The 1970s & The Nixon Presidency

Chapter 32

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A government agency created in 1970. Goal was to set and enforce pollution laws to protect the environment.

Detente

Definition: A “relaxation of tensions” between nations.

Goal: To build a better relationship with the Soviet Union and China.

Result: It eased Cold War tensions and led to the best relationship between the USSR and the U.S.

Nixon’s visit to China

Goal 1: Strengthen ties with China.

Goal 2: Make the Soviet Union jealous so they would want to negotiate with the U.S.

SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)

Use: First treaty between the U.S and the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons.

Bonus: It increased trade and scientific sharing between the two superpowers.

The Watergate Scandal

Problem: Nixon’s administration tried to cover up their involvement in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters.

Outcome: Nixon resigned from office because he knew he would be impeached.

Stagflation

Def: An unusual and difficult economic situation combining two things -

Stagnation: Weak economy and high unemployment.

Inflation: Rising prices.

Nixon Pardon

Action: President Ford gave Nixon a full, free, and absolute pardon for ay crimes he may have committed.

Reason: He wanted to spare the country from the division of a long, public trail.

Reaction: American people were furious and Ford’s approval rating dropped from 71% to 50%.

The Iran Hostage Crisis (1979)

Cause: U.S supported the leader of Iran because of oil and anti-communism. When people overthrew the Shah, they declared a Islamic Republic and distrusted the U.S.

Event: November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took 52 people hostage.

Outcome: The Carter administration tried but failed to get them released, damaging Carter’s Presidency.

Liberalism

Government should regulate the economy to protect ordinary people.

Government should use taxes on the wealthy to fund social programs for the poor.

Strongly supports free speech and privacy, opposes government-endorsed religion.

Values diversity as a source of energy and creativity.

Conservatism

Government regulation make the economy less efficient and causes poverty.

Opposes high taxes and programs that transfer wealth away from the rich.

Social problems come from a lack of character, best fixed by religion and private charity.

Deeply distrusts the power of the federal government

The Sunbelt

What: The regions of the South and West United States.

Moving: Get jobs in defense factories during and after WW2.

Why they were conservatives: Opposed high taxes and regulations that could slow down their regions growth. White Southerners were angry due to Democrats supporting the Civil Rights.

Impact: As the Sunbelt population grew larger than the Northeast, it gave the Conservative movement more power and representation in Congress.

The Religious Right

Shocked: Religious Americans felt society lost its moral compass in the 1960s and 70s.

Triggers: The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, court rulings banning prayer in public schools, and rising crime rates.

The Moral Majority: A powerful religious conservative group that formed to help the Republican Party win elections.

Reagan’s Economic Policies

Supply-Side Economics: The belief that cutting taxes on businesses and individuals gives them more money to spend, invest, and create jobs.

Budget Deficit: When the government spends more money than it collects in taxes.

Domestic Cuts: To offset tax cuts and reduce the deficit, Reagan cut funding for welfare, food stamps, school lunches, and student loans.

Deregulation: Reagan eliminated many strict government rules because he believed they made running a business too expensive.

Cold War & The Reagan Doctrine

Military Buildup: Reagan spent heavily on the U.S. military to force the Soviet Union to match the spending, knowing it would bankrupt their weak Communist economy.

Doctrine: The policy of the U.S. providing secret aid to guerrilla groups fights to overthrow Communist governments.

The Iran-Contra Scandal

Law: Congress explicitly banned the U.S. government from sending aid to the “Contras”.

Action: Members of Reagan’s administration secretly sold weapons to Iran and illegally sent the profits to the Contras.

Outcome: Colonel Oliver North and others admitted to a massive cover-up. Reagan approved the arms sales but investigators found he didn’t know about the money going to the Contras. It stained his second term.

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Leaders: Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 and agreed to arms control talks with Reagan.

INF Treaty (1987): Signed by Reagan and Gorbachev, it was the first Treaty to actually destroy nuclear weapons, thawing the Cold War.

Why the Cold War ended

Glasnost: A policy allowing Soviet citizens freedom of speech and religion so they could discuss politics without fear of arrest.

Perestroika: A policy that saved the collapsing Soviet economy by allowing some private enterprise and profit-making.

Fall of Communism (1989-1991)

Eastern Europe (1989): Peaceful revolutions replaced Communist rulers with democratic governments in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

End of the USSR (Dec 1991): After a failed coup attempt by Communist hardliners, all 15 Soviet Republics declared independence, and the Soviet Union officially collapsed and ceased to exist.