Transcript Richard M. Nixon

RICHARD M. NIXON
2 Visions of America, A History of the United States
1968 ELECTION
 War dominates the
Presidential campaign
 March 68 - Johnson
withdraws
 Eugene McCarthy runs as
anti-war candidate
 Robert Kennedy runs, then
assassinated
 Democrats divided; protests
and violence at convention
 Nominate Humphrey, seen
as continuation of Johnson
SILENT MAJORIT Y AND THE
CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH
 Nixon runs on backs
of “silent majority”
 Cold War credentials
 “Southern Strategy”
 George Wallace runs
as 3 rd party candidate
 Close election 43.4 to
42.7
 End of democratic
unity and loss of
southern states
NIXON AND VIETNAM
 “Peace with honor”
 Began policy of
“Vietnamization”
 Bombing campaign against
Cambodia
 Protests after “invasion” –
led to Kent State tragedy
 Vietnamization eventually
erodes anti-war opposition
SEEKING PEACE WITH HONOR
Vietnamization – A Nixon administration policy that turned the
bulk of the ground fighting over to the South Vietnamese Army
Détente – Relaxing Cold War tensions by using diplomatic,
economic, and cultural contacts to improve U.S. relations with
China and the Soviet Union
SALT I (1972) – The first treaty between the Soviet Union and
the United States that limited the deployment of
intercontinental and submarine -launched ballistic missiles and
the creation of missile -defense systems
7 Visions of America, A History of the United States
F I G U RE 2 9 . 6 P U BL I C O P I N IO N O N T H E
WA R I N V I ETN A M
9 Visions of America, A History of the United States
KENT STATE
• Weekend riots in Kent, Ohio
protest invasion of
Cambodia
• Governor sends in National
Guard
• 4 dead, nine injured in on
campus protest on Monday
• “Town and gown” divide
CO N S T RU CO N ST RU C T ION W O RK E RS S U RG E D I N TO WA LL
S T RE E T I N LO W ER MA N H ATTA N
CO N S T RU CT I ON W O RK E RS S U RG E D I N TO WA LL S T RE E T
I N L O W E R MA N H AT TA N
 College students
organized protests that
questioned the war effort
and universities’ roles in
war-related research.
 Student strikes merged
opposition to the war
and other community
issues.
 Public opinion polarized.
 Massive anti and prowar rallies occurred.
 Nonviolent and violent
protests erupted at draft
boards.
“PENTAGON PAPERS”
 Secret study
commissioned by
Defense Secretary
McNamara on the
history of U.S.
involvement
 Leaked to NY Times
by Daniel Ellsberg –
“ a s a n A m e r i ca n c i t i z e n , a s a
r e s p o n s i b le c i t i z e n , I c o ul d n o l o n g e r
c o o p e r a te i n c o n c e a l i ng t h i s
information from the American
p u b l ic ”
 New York Times v.
United States 6-3
ruling
26 TH AMENDMENT
• Draft age 18 but voting age
in most states was 21
• Supreme Court ruled in
1970 federal government
lacked authority to
determine age in state and
local elections
• Amendment passed by
Congress in March 1971
• Quickly ratified by states
WAR POWERS RESOLUTION
• Passed over President
Nixon’s veto
• President must notify
Congress within 48 hrs of
committing armed forces to
military action
• Forbids armed forces for
more than 60 days, with a
30 day withdrawal period,
without an authorization of
use of military force or
declaration of war
WAR POWERS ACT
VIETNAM: WITHDRAWAL
 Nixon tried to use aid to
prop up S. Vietnam
regime
 Congress eventually cut
back on aid to S. Vietnam
 1973 Paris Peace
Accords
 March 1975 North
Vietnam launches final
of fensive
 April 1975 – last U.S.
personnel leave
 Vietnam reunited –
Saigon renamed “Ho Chi
Min City”
EFFECTS OF WAR
 Most divisive U.S. war since Civil War
 Made Americans hesitant to engage in overseas
military activities
 Highlighted socio-economic divide in U.S.
 Loss of faith in Federal government
 Battle for power between Congress and President
18 Visions of America, A History of the United States
LEGACY: “NO MORE VIETNAMS”
War dead, Revolution in
Cambodia,refugee problem
Loss of confidence in
American power and in
gov’t leaders, War Powers
Act
NIXON AND DETENTE
 “Realpolitik”
 Detente – easing of
tensions
 Nixon and Kissinger
worked in secret
 Played USSR and China
against each other
 Open’s relations w/ China
 Signs first strategic arms
limitation treaty
w/U.S.S.R.
 Nixon could do this as a
lifelong “cold warrior”
PING PONG DIPLOMACY
 Nixon first President to visit
China
 U.S. ping-pong athletes first
to visit China since 1949
 January 1 st 1979 the U.S.
of ficially shifted diplomatic
recognition from Taipei to
Beijing
WATERGATE - “A THIRD-RATE
BURGLARY”
 June 17, 1972 5 men
arrested for breaking into
Dem party headquarters
 Part of systematic
paranoia about leaks
 Rather than just allow
justice to take its course,
Nixon arranged hush
money and encouraged
the CIA to stop the FBI
from investigating
 Washington Post picks up
story
SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE
 Senator Baker, “What did
the President know and
when did he know it”?
 Request for White House
tapes
 Nixon tries to fire special
investigator – Attorney
General and Deputy
Attorney General resign in
protest
 Nixon releases only edited
transcripts
 One tape has 18 ½ minute
gap
U.S. V. NIXON (1974)
 The special prosecutor
appointed by Nixon and
the defendants sought
audio tapes of
conversations recorded
by Nixon in the Oval
Of fice.
 Is the President's right to
safeguard cer tain
information, using his
"executive privilege"
confidentiality power,
entirely immune from
judicial review?
WATERGATE
 May 1973 Congressional
hearings begin
 House Judiciary committee
impeachment hearings –
obstruction, refusal to
produce evidence, abuse of
power violation of
constitutional liberties
 “Smoking gun” tape
released August 5 th – Nixon
asked CIA to get FBI to stop
investigating Watergate
break-in
 Nixon announces
resignation Aug. 8 th on T V
to avoid impeachment
hearings
 Ford – “our long national
nightmare is over”
THE MEANING OF WATERGATE
 Constitution survives crisis
 CHECKS AND BALANCES
 Ford Pardons Nixon
 End of “imperial
presidency”? - Ford first
President not elected to
Pres or VP
 Combined with Vietnam,
further eroded people’s
faith in government
 Campaign finance laws