students protesting nixon's expansion into cambodia

national guard deployed and shoot at the students

9 students wounded (one paralysed for life), 4 dead (2 of whom hadn't been involved in the demonstration)

hard hat riots

1000 students protesting kent state shooting in new york

attacked by 200 construction workers for their lack of patriotism

public response to hard hat riots

130,000 attend pro-nixon rally less than 2 weeks later

vietnam veterans protest

april 1971

throw away over 700 medals on the steps of the capitol building

when were 1146 people arrested for trying to shut down congress to protest the vietnam war

may 1971

how many were in favour of the vietnam war in 1971 gallup poll

28%

when did anti-vietnam war sentiment reach its peak (through protests)

1970

what tactics did nixon use to try and control the protests (that failed to work)

cancelling protesters' permits

encouraging pro-war protests

repeatedly asserting that the war was nearly over (1969, 1972, 1973)

impact of urban riots on perceptions of the civil rights movement

white liberal sympathy for the movement dissipated

what % of black students were attending segregated schools by 1970

10%

how did george schultz facilitate desegregation of schools

made federal aid available to school committees who complied with desegregation plans

philadelphia plan

1970

executive order issued which required govt contractors to make efforts to hire minority workers until targets were reached

first ever federal affirmative action programme

which universities added 'black studies' courses under nixon

duke, cornell, harvard

first black woman elected to congress

shirley chisholm 1968

when was the congressional black caucus founded

1971

what happened to civil rights groups like SNCC and the black panthers under nixon

significantly reduced in size and influence

donations dried up, popular support drops after some controversial policies eg eldridge cleaver visit to north korea

how did nixon diversify his administration

increased the number of female appointments

what did nixon create to address women's rights

presidential task force on women's rights

how did nixon use the civil rights act to address sex discrimination

instructed justice departments to bring sex discrimination suits under title VII of the act

how did nixon get the dept. of labour to address sex discrimination

encouraged dept of labour to add sex discrimination provisions to the guidelines for its office of federal contract compliance

what tactic did nixon employ to address the overheating economy

monetary restraint

what was wrong with nixons gradualist approach to the economy

did not produce results fast enough

unemployment rate by 1970

6%

what did the chairman of the federal reserve recommend nixon do to address inflation without having to resort to tax increases

limit federal spending to under $200 billion

impact of limiting federal spending under nixon

required pay freezes, which led to strikes (notably from postal workers)

what else was negatively impacting the economy under nixon

vietnam taking huge sums out of the budget

rising unemployment and inflation

stagflation

stagnant economy accompanied by inflation

what did nixon and his economic advisers do to try and tackle the issue of stagflation

1971 adopted a New Economic Policy

features of nixons new economic policy

wage-and-price freeze

tax cuts

10% import tax to protect american business

ended bretton-woods accord

was nixons new economic policy successful

yes - public approval was immediate and a boom began which worked to offset some of the damage of vietnam

oil crisis

1973

price of oil quadrupled

what caused the oil crisis of 1973

OPEC countries decide to retaliate against america's policy of arming israel in the yom kippur war

what else exacerbated the oil crisis

americans seeking out imported cars which had more economical engines, particularly from japan

had detrimental effect on the american automobile industry as they struggled to compete with japanese manufacturers

governments attempts to manage the oil crisis

nixon told gas retailers not to sell gas on weekdays

called for national gas rationing

banned outdoor christmas lights in commercial settings

inflation by 1974

12%

how did nixons reputation benefit him

very anti-communist

gave him political capital needed to carry out key foreign policy goals

nixons relations with soviet countries

established relations with both the soviet union and china, whilst also playing the two off against each other

madman theory

nixon's foreign policy technique

countries led to believe that nixon was insane and volatile, making them avoid provoking the US for fear of an unpredictable and disproportionate response

what did nixon do to try and demonstrate the madman theory

secretly bombed communist supply lines on the ho chi minh trail in cambodia

talked of bombing agricultural lowlands in north vietnam that could drown over 1 million people

where did nixon expand the vietnam war into

laos and cambodia

how did nixon change the military

moved it to full global war readiness alert

gave instructions to bombers armed with thermonuclear weapons to fly practice missions across the soviet border

vietnamisation

policy of training south vietnamese troops to take over fighting so that american troops could be withdrawn

vietnam peace deal

1972 north vietnam propose a peace deal that would preserve the territory they currently held

kissinger in favour, south vietnam oppose

how did north vietnam handle south vietnams opposition to the peace deal

broadcast provisions of the agreement to intensify the pressure on nixon to override south vietnams objections

nixons ultimatum to south vietnam

if they did not agree to the settlement then congress would end all aid to the south vietnamese government

promised that america would retaliate militarily if north vietnam violated the agreement

christmas bombing

1972 bombing campaign

largest and most destructive aerial campaign of the entire vietnam war

when were the paris peace accords signed

23rd January 1973

kissingers foreign policy preference

america should prioritise defending its national interests over weak principles of justice and rights

could then use its economic and military superiority to force its rivals to come to terms

what divided nixon and kissinger

nixon recognised that foreign policy decisions needed to be able to be justified on moral grounds for their electoral appeal

kissinger didnt hold morality as a necessary factor for determining policy decisions

impact of stalins death on sino-soviet relations

deteriorated

led to war between china and ussr in 1969