An Age of Limits: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Years

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering the political, economic, and environmental events of the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations.

Richard M. Nixon

President who visited China to normalize relationships and officially recognize them; he resigned from office after the release of taped presidential conversations.

New Federalism

Nixon’s program to turn over and limit part of the Federal government’s power by transferring it to state and local governments.

Revenue Sharing

The distribution of federal money to state and local governments with few or no restrictions on how it is spent.

Family Assistance Plan

A 1970 welfare-reform proposal that would have guaranteed income to recipients who agreed to undergo job training and accept work; it was approved by the House but defeated in the Senate.

Southern Strategy

Nixon’s attempt to attract the support of Southern conservative Democrats unhappy with federal desegregation policies and the liberal Supreme Court by slowing down civil rights policies.

Stagflation

An economic condition characterized by both inflation and high unemployment.

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

An economic association of oil-producing nations that cut off U.S. oil supplies during the Yom Kippur War and sets international oil prices.

Realpolitik

A foreign policy advocated by Henry Kissinger based on the consideration of a nation’s power rather than its ideals or moral principles.

Detente

A flexible foreign relations policy involving the willingness to negotiate and an easing of tensions, adopted by Nixon and Kissinger in dealings with communist nations.

SALT I Treaty

A five-year agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1972 that limited the nations’ numbers of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles.

Henry Kissinger

The chief architect of Nixon’s foreign policy who helped formulate the policy of detente.

Impoundment

The presidential practice of withholding funds for federal programs, which was later declared unconstitutional.

Spiro Agnew

Nixon's Vice President who was forced to resign over a separate scandal prior to Nixon's own resignation.

Impeachment

The process of accusing a public official of wrongdoing.

Watergate

A scandal arising from the Nixon administration’s attempt to cover up its involvement in the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

John Sirica

The judge who presided over the Watergate trial.

Committee to Reelect the President

An organization formed to run Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign, which was linked to the Watergate break-in.

Saturday Night Massacre

The name given to the Oct 1973 event where the U.S. attorney general resigned and his deputy was fired after refusing Nixon's order to fire the special prosecutor investigating Watergate.

John Dean, Archibald Cox, and Elliot Richardson

Individuals who were forced out of their jobs during the Watergate scandal.

Gerald R. Ford

The president who took office after Nixon's resignation, pardoned Nixon, and created the 'Whip Inflation Now' program.

Jimmy Carter

U.S. President whose most important domestic issue was the energy crisis and who based his foreign policy on human rights.

National Energy Act

A law enacted under Carter that taxed 'gas-guzzling' cars, removed price controls on U.S. oil and natural gas, and provided credits for alternative energy development.

Human Rights

The rights and freedoms, such as those in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, which served as the basis for President Carter’s foreign policy.

Camp David Accords

A historic 1978 agreement between Israel and Egypt reached during negotiations at Camp David.

Helsinki Accords

A major foreign policy achievement of Gerald Ford’s presidency regarding international cooperation.

Rachel Carson

The author of 'Silent Spring', a book detailing the harmful effects of pesticides.

Earth Day

An annual celebration for environmental education held on April 22.

Environmentalist

A person who works to protect the environment from destruction and pollution.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A federal agency established in 1970 for the regulation of water and air pollution, toxic waste, pesticides, and radiation.