Transcript Richard M. Nixon

Richard M. Nixon
•
(Rep) Jan. 20, 1969-Aug. 9, 1974
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• 1970 The Senate repealed the Gulf of Tonkin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.
• 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”
• 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)
• The Communist North conquered the South
shortly after we left
• The V.N. War cost us
– 58,000 dead
– 304,000 wounded
– $110 billion
New China Policy
• Nixon, who had long hated the Chinese
Comm. Gov of Mao ZeDong—put aside his
feelings and began using his influence to get
Comm. China a seat in the U.N. in 1971
• In Feb. 1972 Nixon went on a “Journey For
Peace” to China—was warmly received by
Chairman Mao and Premier Chou En Lai, they
agreed to broaden contact in cultural,
scientific, and trade
SeaBed Treaty 1970
• US and USSR and others agreed to ban Nukes
from the ocean floor in international waters
Chemical Weapons Treaty 1971
• US and USSR agree to destroy Chemical,
Biological, Radioactive (CBR’s) weapons
S.A.L.T.
• US and USSR agree to limit Anti-Ballistic
Missiles (ABM’s)
• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Other Major Events
• Wage-Price Controls—1971-1973
• Anti-inflation move froze wages (1971) and
then prices
• Complex wage-price controls that lasted till
1973
• Very unusual move for a Republican Pres.
• Revenue Sharing-1972--$Billions sent back to
States and local Govs.
• Law and Order—
• Organized Crime Control Act, Drug Abuse
Control Act—”No Knock” searches
• DC Criminal Justice Act
Cuyahoga River 1969
• EPA created 1970 –
Agency monitors
pollution
• Water Pollution Act
1972
• Passed over Nixon’s
VETO
• Curtailed industrial
discharge sharply
Consumer Product Safety Act 1972
• Set-up a commission to ban unsafe products
• Toys
1969 Man on the Moon
• Neil Armstrong
• “One small step for
man, one giant leap for
mankind.”
26th Amendment
• 1971
• 18 yr. olds can vote
• Reaction to?
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)
Watergate 1972
• Nixon wants to win reelection by the
LARGEST amount ever
• Previous Pres. Was FDR
Watergate
• Break-in by CREEP on
Dem. Headquarters
• (Committee to Re-elect
the President)
• “Whitehouse Plumbers”
bugged Dan Ellsburg’s
office (shrink)-he had
given the Pentagon
Papers out
• Pentagon papers—top
secret study of origins
of the V.N. War
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
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
“Hush Money”
• Nixon and others paid out “hush money” to
cover up Watergate
• As a result of Nixon’s involvement in covering
up crimes, the House of Reps. Started
impeachment proceedings against him (July
1974)
Charges
• Obstruction of Justice
– Lying to Investigators
– Withholding evidence—stonewalling it
– Paying hush money
Abuse of Power
--Misusing IRS,CIA,FBI, and Secret Service
• Failure to comply with Congressional Subpoenas
• Order to surrender tapes
• Realizing he couldn’t escape impeachment,
Nixon became the 1st and only Pres. Of US to
resign
• “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.”
Gerald R. Ford
Rep. Aug. 9, 1974-Jan. 20, 1977
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
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
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
• The Communist agreed to
– Relax travel restrictions
– Improve East-West Communications
Other Major Events
• Nixon Pardon-1974-DEAL? “You make me Pres.
And I’ll keep you out of jail”—This drew a
firestorm of protest and Ford’s Press Secretary
resigned in protest
• Ford said having to resign as Pres. Was more
punishment for Nixon than going to jail
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.
Consumerism
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Fair Credit Billing Act
Equal Credit Opportunity Act
Warranty Act
Real estate Settlement Procedure Act
All sought equity in the marketplace
NYC Bailout
• 1975
• $2.3 bill. To avoid default
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
Two Separate Assassinations Attempts
Both in Sept. of 1975
Lynette “Squeeky” Fromme
• Shot but gun did not fire
• Released from prison Aug 4,
2009
Sara Jane Moore
• Shot and Missed
• Released from prison Jan. 1,
2008
Jimmy Carter (39th Pres.)
Dem. 1977-81
Cold War
• US opened diplomatic relations with China
(Ping Pong Diplomacy) (Detent)
• We then signed scientific, cultural and trade
treaties
Soviets invade Afghanistan
• 1979—SALT II Treaty Fell through when
Soviets invade Afghanistan (Dec. 1979)
• Many Americans felt the treaty gave a
dangerous weapons advantage to the Soviets
Carter’s Reaction
• 1980– Carter
Doctrine—With 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.”
Other Major Events
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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!
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
Human Rights
• Cornerstone of Carter’s
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,
The Humphrey-Hawkins Act
• Called for 4% unemployment by 1983
• American made (autos, TV, etc…)
• Does this happen?
Panama Canal Treaty
• Returned Canal and
zone to Panama in 1999
• Received tremendous
criticism for this act
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
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?)
Ronald Reagan (Rep. 40th Pres)
1981-1989
Cold War
• Called the USSR “The focus of Evil in the
Modern World”
• Hardliner—no detent
• In 1983 he put missiles in Europe to answer
the USSR medium range missiles aimed at
western Europe
Mikhail Gorbachev
1985
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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
Star Wars
• A space-based missiles defense system
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
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.
Other Important Issues
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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)
The Economy
• Employment reached all time high of 118
million (but many of these were part-time jobs
like McDonalds’—minimum 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 world’s #1
creditor nation to being the #1 debtor nation
because of poor trade
Assassination Attempt Mar. 1981
Assassination attempt
John Hinckley
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
US-Canadian Trade Pact 1988
• Free trade by 1999
• Many Canadians objected!
Social Security-1983
• Designed to keep the system stable until 2050
Terrorism
Chief Terrorist-M. Khadaffi
• Reagan charged that
5 nations (Iran,
Libya, N. Korea,
Cuba, and
Nicaragua) routinely
committed terrorist
acts around the
world
Some Incidents
• Apr. 1983—US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon—
Bombed—16 Amer. Killed
• Oct. 1983—241 US Marines in Beirut, Lebanon
killed (truck bomb)
• June 1985—Shiites take TWA Jetliner – 104
Amer. Hostages
• Oct. 1985—Achille Lauro—Cruise ship—PLO
• Dec. 1986—Pan-Am Jet exploded over
Lockerbie Scot.—259 killed
April 15, 1986
• Reagan had the US Air Force bomb Khadaffi
• This seem to reduce terrorism to some extent
• Killed Khadaffi’s adopted daughter
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.
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!”
Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North Took
the Blame
Invaded Grenada-1983
• Caribbean Island
• Fearing that Cuban
Communists were
setting up a Com. Gov
there sent in troops to
protect US citizens
there—Medical School
Students
South Africa--Sanctions
• Reagan opposed Apartheid but wouldn’t place
sanctions (No Trade) on the White Minority
Gov.
• Finally Congress overrode Reagan’s veto to do
so
Berlin Wall Comes Down
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1989
“Tear down those walls Mr. Gorbachev”
USSR begins to pull out of satellite nations
1992 Eastern European nations are no longer
communist