Transcript Document
Chapter 21 Section 1 1968 Presidential Election • Richard Nixon was the 1968 Republican presidential candidate. • Nixon’s principal opponent was Democrat Hubert Humphrey, who had served as vice president under Lyndon Johnson. – Nixon’s wins! Southern Support • To gain Southern support, Nixon had met with powerful South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond. Nixon’s View • Nixon promised peace in Vietnam, law and order, and a return to conservative values. • To restore law and order, Nixon targeted antiwar protesters and opposed Supreme Court rulings that expanded the rights of accused criminals. New Federalism • Nixon’s New Federalism dismantled a number of federal programs and gave more control to state and local governments. Congress and Nixon • Congress passed revenue sharing bills that gave federal money to state and local agencies. • Because states came to depend on federal funds, the federal government could impose conditions on the states. • Nixon also tried to increase the power of the executive branch by impounding, or refusing to release, funds to Congress for programs he opposed. AFDC • Critics of the nation’s welfare system, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), argued that the system was structured so that it was actually better for poor people to apply for benefits than to take a low-paying job. • Nixon proposed a plan to give needy families $1,600 per year, which could be supplemented by outside earnings. – The plan was defeated in the Senate. Henry Kissinger • President Nixon was more interested in foreign affairs than in domestic issues. • He chose Henry Kissinger as his national security adviser. • Kissinger was a former Harvard professor. • He played a large part in helping Nixon shape his foreign policy. Abandoning Vietnam? • Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, believed that abandoning the war in Vietnam would damage the United States’ position in the world. • Both Nixon and Kissinger wanted the United States to gradually withdraw from Vietnam. Vietnamization • They wanted to continue to help train the South Vietnamese to defend themselves. – This policy was called Vietnamization. • Nixon believed that allies of the United States should be responsible for defending themselves. – This policy became known as the Nixon Doctrine. South Vietnamese soldiers Bipolar World • Nixon was an outspoken opponent of communism, but he and Kissinger rejected the notion of a bipolar world in which the superpowers confronted each other. Negotiating with Communist • Nixon and Kissinger also believed that the nation’s policy against communism was too rigid. • They wanted engage and negotiation with Communists offered a better way for the United States to achieve its international goals. Détente Relaxation of tensions • Kissinger and Nixon developed an approach called détente. • Détente was a relaxation of tensions between the United States and its Communist rivals, China and the Soviet Union. • Nixon said that the United States had to build a better relationship with the two countries in the interest of world peace. Visiting China • In February 1972 Nixon made a historic visit to China. • He hoped to improve American-Chinese relations. • Leaders of both nations agreed to set up more normal relations between their countries. Nixon with Chinese leader, Mao Zedong Improving Relations with China • Nixon began to improve relations with China when he lifted trade and travel restrictions and withdrew the Seventh Fleet from defending Taiwan. • Nixon believed that relaxing tensions with China would encourage the Soviet Union to pursue diplomacy. Summit in Moscow • Shortly after negotiations with China took place, the Soviets proposed a summit to be held between the United States and the Soviet Union. • Nixon flew to Moscow on May 22, 1972, he became the first president since World War II to visit the Soviet Union. SALT President Nixon with Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev • A summit is a high-level diplomatic meeting. • During the summit, the two countries signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or SALT I. • This was a plan to limit nuclear arms. • The two nations also agreed to increase trade and to exchange scientific information.