Chapter 30

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Chapter 30 Searching for Order
Section Notes
Video
Nixons Presidency and Watergate American in the
1970s The Reagan Presidency
The Impact of Checks and Balances
Maps
The Election of 1976 Central American Conflicts
in the 1980s
Quick Facts
Chapter 30 Visual Summary
Images
The Energy Crisis Watergate Hostages
Released Reagan and Gorbachev African Americans
with a College Degree, 1960-2000
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Nixons Presidency and Watergate

• The Big Idea
• Richard Nixons 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.
• Nixons foreign policy led to improved relations
  with Communist powers.
• The Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign.
• Gerald Ford became president upon Nixons
  resignation and faced many challenges.

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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 Nixons new plan for
  government.
• Limit power of federal government
• Reflected Nixons 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

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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.

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Main Idea 2Nixons 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.

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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 countrys
  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.

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Main Idea 3The Watergate scandal forced Nixon
to resign.

• On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested while
  breaking into the Democratic National Committees
  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.

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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 cover-up and lied about it.

• Nixons 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.

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Main Idea 4Gerald Ford became president upon
Nixons 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.

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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.

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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.

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Issues of the 1970s

• Affirmative Action
• Americans debated affirmative action, the
  practice of giving special consideration to
  nonwhites or women to make up for past
  discrimination.
• Supporters argued it was needed to improve
  educational and job opportunities for minorities
  and women.
• Opponents insisted that any race- or gender-based
  preferences were unfair.

• Environment
• Biologist Rachel Carson brought attention to
  environmental issues such as pollution in the
  1970s.
• April 22, 1970, was the first celebration of
  Earth Day.
• Congress passed new laws to limit the release of
  pollutants.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was
  established in 1970 to enforce environmental
  legislation.
• Debates on balancing business and environmental
  concerns.

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Main Idea 2Jimmy 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.

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Main Idea 3Carter 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

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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.

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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 Carters leadership.

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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.

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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.
• Reagans 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 OConnor, the first
  woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice

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Reaganomics

• Reagans 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
  governments spending exceeds its revenues.

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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.

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Main Idea 2Reagan took a hard stand against
communism in his foreign policy.

• Central America
• Reagan supported anti-Communist governments in
  Central America and sent aid to them as they
  fought civil wars.
• Congress passed Boland Amendment in 1984, banning
  U.S. aid to Contras, rebels in Nicaragua.
• 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.

• The Soviet Union
• Reagan took a tough stand against the Soviet
  Union by halting arms negotiations and expanding
  U.S. military.
• When Mikhail Gorbachev became the new Soviet
  leader, he began a process of economic and
  political reforms called perestroika.
• Reagan saw Gorbachevs desire for change and
  signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
  Treaty, eliminating all medium-range nuclear
  weapons in Europe.

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