1. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Nixon and Ford Administrations

2. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Explain how President Nixon tried to ease Cold War tensions. Describe the impact of the Watergate scandal on the Nixon administration and the nation. Identify the challenges faced by President Gerald Ford. Objectives

3. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Terms and People inflation – a steady rise in prices Gerald Ford – Nixon’s Vice President; later, he became President after Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal Jimmy Carter – a former governor of Georgia who became President in 1976

4. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. What successes and failures marked Nixon’s presidency? However, Nixon failed to improve the sagging economy, and he was forced to resign the presidency over the Watergate scandal. Nixon ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, eased Cold War tensions, and improved relations with China and the Soviet Union.

5. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. The economy was in trouble when Nixon came into office in January 1969. High military spending on the Vietnam War had fed inflation. At the same time, economic growth had stalled, producing an economic recession and high unemployment.

6. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Nixon tried to boost the economy by ordering a temporary freeze on wages, prices, and rents. Nixon’s policy met little success, and the freeze was soon lifted. This shocked conservatives.

7. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. One of the successes of Nixon’s presidency was space exploration. President Kennedy had pledged to land a man on the moon before 1970. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong descended from the Apollo’s Eagle landing craft and set foot on the moon.

8. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Nixon’s greatest success was in foreign affairs. Through his policy of détente—or an easing of tensions with Communist powers—he helped to take the edge off the Cold War.

9. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. For years, the United States treated the Nationalists in Taiwan as China’s legitimate rulers. Also, the United States and China had never reached an accommodation after the Korean War. Many people were shocked when, in February 1972, Nixon said he would visit mainland China. America did not have a good relationship with China at the time.

10. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. While in China, Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders. Nixon explained that he wanted to “open the door” for travel and trade with China.

11. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. SALT restricted the number and type of nuclear warheads and missiles each nation could build. Nixon also pursued détente with the other great Communist power, the Soviet Union. In 1972, Nixon went to Moscow, where he and Soviet leaders signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).

12. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Nixon was reelected in 1972. Nixon’s reelection committee had hired the men to spy on the Democrats. However, during the election campaign, five men broke into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate complex.

13. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Another witness revealed that Nixon had secretly taped all of the conversations in his office. Former White House counsel John Dean testified that Nixon had approved the coverup. In May 1973, a Senate Committee opened televised hearings into the Watergate affair. The tapes confirmed that Nixon tried to cover up Watergate and other misdeeds.

14. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In July 1974, the House of Representatives took steps toward impeaching President Nixon. Realizing that enough votes existed to remove him from office, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. Vice President Gerald Ford became President.

15. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. When Ford took office, he tried to restore public confidence in the nation’s leaders. However, trust in Ford was badly eroded when he granted Nixon a full pardon.

16. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. Ford’s Presidency The Economy Ford began a program called Whip Inflation Now (WIN), but WIN had little effect on the economy. The nation slipped into a recession, with the highest unemployment rate in years. At Ford’s urging, Congress approved a tax cut to stimulate the economy. Foreign Affairs Ford followed Nixon’s policy of easing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and China. He arranged to airlift 50,000 people from South Vietnam as the Communists approached Saigon.

17. TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas. In 1976, the Republicans nominated Ford to run for President in his own right. The Democrats nominated Jimmy Carter, who promised to restore integrity to Washington. In a close election, Carter won.