Chapter 31 Search for Stability

31.1 Nixon’s Foreign Policy 1)In his Inaugural Address, President Richard M. Nixon told the American people, “The greatest honor is the title of peacemaker.” 2)Nixon was the first president to go behind the Iron curtain when he visited Romania. 3)Détente – attempts at relaxing, or easing, international tensions.

31.1 cont…. 4)Nixon realized that détente would work only if a balance of power existed. 5)Balance of Power – a distribution of power among nations to prevent any one nation from becoming too powerful. 6)The Yom Kippur War took place in the Middle East.

31.2 Nixon and Watergate 1)New Federalism – Nixon’s program for taking power and resources from government and giving them back to the people. 2)Nixon used the F.B.I. and the Internal Revenue Service to investigate people he considered enemies. 3)Newspaper reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein began publishing a series of articles that linked President Nixon to a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

31.2 cont….. 4) Spiro Agnew – President Nixon’s vice president resigned after it was discovered that he took bribes while he was the governor of Maryland. 5) The Watergate crisis forced President Nixon to resign. 6) He was succeeded by Gerald Ford.

31.2 cont…. 7) Ford helped promote national healing by selecting Nelson Rockefeller, a highly respected Republican, as his vice president.

31.3 The Carter Presidency 1)An accident at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania began an anti-nuclear protest movement. 2)President Carter condemned South Africa for it’s policy of apartheid. 3)Apartheid - racial separation and economic and political discrimination against non- whites.

31.3 cont…. 4) President Carter turned control of the Panama Canal over to the country of Panama. 5) President Carter sought to bring peace to the Middle East. 6) In 1979 Iranian students, with help from some government officials, attacked the American embassy and took 52 Americans hostage.

31.3 cont… 7) Ronald Reagan’s slogan in his campaign against President Carter was “ Are you better off than you were four years ago?”