Nixons Legacy Todays Objective After todays lesson students

Nixon’s Legacy

Today’s Objective After today’s lesson, students will be able to… Assess the Nixon presidency and draw conclusions as to their legacy Essential Skill: Explicitly assess information and draw conclusions

Nixon (1968 -1974) Background Eisenhower’s VP from 1952 -1960 Lost election in 1960 to JFK Lost 1962 California Governor’s race “You 1968 won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore…” Nixon comeback Narrowly “Silent defeated Humphrey (D) for president Majority”

Domestic Policy “New Federalism” More state/local government control Paradoxical expansion of federal government OSHA, DEA, EPA, Affirmative Action & Welfare Programs “Stagflation” Unusual rise in unemployment and inflation Vietnam War, foreign competition, 1973 OPEC oil embargo

Vietnam “Vietnamization” 26 th Amendment (1971) Voting Age 18 Pentagon Papers (1971) Misled the public Paris Peace Accords (1973) 1975 N invades S to unite War Powers Resolution (1973) Limited ability of President to deploy troops without war declaration

China Realpolitik worldview National Security Advisor/Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Ping Pong Diplomacy (1971) Nixon’s visit (1972) End Vietnam War, expand trade, frighten the USSR Full diplomatic relations (1979)

USSR Détente Easing Cold War tensions US/USSR Pollution, Strategic cooperation space missions Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) Froze # of ICBMs Limited ABMs Symbolic impact on arms race

1972 Election

Watergate Burglary at Watergate Hotel, June 1972 Woodward “Deep Senate and Bernstein Throat” source investigation and tapes Impeachment charges imminent Hindering investigation, abusing power of the presidency, ignoring subpoena for tapes Nixon resigned August 9, 1974 before impeachment

Watergate Legacy The President was not above the law System of checks & balances worked Increasing distrust of government officials and “D. C. insiders” Disillusionment Was justice served?

Questions to Ponder Was “Deep Throat” a hero or a traitor? Should journalists utilize anonymous sources? How did Watergate affect Americans’ perception of the Presidency? Did President Ford do the right thing in pardoning Nixon?

Limiting Nuclear Arms Nixon uses new relations with China to get USSR to talk about limiting the nuclear arms race In 1972, the U. S. and the U. S. S. R. signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT I froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers at existing levels and provided for the addition of new submarinelaunched ballistic missiles SALT I demonstrated that arms control agreements between the superpowers were possible However, it did not reduce the number of weapons that either nation possessed, nor did it halt the development of conventional weapon technologies

Nixon’s Domestic & Economic Policies During Nixon’s first few years in office, the U. S. went through economic troubles Unemployment and inflation rose, and federal spending proved difficult to control Stagflation: A period of high inflation combined with economic stagnation, unemployment, or economic recession that occurred during the 1970 s In response, Nixon turned to the practice of deficit spending, or spending more money in a year than the government receives in revenue

Pentagon Papers The Pentagon Papers showed U. S. leaders had lied to the American people about not wanting to expand the Vietnam War President Nixon felt National Security was threatened Nixon was successful in obtaining a court order to stop publication but New York Times filed a lawsuit citing free press issues and violating no prior restraint Nixon ordered Ellsburg’s psychiatrist’s office burglarized looking for evidence to discredit him