Gerald ford Ford became Vice President in 1973

Gerald ford Ford became Vice President in 1973 when Spiro Agnew resigned due to extortion, tax fraud, bribery, and conspiracy charges Nixon nominated Ford as Agnew’s replacement, and he was confirmed with overwhelming numbers by both the Senate and the House. Ford hadn’t even had a chance to move into the Vice-Presidential home before he became President when Nixon resigned in 1974 due to Watergate. Ford became the 1 st VP and President who was never elected to either post!

What does Ford do?

Helsinki Accords – Recognizing the USSR as a sovereign nation…

James “Jimmy” Carter President Carter’s conservative government was a welcome change after the perils of Vietnam and the Watergate plumber scandal. He was down-to -earth, and didn’t play politics – he gave it to Americans straight, like FDR had.

Human Rights §Carter focused on human rights in his foreign policy. § He believed that if we promoted morality, freedoms and liberties like what we have in America, we could change the world. §Because of this, he cut support of countries we had been supporting - like Argentina and Brazil, because they tortured their own citizens. §It also negatively impacted our relations with the USSR.

Draft Dodgers 1977, President Jimmy Carter, in his first day in office, fulfilled a campaign promise by granting unconditional pardons to hundreds of thousands of men who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War by fleeing the country or by failing to register.

Panama Canal As part of Carter’s efforts to promote human rights, he decided to give back the Panama Canal to the Panamanians. This helped strengthen our relations with Latin America.

Conservation Carter’s policies for America focused on conserving energy and bringing us out of our economic slump. He presented more than 100 energy conservation measures to Congress, which oil, gas, and automobile states blocked. He also heavily promoted Earth Day, which started April 22, 1970 where schools around the country held environmental awareness activities.

James “Jimmy” Carter §Carter tried to ease the economic problems in America by removing price restrictions on American oil and natural gas, §He tried to encourage people to carpool, and use their better senses…so he taxed gas guzzling cars, and gave tax credits for using alternative fuels, but most Americans didn’t bite §This act, and unexpected violence in the Middle East, led to huge gas shortages and inflation levels at their highest point in more than 30 years.

Camp David Accords Jimmy Carter was considered a great negotiator. He engineered a framework for peace between Egypt and Israel called the Camp David Accords. Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a peace treaty in March of 1979. These two countries had been at war since the creation of Israel at the end of WWII.

Camp David Accords As part of the Camp David Accords 1 - Israel agreed to move out of the Sinai Peninsula, which it had captured in 1967, and 2 - Egypt agreed to formally recognize Israel’s right to exist.

The Iran Hostage Crisis Carter’s downfall came in the Middle East. The ruler of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pehlavi, the Shah, was a notorious dictator and a U. S. ally. Under his leadership, Iran had became a cultural Mecca for the West. His government has been described by many as “too much of a good thing. ” He was forced out by a Muslim clergyman, Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers, who wanted to run Iran according to the Qur’an – under sharia law – which was hailed by a great number of the Iranian population. STOP HERE FOR ACTIVITY