Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan

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Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan
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Nixon Domestic Policy

• "New Federalism - returning power to the
  states, reversing the flow of power and resources
  from states and communities to Washington, and
  start power and resources flowing back to people
  all over America. Involved a 5-year plan to
  distribute 30 billion of federal revenues to
  states

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Nixon Domestic Policy

• Stagflation
• Removing the U.S. currency from the Gold Standard
• AFDC
• Burger Court
• Health and Safety issues

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Nixon Domestic Policy

• Wage and price controls - 1971 - To curb
  inflation, President Nixon froze prices, wages,
  and revenues for 90 days.
• Watergate
• Committee for the Reelection of the President
  (CREEP)
• White House "Plumbers
• Watergate tapes
• H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, John W. Dean
  and John Mitchell
• Impeachment proceedings
• Nixon resigned on August 9.1974

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Nixons Foreign Policy

• Henry Kissinger
• The Nixon Doctrine Vietnamization, Yom Kippur
  War, India and Pakistan, Chile
• Ping Pong Diplomacy
• Détente
• SALT
• Arab oil embargo - Organization of Petroleum
  Exporting Countries (OPEC)

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Gerald Ford

• Whip Inflation Now (WIN) Unemployment and
  inflation climbing
• Vetoes Congress 39 times over spending
• 1975- S. Vietnam falls, Khmer Rouge takes over
  Cambodia, Mayaquez incident
• 25th amendment
• 1976 election Reagan vs. Ford Rep. primary
• The Helsinki Accord

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Jimmy Carter

• Outsider, former governor of Georgia, graduate of
  U.S. Naval Academy
• Devout Christian, Promised never to lie to the
  American people
• Economic policy
• Cut domestic programs
• Deregulated airlines and trucking industry
• Raised interest rates and another oil crisis

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Truth Hurts

• Amnesty for draft dodgers
• Nuclear power ( Three Mile Island)
• Love Canal
• The Malaise Speech
• A crisis of confidence
• Pointed the finger at the American people for
  being self-indulgent and vapid consumers

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Carter and Foreign Policy

• SALT II
• Panama Canal Treaty
• Camp David Accords -Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat
• Iranian Crisis, the Shah, the Ayatollah
  Khomeini(444 Days)
• Afghanistan, 1979 - Olympic Boycott, 1980
• Ties foreign policy with human rights
• Carters presidency is considered a disaster

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The Rise of Conservatism

• Neo-cons the atmosphere of the 1960s had
  eroded moral standards and the respect for
  authority.
• Hard core anti-communist (forget détente)
• Lower taxes, less government interference
• Tough on criminals
• Rise of the religious right (The Moral Majority)
• Anti-ERA (Phyllis Schlafly)

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The Tax Revolt

• Anti environmental regulations
• Government regulations raised business cost and
  eliminates jobs
• Californias Prop 13 ban on increase property
  taxes
• Sagebrush revolution (Western States over control
  of Federal lands)

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Ronald Reagan

• Carters popularity down to 20 in 1980
• Lets Make America Great Again and The era of
  self-doubt is over
• Called for states rights, end of welfare cheats,
  anti-ERA, and family values
• Received 91 of the electoral vote and 51 of the
  vote

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Reagan Revolution

• Brought together many groups
• Excellent public speaker
• U.S. a beacon of liberty and freedom
• Wanted to free the government from special
  interest
• Economic freedom Reaganomics Trickle down
  economics

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Supply side economics

• Reaganomics policy based on the theory that
  allowing companies the opportunity to make
  profits, and encouraging investment, will
  stimulate the economy and lead to higher
  standards of living for everyone.
• Argued that tax cuts can be used stimulate
  economic growth.
• Move money into the hands of the people and they
  will invest, thus creating prosperity.

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Reaganomics

• Reduced top tax from 70 to 50, by 1986 had
  dropped the tax rate to 28
• Cutback on government regulatory enforcement at
  the workplace and the environment
• Trickle down Higher interest rates with lower
  taxes on the wealthy
• Anti-labor air traffic controllers, shifting of
  manufacturing jobs overseas

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A Second Gilded Age?

• Merging and downsizing of companies
• Greed is healthy Ivan Boesky
• Yuppies young urban professionals high income
  conspicuous consumers
• DINKs
• Savings and Loan collapse
• Increased military spending and lower taxes?
• Debt tripled during the Reagan years

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Foreign Affairs

• The Evil Empire
• SDI (strategic defense initiative)
• NATO short range missiles
• Granada
• Libya
• Lebanon bombing of the Marines barracks
• Support of totalitarian 3rd world governments if
  anti-communist

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Iran-Contra Scandal

• 1984 Congress banned aid to the Contras
• 1985 Iraq and Iran at war
• U.S. sells weapons secretly to Iran to free
  American hostages
• Reagan agrees to skim parts of the sells to arm
  and supply the Contras. They do this for 2 years

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Reagan and Gorbachev

• Gorbachev works to reform Soviet Union and its
  economy
• Glasnost (political openness) and perestroika
  (economic reform)
• Work on arms reduction, convinces the Russians to
  pull out of Afghanistan