Nixon, Ford, and Carter Era Practise Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, focusing on major domestic events, economic shifts, and foreign policy breakthroughs.

Law and Order

Nixon’s $1968$ campaign theme promising to crack down on crime, riots, and anti-war protests while restoring stability.

Southern Strategy

Nixon’s approach to quietly appeal to white southern voters upset with civil rights changes, helping flip the South toward the Republican Party.

Silent Majority

Nixon’s term for the large group of Americans who wanted stability and traditional values and were not participating in protests or riots.

New Federalism

A goal to shift power and responsibility from the federal government back to state and local governments through revenue sharing and block grants.

Revenue sharing

A system under New Federalism where the federal government provided money to states with fewer strings attached.

Block grants

Federal funds provided to states that offered more flexibility in how the money could be spent.

OPEC

The group of oil-producing countries that cut oil exports to the U.S. in $1973$, triggering a national energy crisis and an oil embargo.

Henry Kissinger

Nixon’s National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State who architected détente and the diplomatic opening with China.

Détente

A policy of easing Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as well as with China.

Realpolitik

A diplomatic style focused on national interest and power rather than ideology, practiced by Kissinger and Nixon.

Nixon Doctrine

A policy stating the U.S. would support allies with economic and military aid, but those allies should fight their own wars.

Shanghai Communiqué

The document resulting from Nixon’s $1972$ trip to China that laid the groundwork for future normalization of relations.

SALT I

A $1972$ agreement that limited ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles, and included the ABM Treaty between the U.S. and USSR.

CREEP

The Committee to Re-elect the President, which was connected to the five men who broke into the Watergate complex in June $1972$.

Watergate

The scandal involving a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and a subsequent cover-up by the Nixon administration.

Executive privilege

The president’s claim that communications can be kept secret to protect executive function, ruled limited by the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Nixon.

Smoking Gun

A June $23$, $1972$, tape recording proving Nixon ordered the CIA to block the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in.

Woodward and Bernstein

The Washington Post reporters who investigated Watergate and used sources like 'Deep Throat' to expose the White House cover-up.

Pardon of Nixon

The September $1974$ action by Gerald Ford to grant Richard Nixon a full, unconditional pardon for any crimes committed as president.

$25 ext{th}$ Amendment

Constitutional amendment used to appoint Gerald Ford as Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned, and later to elevate him to the presidency.

Stagflation

An economic condition of the $ext{1970s}$ characterized by stagnant growth, high unemployment, and high inflation occurring simultaneously.

Whip Inflation Now (WIN)

Ford’s voluntary program in $1974$ that encouraged Americans to save more and spend less to combat rising prices.

Helsinki Accords

A $1975$ international agreement focusing on human rights and borders in Europe, continuing Nixon's policy of détente.

Washington outsider

The image Jimmy Carter used in the $1976$ election as a peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia promising integrity.

Camp David Accords

A $1978$ peace framework between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, brokered by Jimmy Carter.

Iran hostage crisis

A crisis from $1979$ to $1981$ where Iranian militants held $52$ Americans for $444$ days at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Malaise speech

The media label for Carter’s $1979$ 'Crisis of Confidence' speech, where he addressed a deep sense of doubt and pessimism in America.

Panama Canal treaties

Agreements signed by Jimmy Carter that arranged the transfer of control of the canal from the U.S. to Panama.