Nixon as President - Expertise in Foreign Affairs
Domestic Policy
- 26th Amendment: Voting age lowered to 18
- Revenue Sharing Bill: $30 million in Federal Funds returned to the States
Foreign Policy
- Henry Kessinger: Chief Foreign Policy Advisor
- "Vietnamization"
- Nixon Doctrine: Asians will have to fight their own wars w/o large #'s of Am. troops
- My Lai Massacre
- U.S. invasion of Cambodia (4/29/70) led to death of 4 students at Kent State University
- Pentagon papers published in June, 1971: U.S. provoked Gulf of Tonkin incident
- Nixon's trip to People's Republic of China (Feb - 1972)
- Nixon's trip to the Soviet Union (May - 1972)
-Détente, Grain Deal, ABM Treaty, SALT Treaty
1972 Election: Nixon ( R ) - Watergate (CREEP)
v.
McGovern ( D ) - Anti-war Movement
Foreign Policy
Vietnam Cease-fire Agreement: January 23, 1973
- End of fighting
- Withdrawal of U.S. troops
- Return of Am. P.O.W.'s
- North Vietnam troops could remain in place
- Future elections to be held
- U.S. Aid to Vietnam
"Peace with honor"?
Nixon's illegal bombing of Cambodia led to the War Powers Act in November, 1973
- Requires the President to report to Congress within 48 hours after committing U.S. troops
Arab Oil Boycott - October, 1973
- Energy crisis
- Alaska pipeline
- 55 mph speed limit
- Search for new energy sources
- Nuclear energy plants expanded
Domestic Policy
- Watergate investigation by Congress
- Revelation of the Nixon tapes
- Resignation of V.P. Agnew for acceptable bribes while (October, 1973) Governor of Maryland
- Nixon appoints Gerald Ford to be his new V.P.
- Supreme Court orders Nixon to release his tapes on July 24, 1974
- Tapes reveal Nixon's involvement in a cover-up
- House Judiciary Committee votes for 3 Articles of impeachment
- Nixon resigns as President on August 8, 1974
Ford as President
- First "unelected" President
- Pardon of Nixon
- Win campaign
- Fall of Saignon on April 29, 1975
- U.S. evacuates the Am. Embassy
(Total casualties: 58,000+ dead, 300,000 wounded)
1976 Election: Carter ( D ) - "I'll never lie to you." v. Ford ( R )
Carter as President
Domestic Policy
- Biggest problem: Dependence on foreign oil and OPEC's price increases
- Inflation increases (13%)
- Debt increased (20%)
- Interest rates increased
-Department of energy created
Foreign Policy
- Guiding principle in Foreign Policy: concern for human rights (South Africa)
- Pardoned Draft Dodgers
- Panama Canal Treaty
- Camp David accords with Egypt and Israel
- Iran seized U.S. embassy on November 4, 1979
- Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 27, 1979 which led to U.S. boycott of the 1980 summer Olympic games in Moscow