The Nixon and Ford Presidencies A Time of Uncertainty The Nixon and Ford Presidencies

Nixon in Office Nixon openly criticized the Johnson years as POTUS and claimed he was speaking on behalf of a “silent majority” Nixon continued Kennedy’s space program and allocated money to reach the moon. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the 1st human to set foot on the moon The economy was already in trouble when Nixon took over. High military spending for the war and an already growing period of inflation His policies had little effect in helping the war or the economy Nixon’s policy of détente was a small success in taking the edge off the Cold War

The Watergate Scandal Nixon was reelected in 1972 but a political scandal would soon end his career During the 72 election, police arrested 5 men who broke into the Democratic Party Office in the Watergate Hotel. The men had been hired by Nixon to spy on Democrats The White House paid the men to keep quiet but the scandal soon came out on TV John Dean testified that Nixon authorized the spying himself and that he taped all conversations in the Oval Office, Nixon denied the charges but the Supreme Court forced Nixon to give up the tapes Not only had the president conspired to cover up the burglary and other misdeeds, he had in fact illegally spied on Americans In 1974, the House of Representatives took steps toward impeaching Nixon, realizing that it was about to happen, Nixon quickly resigned as president and fled to Canada Vice President Gerald Ford became the new president

The Ford Presidency After taking office, Ford tried to restore public confidence in the nation’s leaders, but soon he granted Nixon a full, free and absolute pardon of crime The nation faced severe economic problems from Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon’s policies, add Ford’s failed administration and the country soon plunged into recession with extreme high unemployment Ford also continued to give financial aid to the Vietnamese and sent troops to Cambodia to free a captured merchant marine ship Ford’s presidency started under tough conditions and only got worse with each attempt Ford made to help America, his presidency is not remembered fondly

Carter’s Troubled Presidency Jimmy Carter became president in 1976 with high hopes of helping America rebound In his first year, Carter sent 10 reform bills to Congress who denied all of them Just as presidents prior, Carter inherited a horrid economy where inflation was out of control, many of Carter’s policies were denied and/or led to higher taxes on the American people, most of his policies failed During 1979, Carter faced an international crisis when he allowed the ex-Shah of Iran to come to America for medical help. Outraged by the betrayal, Iranians kidnapped 53 Americans and held them captive for 14 months. Carter’s military action failed to bring the hostages home and eroded America’s confidence in him as POTUS