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Nixon’s Presidency and Watergate
The Big Idea
Richard Nixon’s policies helped ease Cold War tensions before
the Watergate scandal brought down his presidency.
Main Ideas
• Americans faced domestic challenges, including an energy
and economic crisis.
• Nixon’s foreign policy led to improved relations with
Communist powers.
• The Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign.
• Gerald Ford became president upon Nixon’s resignation
and faced many challenges.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
Americans faced domestic challenges,
including an energy and economic crisis.
• President Nixon promised to work on behalf of Americans who
supported the war.
– Called them the “Silent Majority”
– Criticized student protesters
– Did not believe Americans should leave Vietnam quickly
• New Federalism was Nixon’s new plan for government.
– Limit power of federal government
– Reflected Nixon’s conservatism, or a desire to limit the involvement of
government in citizens’ lives
– Promised to reduce welfare spending and restore law and order
– Opposed new civil rights legislation
Holt McDougal,
Economic Troubles
• America was experiencing stagflation– the economic condition
of combined stagnant growth and high inflation.
– Rising prices reduced purchasing power of the U.S. dollar by more
than 30 percent.
• Rising oil costs contributed to inflation.
– United States imported almost one-third of its oil from Middle
Eastern countries that belonged to the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries, or OPEC.
– OPEC worked to control production and keep oil prices high.
• When the United States helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War,
OPEC declared an embargo, or ban, on oil sales to the United
States.
– Oil and gas prices soared.
– Energy crises worsened an already weak economy.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
Nixon’s foreign policy led to improved
relations with Communist powers.
• Nixon took a realpolitik approach to foreign policy.
– Foreign policy decisions would be based on practical American
interests, not on moral or political ideals.
– Helped bring an end to Vietnam War
• Approach was controversial.
– The United States backed harsh military governments in Latin
America because they were friendly to the United States.
• Nixon worked to widen the split between Soviet Union and China
and also to improve U.S. relations with both Communist powers.
Holt McDougal,
Soviet Union and China
China
• In 1972 Nixon visited China.
– Met Chinese leader Mao Zedong
– Improved U.S.-China relations
Soviet Union
• In May 1972 Nixon flew to Moscow and participated in the
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) with Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev.
– Talks led to a treaty limiting each country’s nuclear weapons.
– Opened a period of détente, or less hostile relations, between the
United States and the Soviet Union
– Soviets began buying grain from American farmers.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 3:
The Watergate scandal forced Nixon to
resign.
• On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested while breaking into
the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate
Hotel in Washington, D.C.
– Burglars carried camera and recording equipment.
– Police discovered link between burglars and Nixon administration.
• Nixon denied involvement in the break-in.
– Went on to landslide victory in the 1972 election
• The break-in then exploded into a massive political scandal that
became known as Watergate.
Holt McDougal,
The Watergate Scandal
Investigation
• Reporters Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein investigated,
found a secret contact, and
learned of illegal activities by
Nixon administration officials.
• Senate committee also
investigated and learned that
Nixon made recordings of Oval
Office conversations.
• Nixon was compelled to turn
over the tapes after a ruling
by the Supreme Court.
• Recordings proved Nixon had
directed the Watergate coverup and lied about it.
Holt McDougal,
Nixon’s Resignation
• House Judiciary Committee
recommended impeachment
and began the process on July
27, 1974.
• On August 8, 1974, Nixon
appeared on national
television and announced
resignation.
• Gerald Ford was sworn in as
president on August 9, 1974.
• Many Americans lost faith in
government officials.
Main Idea 4:
Gerald Ford became president upon Nixon’s
resignation and faced many challenges.
• Vice President Gerald Ford became president when Nixon
resigned.
– First modern president to hold the office without being elected to it
– Lost some public support when he granted Nixon a pardon, or
freedom from punishment
• Ford began a campaign called Whip Inflation Now (WIN).
– Encouraged people to save money and businesses to hold down
wages and prices
– Met with resistance in Congress
• In 1975, Ford and Congress began to compromise on WIN, but
inflation and unemployment remained high.
Holt McDougal,
America in the 1970s
The Big Idea
Americans faced major challenges both at home and around
the world in the 1970s.
Main Ideas
• American society debated key social issues during the
1970s.
• Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976.
• Carter had successes as well as failures in foreign policy
during his administration.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
American society debated key social issues
during the 1970s.
• The American population was changing in the 1970s.
– Most immigrants came from Latin America and Asia.
– Birth rate declined
– By 1970, Americans 65 and older became one of the fastest
growing population groups.
• America faced new challenges in finding ways to balance
the views of all Americans.
– The Equal Rights Amendment caused national debate, but
failed.
– 1972 law known as Title IX banned discrimination on basis of
sex in federally funded educational programs.
– In 1973 the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v.
Wade.
Holt McDougal,
Issues of the 1970s
Affirmative Action
Environment
• Americans debated
affirmative action, the
practice of giving special
consideration to nonwhites or
women to make up for past
discrimination.
• Biologist Rachel Carson
brought attention to
environmental issues such as
pollution in the 1970s.
• Supporters argued it was
needed to improve educational
and job opportunities for
minorities and women.
• Congress passed new laws to
limit the release of pollutants.
• Opponents insisted that any
race- or gender-based
preferences were unfair.
Holt McDougal,
• April 22, 1970, was the first
celebration of Earth Day.
• The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) was established
in 1970 to enforce
environmental legislation.
• Debates on balancing business
and environmental concerns.
Main Idea 2:
Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976.
• Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter defeated Republican
nominee Gerald Ford in a close 1976 election.
• Carter faced many challenges.
– Economy sluggish, high unemployment and inflation
– High oil prices
– Had a difficult time convincing Congress to support his
proposals
• Carter hoped to use nuclear energy to help solve energy
crisis.
– Accident at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant caused new
worries about safety of nuclear energy.
– No new reactors would be built until the mid-1980s.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 3:
Carter had successes as well as failures in
foreign policy during his administration.
• Carter favored policies that promoted human rights– the
basic rights and freedoms of all people.
– Reduced U.S. aid to former allies that committed human
rights violations
– Worked to pressure South African government into ending
apartheid, a system of laws requiring racial segregation
– Called for sanctions, or economic penalties, to encourage
reform
Holt McDougal,
Latin America and the Soviet Union
• Policy in Latin America
– In 1977 Carter signed treaties that would transfer control of
Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000.
• Relations with the Soviet Union
– Détente broke down when Carter criticized the Soviet Union
for committing human rights abuses.
– When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Carter broke
off arms talks and refused to allow athletes to participate in
1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Holt McDougal,
The Middle East
• Carter worked to ease tensions in the Middle East.
– In 1978, he helped Egypt and Israel reach a peace
agreement in the Camp David Accords.
• In 1979, rebels overthrew the shah, or king, of Iran and
established an Islamic fundamentalist dictatorship.
• On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students
attacked the U.S. embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran,
and seized about 90 hostages.
– The Iran hostage crisis lasted for more than a year.
– After a failed rescue attempt in 1980, many Americans lost
confidence in Carter’s leadership.
Holt McDougal,
The Reagan Presidency
The Big Idea
President Reagan enacted conservative policies at home and
took a strong anti-Communist stance in the Cold War.
Main Ideas
• President Reagan based his policies on conservative ideas.
• Reagan took a tough stand against communism in his
foreign policy.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
President Reagan based his policies on
conservative ideas.
• Republican candidate Ronald Reagan won an easy victory over
President Carter in the 1980 election.
– Asked voters, “Are you better off than when you were four years
ago?”
– On the day of his inauguration, January 20, 1981, Iran finally
released the American hostages after 444 days of captivity.
• Reagan’s approach to government based on conservative ideas
– Wanted to cut taxes
– Promised to scale back the size of government
– Encouraged expansion in key industries by reducing government
regulations
– Appointed conservative justices to the Supreme Court, including
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve as a Supreme Court
justice
Holt McDougal,
“Reaganomics”
• Reagan’s economic policies were based on a theory called
supply-side economics.
– Called for sharp tax cuts, with goal of increasing amount of
money people and businesses have to invest
– Investment would lead to economic growth and creation of
new jobs
– Over time, increased economic activity would produce
increased tax revenues for government.
– Became known as “Reaganomics”
• Spending on defense increased.
– New spending outpaced the new tax revenues.
– Resulted in a deficit– the amount by which a government’s
spending exceeds its revenues.
Holt McDougal,
Election of 1984
• President Reagan ran for reelection in 1984 against
Democratic candidate Walter Mondale.
– Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, the
first woman to run for vice president on a major ticket.
• Reagan won a landslide victory with 59 percent of the
popular vote.
– Economy was booming.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
Reagan took a hard stand against
communism in his foreign policy.
Central America
The Soviet Union
• Reagan supported antiCommunist governments in
Central America and sent aid to
them as they fought civil wars.
• Reagan took a tough stand
against the Soviet Union by
halting arms negotiations and
expanding U.S. military.
• Congress passed Boland
Amendment in 1984, banning
U.S. aid to Contras, rebels in
Nicaragua.
• When Mikhail Gorbachev
became the new Soviet leader,
he began a process of economic
and political reforms called
perestroika.
• Iran-Contra affair broke when
it was exposed that some U.S.
officials had continued to send
aid to the Contras via illegal sale
of arms to Iran.
Holt McDougal,
• Reagan saw Gorbachev’s desire
for change and signed the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty, eliminating all
medium-range nuclear weapons
in Europe.