Watergate and Political Backlash

Domestic Affairs 1968 Campaign “Southern Strategy” http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/31233-1 Stagflation We live in a deeply troubled and profoundly unsettled time…Drugs, crime, campus revolts, racial discord, draft resistance – on every hand we find old standards violated, old values discarded.” - Richard Nixon

Domestic Affairs Opposition to Voting Rights Act The Supreme Court and forced integration The “Silent Majority” Moon landing, July 1969

Welfare and Environment New federalism Welfare reform Expansion of social services Earth Day, April 1970 Environmental Protection Agency, 1970 Clean Air (1970) & Clean Water (1972) Acts Endangered Species Act, 1973

Foreign Policy Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State “Vietnamization” Ping-Pong Diplomacy Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, 1972

Foreign Policy SALT I agreement with Soviets, 1969-1972 Oil crisis, 1973-1974 Shuttle diplomacy Supplying & supporting oppressive governments

Watergate What is Watergate scandal? Oval Office tapes Executive Privilege Supreme Court judgment Impeachment, 1974 Nixon resigned, August 1974 neither “the doctrine of the separation of powers nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications can sustain an absolute, unqualified presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances.”

The Legacy The Imperial President The Last Liberal? The New Republican Party Distrust of Government

Watergate and Political Backlash Key Terms: SALT I, Oil Crisis, Henry Kissinger, “Southern Strategy”, “Silent Majority”, New Federalism, Environmental Protection Agency, Watergate, Executive Privilege