chapter_24_section_1_notes.ppt | |
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Summary of Nixon's Presidency before Watergate
Major Domestic Policies
New Federalism - Nixon believed the national government had gotten involved with too much stuff, so he stopped the funding for many programs (sometimes illegally by impounding the funds) that Lyndon Johnson had started, including much of his "war on poverty". Instead of having federal government agencies in charge of most progrrams, Nixon believed in giving $$$ (block grants) to state and local governments so they could best decide how to use it for their own people. This became known as Revenue Sharing, and is still a fairly common practice today when it comes to programs like welfare.
Increased spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Attempted to improve the gradually worsening economic conditions that became referred to as stagflation (high inflation and high unemployment) by attempting several things... including raising taxes on businesses and citizens, cutting spending on most programs, and freezing wages and prices. These measures were either not approved by Congress or were temporary fixes.
Attempted to slow desegregation policies in the South to get states that voted for George Wallace in 1968 to vote for him in 1972 (better known as the Southern Strategy). Congress and the Supreme Court prevented him from doing this,
Attempted to quiet all the antiwar and equality protesters by restoring order to the country. He was unsuccessful at doing this in the early stages of his presidency as race riots broke out in cities around the country (including Detroit in the summer of 1969) and Vietnam protests remained in the public eye (the most famous incident occurring at Kent State in the spring of 1970). He authorized the use of all sorts of government agencies to conduct investigations (sometimes using illegal methods) against people who organized these events or who opposed him in general, and attempted to use the information that was collected to imprison them.
Established the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. The purpose of this organization is to protect human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.
This nearly 11 minute video covers much of Nixon's presidency. I intend on showing the portion from 1:13 to 3:57. It covers New Federalism, Revenue Sharing, and Impoundment. From 6:40 - 7:47 it discusses the economy (Stagflation). From 7:47 to the end it discusses foreign policy and summarizes the entire section.
Explaining Stagflation
About a minute and a half. Does a good job explaining what it means
The 26th Amendment
The 26th Amendment was passed in 1971. It gave citizens 18 years old the right to vote.
The amendment states two things:
1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
2.The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The debate over lowering the voting age had been going for a long time, more than a decade before the Vietnam War. In the 1950's, Dwight Eisenhower was the first U.S President to show his public support of the 26th amendment and agreed with families whose children had been drafted into previous wars but were not able to have a say in electing the leaders that were sending them there. Before the amendment was passed into law, state governments could choose their own voting age for citizens in their states, usually 21 years of age. Many U.S. citizens were upset that state governments could choose such a high voting age and draft men into the war under 18. Young men were risking their lives for our country, but didn't have the right to vote. People of all ages (but mostly young people) protested to show their disapproval of the government's actions. At colleges across the United States, students led marches and protests through the streets, shouting and chanting, "OLD ENOUGH TO FIGHT, OLD ENOUGH TO VOTE".
Congress passed the amendment in March 1971. It was promptly ratified and President Nixon passed it into law later that July.
The amendment states two things:
1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
2.The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The debate over lowering the voting age had been going for a long time, more than a decade before the Vietnam War. In the 1950's, Dwight Eisenhower was the first U.S President to show his public support of the 26th amendment and agreed with families whose children had been drafted into previous wars but were not able to have a say in electing the leaders that were sending them there. Before the amendment was passed into law, state governments could choose their own voting age for citizens in their states, usually 21 years of age. Many U.S. citizens were upset that state governments could choose such a high voting age and draft men into the war under 18. Young men were risking their lives for our country, but didn't have the right to vote. People of all ages (but mostly young people) protested to show their disapproval of the government's actions. At colleges across the United States, students led marches and protests through the streets, shouting and chanting, "OLD ENOUGH TO FIGHT, OLD ENOUGH TO VOTE".
Congress passed the amendment in March 1971. It was promptly ratified and President Nixon passed it into law later that July.
2 minutes long. Brief history of how voting rights were gradually extended over history and more detail on how/why the 26th Amendment came to be.
Major Foreign Policies
Followed through with his election promise to remove U.S. military personnel from Vietnam by slowly deescalating our involvement in the conflict and training the South Vietnamese to use our equipment so they could fight their own war (Vietnamization).
Visited China in early 1972, becoming the 1st U.S. president to ever do so. This paved the way for peaceful dialogue (and eventually trade relationships) between the 2 countries going forward. Prior to this meeting, the U.S. had no formal contact with Chinese leaders since the country had become communist in 1949.
Visited the Soviet Union in 1972, becoming the 1st U.S. president to do so after WWII. This paved the way for meaningful positive dialogue (detente) to occur between the 2 global superpowers for the first time since WWII, and allowed the 2 leaders to sign SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) I, which froze the number of nuclear weapons that the U.S. and Soviet each had for 5 years.
Detente, China, the Soviet Union, and SALT I.
The first 3 minutes of this 4 minute clip highlights the 3 topics listed in the title. The last minute discusses Watergate... which will be addressed in greater detail during Section 2.
The SALT Treaties
Covers both SALT I and SALT II. Around 3 and a half minutes. From Reading Through History
Nixon Goes to China
About 3 and a half minutes long. Also from Reading Through History
The Energy Crisis of the late 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s
A major reason (not the only one) for stagflation (high inflation and high unemployment) that existed throughout the U.S. Economy during this time was our dependency on foreign oil, mainly from the Middle East.
By the late 1960s, OPEC (The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - which is a group of representatives from Middle Eastern Countries formed in the early 1960s that controlled the flow of oil outside of their borders) was the main place that the U.S. got cheap foreign oil from due to how plentiful and easy to extract from the ground it is in that region of the world. It had started to gradually raise prices in the late 1960s and early 1970s (realizing how powerful they were as a group and that countries like the U.S. had become dependent on oil/gas), but not to extreme levels.
To this day, oil is a major part of the American Economy. Businesses are dependent on it to manufacture and transport goods around the country. People have come to rely on gasoline (a byproduct of oil) to get from place to place. Cheap oil allows prices of products to remain low (lower costs of production and lower costs of getting those products to market) and people to travel more freely around the country. Expensive oil does the opposite.
In early October of 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked attacked Israel on the sacred Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The dispute was over land. The Soviet Union and other Communist countries provided supplies to Egypt and Syria while the U.S. provided supplies to Israel. No U.S. or Soviet troops were used during the dispute. The fighting lasted roughly 2 weeks while the peace treaty came about 4 months after the conflict started. It resulted in roughly 15,000 deaths and an additional 25,000 wounded for Egyptian/Syrian forces plus around 2,500 deaths and 8,000 wounded for the Israelis. When the conflict was over, little territory ended up changing hands.
The major impact of this conflict from the U.S. perspective had to do with what OPEC did after the war. This organization was not very happy that the U.S. supported Israel during the conflict. For 6 months, there was an oil embargo (meaning no oil was exported from any OPEC country to the U.S.). This caused major oil shortages in the U.S. and caused the price of oil to skyrocket (lower supply raises prices). Many gas stations had none to give consumers, and the ones that did typically had long lines or prioritized who to sell gasoline to.
By the late 1960s, OPEC (The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - which is a group of representatives from Middle Eastern Countries formed in the early 1960s that controlled the flow of oil outside of their borders) was the main place that the U.S. got cheap foreign oil from due to how plentiful and easy to extract from the ground it is in that region of the world. It had started to gradually raise prices in the late 1960s and early 1970s (realizing how powerful they were as a group and that countries like the U.S. had become dependent on oil/gas), but not to extreme levels.
To this day, oil is a major part of the American Economy. Businesses are dependent on it to manufacture and transport goods around the country. People have come to rely on gasoline (a byproduct of oil) to get from place to place. Cheap oil allows prices of products to remain low (lower costs of production and lower costs of getting those products to market) and people to travel more freely around the country. Expensive oil does the opposite.
In early October of 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked attacked Israel on the sacred Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The dispute was over land. The Soviet Union and other Communist countries provided supplies to Egypt and Syria while the U.S. provided supplies to Israel. No U.S. or Soviet troops were used during the dispute. The fighting lasted roughly 2 weeks while the peace treaty came about 4 months after the conflict started. It resulted in roughly 15,000 deaths and an additional 25,000 wounded for Egyptian/Syrian forces plus around 2,500 deaths and 8,000 wounded for the Israelis. When the conflict was over, little territory ended up changing hands.
The major impact of this conflict from the U.S. perspective had to do with what OPEC did after the war. This organization was not very happy that the U.S. supported Israel during the conflict. For 6 months, there was an oil embargo (meaning no oil was exported from any OPEC country to the U.S.). This caused major oil shortages in the U.S. and caused the price of oil to skyrocket (lower supply raises prices). Many gas stations had none to give consumers, and the ones that did typically had long lines or prioritized who to sell gasoline to.
By the time OPEC resumed selling oil to the U.S. again (in mid 1974), the price per barrel had increased dramatically (quadrupling in less than a year). Gasoline prices had gone up dramatically too... from less than 25 cents per gallon to roughly $1 per gallon. Businesses had to adjust to these higher costs by laying off employees (higher unemployment) and increasing prices on products in stores (higher inflation). This combination (referred to as stagflation) continued to exist through the early 1980s.
There are several long term impacts of this crisis.
1. The U.S. began to develop an oil reserve (a supply of oil inside the U.S.) to prepare against a situation like this in the future.
2. The U.S. began to seriously explore alternative energy sources (like natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar, etc...)
3. The U.S. began to promote conservation (use less oil... produce vehicles that are more fuel efficient, etc...)
1. The U.S. began to develop an oil reserve (a supply of oil inside the U.S.) to prepare against a situation like this in the future.
2. The U.S. began to seriously explore alternative energy sources (like natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar, etc...)
3. The U.S. began to promote conservation (use less oil... produce vehicles that are more fuel efficient, etc...)
This 10 minute power point presentation does a good job explaining what OPEC is, the Yom Kippur War, the oil embargo of 1973, and its long term impacts.