4/24/2012

1

The Rise and Fall of Richard

NixonCh. 40

1. Foreign Policy summary: accommodation

with Soviets and recognition of China

“After a period of confrontation, we

are entering an era of

negotiation.” -Richard Nixon’s

1st Inaugural Address

• Nixon’s go-to guy was Henry Kissinger

• Shuttle diplomacy

• Nixon Doctrine (1969)

– Honor treaties

– Allies should use their own manpower for their own defense.

– Limited economic and military aid

• “Vietnamization”- “expand, equip and

get out”

First-Term Foreign Policy Goals

• Strategic arms limitation (SALT)

• Peaceful negotiation with foreign powers

– “Rapprochement” with China (ally against USSR)• Recognizes China

– “Détente” with the Soviet Union

Ping-Pong Diplomacy

• American ping pong team is invited to china in 1971.

• First Americans to visit China since 1949

• Opening of diplomatic relations

• U.S. lifts 20-year embargo

Détente with the Soviets

• After years of hostile relations, a cooling:

– Détente focused on peaceful negotiations and weapon limitations between the two nations.

• Unlike previous administrations, Nixon and Kissinger hope for a mutually

beneficial relationship

• Not Soviets caving to

Americans

4/24/2012

2

• Reduced commitments of manpower to foreign nations (Nixon Doctrine)

• “Peace with honor” in Vietnam

– Minimal public support for the war

– Major reason for Nixon’s election in ‘68

2. Domestic

• “New Federalism”

– Balance the power of the feds

with states

– Allow some power in

Washington return to states

• Environmental Protection Agency

• Clean Air Act (vetoed by Nixon)

• OSHA

• Title IX

• Moon Landing ‘69

I walked on the moon!

• Spending billions of dollars to send some

dudes to the moon to walk around provided a nice break from

serious racial,

socioeconomic issues, oh and Vietnam

• Clean Air Act

(1970)

• Clear Water Act

(1972)

– States had specific federal guidelines to follow or face

penalties with pollution

• Responses to the

growing environmental

movement

4/24/2012

3

Energy crisis

• 1970- Worldwide oil shortages (both perceived and

real)

– Economic Stabilization Act

• 90 day freeze on all wages and

prices

• 1973- Arabs upset about support for Israel

• OPEC Oil Embargo

– National speed limit of 55 MPH

– Gas lines and crappier cars

Cool (early 70s) Not cool (late 70s)

Stagflation

17

• Inflation plus

unemployment

• Defied economic

patterns

4/24/2012

4

Stagflation (4 reasons)

20

1. Johnson’s administration paid

for Great Society and Vietnam without tax increases

2. Stiff competition from West Germany and

Japan

3. Cheap energy

4. New workers entered the workforce

Tokyo1945

Tokyo 1975

3. The Court Shifts to the Right

• Nixon and other conservative

balked at liberal Warren-era decisions:– Gideon v.

Wainwright (1963)– Miranda v. Arizona

(1966)– Engel v. Vitale

(1961)• Nixon appoints Warren

Burger to move the court

to the right

3. The Court Shifts to the Right

• However, Roe v. Wade (1973)

3. The Court Shifts to the Right

• But also takes a shot at affirmative action in U.C.

Davis v. Bakke

(1979)

4. Social

4/24/2012

5

5. Watergate and the Fall of

Nixon

How does a piece of tape cause a president to resign?

“Pentagon Papers,”

1971 and Nixon’s mistrust of the

Media

“Pentagon Papers,”

1971 and Nixon’s mistrust of the

Media

• Former defense analyst

Daniel Ellsberg

leaked govt. docs.

regarding war efforts

during Johnson’s

administration to the

New York Times.

New York Times v. United States (1971)

� Docs.���� Govt. misled

Congress & Amer.

People regarding its

intentions in Vietnam

during mid-1960s.

� Primary reason for

fighting not to

eliminate

communism, but to

avoid humiliating

defeat.

• Nixon White House created an internal unit designed to ensure internal security�“plumbers” to stop the leaks

“A third rate burglary”

• Polls showed Nixon trailing McGovern in early ‘72

• “Plumbers” turn to political espionage

• Five men (CREEP) are arrested while planting electronic surveillance equipment inside the DNC in the Watergate Office Complex

• Story disappears from the front pages

4/24/2012

6

When reporters did their job

• Investigative reporters Bob Woodward and

Carl Bernstein uncover a paper trail through the inappropriately

named “Deep Throat”

Cool informant in parking garage Really old guy in 2005

• Deep Throat gives a paper trail that

implicates scores of FBI, CIA and Justice Department officials in

a cover-up

• At the time, Nixon had

ordered the CIA to block the investigation

Fall Guys

• Nixon scrambles to pin the break-in on

the above guys

White House

Counsel John Dean

Key White House

Advisor John

Ehrlichma

n

White House

Chief of Staff

H.R.

Haldeman

The Senate Hearings

• Sen. Sam Ervin opens up the Watergate

Hearings

• Special Prosecutor

Archibald Cox is

appointed to

investigate

• Dean testifies he’d paid “hush money” to

the Watergate burglars

The tapes

• Haldeman’s assistant Alexander Butterfield

testifies about a secret

White House

recording system

– Goes back to JFK and

LBJ

• Why you’d want to record criminal acts is unclear

“The Saturday Night Massacre”

• Country is in uproar

• Cox subpoenas the

tapes

• Nixon refuses

(executive

privilege) and orders Cox fired

• Goes through three people at Justice to

do it “I’m not a crook!”

4/24/2012

7

The Tapes

• Supreme Court forces Nixon to surrender the tapes, the effect was devastating.

• Implicates Nixon from the earliest days of the Watergate cover-up;

– authorizing the payment of hush

money, and attempting to use the CIA to interfere with the FBI investigation.

• One tape, which promised to be particularly damaging, has an 18 ½

minute gap erased into the

conversation.

• Nixon’s private secretary Rosemary Woods humiliatingly demonstrated for photographers how she could have inadvertently triggered the machine that erased the tape with her foot as she reached for the telephone, but no one bought it.

The Smoking Gun

• Most damaging tapes, called “the smoking gun tapes,” were released on 5 August 1974,

• House Judiciary Committee had approved Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon.

• The effect was devastating, as even Nixon’s supporters abandoned him.

Nixon Resigns

• Faced with

impeachment, President Richard

Milhouse Nixon

resigns the presidency on

August 9, 1974

Watergate and the Fall of Nixon

• Effects of Watergate

1. Cynicism and skepticism

towards the presidency

for years

2. Through the failings of the

executive branch, the

congress and the media

are strengthened (War

Powers Act)

3. Journalism majors increase

50%!

4. Every political scandal now ends in “-gate”! i.e.

Monicagate

Gerald FordThe First Unelected (illegitimate)

President

4/24/2012

8

The Nixon Pardon

• Pardon for Nixon

• Any crimes

“discovered or

undiscovered”

• Another “corrupt

bargain”??????

Foreign Affairs

• Helsinki Accords– July 1975– Continuation of Detente– Legitimized Soviet

boundaries of Poland

– Soviets agreed to be more open and more humane…right…

• Fall of Saigon– April 29, 1975

Social• Feminist Movement gains momentum

– Roe v Wade

– Title IX

– ERA

• Phyllis Shlafly

• Death of Other Civil Rights

– Reversals in Integration

– Failure of Affirmative Action

– The Native “WHO CARES” Civil Rights Movement

Jimmy Carter

The Nice Guy Who Finished First

Then…

Election of 1976

• The Bicentennial

• Republicans –

Gerald Ford

• Democrats – Jimmy

Carter (dark horse)

– Campaign against Nixon/Watergate

– “I’ll never lie to you.”

4/24/2012

9

Political (Domestic)

• Created Department

of Energy (1977)

• Cut taxes

• Pardoned Vietnam

Draft Dodgers

Political (Domestic) cont.

• Massive inflation– 13% in 1979

• Failing economy

• Americans must Globalize trade

• Dollar Loses Value as Prices go up!!!

• Interest rates soared (no loans… no small business loans… no construction!)

Oil Crisis (Again)

• Blamed economic woes on our reliance on Foreign Oil

• Iranian Revolution 1979– Cuts off oil to U.S.

• OPEC raises Prices

• July 15, 1979- “Crisis of Confidence” Speech– Seen as Hypocritical

– Seen as naïve/inexperienced

Foreign Affairs• ACTUALLY committed to

HUMAN RIGHTS in foreign affairs

• Championed the poor and oppressed:– Rhodesia– Nicaragua– Argentina (Will condemn

military dictators in L.A.)

• Full diplomatic relations with China in 1979

• Panama Treaties– Panama took ownership of

canal in 2000

Camp David Accords

• September 1978

• Egypt – President Anwar Sadat

• Israel – Prime Minister Menachem Begin

• Peace Accord:– Israel agreed to

withdrawal from conquered territory

– Egypt agreed to respect Israel’s borders

SALT II

• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (Number

2)

• Failed in Ratification in Senate

– Conservative Cold Warriors saw it as Naïve

4/24/2012

10

Afghanistan

• Soviets invade Afghanistan in 1979

• Causes fear in U.S.– Are they attempting to

expand communism and conquer world?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

– Reinvigorates old ideas:• Containment

• Truman Doctrine

• U.S. will supply arms and training to Afghanistanis

– OSAMA!!!!!

Iranian Hostage Crisis• November 4, 1979• Anti-American militants attack

U.S. embassy in Teheran• Demanded a return of the Shah

– Not to power… But for justice!

• Attempted Economic Sanctions

• Military rescue (extreme failure)

• 444 day crisis

• Carter loses Re-election and Leave an Embarrassed Failure

Start of Chapter 41

Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, Bush,

Obama, Romney???? (Doubtful!)

Election of 1980

Early Years

• President of the Screen

Actors Guild

– purged communists from film industry.

• 1940’s

– a FDR Democrat.

• 1954

– Spokesmen for G.E. and started preaching anti-

govt., conservative-ism’s

Reagan Era

• Oldest President

Ever (69)

• Campaigns as a

Cold Warrior– Why were Americans

willing to accepts Kennan’s Containment AGAIN!

4/24/2012

11

Reaganomics!

• Adopts massive tax

cuts along with sharp defense spending

increases– Supply-side + demand-

side = VOODOO economics

– Staggering budget deficits: $250 billion

– Trade deficit hit $150 Billion

– Carter had been criticized for a $60 Billion deficit

• Reagan Recession (really Carter’s) of 1982

• America becomes world’s largest debtor

• Unemployment reaches 11%

• Growing rich/poor disparities

• So if he cut domestic spending, where did all the money go?

• 2 Trillion $ budget in 1982

A refrozen “Cold War”

• 1979 USSR invades Afghanistan

• 1980 US pulls out of Moscow Olympics

• 1981 Poland tries to leave USSR

– Solidarity movement squashed by TANKS

• 1981 US puts embargo on ALL of USSR

• 1982 Israel invades Lebanon

• 1984 USSR pulls out of Olympics

• 1984 Reagan wins election as massive inflation pulls

economy out of slump– Moral conservatism reveals its appeal among blue-collar voters

4/24/2012

12

Gorbachev elected Soviet Premiere

1985• Announces Glasnost:

Openness in USSR for free

speech and some political reform

• Perestroika: introduction of capitalism in some areas

• Announces he will remove all INF’s targeting Western Europe.

• Asked for 4 meetings with Reagan to lower MAD.

Iran-Contra Scandal

• 1985 – Israel encourages the sale of weapons to Iran– Why?

• CIA and Defense Department use profits to arm “Contra” (Counter-revolutionaries) in Nicaragua– Had been forbidden by Congress

• 14 Administration members Convicted for lying to country and congress– Colonel Oliver North

• “Teflon” President

4/24/2012

13

Domestic Policy

• Moral “Majority”

(Religious Right) organizes 2-3 million

voters.

• Attacks on Roe v. Wade

are successful to reduce

ability to get abortions

• Affirmative Action DEAD

• 1986- Republicans lose

Congressional control to

Democrats.

He Did Help Bankrupt the USSR, but…George HW Bush

• Successful handover to VP– extremely experienced in

government and diplomacy– Bush seen as ‘kindler, gentler’– struggles with aftermath of Reagan

deficits, finally agreeing to break campaign promise and raise taxes

• Had to pay for the Reagan inflation

• Clearly preferred foreign policy

– Tiananmen Square

– 1989 Poland’s solidarity WINS!!!

– Then Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania

Continued:

• December 1989 Berlin wall comes down

• Aug. 1991, military coup overthrows Gorbachev.

• 1991 Boris Yeltsin elected President of the new Russia. START II signed by both sides.

• Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

Continued

• Nelson Mandela elected 1st Black president of S. Africa

• Free elections in Nicaragua removes Leftist party.

• 1990 Persian Gulf war (Operation Desert Storm) leads to extraordinary popularity

4/24/2012

14

Continued…

• But squandered in 1992 when Democrats stress “It’s the economy, stupid!”

• Clinton brings Kennedy-like youth

• Ross Perot sparks support w/ $ campaign

Election of 1992 Clinton Era• Although a “minority president”, Clinton attempts

major initiatives: – economic stimulus package– gays in the military – national health care system (Hillary in charge)– wins approval of NAFTA

• Backlash in 1994 elections brings 1st Republican majority in House since 1952– Newt Gingrich, ‘Contract with America’

• Agrees to Welfare reform, July 1996• Secures balanced budget deal, May 1997

• Easy re-election in 1996; economy booms

4/24/2012

15

The Hormonal

President

• Allegations of marital infidelity raised already in 1992 primary campaign

– Paula Corbin Jones, Jennifer Flowers

• Revelation of relationship w/ Monica Lewinsky (WH intern) leads to new investigations by Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr

– August 1998: Clinton admits ‘inappropriate relationship’, but not sex

• December: Clinton impeached by House on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice

Senate trial

• Only second in history

• January 7: 13 House ‘managers’ present case

– Depositions played again

• Final vote coincides with

Serbia bombing (Wag the

Dog????)

• Clinton acquitted on both counts

– perjury: 45-55

– obstruction of justice: 50-50

4/24/2012

16

Election 2000

• Lively nomination contests – Gore vs. Bradley; GW Bush vs. John McCain

– Consumer advocate Ralph Nader runs for the Greens

• Both final candidates seen as lackluster:– Gore is dry, technocrat, intellectual

– Bush is Texan cowboy, primitive, supported by Repub. establishment because of family connection

• VP choices revealing: – Lieberman: first Jewish nominee; Gore avoids Clinton

– Cheney: fmr. defense secretary and Congressman.

• Major issues: Social Security; spending surplus, tax cuts, WH scandals, ‘nation-building’ abroad, global warming

4/24/2012

17

Election of 2008