Decline And Rebirth Flashcards
Detente
Foreign policy of decreasing tensions with the USSR
began in Nixon’s first term (but it had existed during JFK and LBJ’s administration)
Ex. Nixon personally visited China and Moscow
Southern strategy
Nixon’s ploy to win over southern whites to the Republican Party by soft pedaling civil rights
Succeeded through policies like delaying school desegregation plans
Watergate
Series of events beginning with the break-in at the Democratic Party HQ in the watergate complex at Washington, D.C. by the Plumbers (secret unit)
Stole incriminating evidence on Daniel Ellsberg
Aids for the robbery became know as the CREEP (committee to reelect the president)
Led to Nixon’s downfall because he falsely denied knowledge of it: he resigned as the House of Representatives tried to impeach him
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Group of 12 countries that produce most of the world’s oil
Influence worldwide oil prices based on production quantities
Camp David Accords
Peace agreement between Israel and Egypt
Mediated by President Carter (highlight of Carter’s presidency)
Iranian Hostage Crisis
Diplomatic crisis triggered when Iranian protestors seized the US embassy in Tehran and held 66 American diplomats hostage for 444 days
Carter’s was unable to free hostages despite several attempts
Symbolized the paralysis of American power in the 1970s
Religious Right
Right-leaning evangelical Christians who increasingly supported republican candidates beginning with Ronald Reagan
Iran-Contra Affair
Scandal that erupted during the Reagan administration
Started as an attempt of “arms for hostages” plan
Revealed US agents had secretly sold arms to Iran in order to raise money to fund anti communist “Contra” forces in Nicaragua
Acts directly contravened an ongoing US trade embargo with Iran as well as federal legislation limiting aid to the Contras
Several Reagan officials were convicted on criminal offenses
Some claim Reagan didn’t know what was happening and that others were in control
Deficit spending
Program directed by Nixon similar to FDR’s after trying to cut govt spending and raising taxes failed s
Similar to FDR’s approach to handling the Great Depression
Based on the ideas of Keynes
Warren Burger
Chief Justice appointed by Nixon
Radical civil rights activist
Ex. Roe vs. Wade
SALT I
Strategic Arms Limitations Talks
FIRST TIME the US and USSR agreed not to produce any more nuclear ballistic missiles and reduce their antiballistic missile arsenal
Rejected nuclear proliferation
Realpolitik
Promoted by Henry Kissinger
Convince Nixon to achieve detente
After China had become communist (clearly the expansion of “red” was continuing and the US needed a new tactic)
Archibald Cox
Special prosecutor hired by Nixon
Nixon quickly fired him when he demanded Nixon to give up incriminating tapes
Many of Nixon’s leaders resigned when he fired Cox: aka the Saturday Night Massacre (of Nixon’s career)
Gerald Ford
The unelected president
Nominated by Nixon and appointed by Congress for his honest reputation
Pardoned Nixon
Second president to visit China and first to visit Japan
Took last troops out of Vietnam
Supply-side economic
Economic belief held by Ronald Reagan and his staff stated that if more money was out in the hands of the wealthy Americans by cutting taxes, they would invest it in the economy, this creating more jobs and additional growth (and eventually additional tax revenue)
