Download A Crisis in Confidence

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Section Summary
NIXON AND THE WATERGATE SCANDAL
In 1968, Richard Nixon narrowly defeated Democrat Hubert
Humphrey to win the presidency. During the campaign, Nixon
claimed to represent the silent majority, the working men and
women who made up Middle America. He believed that they were
tired of “big” government. However, he also believed that they
wanted the government to address social problems like crime and
pollution. He proposed revenue sharing, in which the federal government gave money to the states to run social programs. He also
sponsored programs to regulate workplace safety, to administer the
federal war on illegal drugs, and to enforce environmental standards. Nixon’s presidency was plagued by a combination of
recession and inflation that came to be known as stagflation. When
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed
an oil embargo on Israel’s allies, oil prices skyrocketed.
Nixon set out to expand his base of support. His southern
strategy targeted southern whites, who had traditionally voted for
Democrats. He appointed conservative southern judges and criticized the court-ordered busing of school children to achieve
desegregation. However, he also supported new affirmative action
plans in employment and education. Nixon won the 1972 election
easily, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to
sweep the entire South.
In June 1972, burglars broke into the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington. After their conviction,
one of them charged that administration officials had been involved.
Nixon denied any wrongdoing in what came to be known as the
Watergate scandal. In the fall of 1973, Vice President Agnew
resigned in the face of an unrelated corruption scandal. Under the
Twenty-fifth Amendment, Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to become
his new Vice President. Nixon refused to turn over secret tapes of
Oval Office conversations. He claimed executive privilege, which is
the principle that the President has the right to keep certain information confidential. However, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to
turn over the tapes. These tapes provided evidence of Nixon’s
involvement in the coverup. In order to avoid impeachment and
conviction, Nixon resigned in August 1974.
Review Questions
1. What was Richard Nixon’s attitude toward “big” government?
2. How did Watergate lead to a showdown between the President
and the Supreme Court?
© Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved.
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READING CHECK
What was Nixon’s southern
strategy?
VOCABULARY STRATEGY
What does the word pollution
mean in the underlined sentence? Look for context clues in
the surrounding words, phrases,
and sentences. Circle the word
below that is a synonym for
pollution.
• contamination
• purification
READING SKILL
Identify Main Ideas In what
areas did Nixon expand the federal government’s role?
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Section Summary
THE FORD AND CARTER YEARS
Gerald Ford had a long record of public service. When he became
President after Nixon’s resignation, he had the support of Democrats
as well as Republicans. However, he lost support when he
announced that he had pardoned, or officially forgiven, Nixon for
any crimes he might have committed as President. The pardon was
meant to heal the nation’s wounds, but Ford’s critics accused him of
having made a secret deal. The 1974 congressional elections showed
the public’s disapproval of the pardon and the impact of Watergate.
The Republicans lost 48 seats in the House of Representatives.
Former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter won the presidency in
the 1976 election. He was a born-again Christian who won the support of many Christian fundamentalists. He also was a Washington
outsider who had no close ties with the Democratic leadership in
Congress. Most of the bills he submitted to Congress did not pass
without major changes by his own party. A day after his inauguration, he granted amnesty to Americans who had evaded the draft, in
the hope of moving the nation beyond the Vietnam War. Severe
inflation continued, fueled by the ongoing energy crisis. Carter
contended with the oil crisis by calling on Americans to
conserve energy.
The migration of Americans to the Sunbelt and the growth of the
suburbs continued during the 1970s. The Sunbelt’s political power
also grew. An influx of immigrants from Latin America and Asia
also occured. The divorce rate more than doubled between 1965 and
1979, and the number of children born out of wedlock nearly tripled.
The 1970s are sometimes called the “me decade” because many
Americans appeared to be absorbed with self-improvement. This
included an increased interest in fitness and health. Millions began
to jog and eat natural foods.
The 1970s also witnessed a resurgence of fundamental
Christianity. Televangelists such as Jerry Falwell preached to millions on television. Religious conservatives opposed many of the
social changes begun in the 1960s that had gone mainstream in the
1970s. They began to form alliances with other conservatives to forge
a new political majority.
Review Questions
1. What events cast a shadow over Gerald Ford’s presidency?
2. How did Jimmy Carter deal with the energy crisis?
© Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved.
151
READING CHECK
Why were the 1970s called the
“me decade”?
VOCABULARY STRATEGY
What does the word contended
mean in the underlined sentence? Note that the word is a
verb. Ask yourself what kind of
action President Carter was taking in relation to the oil crisis.
Use this strategy to help you figure out what contended means.
READING SKILL
Identify Main Ideas How did
being an outsider in Washington
hurt Carter’s presidency?
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Section Summary
FOREIGN POLICY TROUBLES
Relations with the Soviet Union were central to U.S. foreign policy
during the Ford and Carter administrations. President Gerald Ford
and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev met twice and endorsed the
Helsinki Accords. In this document, the nations of Europe
expressed their support of human rights. However, Ford chose to
put arms control ahead of human rights. The United States continued disarmament talks with the Soviets. When South Vietnam fell to
the communists, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese tried to
escape in rickety boats. These boat people represented the largest
mass migration by sea in modern history.
Early in his presidency, Jimmy Carter announced that his foreign
policy would be guided by a concern for human rights. He tried to
use his foreign policy to end acts of politicial repression, such as
torture. Carter also worked to achieve détente, and in 1979, he
signed the SALT II treaty to limit nuclear arms production. However, relations between the two superpowers took a frosty turn after
the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. Carter
responded by imposing sanctions on the Soviets, including a boycott
of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. Carter also hoped
to change the way the United States dealt with the developing
world. His emphasis on human rights led him to alter the U.S. relationship with a number of dictators.
Carter’s greatest foreign policy success and setback were both in
the Middle East. Egypt and Israel had been enemies since Israel’s
founding in 1948. In 1977, Carter invited the leaders of the two
nations to the presidential retreat. The result was the Camp David
Accords, which led to a peace treaty in which Egypt recognized
Israel. In January 1979, the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran was forced to
flee. Fundamentalist Islamic clerics, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini,
took power. Iranian radicals invaded the U.S. Embassy and took 66
Americans hostage. The Khomeini government took control of both
the embassy and the hostages to defy the United States. The hostage
crisis consumed Carter’s attention during his last year in office. His
failure to win the release of the hostages was viewed as evidence of
American weakness.
Review Questions
1. Compare the foreign policies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
2. How did the Iran hostage crisis affect the last year of Carter’s
presidency?
© Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved.
153
READING CHECK
Why did the United States boycott the 1980 Summer Olympic
Games?
VOCABULARY STRATEGY
What does the word repression
mean in the underlined sentence? Look for context clues in
the surrounding sentences to
help you figure out the meaning
of repression.
READING SKILL
Identify Supporting Details List
two details that support the following statement: Carter’s
greatest foreign policy challenges were in the Middle East.