Social Conservatism Flashcards
key promises
Restore law and order in the cities
Peace with Honour to Vietnam
Stand up for the silent majority
Less and Cheaper Government
Slow down the rate of desegregation in the South to please the southern belt
New federalism - balance of power between the fed govt and the states
welfare and anti-poverty
Nixon made it clear that he wanted to get rid of the more wasteful and inefficient Great society programmes. He described it as a ‘welfare mess’ during his 1968 presidential election campaign. Middle America resented the expense, a 1968 poll revealed that 84% of Americans believed there are too many people receiving welfare money who should be working.
nixon’s actions concerning welfare
He shrank the Office of Economic Opportunity, closed 59 job corp centres and cut federal funding for housing and youth programmes. He introduced a proposal to use a negative income tax which was to provide a financial incentive for welfare recipients to work and a safety net for the poor, an attempt at reforming the welfare system. He proposed the Family Assistance Plan which he hoped would make welfare recipients work, which would give welfare recipients $1600 a year under the requirement of getting work and the number of bureaucrats who administered the system was decreased - conservatives liked - liberals disliked the proposal but were pleased that the plan would have made 13M more Americans eligible for federal aid, this alienated the conservatives and so the bill was rejected. He vetoed the 1971 child development act, which would have provided free childcare to enable poor mothers to work, he said it was too expensive and smacked of communism. He introduced the supplemental security income which provided a guaranteed income for elderly and disabled citizens as they were more likely to vote Conservative
was Nixon sympathetic to the poor
He was sympathetic to the poor having been brought up in poverty, despite all the anti-great society rhetoric he brought substantial increases to social security, medicare and Medicaid benefits. In 1971, Nixon proposed health insurance reform and the federalisation of Medicaid for poor families with children which was followed by a proposal for even more comprehensivenese health insurance reform and he increased expenditure on education and spent more on social programmes than Johnson.
racial equality
Supreme court cases in 1971 and 73 supported busing in order to end the de-facto segregation of schools in the North. Nixon attacked it as ‘wrenching children from their families’ he introduced a constitutional amendment to slow down school desegregation but it was rejected by Congress. He then appointed Warren Burger a conservative as chief justice of the Supreme court, this led to the Miliken V Bradley ruling in 1974 that halted busing in Detriot and justified the continuance of de-facto segregation of schools. He tasked Spiro Agnew with the desegregation of public schools and by Sept 1970, fewer than 10% of black students were attending segregated schools. He also ensured that federal aid was made available to school committees that complied with desegregation plans. Although Nixon claimed to dislike affirmative action his administration gave minorities considerable help, he issued executive order 11478 in 1969 which required federal contractors to employ more minority workers
law and order
Nixon and Middle America believed violence and crime had escalated because Liberals had been ‘soft’. A new york times headline called the nations capital a city of fear and crime on the second day of Nixon’s presidency. Nixon’s secretary Rose Mary Woods had $7000 worth of jewellery stolen from her apartment. Nixon responded by putting forward a bill to decrease crime in Washington called the District of Columbia Crime Control act 1970 which facilitated stop and search procedures and made bail harder to obtain and according to stats from the Met police of the district of columbia, the number of reported crimes decreased by 28% during Nixons presidency.
nixon and protests
Nixon made use of the police effectively by dealing with radicals like the Black Panthers and the Chicago Eight harshly. 28 BPs were killed by the police and hundreds were imprisoned in 1969 which delighted middle America as the BPs were a radical group. The Chicago 8 were prosecuted in 1970 for travelling across state lines to hold anti-war protests during the DNC. His inauguration was marred by protests and a 1969 Newsweek poll showed that 84% of Americans believed that the student demonstrators were treated too leniently. The protests were never-ending, In Oct and Nov 1969, America’s greatest ever anti-war protests took place with tens of thousands of Americans marching on the white house and major cities. Radicals blew up buildings at the University of Colorado and students at san diego set fire to banks. Nixon appeared to be extending the Vietnam War into Cambodia and in effect the draft in 1970 which led to more anti-war protests in 80% of American unis
two large protests
Kent state
Jackson state
kent state
Kent state students held a peaceful protest rally on 4th May 1970 after they rioted and firebombed buildings, the national guard acted aggressively and shot 4 students died and wounded 11
jackson state
two students killed and 12 wounded
ways nixon dealt harshly with protesters
His attempt to communicate with them was unsuccessful. He made an impromptu visit in the middle of the night to the Lincoln Memorial where he tried to convince a group of amazed students who had driven all night to come to Washington to protest against the Vietnam War that he understood them but he only managed to alienate them even more. He had some successes against protesters and successfully decreased the number of protests. He timed US troops’ withdrawals from Vietnam to forestall proposed anti-war protests. Adjusted the draft in 1972 so that students over 20 were no longer called up and then removed it completely in 1973. He threatened to end federal scholarships and loans for convicted student criminals. Ordered surveillance of disruptive groups. Took protesters to court in 1970, 10000 people were arrested in Washington DC although most of the arrests were thrown out of court, the litigation and legal fees kept protesters too busy causing more trouble, All of which dramatically decreased the number of campus protests
economic issues
Nixon inherited a weak economy due to spending on the Vietnam War and the GS by LBJ. It had a massive federal deficit of 4.7%, declining productivity in American industry and a lack of imports from Japan and Germany that endangered America’s balance of trade. In Aug 1971 he introduced the new economic policy that froze wages and devalued the dollar - against Republican economic principles. The devaluation made US exports cheaper and helped the balance of trade but it did not solve problems but only led to strikes as Nixon abandoned wage and price controls and prices rocketed which led to the great inflation of 1973, he was too preoccupied with Watergate to focus on the nations economic problems. America experienced an energy crisis due to Nixon’s support of Isreal in the Arab-Israeli war which led to an embargo on trade and an increase in the energy prices as 30% of the oil Americans used was imported from the middle east, this greatly damaged the American economy as there was a 87% hike in the price of oil and it resulted in a cost of living crisis as Americans then paid 30% more for heating, oil and petrol. Inflation rose to 12.1% in 1971
nixon’s re-election - political issues
Nixon was faced with less opposition in 1972 than in 1968 as the DNC in 1972 greatly damaged Democrat candidates as some delegates booed Humphrey and Johnson for not supporting the Vietcong. The Democrats choose McGovern ad their candidate and his political capital by christening him the 3As candidate - acid, abortion and amnesty, he wanted to legalise marijuana and abortion and pardon those who refused the draft for the Vietnam war. Nixon won by a landslide and was the first Republican president to gain the majority of the catholic vote, he carried 52% of blue-collar vote compared to 38% in 1968 and his southern support rose from 38% in 1968 to 72% in 1972
electoral campaign
He bounced back from the disappointments in 1960, and he played on the prospect of peace with honour in Vietnam, to great political effects, he also identified a constituency - the silent majority that was crying out for representation and gave them a voice. His base of support increased and he used a southern strategy which called for slowing the rate of deseg to remove voters away from democrats he attacked the bureaucracy of the great society by calling for New Federalism which decreased federal government intervention
problems in Nixon’s second term
Nixon had tremendous problems in his second term due to the Watergate scandal and lack of majority in the HoR and the Senate in his two terms. While he may have effectively managed political issues his re-election was marred by illegal and unethical behaviours which inevitably led to his downfall
