1 – NIXON & WATERGATE. ECONOMY NIXON STAGNANT ECONOMY By 1973 Inflation rate doubled Unemployment rate was up 50% Due to: Vietnam war Growing foreign.

1 – NIXON & WATERGATE

ECONOMY

NIXON

STAGNANT ECONOMY• By 1973

• Inflation rate doubled• Unemployment rate was up 50%

• Due to:

• Vietnam war• Growing foreign competition• Difficulty of finding jobs for new workers

• Nixon faced economic dilemma of Stagflation

• = Combination of high inflation with high unemployment

• Nixon decided to focus on controlling inflation

• Had little success

OIL AND GASOLINE - OPEC• US depended on Middle East

for petroleum oil

• Many of Middle Eastern countries belonged to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

OPEC PLACES EMBARGO• OPEC as an oil cartel

• used oil as economic and political weapon• 1973 – Yom Kippur War (Israel against Egypt and Syria)

• US sent aid to Israel (was longtime ally to US)• Arab OPEC nations responded with an Embargo = cut off

all oil sales to US• 1974 – OPEC resumes selling oil to US but price

quadrupled

• Worsened problem of inflation in US

FOREIGN POLICY

NIXON

DÉTENTE• Nixon’s and Kissinger’s (adviser for

national security affairs) create Détente policy

• = Policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions between Soviet Union, China, and US

• Was all in interest of World Peace• Bipolar World vs Multipolar World

• Bipolar = two super powers (US and Soviet Union)

• Multipolar = growing role of other countries (China, Japan, and Western Europe)

• Nixon and Kissinger wanted to move away from pressures between two superpowers and create world peace in a “multipolar” world

NIXON VISITS CHINA

• Start détente with China

• US lifted trade and travel restrictions• US withdrew fleets defending Taiwan

• FEB 1972 = Nixon met with Mao Zedong

• “Let us start a long march together, not in lockstep, but on different roads leading to the same goal of building a world structure of peace and justice”

- NIXON• Nixon hoped strengthening ties with

China = would encourage Soviets to pursue diplomacy

• WORKED!

NIXON VISITS SOVIET UNION• Three months later, Nixon visits Soviet Union

• Soviet Summit = Nixon met with Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev

• Together signed Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT)

• = plan to limit nuclear arms the two nations had been working on for years

DOMESTIC

NIXON

ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT• Earth Day - April 22, 1970

• Became grassroots for environmental effort• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Enforced pollution standards• Prompted environmental research• Coordinated anti-pollution activities with state and local gov’ts

• Endangered Species Act

• Est. measure for saving threatened animal species

Vetoed by Nixon but still passed by Congress

• Clean Air Act = emission standards for factories & automobiles

• Clean Water Act = restricted pollutants into lakes and rivers

WATERGATE

NIXON - DOMESTIC

WATERGATE SCANDAL• Watergate scandal = an illegal

break-in and attempts to block the investigation of it

• Showed that no one, not even the president, is above the law

WHAT HAPPENED• Nixon campaign aides were

determined to win his re-election by any means necessary

• Hired 5 men to raid & wiretap the Democratic party offices in a Washington, D.C., complex called Watergate

WIRETAPS• Hoping to photograph files and place taps on phones, the

men were caught by security guard

• Rather than forcing those involved to resign, the administration tried to hide the link to the White House

COVER-UP UNRAVELS• After Nixon’s re-election the cover-up began to unravel

• One of the burglars said that the White House was involved

• Soon 3 of Nixon’s top aides, who had been involved, resigned

• In Senate hearings, televised live, one of them said that Nixon had known of the cover-up

WHITE HOUSE TAPES• Aide testified that there was taping system to record all

conversations of Nixon in White House

• Nixon installed to help write memoirs• When it was revealed that White House meetings had

been tape recorded, the Senate committee demanded the tapes

• Nixon refused to turn them over

• Court battles over the tapes lasted a year

WHILE ALL THIS WAS HAPPENING… - SPIRO AGNEW• Spiro Agnew = Nixon’s Vice President

• Forced to resign• Took bribes from state contractors while governor of MD• Continued to take bribes while at D.C.

TAPES CONT.• In March 1974, a grand jury charged 7 Nixon aides with

• obstruction of justice• perjury/lying under oath

• Nixon released more than 1,250 pages of taped conversations

• but withheld conversations on some key dates.

IMPEACHMENT• In July 1974, the Supreme Court ordered the White House

to release the tapes

• Three days later a House committee voted to impeach President Nixon

• If the full House of Representatives approved, Nixon would go to trial in the Senate

• If judged guilty = he would be removed from office

NIXON RESIGNS• When tapes finally released =

clear that Nixon knew of cover-up

• August 8, 1974 – Nixon resigned before being impeached

• He refused to admit guilt