Transcript File

The Fall of Richard Nixon
Watergate / Abuses of Power
• June 17, 1972 five men broke into the DNC offices.
– Burglars wore suits and carried bugging or wiretapping devices
– Worked for Nixon’s reelection campaign.
He authorized the FBI to tap the phones of news reporters whom he felt
were biased against him.
– Ordered phone tapping of members of his own staff he did not trust.
• Wiretaps were unconstitutional and thus an abuse of power, because a judge had
not properly authorized them.
•
Set up his own White House security operations to
investigate leaks of damaging information to the press.
Known as the Plumbers
• Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who
provided information to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The
Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United
States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known
as the Watergate scandal.
Nixon Video
Watergate
Another former aide revealed
President Nixon’s recording system in
the WH Oval Office that taped every
conversation Nixon had there.
– Senate subpoena the tapes; Nixon
refused citing executive privilege.
– United States v Nixon ordered the
president to release the tapes.
– Tapes proved that Nixon had
ordered a Watergate cover-up
• Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974
facing three articles of
impeachment. He became the only
President ever to Resign.
Resignation Speech
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
• America's 38th president, Gerald
Ford (1913-2006) took office on
August 9, 1974, following the
resignation of President Richard
Nixon, who left the White House in
disgrace over the Watergate
scandal. Ford became the first
unelected president in the nation's
history. A longtime Republican
congressman from Michigan, Ford
had been appointed Vice President
less than a year earlier by President
Nixon. His nickname was Mr. Nice
Guy
Ford’s Foreign policies
• As President, Ford
signed the Helsinki
Accords, marking a
move toward détente
in the Cold War.
• With the conquest of
South Vietnam by North
Vietnam. Nine months
into his Presidency,
involvement in Vietnam
essentially ended.
Ford’s domestic policies
• On Sept. 16, 1974, President Gerald
R. Ford issued a proclamation that
offered amnesty [Clemency] to
those who evaded the draft during
the Vietnam War. Mr. Ford also
granted amnesty to those in the
military who deserted their duty
while serving. However, the
amnesty came with certain
conditions, namely that those
involved agreed to reaffirm their
allegiance to the United States and
serve two years working in a
public service job
Ford & the Environment
• 1973: EPA releases a study
confirming that lead from
automobile exhaust poses a
direct threat to public health.
Later that year, EPA issues final
regulations to gradually
reducing lead in gasoline.
• 1975: The "first generation"
catalytic converters are built,
significantly reducing vehicle
emissions. Unleaded gasoline
is also introduced because
lead in gasoline may cause
disintegration of catalytic
converters.
Ford’s biggest issue
• One of his more controversial acts was to
grant a presidential pardon to President
Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate
scandal.
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Carter is an American
politician who served as the 39th
President of the United States
(1977–1981) and was awarded the
2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only
U.S. President to have received
the Prize after leaving office.
During Carter's term as President,
he created two new cabinet-level
departments: the Department of
Energy and the Department of
Education.
Carter is a key figure in the Habitat for Humanity project and also
remains particularly vocal on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Carter’s Foreign Policy
Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following thirteen
days of secret negotiations at Camp David. Efforts initially focused on resolution of
disputes between Israel And Arab countries
Carter’s Foreign Policy
The Torrijos–Carter Treaties are two treaties
signed by the United States and Panama in
Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which
abrogated the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty of 1903.
The treaties guaranteed that Panama would
gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999.
SALT II was a series of talks between United
States and Soviet negotiators which sought to
curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear
weapons. It was a continuation of the SALT I
talks and was led by representatives from both
countries. SALT II was the first nuclear arms
treaty which assumed real reductions in
strategic forces to 2,250 of all categories of
delivery vehicles on both sides. SALT II helped
the United States to discourage the Soviets
from arming their third generation ICBMs. It
also banned new missile programs
carter’s troubled tenure
IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United
States. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979
to January 20, 1981), after a group of Islamist students and militants
supporting the Iranian Revolution took over the American Embassy in Tehran.
carter’s troubled tenure
1979 ENERGY CRISIS in the United
States occurred in the wake of the
Iranian Revolution. Amid massive
protests, the Shah of Iran,
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his
country in early 1979 and the
Ayatollah Khomeini soon became
the new leader of Iran. Protests
severely disrupted the Iranian oil
sector, with production being
greatly curtailed and exports
suspended. When oil exports were
later resumed under the new
regime, they were inconsistent and
at a lower volume, which pushed
prices up
carter’s troubled tenure cont….
Three Mile Island
a partial nuclear
meltdown which
occurred in
Pennsylvania. It was
the worst accident in
U.S. commercial
nuclear power plant
history.
• Soviet war in Afghanistan
lasted nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. Part of the Cold
War, it was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multinational insurgent groups called the Mujahideen. The insurgents received
military training in neighboring Pakistan and China, as well as billions of
dollars from the United States, Unite Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and other
countries. led to a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics
• 1980 Olympics were
held in Moscow,
Russia. Jimmy Carter
mandated a boycott
against the Olympics
because the Soviets
invaded Afghanistan.
• This crushed many
dreams for our
American athletes