1. The Nixon Administration
AP US History

2. Background HUAC VP 1960 Election

3. Political Resurrection
Election of 1968
Democratic Troubles
Vietnam War
“The Silent Majority” &
The Politics of Division

4. Nixon Domestic Policy – New Federalism
Civil Rights
Liberal: publicly supported desegregation in southern schools
Conservative: appointed conservatives to Supreme Court and allowed for local control of desegregation
Women’s Rights
Liberal: appointed more women to key positions and more closely enforced rules on discrimination
Conservative: did little to push for ERA after campaigning on the issue
Environment
Liberal: signed Clean Air Act and helped create Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Conservative: vetoed Clean Water Act, impounded funding when overridden
Welfare
Liberal: proposed FAP plan and minimum income for American families
Conservative: stopped supporting FAP when it hurt him politically

5. Nixon Foreign Policy Henry Kissinger and Realpolitik
Balance of Power/Manage World Situation
Opening” of China
Soviet Policy – Détente
SALT Talks – ABM Treaty
Nixon Visits Moscow
Vietnamization/Nixon Doctrine

6. Discussion Questions
Was President Richard Nixon a liberal or a conservative?
How effective were Nixon’s Cold War strategies?

7. Watergate 1. Pentagon Papers – creates hysteria
2. Enemies List – plan to deal w/ hysteria
3. The Committee to Re-Elect The President (CREEP) / The Plumbers
4. Break-in at DNC Headquarter (Watergate Hotel)
5. Nixon tries to stop/slow the investigation
6. Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein reveal cover-up.
7. Investigators learn that the Nixon White House secretly records all conversations in the Oval Office. Nixon refuses to turn over the tapes on account of “executive privilege.”

8. Watergate
8. Vice President Spiro Agnew is forced to resign due to corruption while he was the governor of Maryland. Gerald Ford is selected as his replacement.
9. Saturday Night Massacre – Nixon fires Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox (AG & Deputy AG resign in protest)
10. US v. Nixon – The Supreme Court rules that Nixon must turn over the White House tapes.
11. Impeachment process begins in the House. More information is found in the tapes that shows Nixon clearly tried to cover up the break in.
12. Nixon resigns the presidency in August of 1974.
13. Ford pardons Nixon.

9. Practice SAQ question
A) Briefly explain one similarity between President Lyndon Johnson and President Richard Nixon.
B) Briefly explain one difference between President Lyndon Johnson and President Richard Nixon.
C) Briefly explain the reason for either A or B.

10. Difference – each president used a different strategy in dealing with the Cold War
- LBJ fought the Vietnam War to defeat communism
- Nixon wound down the Vietnam War (slowly) and opened up better relations with China and the USSR (détente)
- Why: LBJ was continuing the aggressive action of his predecessors (Truman, Ike, JFK) while Nixon realized Vietnam didn’t work and took the Cold War in a different direction with détente
Similarity – both presidencies were destroyed by stubbornness and scandal
- LBJ’s presidency was destroyed by foreign policy (Vietnam)
- Nixon’s presidency was destroyed by political scandal (Watergate)
- Why: LBJ refused to recognize he was in a losing situation and withdraw from Vietnam while Nixon refused to recognize he was caught and the cover up would be worse than the crime

11. US v. Nixon(1974) Background: Legal Question(s): Legal Decision:
Nixon refused to turn over the Watergate tapes citing “executive privilege.”
Legal Question(s):
Is the president exempt from judicial review when citing executive privilege? (Does Nixon have to turn over the tapes?)
Legal Decision:
No/Yes (8-0)
Impact:
Nixon turns over the tapes and his guilt is revealed. Nixon resigns from the presidency.

12. Henry Kissinger

13. Nixon Visits China

14. 1972 ABM Treaty: President Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev (64-82)

15. Watergate