nixon 1969-1974 Flashcards
domestic policy
nixon reasons for winning - democratic party convention - 10,000 demonstrators and 23,000 police tried to break up protestors in grant park leading to beatings and tear gas. was filmed by media with protestors. shouting ‘the whole world is watching’. nixon urged contacts in south to decline peace talks.
his campaign made reference to break down of law and order, , riots and events at democratic party conference
nixon inherited economy that boomed under JFK and LBJ with unemployment rate of 3.3% however inflation was at 4.7% highest since end of Korean War.
in constitutional issues he sought to introduce a ‘new federalism’ - success in this was the state and local assistance act 1972 which provided 4 billion per year in funds to states.
heaviest area of legislation was on environment - first earth day 1970, formation of environmental protection agency, clean air act 1970.
1970 comprehensive drug abuse prevention and control act, 1971 report suggested 15% of vietnam veterans returned with a heroin addiction. nixon declared war on drugs and created the drug enforcement administration in 1973.
social policies
white working class appalled by the erosion of traditional values - silent majority wanted to overcome the vocal minority.
Nixon also proposed expansion of food stamp program renaming it the family assistance programme. But this was criticised by many -many said 1600 was insufficient for a family of 4, conservatives disliked idea of guaranteed annual income, unions saw proposal as threat to minimum wage. Bill died in 1972
One area he succeeded in welfare was in the introduction of supplemental security income which provided guaranteed income for elderly and disabled citizens.
Nixon also bought increases in social security, Medicare, and Medicaid
Series of acts that imposed more bureaucracy on business also seemed to ignore the principles of the Nixonian rhetoric. He created the occupational safety and health administration in 1970, the environmental protection agency and a national oceanic and atmospheric administration along with the 1972 noise control act, 1972 marine mammal protection act, 1973 endangered species act, 1974 safe drinking water act
protests continued despite removal of 25,000 troops in June 1969 and a further 60,000 that year. The visibility of the protestors most damaged the war effort especially the presence of celebrities. John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged a ‘bed in’ for peace as part of their honeymoon in 1969 and Lennon recorded ‘give peace a chance’. Actor jane Fonda visited the Vietcong in 1972 gaining the name ‘Hanoi’ jane. Muhammed ail was also against the war – was stripped of his boxing title in 67 for refusing the draft.
College enrolment had reached 8.5 million by end of 60s and marches were great way to meet others, listen to music.
1970 at Kent state university national guard shot dead 4 students who were protesting Nixon’s incursion into Cambodia.
May 8 in the ‘hard hat riot’ 1000 students protesting the shooting were attacked by 200 construction workers for lack of patriotism.
1971 Vietnam veterans threw away over 700 medals on the steps of the capitol building as a prelude to a 500,000 strong march
1971 1146 people were arrested trying to shut down congress.
Nixon failed to control the protests- his tactics of encouraging pro war protests, repeatly declaring war was nearly over in 1969,72,73 failed.
civil rights
Nixon inherited a fractured CR movement.
The Kerner report had stressed the need for action to prevent de facto economic segregation.
Nixon chose to tread carefully. by 1970 fewer than 10% of black students were attending segregated schools. The key to this success was busing and federal aid to schools who complied with desegregation plans – many whites reacted angrily to this with protests.
Nixon also introduced first federal affirmative action programme in 1970 known as the Philadelphia plan. Executive order made gov contractors hire minority workers.
Explosion of elected African American’s and uni courses in black studies occurred. Shirley Chisholm became the first black women in congress in 1968 and congressional black caucus 1971.
SNCC and black panthers reduced.
feminism
Feminists like gloria Steinem repeatedly stressed how little Nixon did for women’s issues – encouraged the first lady pat Nixon to come to their aid.
This shook Nixon into action – he used presidential power to increase number of female appointments to the administration and created a presidential task force on women’s rights.
Also instructed justice department to bring sex discrimination suits under the discrimination provisions in the CR act.
economy
Nixon inherited a low employment rate of 3.3% but rising inflation and chose to employ a policy of monetary restraint.
However, this policy did not produce results quickly enough and Nixon chose to refocus citing elections were lots by recessions and unemployment rather than inflation. His instincts were right and by end of 1970, unemployment rose to 6% and the republicans lost 12 seats in the HOR.
hold federal spending under 200 billion in order to address inflation but this meant pay freezes which led to strikes from postal workers.
Ended up in stagflation – he had to act – announced wage and price freeze, tax cuts and ended the 1944 Bretton woods Accord which linked the value of the dollar to the price of gold.
Public approval was immediate, and a boom began helping him in election. However inflation began to bite again – exacerbated by massive sales of wheat to the USSR and oil price rises.
Inflation rose to 12.1% in 1974 pushing the economy into recession.
foreign policy
He attempted to play a complicated game with the north, initially trying to settle the war on favourable terms but saying to Kissinger that if progress was not made soon there would be serious consequences – inc resuming the bombing of the north.
Nixon also ordered the secret bombing of communist supply lines on the Ho chi minh trail in Cambodia.
Most riskily he chose to take Kennan’s advice to the extremes – the madman theory – he bombed Cambodia and talked about bombing the dikes that protected the norths agricultural lowlands which could have drowned an upwards of a million people to make this theory realistic.
In a further act of brinkmanship nixon moved the military to full global war readiness and had bombers fly practice missions along the soviet border for 3 days.
However, the north did not yield.
In public he settled on policy of Vietnamization – building up and training the south to take over responsibility for their own defence and drawdown of US troops.
1971 the south with American air support took part in lam son 719 an offensive against the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and Cambodia – was considered a success of Vietnamization – but lam son was a failure, they had been unable to delay the use of the trail for no more than a few weeks.
In 1972 north began to infiltrate more of the south with Nixon responding with heavy bombing of the north and mining Haiphong harbour.
With money, moral and political goodwill draining a peace deal was now Nixon’s only hope. Oct 1972 north proposed a peace deal which would preserve the territory they had. Kissinger was in favour but the south were horrified. The north began broadcasting the agreement to put pressure on nixon.
Nixon gave south ultimatum agree to deal or the US would cut off their aid. The carrot was that the US promised to retaliate militarily if the North violated the agreement. To emphasise point Nixon launched a Christmas bombing campaign 1972. 23 January 1973 the Paris peace accords were signed – finally fulfilling Nixon’s 68 election promise.
Since death of Stalin Sino soviet relation deteriorated – Nixon saw opportunity to drive a wedge between the 2 major communist powers.
Nixon explored the possibility of rapprochement through messages, then the exhibition matches of the US ping pong team in Beijing, then a secret trip by Kissinger.
His trip paved way for China to join the UN. Nixon visited China and it was a media sensation and the phrase ‘only Nixon could go to China’ was coined. Nixon met moa for an hour and had discussions on trade, Taiwan and Vietnam. Seemed a success although recently historians suggested that China was the real winner with them dominating southeast Asia.
Nixon’s drawing closer to China improved relations with soviet who feared being isolated by the 2 powers. Nixon went to soviet in 1972 the same year as he did china. He signed 2 agreements that limited the growth of nuclear arms strategic arms limitation treaty and anti-ballistic missile treaty. The 8-day visit also saw Nixon conclude deals in the field of environment, trade, and joint space mission.
In Latin America the election of a socialist leaning president in Chile caused concern. Nixon authorised cia to obstruct his government and explore possibility of removing him.
Nixon cut 70 mill of aid to chile and the CIAs efforts meant military coup d’état 1973 bought new leader Augusto Pinochet. – Kissinger said the CIA didn’t do the coup but created the conditions for it.
watergate
Nixon had been alarmed by the release of the pentagon papers which revealed secrets of the LBJ and JFK administrations
Nixon set up his own investigative team known as ‘the plumbers’. One of the first tasks was carry out a smear campaign against Ellsberg. Then 5 men were caught repairing bugging equipment and in possession of cameras in the Watergate hotel on 17 June 1972.
The 5 arrested inc Howard hunt and Gordan Liddy were indicted. 500,000 in funds from the committee to re-elect the president were used to pay legal expenses, but this only aroused more suspicion.
Howard hunt (ex-CIA agent) went on the record to say that Watergate was the tip of the iceberg and that there had been a number of illegal activities carried out on behalf of senior white house staff.
before sentencing the judge read a letter from James McCord which provided more evidence of a cover up and said the defendants had been paid to plead guilty and stay silent.
In May the televised senate Watergate hearings began and witness after witness revealed details of corruption in the Whitehouse. Nixon’s approval rating plummeted.
Barry goldwater the conservative leader in the senate, told the president there was a maximum of 15 senators who might vote against his conviction. Nixon was left with no choice and announced his resignation 8 august 1974. His VP Gerald Ford, who had been in the job less than a year took over.
summary
The Nixon foundation website suggests his 10 greatest domestic achievements are
ending the draft in 1973,
founding the environmental protection agency,
clean air act,
clean water act
the mammal marine protection act,
dedicating 100 million to begin the war on cancer,
signing title IX in 1972 preventing gender bias at colleges,
overseeing peaceful desegregation of schools,
overseeing the apollo XI Lunar landing,
extending right to vote to 18-20yos,
ending the policy of assimilation of indigenous American’s, returning sacred land.
