Nixon’s Presidency and Watergate Chapter 30, Section 1 Nixon’s Presidency and Watergate

President Richard Nixon A Divided America After winning a close election in 1968, President Nixon was confronted with many problems Inflation racial problems conflict in Vietnam Nixon also faced a Democratic Congress, which made his attempts to change the existing welfare system difficult President Richard Nixon

Domestic Challenges New Federalism – Nixon’s plan to limit the power of the federal govt. Grants of money went from the federal govt. to states Promised to reduce welfare spending Planned to restore law and order by granting power to police and courts

Economic Problems Stagflation – the economic condition of slow economic growth & high inflation Rising prices reduced the purchasing power of the dollar by more than 30% One cause of inflation: rising oil prices

OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (mostly nations from Middle East) They raised prices and cut shipments of oil to U.S. to protest U.S. support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 against Israel’s Middle East neighbors This caused oil prices to soar and created an energy shortage, which weakened the US economy, and passage of a national 55 mile per hour speed limit

Nixon’s Foreign Policy Realpolitik – comes from the German for “actual politics,” and means that foreign policy decisions would be based on practical US interests and not moral or political ideas Cold War begins to ease during Nixon’s presidency, and the easing of tensions between rivals is called détente Secretary of State Henry Kissinger with President Nixon

Relations with China Nixon: China was a nation of a billion people, therefore the country cannot be ignored To improve relations with China, Nixon visited China in February in 1972, leading to opening of diplomacy and trade President Nixon strolls along the Great Wall of China in 1972 and struggles with chop sticks at a dinner with Chinese Premier Chou Enlai below

Relations with the Soviet Union to ease relations with the Soviet Union, Nixon visited Moscow in May, 1972 the Soviet Union and the U.S. signed SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) that limited the number of each country’s nuclear weapons President Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev toast an agreement between their two nations in 1972

1972 Presidential Election President Nixon (running for re-election) vs. Democratic Sen. George McGovern Nixon wanted to win BIG, and did with a huge landslide victory

Watergate Break-in Nixon hoped a BIG 1972 win would ensure his political party, the Republicans, would control Congress To make sure of big victory – some people close to Nixon engaged in illegal activities In June 1972 – five burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic Party National Committee offices at the Watergate office-apartment complex in Washington DC Burglars were tied to Nixon’s reelection campaign (also known as CREEP – Committee to Re-Elect the President) The “Watergate” is an office/apartment/hotel complex located in Washington D.C. that was also home to the headquarters of the Democratic Party offices

Watergate Cover-up Nixon likely didn’t order the break-in or even know about it until after it happened Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reporters for the Washington Post, investigated the Watergate break-in and first cracked the Watergate scandal in August 1972 Initially the blame was put on officials close to Nixon, but soon it went to whether Nixon helped cover it up

John Dean – in his White House office Watergate Witness Close advisors to Nixon warned him about situation Nixon then agreed to pay “hush money” to the burglars to keep them quiet White House aide John Dean then decided to tell everything he knew to the Senate committee investigating the scandal – which included Nixon’s involvement in the cover- up John Dean – in his White House office

Dean’s Word vs. Nixon’s Word Nixon continued to deny the charges against him It was then discovered that Nixon had recorded all conversations in the Oval Office in the While House A battle was fought over the tapes (who gets them?) In a nationally televised press conference, Richard Nixon looked Americans in the eye and affirmed that “people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

More Trouble for Nixon Vice President Spiro Agnew was revealed to have accepted bribes while governor of Maryland and as Vice President This scandal was unrelated to Watergate, but still hurt Nixon politically Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to become the new Vice President Vice President Spiro Agnew

Nixon Resigns Nixon was forced by a Supreme Court order to release all of his tapes After he released “edited transcripts” – the House of Representatives started impeachment hearings Nixon decided to resign the presidency – making Gerald Ford the new president Nixon giving his farewell speech to his staff from the East room of the White House before leaving the last time as President.

Gerald Ford – 38th President of the United States President Gerald Ford Former Michigan Congressman and Vice President under Richard Nixon Known for his honesty and hard-working attitude Ford was the only person to serve as President who wasn’t elected either President or Vice President by the people Gerald Ford – 38th President of the United States