Nixon Ford Carter Administrations

Nixon Personality - intense ambition, paranoia, and a deep sense of loyalty to friends and allies. He was often seen as reserved and introverted, which contributed to his secretive nature

1968 Election, Democrat - Hubert H. Humphrey (liberal)

1968 Election, Republican - Richard Nixon (more conservative)

1968 Election - Nixon won 302 electoral votes and the election

1972 Election - Nixon sabatoged George McGovern and Nixon won reelection in LANDSLIDE

Richard Nixon (background/political experience) - -a lawyer, Naval officer in WWII, anti-communist, republican congressman, vice president under Eisenhower

Nixon Foreign Policy - Focused on realpolitik, emphasizing national interests and pragmatic solutions. Key elements included détente with the Soviet Union and China, and arms control

SALT I - First Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, 5 year agreement that froze number of missiles made (Soviet Union & U.S.A)

G. Gordon Liddy - Former FBI agent a part of the “Plumbers”, Involved in Watergate Scandal

Enemies List - List of prominent people who were seen as unsympathetic to the Nixon Administration (politicians, actors, comedians, etc.)

Spiro Agnew - only vice president to resign while under investigation during Watergate.

Henry Kissinger - National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Richard Nixon, admired realpolitik

Impeachment - to charge a public official with wrong doing in office, Nixon resigned BEFORE impeached

Imperial Presidency - Idea that the President should lead the nation by exerting more power than Congress or the Supreme Court

CREEP - Committee to re-elect the president through legal and illegal methods, Nixon’s funding organization involved in Watergate

Deep Throat - Under cover source Bernstein and Woodward used to confirm information on Watergate, identity was a mystery up until a few years ago when Mark Felt admitted to being deep throat

Mark Felt - Undercover as “Deep Throat” during the Watergate Scandal

Détente - A French word meaning relaxation in tensions, China and Soviet Union both had this type of relationship with the U.S. beginning in the early 70s

Embargo - A ban on Arab countries shipping oil to the United States, quite harmful to the economy in the U.S.

H.R. Haldeman - Advertising executive for Nixon’s campaign, Became Chief of Staff for Nixon and one of Nixon’s close friends that he would turn to in troubling times

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward - Two reporters assigned to the Watergate story and linked it to White House

Neil Armstrong - First man to walk on the moon. Because he walked on the moon it showed that America was right there with the Soviet Union in the space race.

War Powers Act of 1973 - Gave a basis of how U.S. troops could enter a war abroad, prescribes procedures on consulting, reporting and terminating deployment of U.S. armed forces, limited the President's ability to send US troops into combat

Warren Burger - Was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President Nixon.

Watergate - Break in at the Democratic headquarters; members of the Executive branch organized political espionage. People were charged with violation of public trust, bribery, contempt of Congress, and attempted obstruction of justice.

Missing Tapes - Audio recordings from the Nixon administration that were crucial to the Watergate scandal investigations but were found to be missing or erased; secretary accidentally erased

Alexander Butterfield - Deputy assistant to Nixon from 1969-1973. He was a key figure in the Watergate scandal.

August 8, 1974 - Richard Nixon announced his resignation and that he will leave office the next day. Vice President Gerald Ford would take over the presidency effective noon on August 9th.

John Ehrlichman - Chief Domestic Advisor; Nixon’s personal lawyer

John Mitchell - A lawyer who managed Nixon’s presidential campaigns. Nixon asked him to be Attorney General after 1968 election

Inner Circle - Nixon’s informal cabinet of trusted officials: Henry Kissinger, John Ehrlichman, Richard Nixon, H.R. Haldeman

New Federalism - Nixon called for a new partnership between the federal and state governments. Did this by appointing more responsibilities to states for the well-being of citizens

Nixon’s Supreme Court - Nixon named new members of the Supreme Court who were less liberal and harder on the criminals; Made the Court more conservative

Nixon’s visit to China - Nixon meets with leader, Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai to discuss problems and ways to deal with them: first president to visit the Communist China, and recognize it as “The People’s Republic of China”

Nixon’s visit to the USSR - Nixon meets with Premier Leonid I Brezhnev: They negotiated cooperation with space exploration, trade limits, and to limit nuclear arms

OPEC Oil Embargo - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; As a result of the oil embargo, enforced by OPEC, the prices of foreign oil quadrupled in the U.S.

Plumbers - Nixon’s approved organization group to stop government leaks

Realpolitik - a policy to make decisions based on maintaining own strength rather than following moral principles

Spiro Agnew - Only vice president to resign while under investigation during Watergate.

William H. Rehnquist - Served as chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1986 until his death in 2005.

Gerald Ford (background/political experience) - He was in the US House of Representatives, the Vice President of the US, and the President of the US.

Ford Pardoning of Nixon - aiming to heal the nation and move forward from Vietnam, but his popularity decline

Ford’s response to inflation - Ford wanted to replace the confidence in the American public.

1976 Election - In the 1976 election Ford would run against Carter; Carter would win by a small margin.

Fall of Saigon - In 1973 President Nixon signed a cease fire agreement ending U.S military involvement in Vietnam. Without American Military aid Saigon was unable to fight off North Vietnamese attacks

Helsinki Accords - Ford signed the Helsinki accords; It is a series of agreements of European security made at a 1975 summit meeting in Finland. U.S, Canada, S.U, 30 other European countries pledged to cooperate economically, respect existing national boundaries and promote existing human rights.

Inflation - a rise in the level of prices in goods and services.

Carter had trouble controlling inflation without hurting economic growth. Tried to stimulate economy by Government deficit spending to prevent a recession

Stagflation - high inflation, slow economic growth, and high unemployment

Jimmy Carter (background/political experience) - Southerner, family from rural south. No national political experience. Different from recent predecessors in White House. Graduate of U.S naval academy. Engineer officer on nuclear submarines. Took over family’s peanut farm and warehouse when his father died. Entered politics in 1962

Carter’s foreign policy - Support for human rights. Relations with the Soviet Union. Solutions to problems in Middle East

3-Mile Island - Occurred on March 28^th, 1979 in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. An accident where a partial meltdown occurred in a Nuclear generating station that gave off radioactive. Most significant accident in American History in the Nuclear power generating industry

Camp David Accords - When the middle east was having problems, and Israel and Arab nations were fighting in a war, Carter sent his Secretary of State to Camp David which was a Presidential retreat to make peace. He was a peacemaker and got them to agree on a framework for peace that became known as the Camp David Accords

Iran hostage crisis - Revolution that broke out in Iran on January 1979. Led by Muslim fundamentalists. For 444 days, revolutionaries imprisoned 52 American hostages in different locations. Prisoners were blindfolded and moved from place to place. Carter send a rescue mission to retrieve the hostages

Leonid Brezhnev - Soviet Leader; Nixon and Brezhnev agreed to work together to explore space, eased longstanding trade limits, and complete negotiations on a weapons pact.

Love Canal - Located in Niagara Falls, New York. Chemical company dumped 21,000 tons of toxic waste. A school was built over the area despite the knowledge of the toxic waste. It spawned a huge controversy.

Malaise Days - Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” and “Malaise” speech. Carter talked about the confidence loss in the American people, which basically means that the American people did not trust the government.

National Energy Act - Carter Established it in 1978; Tax sales of inefficient, “gas-guzzling,” cars. Convert new utilities to fuels other then oil or natural gas. Deregulate prices for domestic oil and natural gas. Provide tax credits or loans to homeowners for using solar energy. Fund research for alternative energy sources

Panama Canal - Built in 1914. Used transport goods from Atlantic to Pacific. Carter agreed to turn control over to the Panamanians at the end of the 20^th century

SALT II - Negotiations between Carter and Brezhnev. It was an agreement to limit nuclear weapons between US and Soviet Union. Never ratified- fell apart when Soviets invade Afghanistan

Affirmative Action - It took race, ethnicity, and gender into consideration to promote equality. Benefits diversity in all levels of society. People were against it because they felt like people were chosen because of their ethnic background

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke? - Court case involving Bakke and University of California. Slots were opened for disadvantaged minority groups. There was no rule for disadvantaged Caucasians. The court ruled in favor of Bakke June 23, 1978

Shah of Iran - leader of Iran until the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Ayatollah Khomeini - leader of the Iranian Revolution, he became the Supreme Leader of Iran after the Shah was overthrown, advocating for an Islamic

Husston Plan - Legal and Illegal methods to get Nixon reelected and “protect” the U.S.