Nixon Administration PDF

The Nixon Administration MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names President Richard M. Nixon American leaders of the early Richard M. Nixon OPEC tried to steer the cou...

The Nixon Administration MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names President Richard M. Nixon American leaders of the early Richard M. Nixon OPEC tried to steer the country in a 1970s laid the foundations for New Federalism (Organization conservative direction and the broad conservative base revenue sharing of Petroleum away from federal control. that exists today. Family Assistance Exporting Plan (FAP) Countries) Southern strategy realpolitik stagflation détente SALT I Treaty One American's Story In November of 1968, Richard M. Nixon had just been elected president of the United States. He chose Henry Kissinger to be his special adviser on foreign affairs. During Nixon’s second term in 1972, as the United States struggled to achieve an acceptable peace in Vietnam, Kissinger reflected on his relationship with Nixon. A PERSONAL VOICE HENRY KISSINGER “ I... am not at all so sure I could have done what I’ve done with him with another president.... I don’t know many leaders who would entrust to their aide the task of negotiating with the North Vietnamese, informing only a tiny group of people of the initiative.” ▼ —quoted in The New Republic, December 16, 1972 President Nixon (right) confers with Nixon and Kissinger ended America’s involvement in Vietnam, but as the war Henry Kissinger. wound down, the nation seemed to enter an era of limits. The economic prosperi- ty that had followed World War II was ending. President Nixon wanted to limit the federal government to reduce its power and to reverse some of Johnson’s liberal policies. At the same time, he would seek to restore America’s prestige and influence on the world stage—prestige that had been hit hard by the Vietnam experience. Nixon’s New Conservatism President Richard M. Nixon entered office in 1969 determined to turn America in a more conservative direction. Toward that end, he tried to instill a sense of order into a nation still divided over the continuing Vietnam War. 1000 CHAPTER 32  Analyzing “DOMESTIC LIFE” Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist Paul Szep frequently used Nixon as the subject of his cartoons. Although President Nixon focused his domestic policy on dismantling a number of Great Society social programs, his chief interest was foreign policy. SKILLBUILDER Analyzing Political Cartoons 1. What does the cartoonist suggest about Nixon by showing him leaving with his bags packed? 2. Whom do the children represent in this cartoon? SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24. NEW FEDERALISM One of the main items on President Nixon’s agenda was to decrease the size and influence of the federal government. Nixon believed that Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, by promoting greater federal involve- MAIN IDEA ment with social problems, had given the federal government too much respon- Summarizing sibility. Nixon’s plan, known as New Federalism, was to distribute a portion of A What was the federal power to state and local governments. A goal of Nixon’s To implement this program, Nixon proposed a plan to give more financial New Federalism? freedom to local governments. Normally, the federal government told state and local governments how to spend their federal money. Under revenue sharing, state and local governments could spend their federal dollars however they saw fit within certain limitations. In 1972, the revenue-sharing bill, known as the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act, became law. WELFARE REFORM Nixon was not as successful, however, in his attempt to over- haul welfare, which he believed had grown cumbersome and inefficient. In 1969, the president advocated the so-called Family Assistance Plan (FAP). Under the FAP, every family of four with no outside income would receive a basic federal pay- ment of $1,600 a year, with a provision to earn up to $4,000 a year in supplemen- tal income. Unemployed participants, excluding mothers of preschool children, would have to take job training and accept any reasonable work offered them. Nixon presented the plan in conservative terms—as a program that would reduce the supervisory role of the federal government and make welfare recipients responsible for their own lives. The House approved the plan in 1970. However, when the bill reached the Senate, lawmakers from both parties attacked it. Liberal legislators considered the minimum payments too low and the work requirement too stiff, while conservatives objected to the notion of guaranteed income. The bill went down in defeat. NEW FEDERALISM WEARS TWO FACES In the end, Nixon’s New Federalism enhanced several key federal programs as it dismantled others. To win backing for his New Federalism program from a Democrat-controlled Congress, Nixon sup- ported a number of congressional measures to increase federal spending for some social programs. Without fanfare, the Nixon administration increased Social An Age of Limits 1001  Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments and made food HISTORICAL stamps more accessible. However, the president also worked to dismantle some S P O TLIG H T of the nation’s social programs. Throughout his term, Nixon tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the Job Corps pro- AMERICANS WALK gram that provided job training for the unemployed and ON THE MOON in 1970 he vetoed a bill to provide additional funding for Not all was political war during Housing and Urban Development. Confronted by laws the Nixon administration. On July 20, 1969, one of America’s long- that he opposed, Nixon also turned to a little-used presi- held dreams became a reality. dential practice called impoundment. Nixon impounded, Nearly ten years after John F. or withheld, necessary funds for programs, thus holding Kennedy challenged America to up their implementation. By 1973, it was believed that put a person on the moon, astro- Nixon had impounded almost $15 billion, affecting more naut Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder of his lunar mod- than 100 federal programs, including those for health, ule and stepped onto the surface housing, and education. of the moon. “That’s one small The federal courts eventually ordered the release of the step for man,” Armstrong said, impounded funds. They ruled that presidential impound- “one giant leap for mankind.” ment was unconstitutional and that only Congress had Americans swelled with pride and the authority to decide how federal funds should be spent. MAIN IDEA accomplishment as they watched the historic moon landing on Nixon did use his presidential authority to abolish the Analyzing their televisions. Speaking Office of Economic Opportunity, a cornerstone of Johnson’s Issues to the astronauts from the antipoverty program. B B In what ways White House, President did Nixon both Nixon said, “For every LAW AND ORDER POLITICS As President Nixon fought strengthen and American, this has to with both houses of Congress, he also battled the more weaken federal be the proudest day of liberal elements of society, including the antiwar move- programs? our lives.” ment. Nixon had been elected in 1968 on a dual promise to end the war in Vietnam and mend the divisiveness within America that the war had created. Throughout his first term, Nixon aggressively moved to fulfill both pledges. The president de-esca- lated America’s involvement in Vietnam and oversaw peace negotiations with North Vietnam. At the same time, he began the “law and order” policies that he had promised his “silent majority”—those middle-class Americans who wanted order restored to a country beset by urban riots and antiwar demonstrations. To accomplish this, Nixon used the full resources of his office—sometimes ▼ illegally. Nixon and members of his staff ordered wiretaps of many left-wing indi- viduals and the Democratic Party offices at the Watergate office building in Neil Armstrong’s Washington, D.C. The CIA also investigated and compiled documents on thou- photograph of Buzz Aldrin on the sands of American dissidents—people who objected to the government’s policies. moon The administration even used the Internal Revenue Service to audit the tax returns of antiwar and civil rights activists. Nixon began building a personal “ene- mies list” of prominent Americans whom the administration would harass. Nixon also enlisted the help of his combative vice-president, Spiro T. Agnew, to denounce the opposition. The vice-president confronted the antiwar protesters and then turned his scorn on those who controlled the media, whom he viewed as liberal cheerleaders for the antiwar movement. Known for his colorful quotes, Agnew lashed out at the media and liberals as “an effete [weak] corps of impudent snobs” and “nattering nabobs of negativism.” Nixon’s Southern Strategy Even as President Nixon worked to steer the country along a more conservative course, he had his eyes on the 1972 presidential election. Nixon had won a slim majority in 1968—less than one percent of the popular vote. As president, he began 1002 CHAPTER 32  working to forge a new conservative coalition to build on his support. In one approach, known as the Southern strategy, Nixon tried to attract Southern conservative Democrats by appealing to their unhappiness with federal desegre- gation policies and a liberal Supreme Court. He also promised to name a Southerner to the Supreme Court. A NEW SOUTH Since Reconstruction, the South had been a Democratic strong- hold. But by 1968 many white Southern Democrats had grown disillusioned with their party. In their eyes, the party—champion of the Great Society and civil rights—had grown too liberal. This conservative backlash first surfaced in the 1968 election, when thousands of Southern Democrats helped former Alabama governor George Wallace, a conservative segregationist running as an indepen- MAIN IDEA dent, carry five Southern states and capture 13 percent of the popular vote. Forming Nixon wanted these voters. By winning over the Wallace voters and other dis- Generalizations contented Democrats, the president and his fellow Republicans hoped not only C Why had to keep the White House but also to recapture a majority in Congress. C many Democratic voters in the NIXON SLOWS INTEGRATION To attract white voters in the South, President South become Nixon decided on a policy of slowing the country’s desegregation efforts. In potential September of 1969, less than a year after being elected president, Nixon made Republican clear his views on civil rights. “There are those who want instant integration and supporters by 1968? those who want segregation forever. I believe we need to have a middle course between those two extremes,” he said. Throughout his first term, President Nixon worked to reverse several civil rights policies. In 1969, he ordered the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to delay desegregation plans for school districts in South Carolina and Mississippi. Nixon’s actions violated the Supreme Court’s second Brown v. Board of Education ruling—which called for the desegregation of schools “with all deliberate speed.” In response to an NAACP suit, the high court ordered Nixon to abide by the second Brown ruling. The president did so reluctantly, and by 1972, nearly 90 percent of children in the South attended desegregated schools—up from about 20 percent in 1969. MAIN IDEA In a further attempt to chip away at civil rights advances, Nixon opposed the A demonstrator in Analyzing extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The act had added nearly one million Boston protests Motives African Americans to the voting rolls. Despite the president’s opposition, court-ordered D Why did Congress voted to extend the act. D school busing President Nixon during the early oppose the CONTROVERSY OVER BUSING President Nixon then attempted to stop yet 1970s. extension of the another civil rights initiative—the integration of ▼ Voting Rights Act? schools through busing. In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education that school districts may bus students to other schools to end the pattern of all-black or all-white educational institutions. White students and parents in cities such as Boston and Detroit angrily protested bus- ing. One South Boston mother spoke for other white Northerners, many of whom still struggled with the integration process. A PERSONAL VOICE “ I’m not against any individual child. I am not a racist, no matter what those high-and-mighty suburban liberals with their picket signs say. I just won’t have my chil- dren bused to some... slum school, and I don’t want children from God knows where coming over here.” —A South Boston mother quoted in The School Busing Controversy, 1970–75  Nixon also opposed integration through busing and HISTORICAL went on national television to urge Congress to halt the practice. While busing continued in some cities, Nixon had S P O TLIG H T made his position clear to the country—and to the South. A BATTLE OVER THE SUPREME COURT During the 1968 campaign, Nixon had criticized the Warren Court for being too liberal. Once in the White House, Nixon sudden- ly found himself with an opportunity to change the direc- tion of the court. During Nixon’s first term, four justices, including chief justice Earl Warren, left the bench through retirement. President Nixon quickly moved to put a more conservative face on the Court. In 1969, the Senate approved Nixon’s chief justice appointee, U.S. Court of Appeals judge Warren Burger. THE TWENTY-SIXTH MAIN IDEA AMENDMENT Eventually, Nixon placed on the bench three more jus- During President Nixon’s first tices, who tilted the Court in a more conservative direc- Summarizing tion. However, the newly shaped Court did not always take E What was term, the Twenty-sixth Nixon’s Southern Amendment was ratified in 1971, the conservative route—for example, it handed down the strategy and extending voting rights to 1971 ruling in favor of racially integrating schools through how did he Americans 18 years or older. The busing. E implement it? amendment was one example of efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to expand opportunities to partic- ipate in government. Confronting a Stagnant Economy At the time, liberals supported the amendment because they One of the more pressing issues facing Richard Nixon was a believed that young people troubled economy. Between 1967 and 1973, the United were more likely to be liberal. States faced high inflation and high unemployment—a sit- Conservatives opposed it uation economists called stagflation. because they didn’t want to extend the vote to more liberals. THE CAUSES OF STAGFLATION The economic problems Opponents also argued that the of the late 1960s and early 1970s had several causes. Chief amendment would be too expen- among them were high inflation—a result of Lyndon sive for states to administer and Johnson’s policy to fund the war and social programs that 18-year-olds were not mature enough for the responsibility. through deficit spending. Also, increased competition in Many Americans, however, con- international trade, and a flood of new workers, including sidered it unfair to be asked to women and baby boomers, led to stagflation. Another cause fight and die for their country in of the nation’s economic woes was its heavy dependency Dependent on Vietnam without being allowed to foreign oil, on foreign oil. During the 1960s, America received much of vote. Americans in its petroleum from the oil-producing countries of the 1979 wait in line for gas during the oil embargo. ▼ Vocabulary Middle East. Many of these countries belonged to a cartel LD STAGE cartel: a bloc of called OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting independent business Countries). During the 1960s, OPEC gradually raised oil W OR organizations that prices. Then in 1973, the Yom Kippur War broke out, with controls a service Israel against Egypt and Syria. When the United States sent or business massive military aid to Israel, its longtime ally, the Arab Background OPEC nations responded by cutting off all oil sales to the See embargo on United States. When OPEC resumed selling its oil to the page R40 in the Economics United States in 1974, the price had quadrupled. This sharp Handbook. rise in oil prices only worsened the problem of inflation. NIXON BATTLES STAGFLATION President Nixon took several steps to combat stagflation, but none met with much success. To reverse deficit spending, Nixon attempted THE YOM KIPPUR WAR to raise taxes and cut the budget. Congress, however, On October 6, 1973, Syria and refused to go along with this plan. In another effort to slow Egypt invaded Israel on Yom Kippur, the most sacred Jewish MAIN IDEA inflation, Nixon tried to reduce the amount of money in holiday. The war—the climax of Analyzing circulation by urging that interest rates be raised. This mea- years of intense border disputes— Causes sure did little except drive the country into a mild reces- was short but brutal. Even though F What factors sion, or an overall slowdown of the economy. F fighting lasted only three weeks, brought on the In August 1971, the president turned to price and wage as many as 7,700 Egyptians, country’s eco- 7,700 Syrians, and 4,500 Israelis nomic problems in controls to stop inflation. He froze workers’ wages as well as were killed or wounded. the late 1960s businesses’ prices and fees for 90 days. Inflation eased for a Although the United States sup- and early 1970s? short time, but the recession continued. plied massive amounts of military aid to Israel, U.S. officials also worked to broker a cease-fire Nixon’s Foreign Policy Triumphs between the warring nations. In what became known as “shuttle Richard Nixon admittedly preferred world affairs to domes- diplomacy,” Secretary of State tic policy. “I’ve always thought this country could run itself Henry Kissinger traveled back and forth between Middle Eastern domestically without a president,” he said in 1968. countries in an attempt to forge a Throughout his presidency, Nixon’s top priority was gain- peace agreement. Kissinger’s ing an honorable peace in Vietnam. At the same time, he diplomatic efforts finally paid off. also made significant advances in America’s relationships Israel signed an official peace with China and the Soviet Union. accord with Egypt in January 1974. Four months later in May, Israel KISSINGER AND REALPOLITIK The architect of Nixon’s signed a cease-fire with Syria. foreign policy was his adviser for national security affairs, Henry Kissinger. Kissinger, who would later become Nixon’s secretary of state, promoted a philosophy known as realpolitik, from a German term meaning “political realism.” According to realpolitik, foreign policy should be based solely on consideration of power, not ideals or moral principles. Kissinger believed in evaluating a nation’s power, not its philosophy or beliefs. If a country was weak, Kissinger argued, it was often more practical to ignore that country, even if it was Communist. Realpolitik marked a departure from the former confrontational policy of containment, which refused to recognize the major Communist countries. On the other hand, Kissinger’s philosophy called for the United States to fully confront the powerful nations of the globe. In the world of realpolitik, however, confrontation largely meant negotiation as well as military engagement. Nixon shared Kissinger’s belief in realpolitik, and together the two men MAIN IDEA adopted a more flexible approach in dealing with Communist nations. They called their policy détente—a policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions. One of Summarizing G What was the the most startling applications of détente came in early 1972 when President philosophy of Nixon—who had risen in politics as a strong anti-Communist—visited realpolitik? Communist China. G An Age of Limits 1005  President Nixon ▼ tours the Great Wall as part of his visit to China in KEY PLAYER 1972. NIXON VISITS CHINA Since the takeover of mainland China by the Communists in 1949, the United States had RICHARD M. NIXON not formally recognized the Chinese Communist govern- 1913–1994 ment. In late 1971, Nixon reversed that policy by announ- The hurdles that Richard Nixon cing to the nation that he would visit China “to seek the overcame to win the presidency normalization of relations between the two countries.” in 1968 included his loss in the 1960 presidential race and a By going to China, Nixon was trying, in part, to take 1962 defeat in the race for gov- advantage of the decade-long rift between China and the ernor of California. Soviet Union. China had long criticized the Soviet Union as Nixon faced many obstacles being too “soft” in its policies against the West. The two from the start. As a boy, he rose Communist superpowers officially broke ties in 1960. every day at 4 A.M. to help in his Nixon had thought about exploiting the fractured relation- father’s grocery store. Nixon also worked as a janitor, a bean pick- ship for several years. “We want to have the Chinese with er, and a barker at an amuse- us when we sit down and negotiate with the Russians,” he ment park. told a reporter in 1968. Upon his arrival at the Beijing The Nixon family suffered great Airport in February, 1972, Nixon recalls his meeting with tragedy when one of Nixon’s Chinese premier Zhou En-lai. brothers died from meningitis and another from tuberculosis. None of these traumatic experi- A PERSONAL VOICE RICHARD M. NIXON ences, however, dulled the future “ I knew that Zhou had been deeply insulted by Foster president’s ambition. Nixon fin- Dulles’s refusal to shake hands with him at the Geneva ished third in his law class at Duke University, and after serving Conference in 1954. When I reached the bottom step, in World War II, he launched his therefore, I made a point of extending my hand as I political career. walked toward him. When our hands met, one era ended After winning a seat in Congress and another began.” in 1946, Nixon announced, “I had —The Memoirs of Richard Nixon to win. That’s the thing you don’t understand. The important thing is Besides its enormous symbolic value, Nixon’s visit also to win.” was a huge success with the American public. Observers noted that it opened up diplomatic and economic relations with the Chinese and resulted in important agreements MAIN IDEA between China and the United States. The two nations agreed that neither would Analyzing try to dominate the Pacific and that both would cooperate in settling disputes Effects peacefully. They also agreed to participate in scientific and cultural exchanges as H How did well as to eventually reunite Taiwan with the mainland. H Nixon’s trip change the United States’ NIXON TRAVELS TO MOSCOW In May 1972, three months after visiting Beijing, relationship with President Nixon headed to Moscow—the first U.S. president ever to visit the China? 1006 CHAPTER 32  The Soviet Union ▼ regularly displayed its military strength in parades. Shown here is an ICBM in a 1965 parade through Moscow’s Red Square. Soviet Union. Like his visit to China, Nixon’s trip to the Soviet Union received wide acclaim. After a series of meetings called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), Nixon and Brezhnev signed the SALT I Treaty. This five-year agreement limited the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine- launched missiles to 1972 levels. The foreign policy triumphs with China and the Soviet Union and the administration’s announcement that peace “is at hand” in Vietnam helped reelect Nixon as president in 1972. But peace in Vietnam proved elusive. The Nixon administration grappled with the war for nearly six more months before withdrawing troops and ending America’s involvement in Vietnam. By that time, another issue was about to dom- inate the Nixon administration—one that would eventually lead to the downfall of the president. 1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. Richard M. Nixon Family Assistance Plan stagflation Countries) New Federalism (FAP) OPEC (Organization of realpolitik revenue sharing Southern strategy Petroleum Exporting détente MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING 2. TAKING NOTES 3. ANALYZING EFFECTS 5. EVALUATING DECISIONS In a two-column chart similar to the What were the effects of the Arab In your opinion, did Nixon’s policy one shown, list the policies of OPEC oil embargo on the United of détente help solve the country’s Richard Nixon that promoted change States? major foreign policy problems? and those that slowed it down. Support your answer with evidence 4. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS from the text. Think About: Promoted Slowed Why was the timing of Nixon’s Change Change foreign policy achievements the definition and origin of particularly important? Relate his détente Policies: Policies: achievements to other events. the effect of détente on U.S. dealings with Communist countries In what ways do you think Nixon was the effect of détente on the most conservative? In what ways American public was he least conservative? Explain. An Age of Limits 1007