Transcript Limits Of A Superpower, 1969-1980
Limits Of A Superpower, 1969-1980
Viewer Discretion is Advised
Richard Nixon Picture - 37th President Henry Kissinger National Security Advisor
Real Estate No. 3 1971 BEST Total: 2,052.2
1 unit: 1,151.0
2 to 4 units: 120.5
5 or more units: 780.9
Northeast: 263.8
Midwest: 434.1
South: 868.7
West: 485.6
Best month: December Seasonally adjusted annual rate: 2,295 • The total number of U.S. troops in Vietnam drops to 196,700, the lowest number since 1966.
• A new stock market index, the Nasdaq, debuts. • Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, is found dead in his Paris, France apartment.
The murder of “109 oriental human beings ”. . .
Defense Department Analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, “leaks” secret government texts to the press.
Paris Accords of 1973
Peace talks, bombing attacks, and armistice: 1972- Kissinger announces “peace is at hand” (way to ambitious) North Vietnamese fail to compromise => Nixon orders massive bombing, the heaviest in the history of the war, on North Vietnam to force a settlement Finally, the two agree on an armistice : U.S. troops out of the country in return for over 500 POWs, a cease-fire and free elections.
Peace still impossible as war continues between the South and the North
Détente With China and the Soviet Union
Nixon visits Mao Zedong In Beijing in February 1972 => the U.S. would recognize the People’s Republic of China in 1979.
First round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT)- U.S. diplomats secured Soviet Union commitment to halt the number of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads.
The New Federalism Within Domestic Policy
Nixon slows down the development of Johnson’s Great Society by advising the Family Assistance Plan.
The Family Assistance Plan was a reform of the welfare system.
Nixon also enacted a policy of revenue sharing, where some of the federal responsibility for social programs shifted to the state and local levels.
Congress approved giving local governments $30 billion in block grants to decide the use of.
Nixon attempted to bypass Congress by not spending funds meant for social programs but critics and courts agreed that the president need only carry out the laws of Congress regardless of support.
Nixon’s Economic Policies
Recession in 1970: combination of economic slowdown and high inflation -
stagflation
Nixon adopted Keynesian economics and deficit spending: In August 1971- imposed a 90-day wage and price freeze Took the dollar off the gold standard 10% surtax on all imports By 1972, the recession was over and Congress approved increases for Social Security benefits based on the annual rise in living cost
Southern Strategy
Identifying himself as a minority president, Nixon devised a political tactic to form a Republican majority of millions of voters discontented by antiwar protests, black militants, school busing to achieve racial balance, and youth counterculture.
This “silent majority” was mostly composed of Democrats dissatisfied by the liberal drift of their party.
Agnew was authorized to make verbal assaults against both war protestors and the liberal press.
Ultimately Nixon succeeded.
The Warren Court to Burger Court
1969 Nixon appointed Warren E. Burger as chief justice to succeed the retiring Earl Warren
Burger Court
Nixon compromises with Congress by selecting moderate Henry Blackmun after his two conservative nominees were rejected.
Blackmun concluded pro abortion in
Roe v. Wade,
1973 Next two appointments, were Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist, were both approved.
The Court that Nixon shaped would deny him his claims to executive privilege and order him to turn over the Watergate tapes in
United Sates v. Nixon
, 1974
Election of 1972
Nixon’s reelection assured by: His foreign policy successes in China and the Soviet Union The removal of George Wallace from the race by an assassin’s bullet that paralyzed the Alabama populist The nomination by the Democrats of a very liberal, antiwar, antiestablishment candidate, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. The Democrats managed to keep control of both houses of Congress.
Nevertheless, voting patterns suggested the Republican shift to come due to the political realignment of the Sunbelt and suburban voters.
Watergate
June 1972, a group of men hired by Nixon’s reelection committee were caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate complex. They attempted to bug the offices.
Earlier, Nixon ordered wiretaps on government employees and reporters to stop leaks as well as to discredit opponents.
Burglarized the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.
“Enemies list” created by Nixon’s “plumbers” that included those whom opposed the Nixon and or the Vietnam war.
Watergate Investigation
Watergate Investigation
No solid proof of the President’s involvement in the illegal activities but it was clear he had a hand in the cover-up.
Federal Judge John Sirica discovered bribery and promise of pardons by White House staff to quiet burglars.
Senate investigation committee revealed the abuses to the public through televised hearings when a White House lawyer, John Dean’s, testimony linked Nixon to the cover up.
His top aids, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman resigned to protect him but were later indicted for obstructing justice.
The Oval Office taping system was discovered and Nixon was denied executive privilege for the tapes which would prove the cover up.
Furthermore, Agnew resigned for having taken bribes earlier in his career.
War Powers Act
Required Nixon and any future president to report to Congress within 48 hours after taking military action. Congress would have to approve any military action that lasted more than 60 days.
A direct result of Nixon’s authorization of 3,500 bombing raids in Cambodia, a neutral country.
October War
October 6 th , 1973 Syrians and Egyptians attacked Israel in an attempt to recover the lands lost in the Six Day War of 1967 Nixon airlifted nearly $2 billion in arms to Israel and the war was soon over in favor of the Israelis.
Oil Embargo
To U. S.
Nixon Resigns!
Nixon Resigns!
Despite the President’s recent victories in visits to Moscow and Egypt, his image at home continued to dwindle.
Impeachment hearings urged him to reveal some transcripts of the Watergate tapes and in July the Supreme Court forced him to surrender the tapes.
The House of Judiciary Committee thus voted three articles of impeachment :
Obstruction of justice Abuse of power Contempt of Congress
The tapes clearly showed that Nixon was involved in the cover up and he resigned on August 9, 1947 to avoid an impeachment in the house and a trial in the Senate.
Gerald Ford
Nixon appointed the vice president to the presidency, making him the first unelected president in U. S. history.
Gerald Ford in the White House
Accused of making a “corrupt bargain” with Nixon by granting him a pardon, Ford lost some credibility.
Nixon walked as a free man while his aids were indicted and the full truth of the scandal remained hidden forever.
Gerald Ford in the White House
Investigation of the CIA Fall of Saigon: Ford unable to get funds from Congress for South Vietnam April 1975, Saigon fell to the enemy and became one country under the Communist government in Hanoi.
Genocide in Cambodia; Khmer Rouge
Radical Communist faction defeats Cambodia and conducts genocide over its people.
President orders an attack on a Cambodian naval base to compensate the failure of U.S. policy, a basically futile attempt.
In direct contrast to the domino theory, “little tigers” emerged in thriving Asian nations of Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.
The Economy and Domestic Policy
WIN – Whip Inflation Now Inflation continued, U.S. sank deeper into recession Ford agrees to a Democratic package intending to stimulate the economy Bicentennial celebration – the U.S. celebrated its 200 th birthday
Election of 1976
Republican party marred by Watergate; Ford challenged by California ex-governor Ronald Reagan but managed to win the nomination.
Democrat nominee Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, stole the vote in the election with his apparent immunity to corruption.
Foreign Policy Human Rights Diplomacy
Andre Young U. S. ambassador to the United Nations Latin American injustices
Panama Canal
A new treaty that would gradually transfer operation and control of the canal from the U.S. to the Panamanians – completed in 2000
Camp David Accords
Carter initiated the treaty toward Middle East peace between Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed in September 1978
Iran Hostage Crisis
1979, Islamic fundamentalists in Iran, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, overthrew the Shah. November, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran and held over 50 members of the staff hostage. Carter’s rescue mission in 1980 failed to take off successfully.
Cold War
U.S. continues détente with both China and Soviet Union U.S. ends recognition of Taiwan and makes relations with PRC more official SALT II treaty- providing limits to the size of each superpower’s nuclear delivery system Never signed due to Soviet Union’s aggression in Afghanistan December 1979, Soviets invaded Afghanistan and U.S. feared the S.U. would move to control the oil-rich gulf => Carter placed an embargo on grain exports and sale of high tech to Soviet Union And boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow
Domestic Policy: Dealing With Inflation
“National Malaise”
American Society in Transition
Fastest growing age group were citizens over 65 Growth of Immigration – by the 1980s, most 47% of immigrants were from Latin America, 37% from Asia, and less than 13% from Europe.
Illegal Immigration- as many as 12 million foreigners from countries of Latin America and Asia in the U.S. illegally.
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, penalized employers for hiring illegal immigrants while also granting amnesty to illegal immigrants arriving by 1982.
Demand For Minority Rights
Mexican workers were encouraged to come to the states in the 1950s and 1960s to take low-paying agricultural jobs were widely exploited.
Led by Cesar Chavez on a series of boycotts the United Farm Workers Organization finally won collective bargaining rights for farm workers in 1975.
Chicano activists also won a federal mandate for bilingual education, requiring schools to teach Hispanic students in both English and Spanish.
Native American Movement
Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 – gave reservations and tribal lands greater control over internal programs, education, and law enforcement.
Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978 – attacked unemployment and poverty by improving education. Also built industries and gambling casinos on reservations.
Asian Americans & Gay Liberation Movement
Fastest growing minority by 1980, the largest group of Asian Americans were of Chinese ancestry, followed by Filipinos, Japanese, Indians, Koreans, and Vietnamese.
Asian Americans well represented in society despite discrimination.
Gay activists urged homosexuals to be more open about their identity and work to end discrimination and violent abuse.
By mid 1970s- homosexuality no longer considered a mental illness and the federal Civil Service dropped its ban on employment of homosexuals.
The Environmental Movement
First Earth Day in 1970- raised awareness of pollution and destruction of natural environment
Nuclear power plant accident at the Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 ignited protective legislation Clean Air Act (1970) Environmental Protection Agency (1970) Clean Water Act (1972) Superfund (1980) to clean up toxic dumps