Policy, Politics, and Debate The 20 th Century Presidency From JFK to Nixon

Do Now: Provide an example of one school policy. i.e. No cell phones in school

JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy # Interesting Fact(s): Youngest elected president; first Catholic president; The Moon; CRM; assassinated Major Policy Initiative: The New Frontier; Peace Corps; CRM

Do Now: What does the following quote mean? " Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." JFK – The “...torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans" America’s New Frontier  The Peace Corps – American’s move to join the Peace Corps  A move towards social justice  A united nation, no frontier was to distant  Race to Space  Social Reform (raise mim. wage and social security benefits)  Assassinated, but goals live on

LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson # Interesting Facts: Vietnam Major Policy Initiative : Great Society

Great Society  Carrying on JFK’s torch for social reform  Civil Rights Movement – The Civil Right Act and the Voting Rights Act  War on Poverty  Medicare  Medicaid  Public School Funding  Dept. of Housing and Urban Development

Richard M. Nixon # Interesting Facts: The Rise of Conservatism; Watergate; First president to resign from office; China Major Policy Initiative: Welfare Reform; New Federalism; EPA; OSHA; Expand Food Stamps and Social Security; End the Vietnam War

Nixon’s Foreign Policy: Goal: Reduce international tensions  Forge new links with old rivals.  Dialogue with China - ushered in a new era of relations between Washington and Beijing.  Russia – Weeks after visiting China (May 1972) Nixon visited Moscow for a summit  SALT – signed (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) - first comprehensive and detailed nuclear weapons limitation pact between the two superpowers.

Domestic and Economy  "New Federalism" -- a system which directed money and power away from the federal bureaucracy and toward states and municipalities  Family Assistance Plan - a welfare reform that would have guaranteed an income to all Americans; died in Congress  Economy - Combat high inflation rates, imposed wage and price controls in an effort to gain control of price levels in the U.S. economy  Strengthen the US Dollar - took the dollar off the gold standard and let it float against other countries' currencies.  Administer CRM Legislation

Domestic and Economy  Created the EPA  Passed the Clean Air Act  Created the Department Natural Resources

Watergate: The End Of A Presidency  Watergate Defined: A complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974 that brought down a presidency  Nixon: Obsession with secrecy  Nixon’s “Enemies List” – Reporters, Politicians, and Celebrities  Vocab you should know:  “The Plumbers” - named for their orders to plug leaks in the administration  The Pentagon Papers - Defense Department’s secret history of the Vietnam War.

Watergate Timeline Overview:  June 17, 1972: Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex.  October 10, 1972: FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort, The Post reports.  November 11, 1972: Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history  January 30, 1973: Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in the Watergate incident

Watergate Timeline:  May 18, 1973: The Senate Watergate committee begins its nationally televised hearings.  June 3, 1973: Watergate cover-up revealed  November 17, 1973: Nixon declares, “I’m not a crook,” maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case.  July 24, 1974: The Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president’s claims of executive privilege.  July 27, 1974: House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.  August 8, 1974: Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumes the country’s highest office

Watergate: The End Of A Presidency Watergate - DBQ

Question 1: Who is phone company man supposed to be? Question 2: What is he doing? Question 3: Why did the cartoonist draw him doing this?

Question 4: Why would President Nixon put someone on his “enemies list?”

Question 5: What does this cartoonist think about the list? Question 6: What is Nixon holding on to? Question 7: What do you think Nixon is doing?

Question 8: Why would the cartoonist depict Nixon in a spider’s web? Question 9: Who are the people whose names are in the web? Why are their names there?

Question 10: Why did Nixon choose to resign rather than face trial?

Closure:  In two or three sentences, summarize the Watergate Scandal  Answer the following question:  If you were around during the Watergate Scandal, what would be your impression on the office of the presidency and the government?

Question 1: Who is phone company man supposed to be? Question 2: What is he doing? Question 3: Why did the cartoonist draw him doing this? Question 4: Why would President Nixon put someone on his “enemies list?” Question 5: What does this cartoonist think about the list? Question 6: What is Nixon holding on to? Question 7: What do you think Nixon is doing? Question 8: Why would the cartoonist depict Nixon in a spider’s web? Question 9: Who are the people whose names are in the web? Why are their names there? Question 10: Why did Nixon choose to resign rather than face trial? In two or three sentences, summarize the Watergate Scandal If you were around during the Watergate Scandal, what would be your impression on the office of the presidency and the government?