Richard NixonThe New

Federalism

won 1968 – slim majoritywon 1972 - a landslide

Nixon

• Decreased power of federal government

• Dismantled a number of Great Society programs

• Got U.S. out of Vietnam• Opened relations with China

New Federalism

• Shifted power of federal gov’t to state/local gov’t.

• Revenue sharing: state and local gov’t. could spend their federal dollars however they saw fit (within certain limitations)

• This revenue sharing was one of the largest overhauls of federal spending since the New Deal.

• Nixon TRIED to overhaul welfare, but Congress voted him down.

• Nixon advocated the Family Assistance Plan (FAP). CONGRESS VOTED NO. (1970)

• FAP: family of four $1600 a year, would have to take job training and accept reasonable work.

Spiro Agnew

• Nixon’s vice-president

• 1969, went on a public speaking tour to denounce anti-government, anti-war protesters, the media, etc.

• Resigned as v.p. (charged with not reporting income)

Don’t copy

Timothy GeithnerUS Treasury Secretary appointed by Obama

• Didn’t pay Social Security taxes or Medicare for several years while he worked for the IMF

• These facts came up when he was before the Senate committee who was confirming him in 2009. Most information was discussed behind closed doors.

• “They (mistakes on his taxes) weren’t intentional. I should have known better.” - Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary

Nixon’s “Enemies List”

• Used the CIA to investigate and compile documents on thousands of American dissidents

• Used IRS to audit tax returns of anti-war activists and civil rights activists.

• Took it personally when people opposed him

Southern Strategy

• How did Nixon win with landslide in 1972?

- He attracted white Southern democrats disillusioned with their party (over desegregation and liberal Supreme Court)

“There are those who want instant integration and those who want segregation forever. I believe we need to have a middle course between those two extremes.” - Nixon

Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

• Busing to desegregate schools

• 1971 – Supreme Court ruled that school districts may bus students to other schools to end the pattern of all-black or all-white schools

Stagflation

• Rising unemployment + rising inflation

• Troubled economy: 1967-1973

1. unemployment rate rose from 4% to 6% 2. inflation rate doubled

OPECOrganization of Petroleum Exporting

Countries (created in 1960)

• A cartel of 12 member countries organization -

• Five founding members: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,

and Venezuela. • Nine other members: Quatar (1961); Indonesia (1962) --

suspended its membership from January 2009;

Libya (1962); United Arab Emirates (1967); Algeria (1969); Nigeria (1971); Ecuador (1973) -- suspended its membership from December 1992-October 2007; Angola (2007); and Gabon (1975–1994).

Cartel- controls the means of production – so they can set the price!

Henry Kissinger

Secretary of State for both Presidents Nixon AND Ford

His reputation was not tarnished by the Watergate scandal.

Nixon Visits China.

• Feb. 1972 – Nixon visited China for 7 days.

• Great publicity• American

public/media really liked this.

Ping-Pong Diplomacy

• April 1971• China invited

America’s Ping Pong team to China. (1st time since WWII that an American sports delegation visited China.)

Watergate

• An office-hotel-apt. complex built in Washington, DC 1967

• Considered to be very modern, fashionable

• The DNC’s office was located here.

Watergate Scandal

• The Nixon Administration’s attempt to cover up a burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, DC.

• Some people believed that the Executive Branch (the Presidency) had become too strong since FDR

• 3 branches of government: executive, legislative and judiciary

1972 Election

• Nixon had a major fear of losing elections.

• He wanted not just to defeat his opponent, but to dominate him.

• So…

Watergate Scandal…

• …Nixon’s re-election campaign (CREEP – Committee to RE Elect the President) sought any means to get him re-elected

• On June 17, 1972, at 2:30 a.m. – a guard at the Watergate Complex caught 5 men breaking into the DNC campaign headquarters.

CREEPCommittee to Reelect the President

• Fundraising organization of President Richard M. Nixon

• Goal was to help him win reelection

• In reality – money laundering, slush funds, payment for attorneys of the Watergate burglars

• Director of CREEP• Resigned as Nixon’s

Attorney General to do this.

Herblock political cartoon

“Strange – they all seem to have some connection to this place.”

The President’s Men

• John Mitchell, CREEP director (former A.G.)

H.R. Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff

John Dean, White House counsel

John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Chief Domestic Advisor

The White House/Watergate Plumbers

• Purpose: To investigate “leaks”

• 1st mission: to break into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office to gather dirt on Ellsberg’s mental state, etc.

• Daniel Ellsberg – a military analyst who leaked out secret info. to the New York Times on Vietnam war saying how Nixon (and also Johnson and Kennedy) knew this war could never be won, etc.

G. Gordon LiddyE. Howard Hunt

• Masterminded the Watergate Break-In, 1972

Woodward and Bernstein

• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – reporters for the Washington Post

• Uncovered the Watergate scandal

• Their source was known as “Deep Throat” – they refused to reveal the identity of their source

Throughout the Campaign of 1972the Watergate burglary held little interest.

• Only the Washington Post kept on the story.

• The White House denied everything from a series of articles linking Nixon Administration officials to the burglary.

The 5 burglars go on trial.

• Jan 1973• Judge John J. Sirica

made clear that they and their CREEP supervisors did not act alone.

• All of them (except James McCord) changed their pleas from innocent to guilty.

• James McCord – former CIA agent

• Wrote letter to judge saying

1. he lied under oath 2. powerful Nixon Adm.

people involved in Watergate break-in (including John Dean and John Mitchell)

McCord’s revelation rekindled the public interest!

Nixon responds.

In April 1973 Nixon

1. Fired John Dean, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman

2. Went on TV - to deny any cover-up

- To announce a new attorney general, Elliot Richardson,

- Richardson would appoint a “special prosecutor” (Archibald Cox) to investigate Watergate.

But…the Senate began its OWN investigation.

• May 1973• Sen. Sam Ervin (No.

Carolina) chaired the committee.

• Called a parade of Nixon officials - summer and fall of 1973 to testify (televised, public was glued to the TV)

What did the president know and when did he know it?

• After 30 hours of testimony, John Dean told the committee that Nixon had been deeply involved in it!

• John Mitchell refuted these charges and told the Senate committee:

1. he did not approve the break in

2. if there were a cover-up, Nixon had no knowledge of it

Nixon taped everything!

• Alexander Butterfield, a White House aide, revealed that Nixon had an elaborate taping system in the White House…and that he taped ALL of his presidential conversations.

Next…the Special Prosecutor (Archibald Cox) ordered Nixon to

court in order to obtain the tapes – Oct 1973

Nixon 1. refused 2. ordered A.G. Elliot Richardson to fire

“Special Prosecutor” Archibald Cox (Note: About this time, Vice pres. Spiro Agnew

resigned. Under 25th Amendment, Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to be v.p.)

The Saturday Night Massacre

• A.G. Elliot Richardson refused the order and was fired.

• The Deputy A. G. also refused and was fired.

• Solicitor General Robt. Bork finally fired Cox.

• Cox’s replacement, Leon Jaworski, was equally determined to get these tapes.

OOPS…Nixon’s SecretaryRose Mary Woods testified Nov 8, 1973 that she

accidentally erased 18 minutes of the tape when she answered a phone call on Oct 1, 1973…(The erased

conversation was June 20, 1972 RIGHT AFTER THE BREAK IN)

• The House Judiciary Committee considered impeachment hearings.

• In light of Agnew’s resignation, the feds learned that Nixon had tax issues, too.

“People have a right to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook.” - Nixon

Timeline• 1968 Nixon elected• 1971 June - Pentagon Papers published by NY Times• 1971 Sept – Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office break in• 1972 summer - DNC headquarters at Watergate break in• 1972 Nov. - Nixon elected to 2nd term (landslide)• 1973 Jan – trial of burglars• 1973 April – John Dean fired; Haldeman, Ehrlichman “resign”• 1973 May – Senate Watergate hearings begin• 1973 July – tapes revealed, Nixon refuses to hand over• 1973 Oct – Saturday Night Massacre• 1973 Nov- “I’m not a crook.”• 1974 July- Supreme Court orders Nixon to turn over tapes• 1974 Aug- Nixon resigns

President Gerald R. Ford

• Nixon’s appointed vice-president became president the day Nixon resigns August 9, 1974

• Plain, likeable guy from Michigan• Congressman for 25 yrs.• House Minority Leader for 8 yrs.• “I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln.”• President for 895 days = shortest for

any president who did not die while in office

• Nominated Nelson Rockefeller for VP HENRY Kissinger and Nelson Rockefeller

Don’t copy

Gerald Ford - football player• Played center for U of

Michigan in undefeated seasons of 1932 AND 1933 when they won the national championship both times.

• In 1935 he turned down offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Pay Packers and instead went to Yale Law School (financed his tuition by working as asst. football coach/head boxing coach for Yale

President Gerald R. Ford

“Our long national nightmare is over.”

Sept. 8, 1974 Ford pardoned Nixon.

WHY? He wanted the country to move on to get beyond Watergate

REACTION: country didn’t like it

Copy underlined

WIN (Whip Inflation Now)

• President Ford called for massive citizen action: cut back on use of oil and gas/save energy

• National Commission on Inflation• Ford went on TV and asked the

people to send him “10 inflation-reducing ideas”

• Ford gave a speech to Congress and announced that inflation was “public enemy number one.”

• Problem: no incentive, so it doesn’t work

This is unbelievably

stupid-Alan

Greenspan

Next, “Tight Money” policy

• Gov’t spending CUT• Interest rate RAISED

(To restrict credit)• Result: worst recession

in 40 years

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Ford Vetoes Democratic Congressional bills

• Democratic Congress attempted to spend money to fund various programs for jobs.

• Ford vetoed practically everything b/c he believed that spending money would increase inflation

• Result: Inflation dropped below 10% by 1975 and continued going down

• Unemployment went down, but hovered at 8%.

Ford and Foreign Policy

• Henry Kissinger continued as Sec. of State

• Détente policy continued• Helsinki Accords –

series of agreements that promised greater cooperation between nations of Eastern (communist) and Western Europe

The Mayaguez Incident May 12-15,1975

• Communist gov’t of Cambodia seized a U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez (39 crew members) in the Gulf of Siam.

• Ford responded with a massive military force (2 air strikes and a team of US Marines)

• Problem: 41 DIED to save the 39• Some people liked - b/c it showed strength• Some people didn’t like – b/c the president

acted without consulting Congress and

MORE DIED than were saved.

Death Penalty restored 1976

• Gregg v Georgia Supreme Court said that the death penalty was NOT cruel and unusual punishment

• Note: There had been a moratorium on the death penalty for 16 years b/c a previous 1972 case

• Gary Gilmore Jan 17, 1977 – executed by

firing squad in Utah.

“Retribution is consistent with human dignity, because society believes that certain crimes are themselves so grievous an affront to humanity that the only adequate response may be the penalty of death” - Supreme Court

Election of 1976 Republicans stay with Ford

• Gerald Ford was not certain to be the Republican’s choice to run.

• Ford’s economic policies did not provide substantial relief to the economy

• He faced a powerful conservative challenge for the Republican nomination from California Gov. Ronald Reagan

Election of 1976We could run an aardvark this year and win!

Democrats confidently eyed the White House:

1.Republicans divided

2.Ford’s economy was not that good

3.Watergate legacy

Jimmy Carter“I will not lie to you.”

• Little known governor of Georgia

• An “outsider” – not a Washington “insider”

• Peanut farming business• Promised to restore integrity

to the presidency

Carter: America’s problem is an over reliance on imported oil.

Carter’s “Fireside Chat”

April 18, 1977

Urged Americans on TV

1. to cut their oil and gas consumption

2.To turn down their thermostats to 65 and 55 at night

National Energy Act

1. Placed a tax on gas-guzzling cars

2. Removed price controls on oil and gas produced in US

• By 1979, Americans had begun to reduce their dependence on foreign oil

• Private industry started to develop more gas efficient cars and better home heating systems

• People began better insulating their homes and lowering thermostats; solar heating panels began to be used

Carter’s Policies Failed to Solve Economic Problems

Background: 1979 – Iranian Revolution caused a 2nd major fuel shortage

• Inflation soared from 7.6% to

11.3%.

Carter’s solutions:1. Voluntary price/wage freeze

2. Spending cuts to reduce national debt

3. Deregulated (lifted controls) from trucking, shipping, rr industries

4. Raised interest rates (to reduce the money supply)

The Crisis of Confidence (“Malaise”) Speech

He was supposed to make a speech on July 4, but cancelled it and then went out of the public eye for days.

• He emerged on July 15, 1979 and gave this speech essentially criticizing American lifestyle.

• Consumerism and materialism were really the problems of Americans

By 1980, 14% inflation rate

• Carter’s popularity at all time low 26%

• US standard of living dropped from 1st place to 5th

Carter’s Civil Rights Record

• Carter Administration had more Af-Am appointees than any previous president.

• Did not do much with civil rights legislation

• Appointed Andrew Young as US ambassador to the United Nations

-Born in New Orleans 1932 to middle-class family,-1st Af-Am Congressman (GA) since Reconstruction

Reverse Discrimination

The Bakke Case 1978• Allan Paul Bakke sued the U. of Cal at

Davis b/c the medical school’s affirmative-action policies were unconstitutional

• Bakke denied admission twice even though he had better grades than minority students who were accepted

• The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Lewis Franklin Powell, ruled that a state may constitutionally consider race as a factor in its university admissions to promote educational diversity. BUT only if it considered race alongside other factors and on a case-by-case basis. California’s use of racial quotas in this case, however, did not meet those requirements and violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which forbids a state from denying “ to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The Court held that the medical school racially discriminated against whites because it excluded them from 16 out of 100 spots solely by virtue of their race.

• The fact that blacks have historically been discriminated against more than whites was irrelevant to this case because racial quota systems, whether applied against whites or blacks, are always “odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Because the school’s quota was designed to redress past discrimination against racial minorities, it was intended to prefer “one group for no other reason other than race or ethnic origin.”

• Thus, the Court ruled that the school’s quota system “ must be rejected…as racially invalid” under the Equal Protection Clause.”

Jimmy Carter’s Foreign Policy

Human Rights IN(freedoms and liberties like those listed in the Dec. of

Independence / Bill of Rights)

Realpolitik OUT(negotiating with powerful nations despite their behavior)

How did Carter’s Foreign Policy work?

• US cut off military aid to Argentina and Brazil (to name a few)

• Problem: US had good relations with these countries – but they imprisoned and tortured thousands of their own citizens

• South Korea, the Philippines – had dictatorial governments but they were anti-Communist and true allies to the US

• Bureau of Human Rights established

Panama Canal• 1977- Carter announced that the US

would be giving up ownership of the Panama Canal.

• Pres. Lyndon Johnson – started talks, Gerald Ford had also had negotiations

• Background: US granted full ownership from 1914 (-opened Aug 15, 1914- through Dec 1999

• Two treaties to surrender control. The Senate voted 68-32.

• Public opinion strongly divided 45% for

42% against

Collapse of Détente

Détente = the relaxation of tensions between US and the two Communist superpowers Soviet Union and China (began under Nixon, Ford continued it)

• Carter’s insistence on human rights led to breakdown in relations with USSR (Soviets treated dissidents - opponents of their gov’t- harshly)

• Result: President Carter and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev delayed their SALT (arms reductions) negotiations

SALT I & SALT IIStrategic Arms

Limitations Talks SALT I Nov 1969 - May 1972 first

series of talks that led to agreement between USSR and US place certain limits/restraints on strategic weapons (NIXON)

SALT II June 1979 2nd series of talks that led to a new

agreement: did NOT agree to reduce arms, but DID agree to limit the number that could be produced

The Camp David AccordsSummer of 1978

Carter brought together two long-time enemies:

Anwar el-Sadat – Egypt

Menachem Begin – Israel

He invited them to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

13 days of intense negotiations led to two agreements

1. 5 yr period where Israel and Jordan worked out self-rule for the Palestinians

2. Israel would withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula

• Egypt became the 1st Arab nation to recognize Israel’s existence as a nation

The Iranian Revolution January 1979

• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Muslim religious leader – overthrew the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi.

• Khomeini –

established a religious state (a “theocracy”); strict obedience to the Qur’an, the sacred book of Islam

The Shah -

-went into exile (He would be executed if he returned to Iran)

Iranian Revolution- Carter supported him until the

very end and allowed him to enter the US for cancer treatment in NY in October 1979

Result: - Nov. 4, 1979 -the Iranian

revolutionaries were outraged

1. Seized the US Embassy (in Tehran)

2. Took 52 hostages

3. Demanded the US send the Shah back in return for the hostages

How did Carter respond?1. Banned trade with Iran2. Severed diplomatic relations

with them3. Rescue attempt failed

(humiliating in 1980)

Rescue Attempt Failed

Humiliating Disaster

• April 1980• Carter approved a

rescue attempt• 8 helicopters arrived but

only 5 worked!!• Decision by Carter to

abort the mission – and another one crashed killing 8 US servicemen!

Hostages Freed after 444 days

Released on DAY of

Reagan’s Inauguration

Jan 21, 1981

Three Mile Island

• March 28, 1979• Single worst U.S. nuclear

disaster• One of three nuclear reactors

malfunctioned - the reactor overheated after its cooling system failed

• 100,000 evacuated• The Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (fed agency that monitored nuclear industry) announced announced the danger was over - April 9

• Pres. Carter inspected it and assured the public it was ok.

Some scary stuff…

When the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident was worsening and it appeared that the reactor's containment structure might rupture and release dangerous amounts of radioactive iodines and other radioactive material into the atmosphere, the Government rushed preparation of small bottles of  a saturated solution of potassium iodide.

The reactor's containment structure did not rupture. The 237,013 bottles of saturated KI solution that were delivered to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania -- mostly too late to have been effective if the Three Mile Island accident had become an uncontained meltdown -- were stored in secret in a warehouse, and were never used."

Potassium Iodide

Potassium iodide -- a drug capable of preventing radioactive iodine from lodging in the thyroid. The thyroid absorbs potassium iodide to a level where the gland can hold no more.

Thus, if a person is exposed to radioactive iodine after receiving a sufficient quantity of potassium iodide, the thyroid is saturated and cannot absorb the additional iodine with its potentially damaging radiation.

At the time of the accident, however, no pharmaceutical or chemical company was marketing medical-grade potassium iodide in the quantities needed.

The China Syndrome

• A movie about a nuclear power plant melt-down accident had just opened 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident.