1. NIXON AND THE WATERGATE SCANDAL
What events led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as President in 1974?

3. NIXON’S POLICIES TARGET MIDDLE AMERICA
Political ups & downs:
House of Representatives
Senate
Vice President
1960 and 62 – Lost presidential and gubernatorial
President in 1968

4. Nixon calls for a “New Federalism”
Silent majority
“reverse the flow of power and resources from the States and communities to Washington and start power and resources flowing back from Washington to the States and communities”
Revenue sharing with states

5. Nixon Expands the Government’s Role
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Clean Air Act
$ for social welfare programs

6. The Economy Struggles Recession and inflation = STAGFLATION: War
Foreign competition
Price of oil
OPEC embargo
Nixon freezes wages and prices for 90 days

7. Nixon Follows a Southern Strategy
Expand base
Southern whites
Blue collar workers
Normally democrats
Change to republicans

8. Controversy Rages Over Busing
Conservative judges
Moratorium on court ordered busing

9. Nixon Proposes New Civil Rights Initiatives
Philadelphia Plan: a type of affirmative action
“…segregation didn’t occur naturally – it was imposed…visible, measurable goals to correct [these] imbalances are essential.”

10. Nixon’s Strategy Succeeds
1972 High approval ratings
Trips to China and Soviet Union
Moderate with VP Spiro Agnew
61% of popular vote and almost all electoral votes

12. THE WATERGATE SCANDAL BRINGS NIXON DOWN
Botched burglary of Dem Party HQ June ’72
Connected to White House
Burglars tried in ’73
Connection revealed btwn burglars and top Nixon Administration
Nixon tries to deny it

13. Watergate Goes Pubic
“Deep Throat”
Connection to C.R.E.E.P.
“I am not a crook”

14. Revealing the White House Tapes
Spiro Agnew resigns in unrelated scandal
Ford is new VP
Summer ‘73 discovers taping of Oval Office conversations includes break in cover-up
Executive Privilege

15. U.S. vs. NIXON
“The expectation of a President to the confidentiality of his conversations of correspondence…has all the values to which we accord deference for the privacy of citizens…But…The very integrity of the judicial system depend on full disclosure of all the facts, within the framework of the rules of evidence”

16. Nixon Resigns
Charged with obstructing justice, misuse of power and refusal to comply with White House subpoenas
Resigns before he could be impeached
“…process of healing which is so desperately needed in America”

17. For what was Nixon guilty?
Cover-up of break in
“dirty tricks” for re-election
“enemies list”
Wiretapping of gov’t employees and reporters

18. Watergate Has a Lasting Impact
FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT AMENDMENTS (1974)
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AMENDMENTS (1974)
GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE ACT (1976)
ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT (1978)
“The lies, the lies, the lies…What a pity, what a pity! Here was a president who got us out of Vietnam, ended the draft…and by his bold overtures to Red China opened new avenues toward world peace. Now the good vanishes in the wreckage of the bad. The swearing in of Gerald Ford can’t come one hour too soon.”
August 30, 1974

19. Looking at the Bright Side
Strength of checks and balances
“extraordinary triumph in the American system”
-Time magazine
“Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men”
-Gerald Ford