POLITICS IN THE 70'S
Richard Nixon
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Richard Nixon was the first and only President of the United States to resign the office The Nixon administration marked the end of America's long period of post-World War II prosperity and the onset of a period of high inflation and unemployment-"stagflation." Although Nixon initially escalated America's involvement in the Vietnam War, he subsequently ended U.S. involvement in 1973. Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. Domestically, his administration generally embraced policies that transferred power from Washington to the states. Among other things, he launched initiatives to fight cancer and illegal drugs, imposed wage and price controls, enforced desegregation of some Southern schools, and established the Environmental Protection Agency. Though he presided over the lunar landings beginning with Apollo 11, he scaled back manned space exploration. .He was reelected in 1972 with a larger percentage of the votes than any other Republican during the Cold War. Nixon’s popularity soon
dropped though during his second term when U.S. citizens found out about the Watergate scandal. The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17,1972. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) connected cash found on the burglars to a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, the official organization of
Nixon's campaign. In July 1973, as evidence mounted against the president's staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and he had recorded many conversations. Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing he had attempted to cover up the questionable (and illegal) goings-on that had taken place during his administration, both before and after the break-in. Until the Watergate scandal led to his near impeachment by the House of Representatives and resignation in 1974, he was the dominant politician of the Cold War.
dropped though during his second term when U.S. citizens found out about the Watergate scandal. The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17,1972. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) connected cash found on the burglars to a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, the official organization of
Nixon's campaign. In July 1973, as evidence mounted against the president's staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and he had recorded many conversations. Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing he had attempted to cover up the questionable (and illegal) goings-on that had taken place during his administration, both before and after the break-in. Until the Watergate scandal led to his near impeachment by the House of Representatives and resignation in 1974, he was the dominant politician of the Cold War.
Gerald Rudolph Ford
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_Gerald R. Ford became President of the United States on August 9,
1974, under extraordinary circumstances. Owing to the Watergate scandal,
Ford's predecessor, Richard Nixon, had resigned under the threat of
congressional impeachment. Ford assumed leadership right after him. Just as
important, Watergate, as well as the issue with the Vietnam War, had
shaken the American public's confidence in its leaders.
Gerald Ford stepped up to the plate and achieved mixed results in addressing all economic problems. Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 14, 1913, Ford grew up in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. He distinguished himself as both a student and
football player in high school and at the University of Michigan. Ford
then gained admittance to Yale University's law school, he graduated there in 1941. After his graduation, he returned to Grand Rapids
to practice law. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor officially
brought the United States into World War II, Ford joined the U.S. Navy. In Congress, Ford's solid conservatism, warm personality, and his knowledge of the budget and other things boosted his rise to the Republican leadership. In 1965, Ford became Minority Leader, the highest-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. As leader, he opposed much of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society legislation and urged the President to prosecute the Vietnam War more vigorously. When Ford's friend and colleague Richard Nixon became President in 1969, Ford hoped for greater cooperation between Republicans in Congress and the Nixon White House.
Jimmy Carter
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_Foreign affairs during the Carter administration were troublesome. Critics commented on both Carter's plans to relinquish control
of the Panama Canal and his response to Soviet aggression in Afghanistan
by pulling out of the Olympics and ending the sale of wheat to the
Russians. His recognition of communist China, which expanded on Nixon's
China policy, and his negotiation of new arms control agreements with
the Soviets, were both criticized by conservatives in the Republican
Party. The most serious crisis of Carter's presidency involved Iran.
When the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power there, the U.S. offered
sanctuary to the ailing Shah, angering the new Iranian government. Carter's failed attempt to
rescue the 50 Americans hostage in 1980, ruined his presidency, even though he negotiated
their release shortly before leaving office.
Carter is positively remembered, however, for the historic 1978 Camp
David Accords, where he mediated a historic peace agreement between
Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat.
Because of his weaknesses as a domestic and foreign
policy leader, and because of the poor performance of the economy,
Carter was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
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