The Nixon Years: A Crisis of Authority

1. The Nixon Years: A Crisis of Authority Mr. Ermer U.S. History Honors Miami Beach Senior High

2. The Youth Culture • “Liberation” • The New Left • Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) • University of California at Berkeley • The Free Speech Movement • People’s Park • The Counterculture • Hippies & Haight-Ashbury • Communal Living • Rejection of traditional values • Drugs & “Free Sex” • Rock & Roll • The Beatles

4. Mobilization of Minorities • Native Americans • Eisenhower’s “Termination” • Federal government attempts to move Native Americans into mainstream • Tribes deprived of legal status, remanded to the state governments, ended in 1958 • Indian Civil Rights Movement/American Indian Movement (AIM) • Declaration of Indian Purpose fights anti-Native prejudice • Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 • United States v. Wheeler (1978) calls termination unconstitutional • Occupation movements • Latino Activism • Flood of new immigrants from Latin America after WWII • “Chicano Activism” and La Raza Unida • Cesar Chavez and migrant workers’ rights

6. Feminism • 1960s-70s: Feminism emerges as powerful force in American society • Kennedy’s President’s Commission on the Status of Women • Equal Pay Act • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 • 1963: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique • National Organization for Women (NOW) • 1972: Congress approves Equal Rights Amendment to Constitution • Is not ratified by the states, backlash against feminism • 1973: Roe v. Wade decision invalidates all laws prohibiting early term abortions • Based on the newly established “right to privacy” resulting from Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

7. Nixonian Foreign Policy • National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger dominates foreign policy of Nixon Administration • Belief in a “multi-polar” world, new international order • 1969: Nixon meets Soviet leaders in Helsinki, Finland for talks • Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) • 1972: Nixon visits China and “opens” Chinese to trade • Helps Communist China’s government enter United Nations • Nixon Doctrine • Defend allies in Third World, aid development, but leave “basic responsibility” of the future of those “friends” to nations themselves • Six-Day War (1967) • Israel vs. Egypt, Syria, Jordan—Israel gains new territories • Palestinian refugee count increases in Jordan and Lebanon • Yom Kippur War (1973) • Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 • United States presses Israel to accept ceasefire in order to keep Arab allies

9. The Nixon Years at Home • Defends the interests of the “Silent Majority” • Reduce federal “interference” in local affairs • Slowed the pace of school integration by bussing • Attempt to dismantle Great Society & New Frontier legislation • Abolishes Office of Economic Opportunity • Attempt to replace welfare system with Family Assistance Plan • Does not pass the Senate, welfare reform tabled • Election of 1972 • Nixon vs. George McGovern (ultra-liberal democrat) • Nixon wins in landslide

11. Nixon and the Supreme Court • Warren Court of 1950s and 60s seen as too liberal • Roth v. United States (1957): limits states’ ability to ban pornography • Engle v. Vitale (1962): School prayer violates First Amendment • Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): right to a trial attorney • Escobedo v. Illinois (1964): right to an attorney before questioning • Miranda v. Arizona (1966): authorities must inform suspects of his rights • Baker v. Carr (1962): Apportioning of voting districts to ensure equality • Chief Justice Earl Warren retires in 1969, Nixon appoints conservative federal judge Warren Burger • Another justice spot opens, Senate rejects two conservative nominations • Nixon nominates Harry Blackmun, a moderate • Nixon also appoints two more justices, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist • Burger Court not as conservative as Nixon hoped • Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Eduacation(1971): forced bussing • Furman v. Georgia (1972): strict test for capital punishment law • Roe v. Wade (1973) • More moderate decisions include Milliken v. Bradley (1974) and Bakke v. Board of Regents of California (1978)

12. Nixon & the Economy • Funding 1960s social programs and Vietnam without raising taxes brings increased deficit spending—leads to inflation • Dollar begins to lose value relative to other currencies • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) • After Arab Oil Embargo, OPEC raises price of oil by 400% • Deindustrialization • Industrial jobs being replaced by “knowledge based jobs” • Rising income inequality • Stagflation: rising cost of living with decreased economic performance • Nixon tries to tackle inflation by decreasing money supply, raising interest • Wage and price controls for federal agencies • Value of dollar continues to slide

14. Watergate & the Presidency • Changes to Presidency • Nixon seeks, sometimes illegally, to exercise power • June 17, 1972: seven men arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate building • Washington Post connects Committee for the Reelection of the President • More illegalities, cover-up discovered • Senate calls for release of Oval Office Recording System tapes • “Executive Privilege” • “Saturday Night Massacre” • United States v. Richard M. Nixon, court rules tapes must be turned over • Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns for his own scandal • Replaced by Gerald Ford • August 8, 1974: Nixon resigns office, Ford sworn in as president • Ford pardons Nixon, “Our long national nightmare is over”

16. Work on it: • On page 442, write and answer questions 1-5