Richard Nixon

1
Richard Nixon

• Vietnam to Resignation

2
Foreign Policy

• Vietnam
• Feb 1972 gt Nixon visits China
• - showed signs of the easing of tensions in the
  Cold War
• - 1st President to visit a Communist country

3
Foreign Policy

• Détente gt a relaxation of tension between US and
  USSR
• Nixon visits the Soviet Union in May 1972
• SALT Agreements
• Strategic Arms Limitations Act
• Restricted the types and numbers of nuclear
  weapons that each country could deploy

4
Domestic policy

• July 1969 gt Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk
  on the moon
• Walking on the Moon
• One small step for man, one giant leap for
  mankind

5
The Warren Court

• Chief Justice Earl Warren
• Handed down several rulings protecting the rights
  of the accused
• Gideon vs. Wainwright (rights to a lawyer)
• Mapp vs. Ohio (illegal search and seizures)
• Miranda vs. Arizona (Miranda Rights)
• Very liberal court
• Nixon nominated four justices to make the Supreme
  Court more conservative (checks and balances)
• Upheld previous decisions

6
Domestic Policy

• Nixon limits governments role in civil
  rights/desegragation
• Economy
• Stagflation stagnant economy
• Inflation leads to less buying and rising
  unemployment
• Nixon puts a hold on prices and wages (cant
  rise)
• Gets the FED to lower interest rates to encourage
  spending
• Increases government spending

7
Election of 1972

• Nixon vs. George McGovern
• Nixon won in a landslide
• Watergate Scandal
• The republicans were worried about the election
• Planted listening devices in the Democratic Party
  National Headquarters located in the Watergate
  Towers Apartment Building

8
Watergate

• 5 Men get caught and charged with the break-in
• Nixon didnt know of the break-in
• After the election when Nixon found out he
  ordered a cover-up

9
Watergate

• During several meetings with key advisors and
  White House Staff, Nixon had conversations
  recorded
• Many of the meetings involved the Watergate
  Scandal
• At first Nixon denied, then refused to hand over
  recordings
• Nixon vs. US gt Supreme Court ruled recorded
  conversations werent executive priviledge
• Nixon had to hand over tapes
• Smoking Gun Tape gt Nixon wanted to go to CIA and
  FBI and ask them to stop the investigation into
  the scandal (COVER-UP)
• Congress was going to bring up impeachment
  charges but Nixon resigns
• Nixon claimed that he did nothing wrong
• Nixon's Resignation Speech