Policy, Politics, and Debate The 20th Century Presidency

From JFK to Nixon

Do Now:Provide an example of one school policy. i.e. No cell phones in school

JFKJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy#351961-193

Interesting Fact(s): Youngest elected

president; first Catholic president;

The Moon; CRM; assassinated

Major Policy Initiative: The New Frontier;

Peace Corps; CRM

Do Now: What does the following quote mean?

"Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."

JFK – The “...torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans" 

America’s New Frontier

The Peace Corps – American’s move to join the Peace Corps

A move towards social justice

A united nation, no frontier was to distant

Race to Space

Social Reform (raise mim. wage and social security benefits)

Assassinated, but goals live on

LBJLyndon Baines Johnson#361963-1969

Interesting Facts: Vietnam

Major Policy Initiative : Great Society

Great Society

Carrying on JFK’s torch for social reform

Civil Rights Movement – The Civil Right Act and the Voting

Rights Act

War on Poverty

Medicare

Medicaid

Public School Funding

Dept. of Housing and Urban Development

Richard M. Nixon#371969-1974

Interesting Facts: The Rise of Conservatism;

Watergate; First president to resign

from office; China

Major Policy Initiative: Welfare Reform;

New Federalism; EPA; OSHA; Expand Food Stamps and Social

Security; End the Vietnam War

Nixon’s Foreign Policy:

Goal: Reduce international tensions

Forge new links with old rivals.

Dialogue with China - ushered in a new era of relations between

Washington and Beijing.

Russia – Weeks after visiting China (May 1972) Nixon visited

Moscow for a summit

SALT – signed (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) - first

comprehensive and detailed nuclear weapons limitation pact between

the two superpowers.

Domestic and Economy

"New Federalism" -- a system which directed money and power

away from the federal bureaucracy and toward states and

municipalities

Family Assistance Plan - a welfare reform that would have

guaranteed an income to all Americans; died in Congress

Economy - Combat high inflation rates, imposed wage and price

controls in an effort to gain control of price levels in the U.S. economy

Strengthen the US Dollar - took the dollar off the gold standard and

let it float against other countries' currencies.

Administer CRM Legislation

Domestic and Economy

Created the EPA

Passed the Clean Air Act

Created the Department Natural Resources

Watergate: The End Of A Presidency

Watergate Defined: A complex web of political scandals between 1972

and 1974 that brought down a presidency

Nixon: Obsession with secrecy

Nixon’s “Enemies List” – Reporters, Politicians, and Celebrities

Vocab you should know:

“The Plumbers” - named for their orders to plug leaks in the

administration

The Pentagon Papers - Defense Department’s secret history of the

Vietnam War.

Watergate Timeline Overview:

June 17, 1972: Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the

CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic

National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex.

October 10, 1972: FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in

stems from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage

conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort, The Post reports.

November 11, 1972: Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides

in American political history

January 30, 1973: Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James

W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in

the Watergate incident

Watergate Timeline:

May 18, 1973: The Senate Watergate committee begins its nationally televised

hearings.

June 3, 1973: Watergate cover-up revealed

November 17, 1973: Nixon declares, “I’m not a crook,” maintaining his

innocence in the Watergate case.

July 24, 1974: The Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over

the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president’s

claims of executive privilege.

July 27, 1974: House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of

impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.

August 8, 1974: Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. Vice

President Gerald R. Ford assumes the country’s highest office

Watergate: The End Of A Presidency

Watergate - DBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHnmriyXYeg

Question 1: Who is phone

company man supposed to

be?

Question 2: What is he

doing?

Question 3: Why did the

cartoonist draw him doing

this?

Question 4: Why would

President Nixon put

someone on his “enemies

list?”

Question 5: What does this

cartoonist think about the

list?

Question 6: What is Nixon

holding on to?

Question 7: What do you

think Nixon is doing?

Question 8: Why would the

cartoonist depict Nixon in a

spider’s web?

Question 9: Who are the people

whose names are in the web?

Why are their names there?

Question 10: Why did

Nixon choose to resign

rather than face trial?

Closure:

In two or three sentences, summarize the Watergate Scandal

Answer the following question: If you were around during the Watergate

Scandal, what would be your impression on the office of the presidency and the government?

Question 1: Who is phone company man supposed to be?

Question 2: What is he doing?

Question 3: Why did the cartoonist draw him doing this?

Question 4: Why would President Nixon put someone on his “enemies list?”

Question 5: What does this cartoonist think about the list?

Question 6: What is Nixon holding on to?

Question 7: What do you think Nixon is doing?

Question 8: Why would the cartoonist depict Nixon in a spider’s web?

Question 9: Who are the people whose names are in the web? Why are their names there? Question 10: Why did Nixon choose to resign rather than face trial?

In two or three sentences, summarize the Watergate ScandalIf you were around during the Watergate Scandal, what would be your impression on the office of the presidency and the government?