AKS 54 NATIONAL POLITICS 1968-PRESENT

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AKS 54 NATIONAL POLITICS 1968-PRESENT

• AKS 54- Describe changes in national politics
  since 1968.

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54a - Describe President Richard M. Nixon's
opening of China, his resignation due to the
Watergate scandal, changing attitudes toward
government, and the Presidency of Gerald Ford
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NIXON

• DOMESTIC AFFAIRS

• New Federalism--reduce the power of the national
  government give more power to state and local
  governments
• To win southern support, he slowed the
  integration of schools
• Stagflation was in place (high unemployment and
  high inflation) a stagnant economy
• High inflation rates of the late 60s and early
  70s primarily the result of spending on
  social-welfare programs and the Vietnam War

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NIXON

• NIXONS PRESIDENCY

• Won the 1968 and 1972 elections in office from
  Jan. 1969 to Aug. 1974, when he resigned
• Richard Nixons presidency was one of great
  successes and also criminal scandals
• Known for détente (easing of tensions with
  communist nations) SALT treaty, visit to China,
  trade with Soviets

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NIXON

• NIXON VISITS CHINA

• Nixons visit to China in 1972 was one of the
  successes.
• He visited to seek scientific, cultural, and
  trade agreements and to take advantage of a
  10-year standoff between China and the Soviet
  Union.
• Nixon hoped to win the Chinese to his side in
  case he had future negotiations with the Soviets.
  
• Visited the communist country resulted in
  economic and diplomatic success

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WATERGATE

• Nixon was part of the Watergate scandal, which
  centered on his administrations attempt to cover
  up a burglary of the offices of the Democratic
  Party in the Watergate apartment and office
  complex in Washington, D.C.
• Watergate- the name of a hotel in D.C. that
  served as the Democratic headquarters (Nixon was
  Republican)

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WATERGATE

• CRP Committee to Re-Elect the President (called
  CREEP)
• Head of security for CREEP organized a break-in
  at Watergate to bug the offices seeking political
  information (the group was called the Plumbers)
• They were discovered by a security guard at the
  hotel

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WATERGATE

• THE COVER UP

• Nixon and his advisors (who ordered the break-in)
  thought they were above the law
• CRP paid the plumbers for their silence and
  encouraged the CIA and FBI to stop investigating
• The Senate began investigating to see if Nixon
  was involved in ordering the break-in and/or in
  the cover-up

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WATERGATE
THE COVER UP

• The Senate discovered that the President tape
  recorded every conversation in the Oval Office
• A year-long battle for the tapes happened in
  court
• Nixon gave them the edited tapes
• Nixon had won reelection in 1972, but his efforts
  to cover up the crime were unraveling

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WATERGATE

• ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN

• Nixon told 400 Associated Press reporters in a
  question-and-answer session in Nov. 1973 that I
  am not a crook, showing the scandals negativity
  
• Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl
  Bernstein, got hold of the story and published
  detailed accounts
• Their source.a man known as Deep Throat
• His identity was just recently revealed

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WATERGATE

• ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN

• Congress decided to impeach Nixon (put him on
  trial) for
• Obstruction of justice
• Abuse of power
• Contempt of Congress
• This shows that no person, even the president, is
  above the law.
• He then released the unedited tapesbut sections
  are missing (one famous 18.5-minute gap) they
  prove his guilt, especially the smoking gun
  tape (he discusses the cover up only days after
  the break-in)

I AM NOT A CROOK
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Watergate

• Without admitting guilt, Nixon resigned on August
  8, 1974 (effective at noon the next day), the
  only president to do so. His first
  vice-president, Spiro Agnew, had earlier resigned
  due to financial scandals, and Nixon appointed
  Gerald Ford (member of the House of
  Representatives from Michigan) to replace him.
  Now Nixon resigned, so Ford was the
  vice-president and then the president without
  ever being voted for by the Electoral College!

• Nixon leaving Washington, Aug.9, 1974

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WATERGATE

• RESULTS OF WATERGATE

• 25 members of his staff were convicted and served
  prison terms because of Watergate
• The scandal left Americans dismayed by Nixons
  actions and cynical about politics in general.
• It also led to changes in campaign financing and
  to laws requiring high-level government officials
  to disclose their finances.
• Because Nixon and many of the people involved in
  Watergate were lawyers, the reputation of the
  legal profession suffered too.

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Gerald Ford

• GERALD FORD

• Nixon was succeeded by his vice- president,
  Gerald Ford, whose two- year presidency was
  damaged by his connection to Nixon.
• Ford was never elected by the Electoral College.
• Considered mediocre, Ford joked, I am a Ford,
  not a Lincoln.
• It was damaged again when he pardoned Nixon for
  any crimes he may have committed.
• The Vietnam War ended for good during Fords term
  with the fall of Saigon in 1975 (Ford refused to
  help.)
• Fords domestic policies failed to stop growing
  inflation and unemployment, and America
  experienced its worst economic recession since
  the Great Depression.

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54b - Explain the impact of Supreme Court
decisions on ideas about civil liberties and
civil rights, including such decisions as Roe v.
Wade (1973), and the Bakke decision on
affirmative action
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LANDMARK SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

• PERCEPTION CHANGES BECAUSE OF RULINGS

• The Supreme Court ruled on many cases that would
  change the perception of civil liberties and
  civil rights in America.
• Two controversial cases with the greatest impact
  were Roe v. Wade and Regents of University of
  California v. Bakke (also known as the Bakke
  decision).

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LANDMARK SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

• ROE v. WADE

• Roe v. Wade1973Addressed the right of women
  to choose whether to have an abortion under
  certain circumstances.
• By expanding the constitutional right of privacy
  to include abortion, the Court extended civil
  liberties protections.
• MAKES ABORTION LEGAL

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LANDMARK SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

• AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

• Required employers and educational institutions
  to give special consideration to women, African
  Americans, and other minority groups (even though
  they these people were not necessarily better
  qualified)
• Reverse discrimination? Conservatives say it is
• unfair treatment of members of a majority group
  resulting from efforts to correct discrimination
  against members of other groups

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LANDMARK SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

• BAKKE DECISION

• Regents of University of California v.
  Bakke1978
• A white male (Bakke) with high grades, was not
  admitted to University of California because of
  affirmative action
• He sued because he said it was reverse
  discrimination

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LANDMARK SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

• BAKKE DECISION

• The Supreme Court agreed with him
• Ruled race can be used when considering
  applicants to colleges, but racial quotas cannot
  be used.
• The Court barred the use of quota systems in
  college admissions but expanded Americans civil
  rights by giving constitutional protection to
  affirmative action programs that give equal
  access to minorities.

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54c - Explain the Carter administrations efforts
in the Middle East, including the Camp David
Accords, his response to the 1979 Iranian
Revolution, and the Iranian Hostage
CrisisCarter the Environment In 1979 there
was a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor at
Three Mile Island in PA this led to increased
support for the movement against nuclear power.

• .

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CARTER ADMINISTRATION

• SALT II 1979
• (STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATION TREATY came from
  the
• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

• Carter wanted the U.S. to promote human rights,
  which many countries did not support (USSR,
  China)
• SALT II treaty was signed by with the USSR
  (Carter Brezhnev) that agreed to limit nuclear
  missiles that each country could produce
• Congress did not like it because it put the US at
  a disadvantage was signed by Carter and
  Brezhnev but the Senate didnt ratify it, mostly
  due to the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan

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MIDDLE EAST CARTER ADMINISTRATION

• CAMP DAVID ACCORDS

• Jimmy Carters presidency was strongly influenced
  by international issues.
• He tried to bring peace to the Middle East and,
  in the Camp David Accords, negotiated a peace
  agreement between the Egyptian president and the
  Israeli prime minister at Camp David (a
  presidential retreat in Maryland) in 1978.
• This was the first time there had been a signed
  peace agreement between Middle Eastern nations.
• Although the agreement left many differences
  unresolved, it did solve urgent problems facing
  the two nations.

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MIDDLE EAST CARTER ADMINISTRATION
IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

• In 1979, the Iranian Revolution replaced a shah
  (king) friendly to America (Shah Reza Pahlavi)
  with a Muslim religious leader (Ayatollah
  Khomeini) unfriendly to America.
• Many Iranians resented the shah for the regimes
  widespread corruption and dictatorial tactics
• Ayatollah Khomeini established a religious state
  based on strict obedience to the Quran (sacred
  book of Islam)

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MIDDLE EAST CARTER ADMINISTRATION

• IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

• Carter allowed the Shah to enter the U.S. for
  cancer treatment- this made Iranian
  revolutionaries mad!
• The angry Iranian revolutionaries invaded the
  U.S. embassy in Iran and took 52 Americans
  captive for over a year.
• They wanted to exchange the embassy workers for
  the shah.
• The Iranian Hostage Crisis lasted 444 days, until
  the captives were released after the election of
  Ronald Reagan as president, and it nurtured
  anti-Americanism among Muslims around the world.

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54d - Describe domestic and international events
of Ronald Reagan's presidency, including
Reaganomics, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the
collapse of the Soviet Union
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DOMESTIC AND INTERNATION EVENTS OF REAGAN

• Won the presidential election of 1980 due to the
  following factors lots of charisma, had
  conservative support, malaise of Carters
  administration-- the poor economy, the problems
  in Afghanistan, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis
• Ronald Reagan was president for much of the 1980s
  (won the elections of 1980 and 1984)
• During that time, many important events helped
  shape American politics to this day.
• As a conservative, Reagan wanted to decrease the
  size and role of the federal government.

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DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS OF REAGAN

• REAGANOMICS

• Reaganomics was the nickname for Reagans
  economic policy.
• Cut government spending
• Lowered federal income taxes
• Increased defense spending
• supply-side economics- if people businesses
  paid fewer taxes, they would have more and
  incentives to start businesses, take risks,
  invest capital, and therefore create new wealth
  jobs
• Helped rich people led to large increases in the
  incomes of wealthy Americans
• By cutting social welfare budgets, his policy
  hurt lower-income Americans and, overall,
  Reaganomics led to a severe recession.

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DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS OF REAGAN
IRAN-CONTRA SCANDAL Reagans biggest failure
in international policy

• Picture Oliver North, National Security Adviser
  to President Reagan

• Administration officials sold weapons to Iran (an
  enemy of the United States).
• Then they violated more laws by using the profits
  from those arms sales to fund a rebellion in
  Nicaragua fought by rebels called the Contras (a
  Spanish nickname for counter-revolutionaries).
• Helping the Contras was a direct violation of the
  Boland Amendment which had banned military aid to
  the Contras for two years.

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DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL EVENTS OF REAGAN

• COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION

• The collapse of the Soviet Union was Reagans
  biggest success in international policy.
• In 1987 in a speech in Berlin, Reagan urged
  Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down
  this wall! (Berlin Wall came down in 1989)
• Gorbachev set up policies allowing freedom of
  speech and of the press and other reforms,
  putting the U.S.S.R. on a path to democratic
  government, but these reforms got out of his
  control and eventually led to the breakup of the
  15 states that were the Soviet Union.
• Five of those states now comprise Russia, and the
  other ten are independent countries.
• Early 1990s- formal end of the Cold War

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George H. W. BUSH

• OPERATION DESERT STORM

• 1990-Iraqi troops invaded oil-rich Kuwait
• Iraq was in debt due to the war with Iran
• Iraq headed towards Saudi Arabia after the
  invasion of Kuwait and if Iraq had successfully
  taken Saudi Arabia, it would control one half of
  the worlds known oil reserves, which would
  severely threaten US oil supplies

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George H. W. BUSH
OPERATION DESERT STORM

• With Congress and the UNs support, Bush sent
  troops to Kuwait
• War lasted 1 month, with 400 US/Allied casualties
• Kuwait was liberated

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54e - Analyze the political and religious
coalition that supported the Reagan presidency
and the domestic policies that shaped it
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POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS COALITION THAT SUPPORTED
REAGANS PRESIDENCY

• NEW RIGHT

• 1970s---1980s right-wing, grass-roots group
• Focused energy on controversial social issues
  opposition to abortion, blocking the Equal Rights
  Amendment, evading court-ordered busing, return
  to school prayer, and criticizing affirmative
  action, claiming it was a form of reverse
  discrimination.

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POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS COALITION THAT SUPPORTED
REAGANS PRESIDENCY

• CONSERVATIVE COALITION

• Alliance of business leaders, middle-class
  voters, disaffected Democrats, and fundamentalist
  Christian groups
• Conservative think tanks developed to form
  conservative policies and principles that would
  appeal to the majority of voters.

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POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS COALITION THAT SUPPORTED
REAGANS PRESIDENCY
MORAL MAJORITY

• Religion, especially evangelical Christians,
  played a key role in the growing strength of the
  Conservative Coalition.
• Moral Majority formed by televangelist Jerry
  Falwell and comprised mostly of evangelical and
  fundamentalist Christians who interpreted the
  Bible literally and believed in absolute
  standards of right and wrong

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POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS COALITION THAT SUPPORTED
REAGANS PRESIDENCY

• MORAL MAJORITY

• Condemned liberal attitudes
• Called for a restoration of traditional moral
  values Family Values
• Hoped ideas would reduce divorce, lower
  out-of-wedlock births, encourage individual
  responsibility, and revive patriotism prosperity

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POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS COALITION THAT SUPPORTED
REAGANS PRESIDENCY

• REAGANS APPEAL

• A former Democrat turned Republican who said he
  did not leave the Democratic Party, but it left
  him.
• After Supreme Court decisions on a number of key
  issues, including abortion, pornography, the
  teaching of evolution, and prayer in schools,
  conservatives wanted someone such as Reagan to
  uphold their conservative moral agenda
• Simplified issues
• Committed to American economic and military
  strength

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54f - Explain the relationship between Congress
and President Bill Clinton, including the North
American Free Trade Agreement, and his
impeachment and acquittal
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CLINTON YEARS

• NAFTA

• North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement with Mexico
  and Canada (US and Canada already had free trade)
• Free-trade between the three countries (No
  tariffs)
• Done to strengthen the economies of all three
  countriesbut send more jobs to Mexico and maybe
  harm the environment
• Pros and cons still debated

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CLINTON YEARS

• IMPEACHMENT

• Charged with lying under oath (perjury) and
  obstruction of justice
• The charges were based on accusations of improper
  use of money from a real estate deal and
  allegations he had lied under oath about an
  improper relationship with a White House intern.
• Only the second president in history to be tried
• Clinton denied the charges and the Senate then
  acquitted him, allowing Clinton to remain in
  office and finish his second term.

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54g - Analyze the 2000 presidential election and
its outcome, emphasizing the role of the
Electoral College

• 
  
  
  
  

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2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

• BUSH LOSES POPULAR VOTE BUT WINS THE ELECTION

• The presidential election of 2000 saw Clintons
  vice president, Al Gore, facing the Republican
  governor of Texas, George W. Bush, as well as
  consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who ran as a
  third-party candidate.
• Polls showed the race would be close, and it
  turned out to be one of the closest elections in
  American history.
• Gore won the national popular vote by over
  500,000 of the 105 million votes cast, but when
  American voters cast ballots for president, the
  national popular vote doesnt determine the
  winner.

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2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
BUSH LOSES POPULAR VOTE BUT WINS THE ELECTION

• Rather, Americans are voting for members of the
  Electoral College representing each candidate.
• Each state is assigned electors equal to its
  total number of U.S. representatives and
  senators.
• Georgia had thirteen electors in 2000 eleven
  representatives and two senators. In the 2000
  election, Bush won by receiving 271 votes in the
  Electoral College to Gores 266.
• Election was contested in FL, which had trouble
  with chads the FL governor was Bushs
  brother, and Bush ended up winning FLs votes

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54h - Analyze the response of President George W.
Bush to the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the
United States, the war against terrorism, and the
subsequent American interventions in Afghanistan
and Iraq
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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

• BUSH RESPONDS TO 9/11

• George W. Bushs presidency will always be
  remembered for al-Qaedas attacks on September
  11, 2001 (9/11).
• In response, and with overwhelming support of
  both Congress and the American people, he signed
  a law the next month to allow the U.S. government
  to hold foreign citizens suspected of being
  terrorists for up to seven days without charging
  them with a crime.
• This law also increased the ability of American
  law-enforcement agencies to search private
  communications and personal records.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
BUSH RESPONDS TO 9/11

• Then he created the Department of Homeland
  Security and charged it with protecting the
  United States from terrorist attacks and
  responding to natural disasters.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

• OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

• In October 2001, another of Bushs responses to
  the 9/11 terrorist attacks was his authorizing
  Operation Enduring Freedom, the invasion of
  Afghanistan by the U.S. military and Allied
  forces.
• That countrys Taliban government was harboring
  the al-Qaeda leadership.
• The Allied forces quickly defeated the Taliban
  government and destroyed the al-Qaeda network in
  Afghanistan
• al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escaped.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

• WAR ON TERRORISM

• The invasion of Afghanistan was part of Bushs
  larger war on terrorism, for which he built an
  international coalition to fight the al-Qaeda
  network and other terrorist groups.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

• OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

• In March 2003, American and British troops
  invaded Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraqs
  president, Saddam Hussein, went into hiding while
  U.S. forces searched for the weapons of mass
  destruction (WMD) that Bush feared Hussein had
  and could supply to terrorists for use against
  the United States.
• No WMD were found before Hussein was captured.
• He was convicted of crimes against humanity and
  executed in 2006.

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54i - Analyze the impact of globalization on
government economic policy at the national level
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GLOBALIZATION

• GLOBAL ECONOMY

• US- 1900 2.2 billion in trade with the world
  (12 of the economy)
• US- 2000 2 trillion in trade with the world (25
  of the economy)
• Americas economy is very reliant on world
  markets but also must compete with workers in
  other countries.
• Expansion of trade abroad was important for
  Clinton, as shown in his support for NAFTA

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GLOBALIZATION
GLOBAL ECONOMY

• In 1994, in response to increasing international
  economic competition among trading blocs, the US
  joined many other nations in adopting a new
  version of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and
  Trade).
• The new treaty lowered trade barriers such as
  tariffs and established the WTO (World Trade
  Organization) to resolve trade disputes

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GLOBALIZATION
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

• International trade agreements caused job flight
  to countries that produced the same goods the US
  did at a lower cost
• In the 1990s businesses moved from America to
  less economically advanced countries where wages
  were lower.
• After NAFTA 100,000 low wage jobs were lost in
  the US (manufacturing industries such as apparel,
  auto parts, and electronics)
• Competition causes US businesses to maintain low
  wages