Nixon is Victorious in 1968

Nixon is Victorious in 1968 ●​ Sitting president LBJ resigned bc of vietnam war ○​ Lots of war protests ●​ Nixon’s background: ○​ Quaker with a strict mother ○​ Duke Law school ○​ U.S. Senator from California (1949-1963) ○​ Vice president under Eisenhower (1953-1961) ○​ Loses a really close presidential election ●​ Defeats Hubert Humphrey in 1968 ●​ Not a very hardcore conservative ●​ Nixon and the environment Nixon and the supreme court ●​ Warren court began under eisenhower ○​ Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969) ○​ Lots of important Supreme court decisions ■​ Most of them regarding race and civil rights during this time ●​ Nixon and other conservatives wanted a stricter adherence to the Constitution ●​ Wanted to have more conservative justices ●​ Warren Burger (1969-1986) was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ○​ Had a more “Traditional court” ■​ Less liberal than Warren court ■​ Not extremely conservative either ○​ Big decisions ■​ School children would be bussed to racially integrate ■​ Freedom of press -New York Times could publish pentagon papers Foreign policy ●​ Nixon orders invasion of Cambodia in spring 1970 ○​ Vietnam Neighbor War powers act (1973) Watergate: Nixons downfall ●​ CREEP ○​ Comittee to Re-Elect President Nixon ○​ Nixon hires 5 men to break into Democratic headquarters in Watergate 1973 ●​ Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned for taking bribes (1973) [Nixon's VP] ●​ Nixon secretly recorded every single conversation in the Oval Office ○​ Investigators' demand for recordings ●​ Saturday Night Massacre – October 20, 1973 ○​ Nixon fires all the lead investigators to keep them from pursuing the case ●​ Tried to claim executive privilege ○​ Supreme Court: US v Nixon -claims public must see recordings ●​ The House draws up impeachment charges ●​ Nixon resigns – August 9, 1974 ○​ Only President to ever resign ○​ Never impeached Gerald Ford sworn in as president (1974) ●​ Domestic developments ○​ Decides to pardon Richard Nixon ■​ Causes lots of people to lose faith in the government ■​ Many feel a “deal” had been orchestrated before Nixon left ■​ Ford testifies before congress ○​ “WIN” – Whip Inflation Now ■​ Relies on the good of the americans to stop using certain products to reduce inflation ■​ Unemployment keeps rising ■​ Ford proposes to raise taxes and cut government spending to slow down the economy – slow down inflation ■​ Congress decides to cut taxes to battle this but it doesn’t work ○​ Relies on the good of American people like Herbert Hoover did ○​ Local governments are going bankrupt ■​ NYC almost goes bankrupt in 1975 ■​ Spending more money on social programs than they got in taxes ■​ Ford says he wont “bail them out” but forks up a $2.3 billion loan for NYC ■​ Lots of conservatives in his party are pissed ○​ Ford’s Energy Production plan ■​ Wants America to be more energy independent ■​ Proposes tariffs on foreign oil, removing price constraints on U.S. oil, raising taxes on U.S. oil ■​ Wants more American oil supply ■​ Ticks off both conservatives and liberals ●​ Foreign Policies ○​ America leave vietnam ■​ 1973 ●​ After being sworn in 2nd time, Nixons announces cease-fire in Vietnam ●​ Nixon: “I’ve achieved peace with honor.” (basically saying he we won) ■​ 1974 ●​ Fighting resumes between N & S Vietnam ●​ Really bad retreat from Vietnam (like Aphganistan) Jimmy Carter Presidency (1977-1981) Domestic: ●​ Becomes President and inherits 10% inflation; interest rates 20% ●​ Slow economic growth = worst period of stagflation ●​ Creates the Department of Energy ○​ Promotes alternative energy sources like nuclear ○​ Masive nuclear catastrophe at Three Miles Island in PA stalls this agenda Foreign Policies: ●​ Camp David Accords (1978) ○​ Sets up meeting between Egyptian and Israeli leaders ○​ Success!!! Both agreed to cease aggression towards each other ●​ Panama Canal ○​ Carter negotiated a treaty that gave control of the Canal Zone back to Panama One of the best post presidency in history ●​ Habitat for humanity