Nixon’s Legacy

Today’s Objective  After today’s lesson, students will be able to…  Assess the Nixon presidency and draw conclusions as to their legacy  Essential Skill:  Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions

Nixon ( )  Background  Eisenhower’s VP from  Lost election in 1960 to JFK  Lost 1962 California Governor’s race  “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore…”  1968 Nixon comeback  Narrowly defeated Humphrey (D) for president  “Silent Majority”

Domestic Policy  “New Federalism”  More state/local government control  Paradoxical expansion of federal government  OSHA, DEA, EPA, Affirmative Action & Welfare Programs  “Stagflation”  Unusual rise in unemployment and inflation  Vietnam War, foreign competition, 1973 OPEC oil embargo

Vietnam  “Vietnamization”  26 th Amendment (1971)  Voting Age 18  Pentagon Papers (1971)  Misled the public  Paris Peace Accords (1973)  1975 N invades S to unite  War Powers Resolution (1973)  Limited ability of President to deploy troops without war declaration

China  Realpolitik worldview  National Security Advisor/Secretary of State Henry Kissinger  Ping Pong Diplomacy (1971)  Nixon’s visit (1972)  End Vietnam War, expand trade, frighten the USSR  Full diplomatic relations (1979)

USSR  Détente  Easing Cold War tensions  US/USSR cooperation  Pollution, space missions  Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I)  Froze # of ICBMs  Limited ABMs  Symbolic impact on arms race

1972 Election

Watergate  Burglary at Watergate Hotel, June 1972  Woodward and Bernstein  “Deep Throat” source  Senate investigation and tapes  Impeachment charges imminent  Hindering investigation, abusing power of the presidency, ignoring subpoena for tapes  Nixon resigned August 9, 1974 before impeachment

Watergate Legacy  The President was not above the law  System of checks & balances worked  Increasing distrust of government officials and “D.C. insiders”  Disillusionment  Was justice served?

Questions to Ponder  Was “Deep Throat” a hero or a traitor?  Should journalists utilize anonymous sources?  How did Watergate affect Americans’ perception of the Presidency?  Did President Ford do the right thing in pardoning Nixon?

Limiting Nuclear Arms  Nixon uses new relations with China to get USSR to talk about limiting the nuclear arms race  In 1972, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT I  SALT I froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers at existing levels and provided for the addition of new submarine- launched ballistic missiles  SALT I demonstrated that arms control agreements between the superpowers were possible  However, it did not reduce the number of weapons that either nation possessed, nor did it halt the development of conventional weapon technologies

Nixon’s Domestic & Economic Policies  During Nixon’s first few years in office, the U.S. went through economic troubles  Unemployment and inflation rose, and federal spending proved difficult to control  Stagflation: A period of high inflation combined with economic stagnation, unemployment, or economic recession that occurred during the 1970s  In response, Nixon turned to the practice of deficit spending, or spending more money in a year than the government receives in revenue

Pentagon Papers  The Pentagon Papers showed U.S. leaders had lied to the American people about not wanting to expand the Vietnam War  President Nixon felt National Security was threatened  Nixon was successful in obtaining a court order to stop publication but New York Times filed a lawsuit citing free press issues and violating no prior restraint  Nixon ordered Ellsburg’s psychiatrist’s office burglarized looking for evidence to discredit him