Chapter 32 History Test

Economic crisis worsens-Carter

-In the summer of 1979, renewed violence in the Middle East produced a second major fuel shortage in the United States. -To make matters worse, OPEC announced another major price hike. -In 1979 inflation soared from 7.6 percent to 11.3 percent. -. Carter's scattershot approach convinced many people that he had no economic policy at all. -By 1980, inflation had climbed to nearly 14 percent, the highest rate since 1947. The standard of living in the United States slipped from first place to fifth place in the world. -Carter's popularity slipped along with it. This economic downswing—and Carter's inability to solve it during an election year—was one key factor in sending Ronald Reagan to the White House.

Carter rejects realpolitik

-Jimmy Carter rejected the philosophy of realpolitik—the pragmatic policy of negotiating with powerful nations despite their behavior—and strived for a foreign policy committed to human rights.

John Dean's Testimony

-John Dean delivered the first bomb. - In late June, during more than 30 hours of testimony, Dean provided a startling answer to Senator Howard Baker's repeated question, "What did the president know and when did he know it?" -" The former White House counsel declared that President Nixon had been deeply involved in the cover-up. -Dean referred to one meeting in which he and the president, along with several advisers, discussed strategies for continuing the deceit. -The White House strongly denied Dean's charges. -The hearings had suddenly reached an impasse as the committee attempted to sort out who was telling the truth.

Vice President Resigns

-Just days before the Saturday Night Massacre, Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned after it was revealed that he had accepted bribes from Maryland engineering firms, as governor of Maryland, and during his term as vice president. -Acting under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, Nixon nominated the House minority leader, Gerald R. Ford, as his new vice-president. -Congress quickly confirmed the nomination.

Realpolitik

-Kissinger, who would later become Nixon's secretary of state, promoted a philosophy known as realpolitik, from a German term meaning "political realism." -According to realpolitik, foreign policy should be based solely on consideration of power, not ideals or moral principles. - Realpolitik marked a departure from the former confrontational policy of containment, which refused to recognize the major Communist countries. -On the other hand, Kissinger's philosophy called for the United States to fully confront the powerful nations of the globe. -In the world of realpolitik, however, confrontation largely meant negotiation as well as military engagement.

Primary Industries in the Nation

-Many of the nation's primary industries—iron and steel, rubber, clothing, automobiles—had to cut back production, lay off workers, and even close plants.

Nixon's Plan in Conservative Terms

-Nixon presented the plan in conservative terms—as a program that would reduce the supervisory role of the federal government and make welfare recipients responsible for their own lives. -The House approved the plan in 1970. -. However, when the bill reached the Senate, lawmakers from both parties attacked it. -Liberal legislators considered the minimum payments too low and the work requirement too stiff, while conservatives objected to the notion of guaranteed income. -The bill went down in defeat.

Detente

-Nixon shared Kissinger's belief in realpolitik, and together the two men adopted a more flexible approach in dealing with Communist nations. -They called their policy détente—a policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions. -One of the most startling applications of détente came in early 1972 when President Nixon—who had risen in politics as a strong anti-Communist—visited Communist China.

Southern Strategy

-Nixon tried to attract Southern conservative Democrats by appealing to their unhappiness with federal desegregation policies and a liberal Supreme Court. -He also promised to name a Southerner to the Supreme Court.

Washington Post on the Burglary

-Throughout the 1972 campaign, the Watergate burglary generated little interest among the American public and media. -Only the Washington Post and two of its reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, kept on the story. -In a series of articles, the reporters uncovered information that linked numerous members of the administration to the burglary. -The White House denied each new Post allegation. Upon learning of an upcoming story that tied him to the burglars, John Mitchell told Bernstein, "That's the most sickening thing I ever heard." -The firm White House response to the charges, and its promises of imminent peace in Vietnam, proved effective in the short term.

Nixon slows integration

-To attract white voters in the South, President Nixon decided on a policy of slowing the country's desegregation efforts. -Throughout his first term, President Nixon worked to reverse several civil rights policies. In 1969, he ordered the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to delay desegregation plans for school districts in South Carolina and Mississippi. -Nixon's actions violated the Supreme Court's second Brown v. Board of Education ruling—which called for the desegregation of schools "with all deliberate speed." In response to an NAACP suit, the high court ordered Nixon to abide by the second Brown ruling. -The president did so reluctantly, and by 1972, nearly 90 percent of children in the South attended desegregated schools—up from about 20 percent in 1969.

Detente reached a high point

-When Jimmy Carter took office, détente—the relaxation of tensions between the world's superpowers—had reached a high point. -Beginning with President Nixon and continuing with President Ford, U.S. officials had worked to ease relations with the Communist superpowers of China and the Soviet Union.

An imperial presidency

-When Richard Nixon took office, the executive branch—as a result of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War— had become the most powerful branch of government. -In his book The Imperial Presidency, the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., argued that by the time Richard Nixon became president, the executive branch had taken on an air of imperial, or supreme, authority -" Nixon expanded the power of the presidency with little thought to constitutional checks, as when he impounded funds for federal programs that he opposed, or when he ordered troops to invade Cambodia without congressional approval.

Recognize Nuclear Energy Dangers

-While the government did not do away with nuclear power, federal officials did recognize nuclear energy's potential danger to both humans and the environment. -As a result of the accident at Three Mile Island, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission strengthened its safety standards and improved its inspection procedures.

Silent Spring brings about awareness

-Within six months of its publication, Silent Spring sold nearly half a million copies. -Many chemical companies called the book inaccurate and threatened legal action -However, for a majority of Americans, Carson's book was an early warning about the danger that human activity posed to the environment. -Shortly after the book's publication, President Kennedy established an advisory committee to investigate the situation -With Rachel Carson's prodding, the nation slowly began to focus more on environmental issues. - Although Carson would not live to see the U.S. government outlaw DDT in 1972, her work helped many Americans realize that their everyday behavior, as well as the nation's industrial growth, had a damaging effect on the environment.

The Cover-Up Begins

-Workers shredded all incriminating documents in Haldeman's office. -The White House, with President Nixon's consent, asked the CIA to urge the FBI to stop its investigations into the burglary on the grounds of national security. -In addition, the CRP passed out nearly $450,000 to the Watergate burglars to buy their silence after they were indicted in September of 1972.

Following the 1970 Clean Air Act Congress Passed.....

-also passed the Endangered Species Act, in addition to laws that limited pesticide use and curbed strip mining—the practice of mining for ore and coal by digging gaping holes in the land. -Some 35 environmental laws took effect during the decade, addressing every aspect of conservation and clean-up, from protecting endangered animals to regulating auto emissions.

Carter's Malaise Speech

-in which he complained of a "crisis of spirit" that had struck "at the very heart and soul of our national will." Carter's address made many Americans feel that their president had given up.

revenue sharing

-state and local governments could spend their federal dollars however they saw fit within certain limitations. -In 1972, the revenue-sharing bill, known as the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act, became law.

Nixon travels to Moscow

-the first U.S. president ever to visit the Soviet Union. -After a series of meetings called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), Nixon and Brezhnev signed the SALT I Treaty. -This five-year agreement limited the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched missiles to 1972 levels.

New Federalism

-was to distribute a portion of federal power to state and local governments. -To implement this program, Nixon proposed a plan to give more financial freedom to local governments.

Human Rights

-—such as the freedoms and liberties listed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights—throughout the world.

John Sirica

.-In January 1973, the trial of the Watergate burglars began. -The trial's presiding judge, John Sirica, made clear his belief that the men had not acted alone. -On March 20, a few days before the burglars were scheduled to be sentenced, James McCord sent a letter to Sirica, in which he indicated that he had lied under oath. He also hinted that powerful members of the Nixon administration had been involved in the break-in.

National Energy Act

-. The act placed a tax on gas-guzzling cars, removed price controls on oil and natural gas produced in the United States, and extended tax credits for the development of alternative energy. -With the help of the act, as well as voluntary conservation measures, U.S. dependence on foreign oil had eased slightly by 1979.

New Clean Air Act

-1970 Nixon signed this that added several amendments to the Clean Air Act of 1963. -The new act gave the government the authority to set air standards.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

-1978 -the Supreme Court decided that the affirmative action policies of the university's medical school were unconstitutional. -The decision made it more difficult for organizations to establish effective affirmative action programs

Who came into the office after Nixon resigned?

-A short time later, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States.

Saturday Night Massacre

-A year-long battle for the "Nixon tapes" followed. Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor whom Elliot Richardson had appointed to investigate the case, took the president to court in October 1973 to obtain the tapes. Nixon refused and ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. -In what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre, Richardson refused the order and resigned. -The deputy attorney general also refused the order, and he was fired. Solicitor General Robert Bork finally fired Cox. -However, Cox's replacement, Leon Jaworski, proved equally determined to get the tapes. -Several months after the "massacre," the House Judiciary Committee began examining the possibility of an impeachment hearing.

Ford battles a Democratic Congress

-As Ford implemented his economic programs, he continually battled a Democratic Congress intent on pushing its own economic agenda. -During his two years as president, Ford vetoed more than 50 pieces of legislation.

Law and Order Politics

-As President Nixon fought with both houses of Congress, he also battled the more liberal elements of society, including the antiwar movement. -. Nixon had been elected in 1968 on a dual promise to end the war in Vietnam and mend the divisiveness within America that the war had created. -The president de-escalated America's involvement in Vietnam and oversaw peace negotiations with North Vietnam. -At the same time, he began the "law and order" policies that he had promised his "silent majority"—those middle-class Americans who wanted order restored to a country beset by urban riots and antiwar demonstrations.

The President's Men

-As he distanced himself from Congress, Nixon confided in a small and fiercely loyal group of advisers. -They included H. R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff; John Ehrlichman, chief domestic adviser; and John Mitchell, Nixon's former attorney general. -These men had played key roles in Nixon's 1968 election victory and now helped the president direct White House policy. -These men also shared President Nixon's desire for secrecy and the consolidation of power. -Critics charged that these men, through their personalities and their attitude toward the presidency, developed a sense that they were somehow above the law. -This sense would, in turn, prompt President Nixon and his advisers to cover up their role in Watergate, and fuel the coming scandal.

Nuclear Energy

-As the 1970s came to a close, Americans became acutely aware of the dangers that nuclear power plants posed to both humans and the environment. -During the 1970s, as America realized the drawbacks to its heavy dependence on foreign oil for energy, nuclear power seemed to many to be an attractive alternative.

burglary

-At 2:30 A.M., June 17, 1972, a guard at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., caught five men breaking into the campaign headquarters of the DNC. -The burglars planned to photograph documents outlining Democratic Party strategy and to place wiretaps, or "bugs," on the office telephones. -The press soon discovered that the group's leader, James McCord, was a former CIA agent. -He was also a security coordinator for a group known as the Committee to Reelect the President (CRP). John Mitchell, who had resigned as attorney general to run Nixon's reelection campaign, was the CRP's director.

Stagflation

-Between 1967 and 1973, the United States faced high inflation and high unemployment—a situation economists called this

America's Economy went from bad to worse

-Both inflation and unemployment continued to rise. -After the massive OPEC oil-price increases in 1973, gasoline and heating oil costs had soared, pushing inflation from 6 percent to over 10 percent by the end of 1974.

Nixon and Vietnam War

-But peace in Vietnam proved elusive. -The Nixon administration grappled with the war for nearly six more months before withdrawing troops and ending America's involvement in Vietnam. -By that time, another issue was about to dominate the Nixon administration—one that would eventually lead to the downfall of the president

What issues did Carter say was the most important for the country?

-Carter considered the energy crisis the most important issue facing the nation.

Carter supports the Shah

-Carter had supported the shah until the very end. In October 1979, the president allowed the shah to enter the United States for cancer treatment, though he had already fled Iran in January 1979. -The act infuriated the revolutionaries of Iran.

Critics to Carter's human rights policy

-Carter's philosophy was not without its critics. -Supporters of the containment policy felt that the president's policy undercut allies such as Nicaragua, a dictatorial but anti-Communist country. -Others argued that by supporting dictators in South Korea and the Philippines, Carter was acting inconsistently -In 1977, Carter's policies drew further criticism when his administration announced that it planned to give up ownership of the Panama Canal.

Oil Dependency

-During the 1960s, America received much of its petroleum from the oil-producing countries of the Middle East. -Many of these countries belonged to a cartel called OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). -. During the 1960s, OPEC gradually raised oil prices -Then in 1973, the Yom Kippur War broke out, with Israel against Egypt and Syria. When the United States sent massive military aid to Israel, its longtime ally, the Arab OPEC nations responded by cutting off all oil sales to the United States. -. When OPEC resumed selling its oil to the United States in 1974, the price had quadrupled. This sharp rise in oil prices only worsened the problem of inflation.

A Battle over the Supreme Court

-During the 1968 campaign, Nixon had criticized the Warren Court for being too liberal. -Once in the White House, Nixon suddenly found himself with an opportunity to change the direction of the court. -During Nixon's first term, four justices, including chief justice Earl Warren, left the bench through retirement. President Nixon quickly moved to put a more conservative face on the Court. -In 1969, the Senate approved Nixon's chief justice appointee, U.S. Court of Appeals judge Warren Burger. -Eventually, Nixon placed on the bench three more justices, who tilted the Court in a more conservative direction. -However, the newly shaped Court did not always take the conservative route—for example, it handed down the 1971 ruling in favor of racially integrating schools through busing.

Alaska

-During the 1970s, the federal government took steps to ensure the continued well-being of Alaska, the largest state in the nation and one of its most ecologically sensitive. -The discovery of oil there in 1968, and the subsequent construction of a massive pipeline to transport it, created many new jobs and greatly increased state revenues. -However, the influx of new development also raised concerns about Alaska's wildlife, as well as the rights of its native peoples.

Nixon resigns

-Even without holding the original tapes, the House Judiciary Committee determined that there was enough evidence to impeach Richard Nixon. -. On July 27, the committee approved three articles of impeachment, charging the president with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress for refusing to obey a congressional subpoena to release the tapes. -The evidence now seemed overwhelming. On August 8, 1974, before the full House vote on the articles of impeachment began, President Nixon announced his resignation from office.

The Effects of Watergate

-Eventually, 25 members of the Nixon Administration were convicted and served prison terms for crimes connected to Watergate. -Along with the divisive war in Vietnam, Watergate produced a deep disillusionment with the "imperial" presidency. -In the years following Vietnam and Watergate, the American public and the media developed a general cynicism about public officials that still exists today. -Watergate remains the scandal and investigative story against which all others are measured.

*Carrying out Nixon's foreign policies:

-Following Kissinger's advice, Ford pushed ahead with Nixon's policy of negotiation with China and the Soviet Union. - In November 1974, he met with Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev.

In Ford's "Whip Inflation Now"

-Ford responded with a program of massive citizen action, called "Whip Inflation Now" or WIN. -. The president called on Americans to cut back on their use of oil and gas and to take other energy-saving measures. -In the absence of incentives, though, the plan fell flat.

Ford's Tight Money Policy

-Ford then tried to curb inflation through a "tight money" policy. -He cut government spending and encouraged the Federal Reserve Board to restrict credit through higher interest rates. -These actions triggered the worst economic recession in 40 years.

Carter in the white house

-From the very beginning, the new first family brought a down-to-earth style to Washington. -After settling into office, Carter stayed in touch with the people by holding Roosevelt-like "fireside chats" on radio and television. -Carter failed to reach out to Congress in a similar way, refusing to play the "insider" game of deal making. -Relying mainly on a team of advisers from Georgia, Carter even alienated congressional Democrats. -Both parties on Capitol Hill often joined to sink the president's budget proposals, as well as his major policy reforms of tax and welfare programs.

The Collapse of Detente

-However, Carter's firm insistence on human rights led to a breakdown in relations with the Soviet Union. -President Carter's dismay over the Soviet Union's treatment of dissidents, or opponents of the government's policies, delayed a second round of SALT negotiations.

Family Assistance Plan

-In 1969, the president advocated the so-called Family Assistance Plan (FAP). -. Under the FAP, every family of four with no outside income would receive a basic federal payment of $1,600 a year, with a provision to earn up to $4,000 a year in supplemental income. -Unemployed participants, excluding mothers of preschool children, would have to take job training and accept any reasonable work offered them.

Andrew Young

-In 1977, the president appointed civil rights leader Andrew Young as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. -Young was the first African American to hold that post.

Protecting Land in Alaska

-In 1978, President Carter enhanced this conservation effort by setting aside an additional 56 million acres in Alaska as national monuments. -In 1980, Congress added another 104 million acres as protected areas.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

-In January 1979, revolution broke out. -The Muslim religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led the rebels in overthrowing the shah and establishing a religious state based on strict obedience to the Qur'an, the sacred book of Islam.

Presidential aids are charged

-In March 1974, a grand jury indicted seven presidential aides on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. -The investigation was closing in on the president of the United States.

Who won the presidential election of 1972?

-In November, Nixon was reelected by a landslide over liberal Democrat George S. McGovern. -But Nixon's popular support was soon to unravel.

Nixon's views on integration

-In September of 1969, less than a year after being elected president, Nixon made clear his views on civil rights. "There are those who want instant integration and those who want segregation forever. I believe we need to have a middle course between those two extremes," he said.

Tennessee

-In Tennessee, for example, where a federal dam project was halted because it threatened a species of fish, local developers took out ads asking residents to "tell the government that the size of your wallet is more important than some two-inch-long minnow." -When confronted with environmental concerns, one unemployed steelworker spoke for others when he remarked, "Why worry about the long run, when you're out of work right now."

Extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

-In a further attempt to chip away at civil rights advances, Nixon opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -The act had added nearly one million African Americans to the voting rolls. - Despite the president's opposition, Congress voted to extend the act.

Three Mile Island

-In the early hours of March 28, 1979, the concerns of nuclear energy opponents were validated -That morning, one of the nuclear reactors at a plant on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, malfunctioned. -. The reactor overheated after its cooling system failed, and fear quickly arose that radiation might escape and spread over the region. -Two days later low-level radiation actually did escape from the crippled reactor. -Officials evacuated some residents, while others fled on their own. -In all, more than 100,000 residents were evacuated from the surrounding area -In all, more than 100,000 residents were evacuated from the surrounding area. On April 9, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that monitors the nuclear power industry, announced that the immediate danger was over.

Nixon's New Federalism Wears Two Faces

-In the end, Nixon's New Federalism enhanced several key federal programs as it dismantled others. -To win backing for his New Federalism program from a Democrat-controlled Congress, Nixon supported a number of congressional measures to increase federal spending for some social programs. -Without fanfare, the Nixon administration increased Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments and made food stamps more accessible.

Nixon releases tapes

-In the spring of 1974, President Nixon told a television audience that he was releasing 1,254 pages of edited transcripts of White House conversations about Watergate. -Nixon's offering failed to satisfy investigators, who demanded the unedited tapes. Nixon refused, and the case went before the Supreme Court. - On July 24, 1974, the high court ruled unanimously that the president must surrender the tapes. The Court rejected Nixon's argument that doing so would violate national security. -Evidence involving possible criminal activity could not be withheld, even by a president. -President Nixon maintained that he had done nothing wrong. - At a press conference in November 1973, he proclaimed defiantly, "I am not a crook."

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

- In 1970, Nixon consolidated 15 existing federal pollution programs into this. -The new agency was given the power to set and enforce pollution standards, to conduct environmental research, and to assist state and local governments in pollution control. -. Today, the EPA remains the federal government's main instrument for dealing with environmental issues.

Jimmy Carter and Human Rights

- Jimmy Carter, like Woodrow Wilson, sought to use moral principles as a guide for U.S. foreign policy. -Putting his principles into practice, President Carter cut off military aid to Argentina and Brazil, countries that had good relations with the United States but had imprisoned or tortured thousands of their own citizens. -Carter followed up this action by establishing a Bureau of Human Rights in the State Department.

Helsinki Accords

- Less than a year later, he traveled to Helsinki, Finland, where 35 nations, including the Soviet Union, signed the Helsinki Accords—a series of agreements that promised greater cooperation between the nations of Eastern and Western Europe. -The Helsinki Accords would be Ford's greatest presidential accomplishment.

Watergate Scandal

- scandal centered on the Nixon administration's attempt to cover up a burglary of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, D.C. -However the Watergate story began long before the actual burglary. -Many historians believe that Watergate truly began with the personalities of Richard Nixon and those of his advisers, as well as with the changing role of the presidency

Rachel Carson

-, a marine biologist, published a book entitled Silent Spring. -In it, she warned against the growing use of pesticides—chemicals used to kill insects and rodents. -Carson argued that pesticides poisoned the very food they were intended to protect and as a result killed many birds and fish. -Carson cautioned that America faced a "silent spring," in which birds killed off by pesticides would no longer fill the air with song. -She added that of all the weapons used in "man's war against nature," pesticides were some of the most harmful.

environmentalist

-, or someone who takes an active role in the protection of the environment

Carter on the energy crisis

-. A large part of the problem, the president believed, was America's reliance on imported oil. -On April 18, 1977, during a fireside chat, Carter urged his fellow Americans to cut their consumption of oil and gas. -In addition, Carter presented Congress with more than 100 proposals on energy conservation and development. -Representatives from oil- and gas-producing states fiercely resisted some of the proposals. Automobile manufacturers also lobbied against gas-rationing provisions.

causes of stagflation

-. Chief among them were high inflation—a result of Lyndon Johnson's policy to fund the war and social programs through deficit spending. -Also, increased competition in international trade, and a flood of new workers, including women and baby boomers, led to stagflation. -. Another cause of the nation's economic woes was its heavy dependency on foreign oil.

Carter and Civil Rights

-. His administration included more African Americans and women than any before it. -To the judicial branch alone, Carter appointed 28 African Americans, 29 women (including 6 African Americans), and 14 Latinos. -However, President Carter fell short of what many civil rights groups had expected in terms of legislation. -Critics claimed that Carter—preoccupied with battles over energy and the economy— failed to give civil rights his full attention.

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

-. In 1971, Nixon signed this. -which turned over millions of acres of land to the state's native tribes for conservation and tribal use.

U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez

-. In the same year, the Communist government of Cambodia seized the U.S. merchant ship Mayagüez in the Gulf of Siam. -President Ford responded with a massive show of military force to rescue 39 crew members aboard the ship. -The operation cost the lives of 41 U.S. troops. -Critics argued that the mission had cost more lives than it had saved.

Nixon tries to reassure the country

-. McCord's revelation of possible White House involvement in the burglary aroused public interest in Watergate. - President Nixon moved quickly to stem the growing concern. -On April 30, 1973, Nixon dismissed White House counsel John Dean and announced the resignations of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, who had recently replaced John Mitchell following Mitchell's resignation. -. The president then went on television and denied any attempt at a cover-up. He announced that he was appointing a new attorney general, Elliot Richardson, and was authorizing him to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate.

Nixon uses his power illegally

-Nixon used the full resources of his office—sometimes illegally. -The FBI illegally wiretapped many left-wing individuals and the Democratic Party offices at the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. -The CIA also investigated and compiled documents on thousands of American dissidents—people who objected to the government's policies. -The administration even used the Internal Revenue Service to audit the tax returns of antiwar and civil rights activists. Nixon began building a personal "enemies list" of prominent Americans whom the administration would harass. -Nixon also enlisted the help of his combative vice-president, Spiro T. Agnew, to denounce the opposition. The vice-president confronted the antiwar protesters and then turned his scorn on those who controlled the media, whom he viewed as liberal cheerleaders for the antiwar movement.

Conversations deleted from the tapes

-On August 5, Nixon released the tapes. -They contained many gaps, and one tape revealed a disturbing 181/2-minute gap. -According to the White House, Rose Mary Woods, President Nixon's secretary, accidentally erased part of a conversation between H. R. Haldeman and Nixon. -More importantly, a tape dated June 23, 1972—six days after the Watergate break-in— that contained a conversation between Nixon and Haldeman, disclosed the evidence investigators needed.

Iran Hostage Crisis

-On November 4, 1979, armed students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. -The militants demanded that the United States send the shah back to Iran in return for the release of the hostages. -Carter refused, and a painful yearlong standoff followed, in which the United States continued quiet but intense efforts to free the hostages. -The captives were finally released on January 20, 1981, shortly after the new president, Ronald Reagan, was sworn in as president. -Despite the hostages' release after 444 days in captivity, the crisis in Iran seemed to underscore the limits that Americans faced during the 1970s.

Ford pardons Nixon

-On September 8, 1974, President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in an attempt to move the country beyond Watergate. -The move cost Ford a good deal of public support.

Nixon's view on the federal government

-One of the main items on President Nixon's agenda was to decrease the size and influence of the federal government. -Nixon believed that Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs, by promoting greater federal involvement with social problems, had given the federal government too much responsibility.

Opponents of Nuclear energy

-Opponents of nuclear energy warned the public against the industry's growth. -They contended that nuclear plants, and the wastes they produced, were potentially dangerous to humans and their environment.

SALT II Treaty

-President Carter and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev finally met in June of 1979 in Vienna, Austria, where they signed an agreement known as SALT II. -Although the agreement did not reduce armaments, it did provide for limits on the number of strategic weapons -The SALT II agreement, however, met sharp opposition in the Senate. Critics argued that it would put the United States at a military disadvantage. -Then, in December 1979, the Soviets invaded the neighboring country of Afghanistan. - Angered over the invasion, President Carter refused to fight for the SALT II agreement, and the treaty died.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

-President Nixon then attempted to stop yet another civil rights initiative—the integration of schools through busing. -In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled that school districts may bus students to other schools to end the pattern of all-black or all-white educational institutions. -White students and parents in cities such as Boston and Detroit angrily protested busing. -Nixon also opposed integration through busing and went on national television to urge Congress to halt the practice. -While busing continued in some cities, Nixon had made his position clear to the country—and to the South.

Nixon Battles Stagflation

-President Nixon took several steps to combat stagflation, but none met with much success. -s. To reverse deficit spending, Nixon attempted to raise taxes and cut the budget. Congress, however, refused to go along with this plan. -In another effort to slow inflation, Nixon tried to reduce the amount of money in circulation by urging that interest rates be raised. This measure did little except drive the country into a mild recession, or an overall slowdown of the economy. -In August 1971, the president turned to price and wage controls to stop inflation. -He froze workers' wages as well as businesses' prices and fees for 90 days. Inflation eased for a short time, but the recession continued.

Panama Canal

-Since 1914, when the United States obtained full ownership over the Panama Canal, Panamanians had resented having their nation split in half by a foreign power. -In 1977, the two nations agreed to two treaties, one of which turned over control of the Panama Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999. -In 1978, the U.S. Senate, which had to ratify each treaty, approved the agreements by a vote of 68 to 32—one more vote than the required two-thirds. -The public was also divided on this issue. -In the end, the treaties did improve relationships between the United States and Latin America.

A New South

-Since Reconstruction, the South had been a Democratic stronghold. -But by 1968 many white Southern Democrats had grown disillusioned with their party. In their eyes, the party—champion of the Great Society and civil rights—had grown too liberal. -This conservative backlash first surfaced in the 1968 election, when thousands of Southern Democrats helped former Alabama governor George Wallace, a conservative segregationist running as an independent, carry five Southern states and capture 13 percent of the popular vote. -Nixon wanted these voters. By winning over the Wallace voters and other discontented Democrats, the president and his fellow Republicans hoped not only to keep the White House but also to recapture a majority in Congress.

a Changing Economy

-Since the 1950s, the rise of automation and foreign competition had reduced the number of manufacturing jobs. -At the same time, the service sector of the economy expanded rapidly. This sector includes industries such as communications, transportation, and retail trade. -The rise of the service sector and the decline of manufacturing jobs meant big changes for some American workers. Workers left out of manufacturing jobs faced an increasingly complex job market. -Growing overseas competition during the 1970s caused further change in America's economy. The booming economies of West Germany and countries on the Pacific Rim (such as Japan, Taiwan, and Korea) cut into many U.S. markets. -Especially hard-hit were the automotive industries of the Northeast. There, high energy costs, foreign competition, and computerized production led companies to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs.

Nixon Visits China

-Since the takeover of mainland China by the Communists in 1949, the United States had not formally recognized the Chinese Communist government. -In late 1971, Nixon reversed that policy by announcing to the nation that he would visit China "to seek the normalization of relations between the two countries." -By going to China, Nixon was trying, in part, to take advantage of the decade-long rift between China and the Soviet Union. China had long criticized the Soviet Union as being too "soft" in its policies against the West. The two Communist superpowers officially broke ties in 1960. -Besides its enormous symbolic value, Nixon's visit also was a huge success with the American public. -Observers noted that it opened up diplomatic and economic relations with the Chinese and resulted in important agreements between China and the United States. -The two nations agreed that neither would try to dominate the Pacific and that both would cooperate in settling disputes peacefully. They also agreed to participate in scientific and cultural exchanges as well as to eventually reunite Taiwan with the mainland.

Chaos in Vietnam

-The 1973 cease-fire in Vietnam had broken down. -Heavy fighting resumed and Ford asked Congress for over $722 million to help South Vietnam. Congress refused. -Without American financial help, South Vietnam surrendered to the North in 1975.

Jimmy Carter

-The Democratic nominee was indeed a surprise: a nationally unknown peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia -Throughout the presidential campaign, Carter and Ford squared off over the key issues of inflation, energy, and unemployment. -On Election Day, Jimmy Carter won by a narrow margin, claiming 40.8 million popular votes to Ford's 39.1 million.

Earth Day

-The United States ushered in the 1970s—a decade in which it would actively address its environmental issues—fittingly enough with the first Earth Day celebration. -On that day, April 22, 1970, nearly every community in the nation and more than 10,000 schools and 2,000 colleges hosted some type of environmental-awareness activity and spotlighted such problems as pollution, the growth of toxic waste, and the earth's dwindling resources. -. The Earth Day celebration continues today. Each year on April 22, millions of people around the world gather to heighten public awareness of environmental problems.

Alexander Butterfield

-The answer came in July from an unlikely source: presidential aide Alexander Butterfield. -Butterfield stunned the committee when he revealed that Nixon had taped virtually all of his presidential conversations. Butterfield later claimed that the taping system was installed "to help Nixon write his memoirs." -" However, for the Senate committee, the tapes were the key to revealing what Nixon knew and when he knew it.

Henry Kissinger

-The architect of Nixon's foreign policy was his adviser for national security affairs, Henry Kissinger. -. Kissinger believed in evaluating a nation's power, not its philosophy or beliefs. - If a country was weak, Kissinger argued, it was often more practical to ignore that country, even if it was Communist.

Environmental Efforts Continued

-The environmental movement that blossomed in the 1970s became in the 1980s and 1990s a struggle to balance environmental concerns with jobs and progress. - In the years since the first Earth Day, however, environmental issues have gained increasing attention and support.

The Effects of the three mile island

-The events at Three Mile Island rekindled the debate over nuclear power. -Supporters of nuclear power pointed out that no one had been killed or seriously injured. -Opponents countered by saying that chance alone had averted a tragedy. -They demanded that the government call a halt to the construction of new power plants and gradually shut down existing nuclear facilities.

Nixon Reelection 1972

-The foreign policy triumphs with China and the Soviet Union and the administration's announcement that peace "is at hand" in Vietnam helped reelect Nixon as president in 1972.

Senate investigates Watergate

-The president's reassurances, however, came too late. In May 1973, the Senate began its own investigation of Watergate -eA special committee, chaired by Senator Samuel James Ervin of North Carolina, began to call administration officials to give testimony. -Throughout the summer millions of Americans sat by their televisions as the "president's men" testified one after another.

The Camp David Accords

-Through negotiation and arm-twisting, Carter helped forge peace between long-time enemies Israel and Egypt. -. In 1977, Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin met in Jerusalem to discuss an overall peace between the two nations. -. In the summer of 1978, Carter seized on the peace initiative. When the peace talks stalled, he invited Sadat and Begin to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. -After 12 days of intense negotiations, the three leaders reached an agreement that became known as the Camp David Accords. -Under this first signed peace agreement with an Arab country, Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had seized from Egypt during the Six-Day War in 1967. -Egypt, in turn, formally recognized Israel's right to exist. Still, many issues were left unresolved

Nixon's Fear of Losing

-Throughout his political career, Richard Nixon lived with the overwhelming fear of losing elections. -. By the end of the 1972 reelection campaign, Nixon's campaign team sought advantages by any means possible, including an attempt to steal information from the DNC headquarters.

Dismantle of the nation's social programs

-Throughout his term, Nixon tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the Job Corps program that provided job training for the unemployed and in 1970 he vetoed a bill to provide additional funding for Housing and Urban Development. -Nixon impounded or withheld, necessary funds for programs, thus holding up their implementation. -By 1973, it was believed that Nixon had impounded almost $15 billion, affecting more than 100 federal programs, including those for health, housing, and education. -The federal courts eventually ordered the release of the impounded funds. They ruled that presidential impoundment was unconstitutional and that only Congress had the authority to decide how federal funds should be spent. -Nixon did use his presidential authority to abolish the Office of Economic Opportunity, a cornerstone of Johnson's antipoverty program.