Nixon Domestic Policy

Question 1

Inheriting LBJ’s Great Society

Answer 1

Econ. growth and unemployment rates were looking good, however inflation was at 5%.

Question 2

New Federalism

Answer 2

Proposed to roll back federal power.
- State and Local Assistance Act of 1972 provided $4 billion per year to States (push for more power in State hands).

Otherwise, Nixon struggled to roll back federal power without controlling Congress.

Question 3

Environmental issues

Answer 3

Nixon announced the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and passed the Clean Air Act of 1970.

Also:
- 1972 Noise Control Act
- 1973 Endangered Species Act
- 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act

His further environmental controls also contradicted new federalism as it placed further big government bureaucracy on businesses.

Question 4

“law and order” President

Answer 4

cited 1965-68 riots for needing to crack down on law and order. One of his approaches was to tackle drugs (the war on drugs) and so he created the Drug Enforcement Administration calling drugs public enemy number one.

Question 5

Roe v Wade

Answer 5

Made abortion legal in 1973, but remains controversial.

Question 6

Welfare

Answer 6

Nixon came with rhetoric that seemed to suggest that the welfare state showed weakness. (laziness).

Question 7

Family Assistance Program (FAP)

Answer 7

Replacement of food stamps with direct cash payments but this policy proved to be unpopular, deemed insufficient by some, but unaffordable by many more. Also, this completely contradicts Nixon’s stance with welfare and new federalism.

Question 8

Anti-war protests

Answer 8

The protest continued to increase to the end of 1971, largely led by students. Nixon would continuously declare that the war was nearly over while it dragged on, but at least during this period the pulling out of American troops accelerated. (The draft was ended in 1973).

Question 9

Busing

Answer 9

Policy used to get rid of de facto segregation by busing people to schools to certain enforce diversity/desegregation. This policy was controversial and Nixon privately disapproved of it.

Question 10

Affirmative Action through Exec. Order 11246

Answer 10

Philadelphia Plan. Gov contractors were to hire a quota of black people in Philadelphia. This was the start of more affirmative action taken nationwide.

Question 11

The start of “stagflation”

Answer 11

A stagnant economy along with inflation. In response Nixon was to use his “Nixon-shock”, to kickstart the economy:
- Dollar off the gold standard
- Wage and price freezes
- tax cuts
- import tax to protect American bussiness.

Question 12

Impact of the Nixon-shock

Answer 12

Public approval shot up as Nixon dominated in the 1972 re-election. However inflation worsened once more as the wage-price freeze ended, demonstrating that the solution was a short term one. Inflation climbed to 12% by 1974.

Support for Israel during the Yom Kippur war also led to an oil embargo which further worsened the economic situation.

Question 13

Watergate

Answer 13

Nixon had an investigative team known as the plumbers (to fix leaks). The arrest of five burglars at Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972. Nixon’s implication avoided the limelight until after his re-election. Nixon affirmed that he was not a crook, but there were audio tapes of his implications with the plumbers proving otherwise, which led to his resignation facing impeachment.