Transcript Gerald Ford

The Rise and Fall of Richard
Nixon
Ch. 22-25
New Conservatism at Home
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New Federalism
Welfare Reform
Law and Order
Win back southern conservatives
End Stagflation: high inflation + High oil
prices = low employment so freeze wages
and prices
New Conservatism abroad
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Détente
Recognize China
Divide USSR and China
SALT I: reduce # of missiles to 1972 levels
Vietnam war ends 1973
1. Foreign Policy summary: accommodation
with Soviets and recognition of China
• Nixon’s go-to guy was Henry Kissinger
• Shuttle diplomacy
• Nixon Doctrine (1969)
– Honor treaties
– Allies should use their own manpower for
their own defense.
– Limited economic and military aid
– “Vietnamization”- “expand, equip and get
out”
“After a period of confrontation, we
are entering an era of
negotiation.” -Richard Nixon’s
1st Inaugural Address
First-Term Foreign Policy Goals
• Strategic arms
limitation (SALT I)
• Peaceful negotiation
with foreign powers
– “Rapprochement” with
China (ally against
USSR)
• Recognizes China
– “Détente” with the
Soviet Union
Ping-Pong Diplomacy
• American ping
pong team is
invited to china
in 1971.
• First Americans
to visit China
since 1949
• Opening of
diplomatic
relations
• U.S. lifts 20year embargo
Détente with the Soviets
• After years of hostile
relations, a cooling:
– Détente focused on peaceful
negotiations and weapon
limitations between the two
nations.
• Unlike previous
administrations, Nixon and
Kissinger hope for a mutually
beneficial relationship
• Not Soviets caving to
Americans
2. Domestic
• “New Federalism”
– Balance the power of the feds
with states
– Allow some power in
Washington return to states
• Environmental Protection
Agency
• Clean Air Act (vetoed by
Nixon)
• OSHA
• Title IX
Moon Landing ‘69
Was it worth the cost?
• Spending billions of
dollars to send some
dudes to the moon to
walk around provided
a nice break from
serious racial,
socioeconomic issues,
oh and Vietnam
• Clean Air Act
(1970)
• Clear Water Act
(1972)
– States had specific
federal guidelines to
follow or face
penalties with
pollution
• Responses to the
growing
environmental
movement
Energy crisis
• 1970- Worldwide oil
shortages (both perceived and
real)
– Economic Stabilization Act
• 90 day freeze on all wages and
prices
• 1973- Arabs upset about
support for Israel
• OPEC Oil Embargo
– National speed limit of 55 MPH
– Gas lines and crappier cars
Cool (early 70s)
Not cool (late 70s)
Stagflation
• Inflation plus
unemployment
• Defied economic
patterns
17
Stagflation (4 reasons)
1. Johnson’s
administration paid
for Great Society and
Vietnam without tax
increases
2. Stiff competition from
West Germany and
Japan
3. Expensive energy
4. New workers entered
the workforce
Tokyo1945
Tokyo 1975
20
3. The Court Shifts to the Right
• Nixon and other
conservative
balked at liberal
Warren-era
decisions:
– Gideon v.
Wainwright (1963)
– Miranda v. Arizona
(1966)
– Engel v. Vitale
(1961)
• Nixon appoints Warren
Burger to move the court
to the right
3. The Court Shifts to the Right
• However, Roe v. Wade (1973)
3. The Court Shifts to the Right
• But also takes a
shot at
affirmative
action in U.C.
Davis v. Bakke
(1979)
4. Social
• More women
are working
5. Watergate and the Fall of
Nixon
How does a piece of tape cause a president to resign?
“A third rate burglary”
• Polls showed Nixon
trailing McGovern in early
“72”
• Plumbers” turn to political
espionage
• Five men (CREEP) are
arrested while planting
electronic surveillance
equipment inside the DNC
in the Watergate Office
Complex
• Story disappears from the
front pages
When reporters did their job
• Investigative reporters
Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein uncover
a paper trail through
the inappropriately
named “Deep Throat”
Cool informant in parking garage
Really old guy in 2005
• Deep Throat gives a
paper trail that
implicates scores of
FBI, CIA and Justice
Department officials in
a cover-up
• At the time, Nixon had
ordered the CIA to
block the investigation
Fall Guys
Key White
House Advisor
John
Ehrlichman
White
House
Chief of
Staff
H.R.
Haldeman
White
House
Counsel
John Dean
• Nixon scrambles to pin the break-in on
the above guys
The Senate Hearings
• Sen. Sam Ervin opens
up the Watergate
Hearings
• Special Prosecutor
Archibald Cox is
appointed to
investigate
• Dean testifies he’d
paid “hush money” to
the Watergate burglars
The tapes
• Haldeman’s assistant
Alexander Butterfield
testifies about a secret
White House
recording system
– Goes back to JFK and
LBJ
• Why you’d want to
record criminal acts is
unclear
“The Saturday Night Massacre”
• Country is in uproar
• Cox subpoenas the
tapes
• Nixon refuses
(executive
privilege) and
orders Cox fired
• Goes through three
people at Justice to
do it
“I’m not a crook!”
The Tapes
• Supreme Court forces Nixon to surrender the tapes, the
effect was devastating.
• Implicates Nixon from the earliest days of the Watergate
cover-up;
– authorizing the payment of hush money, and attempting to use the
CIA to interfere with the FBI investigation.
• One tape, which promised to be particularly damaging, has
an 18 ½ minute gap erased into the conversation.
• December 7, 1973: The White House can't explain an 18
1/2 -minute gap in one of the subpoenaed tapes. Chief of
staff Alexander Haig says one theory is that "some sinister
force" erased the segment.
• Nixon’s private secretary Rosemary Woods humiliatingly
demonstrated for photographers how she could have
inadvertently triggered the machine that erased the tape with
her foot as she reached for the telephone, but no one bought
it.
The Smoking Gun
• Most damaging tapes,
called “the smoking
gun tapes,” were
released on 5 August
1974,
• House Judiciary
Committee had
approved Articles of
Impeachment against
President Nixon.
• The effect was
devastating, as even
Nixon’s supporters
abandoned him.
Nixon Resigns
• Faced with
impeachment,
President Richard
Milhouse Nixon
resigns the
presidency on
August 9, 1974
Watergate and the Fall of Nixon
• Effects of Watergate
1. Cynicism and skepticism
towards the presidency for
years
2. Congress and the media
gain power
3. Journalism majors increase
50%!
4. Every political scandal now
ends in “-gate”! i.e.
Monicagate
Where did they get the
information?
• Woodward and Bernstein had many sources,
some unnamed, but their most famous
source was called “Deep Throat.” This was a
secret source that had inside information
about the president and the Watergate
break-in.
• They never revealed the man’s name.
Mystery is over
• Mark Felt is Deep Throat
• Served as the deputy director of the FBI. 30
year career
• Deep throat’s identity became known in 2005
when he stepped forward and identified
himself.
• He identified himself. The reporter’s only
confirmed it once Felt made the announcement
Gerald Ford
The First Unelected
President
The Nixon Pardon
• Pardon for Nixon
– Sacrificed his
presidency?
• Any crimes
“discovered or
undiscovered”
• Another “corrupt
bargain”?????? (no
proof)
Foreign Affairs
• Helsinki Accords
– July 1975
– Continuation of Detente
– Legitimized Soviet
boundaries of Poland
– Soviets agreed to be
more open and more
humane…right…
• Fall of Saigon
– April 29, 1975
• Feminist Movement gains
momentum
– Roe v Wade
– Title IX
– ERA
• Phyllis Shlafly
• Death of Other Civil Rights
– Reversals in Integration
– Failure of Affirmative
Action
– The Native “WHO CARES”
Civil Rights Movement
Social
Jimmy Carter
The Nice Guy Who Finished First
Then…
Can our enemies take us seriously when our president
wears cardigans?
Election of 1976
• The Bicentennial
• Republicans –
Gerald Ford
• Democrats – Jimmy
Carter (dark horse)
– “I’ll never lie to
you.”
Political (Domestic)
• Created Department
of Energy (1977)
• Cut taxes
• Pardoned Vietnam
Draft Dodgers
Political (Domestic) cont.
• Massive inflation
– 13% in 1979
• Failing economy
• Americans must
Globalize trade
• Dollar Loses Value as
Prices go up!!!
• Interest rates soared
(no loans… no small
business loans… no
construction!)
Oil Crisis (Again)
• Blamed economic woes on our reliance on
Foreign Oil
• Iranian Revolution 1979
– Cuts off oil to U.S.
• OPEC raises Prices
• July 15, 1979- “Crisis of Confidence” Speech
– Seen as Hypocritical
– Seen as naïve/inexperienced
Foreign Affairs
• ACTUALLY committed to
HUMAN RIGHTS in foreign
affairs
• Championed the poor and
oppressed:
– Rhodesia
– Nicaragua
– Argentina (Will condemn
military dictators in L.A.)
– End of Detente
• Full diplomatic relations
with China in 1979
• Panama Treaties
– Panama took ownership of
canal in 2000
Camp David Accords
• September 1978
• Egypt – President Anwar
Sadat
• Israel – Prime Minister
Menachem Begin
• Peace Accord:
– Israel agreed to
withdrawal from
conquered territory
– Egypt agreed to respect
Israel’s borders
SALT II
• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
(Number 2)
• Failed in Ratification in Senate
– Conservative Cold Warriors saw it as Naïve
Iranian Hostage Crisis
• November 4, 1979
• Anti-American
militants attack U.S.
embassy in Teheran
• Demanded a return
of the Shah
– Not to power… But for
justice!
• Attempted Economic
Sanctions- fail
• Military rescue
(extreme failure)
• 444 day crisis
American Morale in the late 70s