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1
Learning to Lead our Lives
Nixon and Reagan who was the more successful
President?
Skill Historical Enquiry.
NGfL USA
All images/ cartoons are believed to be in the
public domain. Many of the images were sourced
from the internet encyclopaedia wikipedia at
http//en.wikipedia.org
2
What makes a good President?
Democrat President John F. Kennedy
What qualities did he possess?
3
Who was the better Republican President?
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
4
Task Who was the better Republican President?
Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan
Qualities and Achievements Qualities and Achievements
Failures Failures
5
How successful wasRichard Nixon?
Nixon was elected Republican President for the
first time in 1968. He won the election by wining
support from the middle classes, promising to
restore law and order and bring the GIs home
from the war in Vietnam.
4th May 1970 Anti-war protest at Kent State
University. Hundreds of students wanting to
protest threw stones at the National Guardsmen.
They fired without warning at the crowds and shot
4 students dead. This provoked a mass wave of
protests at universities across the whole of
America. 2 more students died after being shot
by the National Guard.
www.47ipsd.us
6
How successful wasRichard Nixon?
1972 The SALT Talks. There had been talks
before, but these were a breakthrough! The USA
promised to accept Communism as a system of
government and promised to increase trade with
communist countries. America agreed to supply
cheap grain to the USSR. The USA agreed to
recognise East Berlin as a communist nation, in
return the USSR would recognise East Berlins
security.
Nixons achievements with Communist nation
China. China had heavily supported the North
Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. Nixon referred to
them as Red China. Surprisingly as part of the
diplomatic revolution, Nixon announced he would
visit China in 1972. This was a landmark move.
Nixon visited all the tourist attractions and
said iit was like going to the moon. His visit
helped the SALT talks.
7
How successful wasRichard Nixon?
Nixon hated Communism. Yet as president he
started friendlier relationships with Communist
countries like China and the USSR. Nixon
understood that in a nuclear war there could be
no winners, and he could not defend the USA or
protect the people if nuclear war started.
America had been defeated in Vietnam. Nixon
opened links with Communist China and began
US-Soviet nuclear arms control, which bought
about a relaxation of tension in the Cold War
Détente.
Nixon came up with a new foreign policy
diplomatic revolution, trying to limit
Communist expansion and the arms race. China and
the USSR cooperated. They too had their own
problems and could not continue to afford a
costly Cold War. They had been arguing with each
other, and had become more hostile and fearful.
8
How successful wasRichard Nixon?
Nixon attempted to bring peace to Vietnam by
starting peace talks. He promised to withdraw
troops but increase military support, a policy
called Vietnamisation. But secretly he was
ordering heavier bombardment of the North
Vietnamese. He even allowed the fighting to
spread to neighbouring states, including
Cambodia.
In 1973 Nixon did manage to bring about a
ceasefire between the North and South Vietnamese
troops. Nixon started moving troops out but
promised that GIs would return if the ceasefire
was broken.
In 1972 the War Powers Act was passed. This
ensured that all future Presidents must justify
sending soldiers to war within 30 days.
In 1975 the North Viet Cong launched a massive
invasion of the the south. Nixon refused to help
and the South was quickly conquered. All of
Vietnam was now Communist. The US had failed to
contain Communism.
The Vietnam War was Americas first military
defeat. 58156 GIs had been killed. Over 300,000
men had been inured, of which 100,000 had lost at
least one limb.
9
How successful wasRonald Reagan?
     Reagans background  Reagan had been a
popular actor in the 1940s and 1950s before
James Dean and other youth role models came on
the scene He had then been Governor of California
and criticised the hippy movement He had
extremely conservative views he believed in the
importance of respect and the family He was a
smooth and confident speaker both in public and
to individuals
www.ronaldreagan.com
10
How successful wasRonald Reagan?
Reagan himself was a fierce anti-Communist,
believing the USSR was the evil empire. He
believed that the only way to counter the Soviet
threat was to ensure the USA was militarily as
strong as possible. In 1980, Reagan said We
know only too well that war comes not when the
forces of freedom are strong, but when they are
weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.
  • What Reagan promised and did
  • Reagan promised massive tax cuts which he
    delivered between in his first term of office
    (1981-1985). The American government became
    bankrupt, but individual Americans supported his
    tax cuts.

11
How successful wasRonald Reagan?
Reagan and Gorbachev
www.wikipedia.org
  • In the early 1980s Reagan supported
    anti-Communist movements around the world. He
    gave money to the Contras in Nicaragua. Strictly
    speaking this was illegal, so Reagan found the
    money by selling weapons to Iran. This was
    politically explosive, since at the time the US
    was supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war.
  • Reagan massively increased defence spending in
    order to deal with the threat from the Soviet
    Union. He embarked upon a project called Star
    Wars where American missiles would shoot down
    Soviet nuclear missiles in space. This could have
    increased tension with the Communist country, but
    the Soviets could not afford to develop their own
    defences. Instead, Soviet leader Mikhail
    Gorbachev started to reduce the numbers of Soviet
    missiles.

12
How successful wasRonald Reagan?
Speaking in front of the Berlin Wall on June 12,
1987 Ronald Reagan challenged reformist Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev, exclaiming "Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
13
Learning to Lead our Lives
Nixon and Reagan who was the more successful
President? lesson 7 part II
Skill Evaluation
NGfL USA
14
What do you think is happening in this picture?
Richard Nixon departs from the White House before
Gerald Ford was sworn in as President
Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National
Archives and Records Administration
15
Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
In 1972 there was another Presidential election
which Nixon wanted to win. The Republicans were
very popular and looked likely to get the
majority in Congress. On the 17th June 1972
important officials working for Nixon broke into
the headquarters of the Democrats, to bug the
office. Nixon claimed he had no prior knowledge
of this break in. The Democrats were outraged and
called it political espionage.
16
Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
Nixon did not take this issue seriously in the
run up to the election, thinking he could sweep
it under the carpet. He won the
election. However, as Nixon attempted to cover
up this problem, information was leaked to the
American newspapers who turned it into a scandal.
It emerged that Nixon paid 1 million dollars to
try to quieten the burglars. Nixon was using his
Presidential power for his own personal gain. He
tried to stop the police and even Congress from
investigating the issue. But the newspapers still
exposed new allegations. Eventually US Senate
(the highest court in the land) investigated,
taking witness statements. This was shown on TV!
17
Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
Nixon denied publicly that there was no
whitewash at the Whitehouse in April 1973,
promising his public that he was innocent of any
cover up. But, evidence to prove him guilty was
found by Senate. The Watergate tapes! These
tapes recorded conversations between Nixon and
members of his staff in meetings, proving that
Nixon was trying to cover up the burglary. He
used foul language I the meetings, and sounded
more like a powerful gangster than a President.
Nixon clearly thought he was above the law.
Demands were made by newspapers ant the public
that the Senate should impeach Nixon. He resigned
in August 1974, the first American President to
ever resign. The Watergate Scandal had a bad
effect on American politics. The American public
had lost faith in their government, and it was
clear that the President had too much power at
this fingertips.
18
The Washington Post
  • Write a news article from the point of view of
    Bob Woodward and karl Bernstein, journalists who
    originally broke the Watergate Scandal to the
    public.
  • You should include paragraphs about
  • What it was, Who was involved
  • Where and When it took place
  • Why
  • The effects of the Watergate Scandal
  • You can quote the President, or a Democrat

19
Countdown Conundrums
Watergate
Republican
swrarats
Star wars
hmiepac
egweattra
cinbpeurla
Impeach
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