32-1: The Nixon
Administration
1. Size and power of the
federal government
Policies:
• Adopted policy of New Federalism (A plan to give
federal power back to the states)
• Backed a revenue-sharing bill that overhauled
federal spending = federal government would
share money with state and local governments
who could spend federal dollars however they
saw fit with few limits
• Blocked funding for laws Nixon didn’t like
• Abolished the office of economic opportunity
2. Inefficiency of the welfare system
Policies:
• Nixon backed the
Family Assistance
Plan (FAP) = a welfare
reform proposal to
give direct relief ($$)
to poor families
• The plan failed to pass
Congress
3. Vietnam War and domestic disorder
Policies:
• De-escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam
• Conducted Peace negotiations with Vietnam
• Approved illegal FBI wiretaps on left-wing,
antiwar and civil rights groups as well as CIA
and IRS investigations and infiltrations of those
groups
• Nixon built an “enemies list” of prominent
Americans
• Nixon sent Vice President, Spiro Agnew,
on a speaking tour to attack the
opposition
4. Nixon’s reelection
Policies:
• Adopted the Southern strategy to attract
Southern conservative Democratic voters who
were dissatisfied with desegregation and the
Supreme Court
• To attract white voters Nixon ordered HEW
(Department of Health, Education and Welfare)
to delay school desegregation plans, but the
Supreme Court intervened and made the
administration act more quickly
• Opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act of
1965, but Congress extended the act
• Urged Congress to halt the integration of schools
through busing
5. Liberalism and Supreme-Court justices
Policies:
• Nixon replaced 3 Supreme Court
Justices with more conservative
justices
• Supreme Court Justices appointed by
Nixon:
Harry A. Blackmon
William H. Rehnquist
Warren Burger
6. Stagflation and Recession
Policies:
• Raised taxes, cut the budget, raised
interest rates, instituted wage and
price controls
stagflation: occurs
when unemployment
and inflation rise at
the same time (weak
economy: 1967-1973)
7. U.S. –China
Relations
Policies:
• Adopted a policy of
détente (Ease Cold War
tensions)
• Nixon visited
Communist China
• China and U.S. agree
that neither nation
would try to dominate
the Pacific and would
cooperate in settling
President and Mrs. Nixon, with
disputes peacefully
Secretary of State William
• U.S. recognized that
Rogers on a sight seeing tour of
Taiwan was part of
the Great Wall near Beijing
mainland China
durng his visit to China in
1972. Nixon told reporters "It is • U.S. promised to remove
a Great Wall!"
U.S. forces from Taiwan
7. U.S. –Soviet Relations
Policies:
• Adopted a policy of détente (Ease Cold
War tensions)
• Nixon visited the USSR
• Signed the Salt I Treaty (5- year treaty
to limit nuclear weapons)
• Signed Agreements with the USSR on
West Berlin and East Germany
Nixon and Soviet
Leader,
Breshnev,
during the Soviet
visit
Terms
• Realpolitik: Henry
Kissinger, Nixon’s main
foreign policy advisor,
based his foreign policy
views on a philosophy
known as realpolitik.
This meant that that
Kissinger dealt with other
nations in a practical and
flexible manner. Kissinger
believed that it was
practical to ignore weak
nations, but important to
deal with strong nations
OPEC: Organization of
nations that export oil.
• In 1973 a war broke out with
Israel against Egypt and Syria.
The U.S. sent military aid to
Israel. The OPEC nations sided
With Syria and Egypt, and
stopped selling oil to the U.S.
• Between the fall of 1973 and
March of 1974 U.S. motorists
faced a serious gasoline crisis.
• When OPEC started selling oil
to the U.S again, the price had
Quadrupled.
Terms