1. The Modern Era

2. SSUSH25 The student will describe changes in national politics since 1968.
a. Describe President Richard M. Nixon’s opening of China, his resignation due to the Watergate scandal, changing attitudes toward government, and the Presidency of Gerald Ford.
b. Explain the impact of Supreme Court decisions on ideas about civil liberties and civil rights; include such decisions as Roe v. Wade (1973) and the Bakke decision on affirmative action.
c. Explain the Carter administration’s efforts in the Middle East; include the Camp David Accords, his response to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the Iranian hostage crisis.
d. Describe domestic and international events of Ronald Reagan’s presidency; include Reaganomics, the Iran-contra scandal, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Standards

4. Richard Nixon In 1968 conservative Richard Nixon became President.
One of Nixon’s greatest accomplishments was his 1972 visit to communist China.
Visit opened China to American markets and highlighted a shift in American policy towards communism.
This policy of being “friendly” towards hostile nations became known as détente.
Richard Nixon

5. In 1972, Nixon ran for re-election
In 1972, Nixon ran for re-election. He was paranoid that he would lose the race.
His campaign decided (apparently without Nixon’s knowledge) to wiretap the phones at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel.
In essence, they wanted to steal the election plans of the Democrats; to know their “game plan”.
The first break-in was successful. The phones were tapped.
A few weeks later, a second break-in was planned to fix problems with the wiretapping system.
On the second break-in, Nixon’s campaign workers were caught by security.
Watergate

7. Nixon denied that he had any knowledge of the break-in; they wanted to distance themselves from the burglars.
Apparently in the Oval Office, Nixon had recorded a conversation about the break-in that he had with his advisors.
Congress subpoenaed the President to hand over those tapes.
Nixon refused claiming that sometimes the President was “above the law”.
The Supreme Court stepped in and demanded Nixon hand over the tapes to Congress.
After review of the tapes by Congress, Nixon was found guilty of trying to cover-up the break-in.
Watergate

11. Due to mounting public pressure and a threat of impeachment, Nixon chose to resign from office.
Nixon officially announced his resignation in August 1974.
This make Richard Nixon the first and so far only President to ever voluntarily leave office.
The Watergate scandal caused many Americans to lose confidence and trust in a government they viewed as corrupt and untrustworthy.
Nixon Resigns

15. Gerald Ford After Nixon resigned VP Gerald Ford became President.
Ford oversaw America during a time of severe economic recession.
Victim of two assassination attempts.
His reputation was further tarnished when he pardoned former President Nixon for any wrong doing in the Watergate scandal.
Gerald Ford

16. Supreme Court Decisions of the 1970’s
Two landmark decisions were handed down by the Supreme Court in the 1970’s.
Supreme Court Decisions of the 1970’s

17. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court made a controversial decision to nationally legalize abortions “on request”.
The attorney for a young woman denied an abortion in Texas argued it violated her 4th amendment right to privacy. (protection against searches and seizures)
The court (of 9 MEN) ruled that abortions after the first “trimester” were legal, citing viability of the child to survive without the mother.
The National Organization of Women (NOW) continued to fight for female reproductive rights throughout the 1970s and 80s.
Roe v. Wade (1973)

18. Affirmative action – laws set in place that allows race to be a deciding factor in college admission policies including specific quotas for each racial group
Allan Bakke applied to the University of California medical school but was rejected based on his “age” despite having high academic scores.
Bakke did more research and discovered that many minorities were admitted to the university with significantly lower test scores than Bakke.
Bakke’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1978 and the court decided:
1. to allow race to be ONE factor in college acceptance
2. to end the quota system used in college admissions
The Bakke Decision(1978)

21. In 1976 Georgia Democratic Governor Jimmy Carter beat Ford for the presidency.
Carter’s administration was heavily influenced by international issues in the Middle East.
One highlight was the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between the Islamic country of Egypt and Jewish nation of Israel in 1978.
The Camp David Accords were the first signed peace agreement between the nations of the Middle East.
Jimmy Carter

25. Through much of the 20th century, the Middle Eastern country of Iran had been an ally of the United States.
The US deposed the democratically elected leader of Iran in the early 1950s and installed a Western-friendly king (Shah) to control the country and its oil supply.
Many in Iran resented the new Shah because of his (an his father’s) attempts to “westernize” the traditional Islamic nation.
In 1979, Muslim leaders led a revolution that led to the overthrow of the Shah while he was in the United States seeking treatment for cancer.
Revolutionaries wanted their nation to be ran by a strong, religious leader, the Ayatollah.
Iranian Revolution

29. Despite demands from the Iranian revolutionaries, Carter refused to return the dying Shah to Iran.
In response to President Carter’s refusal, Islamic revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
Hostages were finally released on January 20, 1981 when Carter left office and Ronald Reagan was sworn in.
Event only served to strengthen the anti-American sentiment in the Middle East.
Iran Hostage Crisis

33. Ronald Reagan, former governor of California elected President in 1980.
As a conservative, Reagan believed that the federal government should have a smaller role in American life.
Pursued an economic policy critics called “Reaganomics”; included tax breaks and budget cuts.
“Reaganomics” (sometimes referred to as “trickle-down” economics) is generally thought to have benefitted all Americans.
Ronald Reagan

37. Collapse of the Soviet Union
One highlight of Reagan’s presidency is the fall of the communist Soviet Union.
Reagan is credited with pursuing a foreign policy of pressuring Soviet leaders to grant more individual freedoms to its citizens.
Reagan, while decreasing domestic spending, increased military spending.
This increase in military spending was an attempt to amass a substantially larger arsenal of weapons than the USSR; gain the upper hand in the arms race.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (right) instituted the policies of glasnost and perestroika that led to economic changes in the communist nation.
Collapse of the Soviet Union

39. Reagan famously encouraged Soviet leader Gorbachev to end Soviet control of its satellite nations, especially East Germany.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
October 1989 – Berlin Wall torn down; structure that separated communist East Berlin from capitalist West Berlin since 1961
Led to the reunification of East Germany and West Germany.
Fall of the Berlin Wall

42. On Christmas Day in 1991, Gorbachev resigns as leader of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union is dissolved into 15 individual republics including Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The collapse signified the over 50 year stand off between the US and the Soviet Union known as the Cold War.
Cold War Comes to an End

46. Reagan’s VP George H.W. Bush wins the presidency in 1988.
Remembered mostly for guiding the US through the Persian Gulf War (the 1st Iraqi War).
August 1990 – Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army invade neighboring Kuwait
US sends in troops to turn back the approaching Iraqi Army and liberate Kuwait.
George H. W. Bush