Richard M. Nixon

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Richard M. Nixon

• (Rep) Jan. 20, 1969-Aug. 9, 1974

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Cold War

• Nixon Reduced Our Involvement in the War but
  expanded the War into Cambodia and Laos, S.V.N
  troops took over as US Troops left (called
  Vietnamization). We dropped from (1969) 543,000
  to 35,000 soldiers by 1972.
• 1970 The Senate repealed the Gulf of Tonkin
  Resolution.

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• Senate failed to pass the McGovern-Hatfield Bill,
  Which would have forced the withdrawal of all US
  Troops.
• IN March 72 the N. V.mese invaded the South and
  the US resumed massive bombings of North and
  mining the Haiphong Harbor.
• Nixon said he was willing to talk peace but
  wanted Peace with Honor

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• Finally negotiations between H. Kissinger and
  LeDuc Tho led to a Peace Treaty (Paris 73)
• In which we agreed to
• Withdrawal of all US forces and release of N.V.N.
  prisoners.
• Cease-fire in place
• US--- to help rebuild bombed-out north (We
  never did this)

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• The Communist North conquered the South shortly
  after we left
• The V.N. War cost us
• 58,000 dead
• 304,000 wounded
• 110 billion

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New China Policy

• Nixon, who had long hated the Chinese Comm. Gov
  of Mao ZeDongput aside his feelings and began
  using his influence to get Comm. China a seat in
  the U.N. in 1971
• In Feb. 1972 Nixon went on a Journey For Peace
  to Chinawas warmly received by Chairman Mao and
  Premier Chou En Lai, they agreed to broaden
  contact in cultural, scientific, and trade

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SeaBed Treaty 1970

• US and USSR and others agreed to ban Nukes from
  the ocean floor in international waters

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Chemical Weapons Treaty 1971

• US and USSR agree to destroy Chemical,
  Biological, Radioactive (CBRs) weapons

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S.A.L.T.

• US and USSR agree to limit Anti-Ballistic
  Missiles (ABMs)
• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

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Other Major Events

• Wage-Price Controls1971-1973
• Anti-inflation move froze wages (1971) and then
  prices
• Complex wage-price controls that lasted till 1973
• Very unusual move for a Republican Pres.

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• Revenue Sharing-1972--Billions sent back to
  States and local Govs.
• Law and Order
• Organized Crime Control Act, Drug Abuse Control
  ActNo Knock searches
• DC Criminal Justice Act

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• Cuyahoga River 1969

• EPA created 1970 Agency monitors pollution
• Water Pollution Act 1972?
• Passed over Nixons VETO
• Curtailed industrial discharge sharply

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Consumer Product Safety Act 1972

• Set-up a commission to ban unsafe products
• Toys

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1969 Man on the Moon

• Neil Armstrong
• One small step for man, one giant leap for
  mankind.

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26th Amendment

• 1971
• 18 yr. olds can vote
• Reaction to?

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Court Decision

• Roe vs. Wade (1973)
• Abortion on demand (1st Trimester)
• US vs. R.M. Nixon (1974) Nixon must surrender
  tapes
• Hiding behind executive privlidge (checks and
  balances)

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Watergate 1972

• Nixon wants to win re-election by the LARGEST
  amount ever
• Previous Pres. Was FDR

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Watergate

• Break-in by CREEP on Dem. Headquarters
• (Committee to Re-elect the President)
• Whitehouse Plumbers bugged Dan Ellsburgs
  office (shrink)-he had given the Pentagon Papers
  out

• Pentagon paperstop secret study of origins of
  the V.N. War

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Enemies List

• Approximately 91 names on a list
• Used The IRS, CIA, FBI, and Secret Service to
  spy-on and make life difficult for names on the
  list (how can I use IRS to hurt you? Investigate
  you)
• Cosby, J. Fonda, Paul Newman

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Dirty Tricks Squad

• To show dissension among Dem. Candidates
• Had Rep. loyalists pose as Dems. At a grassroots
  level.
• Infiltrated local elections and spied-on Dems.
• Help to sabotage Dem. candidates

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Hush Money

• Nixon and others paid out hush money to cover
  up Watergate
• As a result of Nixons involvement in covering up
  crimes, the House of Reps. Started impeachment
  proceedings against him (July 1974)

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Charges

• Obstruction of Justice
• Lying to Investigators
• Withholding evidencestonewalling it
• Paying hush money
• Abuse of Power
• --Misusing IRS,CIA,FBI, and Secret Service

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• Failure to comply with Congressional Subpoenas
• Order to surrender tapes
• Realizing he couldnt escape impeachment, Nixon
  became the 1st and only Pres. Of US to resign

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• If I fought it I would be found innocent, but
  the problems of this country are more important
  matters the which the Congress and the President
  should turn their attention to.

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Gerald R. FordRep. Aug. 9, 1974-Jan. 20, 1977
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Cold War

• Commies took over all of Vietnam in 75-76
• Pathet Lao ( Comm. Guerilla Group) took over in
  Laos
• Khmer Rouge overthrew Lon Nol in Cambodia

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Mayaguez Incident

• 1975
• Cambodian Gunboats seized the Mayaguez (US
  merchant ship) near Cambodia
• US Forces rescued the ship and entire crew (39)
• 41 American Military killed

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Helsinki Agreement 1975

• 35 Nations including the US and USSR reached
  agreements that would reduce tensions between the
  Free and Communist Worlds
• West (Free World) pledged to
• Respect East European boundaries set up after
  WWII
• Stay out of internal affairs of European
  Communist countries

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• The Communist agreed to
• Relax travel restrictions
• Improve East-West Communications

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Other Major Events

• Nixon Pardon-1974-DEAL? You make me Pres. And
  Ill keep you out of jailThis drew a firestorm
  of protest and Fords Press Secretary resigned in
  protest
• Ford said having to resign as Pres. Was more
  punishment for Nixon than going to jail

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Clemency for Draft Evaders Deserters

• All they had to do was swear allegiance to the US
  and perform 2 yrs. In the Military service branch
  they deserted.
• Veterans groups (VFW and Amer. Legion) said this
  was too easy
• The exiles thought that accepting clemency was an
  admission of wrongdoing.

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Consumerism

• Fair Credit Billing Act
• Equal Credit Opportunity Act
• Warranty Act
• Real estate Settlement Procedure Act
• All sought equity in the marketplace

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NYC Bailout

• 1975
• 2.3 bill. To avoid default

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Campaign Reform Law

• 1974
• Sought (as a reaction to Watergate)
• Public Funding of Pres. Election campaigns (3.00
  check off on income tax return)
• Strict limits on individual contributions and
  campaign spending

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Two Separate Assassinations AttemptsBoth in
Sept. of 1975

• Sara Jane Moore

• Lynette Squeeky Fromme

• Shot and Missed
• Released from prison Jan. 1, 2008

• Shot but gun did not fire
• Released from prison Aug 4, 2009

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Jimmy Carter (39th Pres.)Dem. 1977-81
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Cold War

• US opened diplomatic relations with China (Ping
  Pong Diplomacy) (Detent)
• We then signed scientific, cultural and trade
  treaties

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Soviets invade Afghanistan

• 1979SALT II Treaty? Fell through when Soviets
  invade Afghanistan (Dec. 1979)
• Many Americans felt the treaty gave a dangerous
  weapons advantage to the Soviets

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Carters Reaction

• 1980 Carter DoctrineWith unrest in Iran (Iran
  and Iraq War), Afghanistan, the Soviets chasing
  their dream of a warm water port, Carter issued a
  statement that the US will use military force to
  stop any country trying to take control of the
  Persian Gulf.

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Other Major Events

• Pardon of Draft Evaders
• 1977 (10,000 Pardoned)
• Condemned by VFW
• No conditions
• Energy Crisis
• Gas/Energy prices skyrocket
• Gas lines (gas 37 cents to 1.10)
• Carter tells people to cut back!

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3-Mile Island

• 1979 Meltdown of nuclear power plant in PA.
• Dangerous aspect of Nuclear Power
• Happened 12 days after the hit movie China
  Syndrome was released

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Human Rights

• Cornerstone of Carters Foreign policy
• He condemned racism in S. Africa, White rule in
  Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) Repressive Govt of Castro
  (Cuba) and Idi Amin (Uganda)
• He cut off aid to Argentina, Uruguay and Ethiopia
  (Human Rts. Violations

• Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and
  of the equal and inalienable rights of all
  members of the human family is the foundation of
  freedom, justice and peace in the world,

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The Humphrey-Hawkins Act

• Called for 4 unemployment by 1983
• American made (autos, TV, etc)
• Does this happen?

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Panama Canal Treaty

• Returned Canal and zone to Panama in 1999
• Received tremendous criticism for this act

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Camp David Accords, 1978

• Carter, Sadat, and Begin work out a treaty that
  ended a 31 yr. war between Egypt and Israel
• Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize for
  their efforts
• Both were assassinated because of this treaty

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American Hostages in Iran 1979-1981

• 444 days of captivity
• 52 hostages
• Carter tried everything including a military
  effort to free them from the grips of the
  Ayatollah Khomeini
• All failed
• Hostages were released the day Reagan became
  President. (Dirty Deal?)

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Ronald Reagan (Rep. 40th Pres) 1981-1989
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Cold War

• Called the USSR The focus of Evil in the Modern
  World
• Hardlinerno detent
• In 1983 he put missiles in Europe to answer the
  USSR medium range missiles aimed at western
  Europe

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Mikhail Gorbachev
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1985

• Soft-liner
• Preaches Glasnost (Openness)
• The Soviet economy was in ruins
• Met with Reagan twice (Geneva 1985 and Iceland,
  1986) to try to move closer to the West.
• The USSR feared the US was going to go ahead with
  Star Wars and now want to reduce missile numbers

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Star Wars

• A space-based missiles defense system

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Finally

• Gorbachev agreed to on-site inspections of
  weapons, factories (never done before)and this
  led to a very important
• INF Treaty (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) in
  1987 which made both countries destroy whole
  classes of Nukes

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Then in Dec. 1988

• The USSR surprisingly announced it would withdraw
  large numbers of troops and tanks from Eastern
  Europe and Afghanistan (1989)
• These unilateral moves signaled the death knell
  of Communism in Europe but it would take 2 more
  years.

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Other Important Issues

• Reaganomics
• Supply-side Economics
• Trickle-Down Economics
• Voodoo Economics
• Cut taxes on the rich and provide jobs for the
  average blue collar worker and we will all be
  happy! (1981-1989)

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The Economy

• Employment reached all time high of 118 million
  (but many of these were part-time jobs like
  McDonaldsminimum wage)
• The US debt (1981) went over 1 trillion for the
  1st time and the deficit exceeded 200 bill. In 3
  of the next 4 years (Debt Tripled)
• The US went from being the worlds 1 creditor
  nation to being the 1 debtor nation because of
  poor trade

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Assassination Attempt Mar. 1981

• Assassination attempt

• John Hinckley

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To Impress

• Jody Foster

• Shot Pres. To impress Foster

• Hinckley shot Reagan in Wash DC nearly killing
  him.
• Hinckley was found not guilty by Reason of
  Insanity.
• He went to a mental institutions
• Many Critics of the verdict demanded that the
  insanity plea rules needed tightening

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US-Canadian Trade Pact 1988

• Free trade by 1999
• Many Canadians objected!

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Social Security-1983

• Designed to keep the system stable until 2050

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Terrorism

• Chief Terrorist-M. Khadaffi

• Reagan charged that 5 nations (Iran, Libya, N.
  Korea, Cuba, and Nicaragua) routinely committed
  terrorist acts around the world

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Some Incidents

• Apr. 1983US embassy in Beirut, LebanonBombed16
  Amer. Killed
• Oct. 1983241 US Marines in Beirut, Lebanon
  killed (truck bomb)
• June 1985Shiites take TWA Jetliner 104 Amer.
  Hostages
• Oct. 1985Achille LauroCruise shipPLO
• Dec. 1986Pan-Am Jet exploded over Lockerbie
  Scot.259 killed

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April 15, 1986

• Reagan had the US Air Force bomb Khadaffi
• This seem to reduce terrorism to some extent
• Killed Khadaffis adopted daughter

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Iran-Contra Affair

• In 1985, Reagan secretly agreed to sell arms to
  Iran (at war with Iraq) if Iran would release
  some Amer. Hostages.
• The money from this deal went to the Contras
  (anti-communists) to fight the Sandinista
  (Communists) Rebels in Nicaragua.

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Illegal!!!

• Boland Amendment (1984)Illegal to sell guns to
  countries engaged in a war where the USA has no
  argument (prevent another Vietnam)
• Reagan could have been impeached but wiggled off
  the hook!

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Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North Took the Blame
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Invaded Grenada-1983

• Caribbean Island
• Fearing that Cuban Communists were setting up a
  Com. Gov there sent in troops to protect US
  citizens thereMedical School Students

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South Africa--Sanctions

• Reagan opposed Apartheid but wouldnt place
  sanctions (No Trade) on the White Minority Gov.
• Finally Congress overrode Reagans veto to do so

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Berlin Wall Comes Down

• 1989
• Tear down those walls Mr. Gorbachev
• USSR begins to pull out of satellite nations
• 1992 Eastern European nations are no longer
  communist