1. The Nixon Administration
Modern American History

2. The Election of 1968
Richard M. Nixon [R]
Hubert Humphrey [D]

3. The Election of 1968 Nixon [R] Humphrey [D] Wallace [AI]
VP for Eisenhower
Aimed at “Middle America”
“silent majority”
Law and order
Streamlined government
Traditional values at home
VP for Lyndon Johnson
Support of Vietnam War unpopular
Only credible Democratic candidate after RFK’s assassination.
Governor of Alabama
State’s Rights
Segregation

4. Southern Strategy Nixon refuses to concede the South, makes promises.
1) Appointing only conservatives to federal courts.
2) Name a Southerner to the Supreme Court.
Oppose court-ordered busing.
Choose a southern-accepted vice president.

5. “nattering nabobs of negativism” and “hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.” –Agnew on Vietnam protestors
Spiro Agnew

7. Law and Order President
Nixon follows through on promises.
Slows desegregation
Overturns policies of the Johnson Administration
Rallies against draft evaders, unruly students, Warren Court reforms for criminals.
Nixon appoints Warren Burger and 3 other conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
Warren Burger, 15th Chief Justice ( )

8. New Federalism
Nixon-supported policies of reducing the size of the federal government and giving more power to state and local governments.
Refuses to fund certain Great Society programs like the Dept. of Housing and Urban Renewal.
Revenue-Sharing funnels funds to state governments.
Nixon impounds funds, stifling Democrat controlled Congress.

9. Nixon’s Foreign Policy
The Nixon Doctrine of gradual withdrawal from Vietnam (and later that allies will handle their own defense)
A policy of détente with the Soviet Union shifts focus from a “bipolar” war.
Improves relations with Communist China.
Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s National Security Advisor

10. “We must remember that détente is not a love fest
“We must remember that détente is not a love fest. It is an understanding between nations that have opposite purposes, but which share common interests, including the avoidance of a nuclear war.”
-Nixon on détente with the Soviet Union

11. Ease of Tensions With the USSR
As the first president to visit the Soviet Union since World War II, Nixon holds a summit May 22nd, 1972.
SALT I – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Ease of Tensions With the USSR