Conservative Backlash:
Nixon and Watergate
Nixon and Polarization
–  George Wallace
–  Southern strategy: Rise of
the Sunbelt region
–  Court south
•  Desegregation and
Supreme Court
•  Attack liberals
–  Enemies List aka S*** List
–  COINTELPRO
–  George Steinbrenner
Audit
–  Nixon and Elvis, and John
Lennon
Nixon’s New Federalism
•  Rise of the Environmental
Movement and EPA (1970)
–  Silent Spring (1962)
–  Santa Barbara Oil Spill
•  New Federalism
–  reverse flow of money and resources
away from fed. gov’t and back to
states/cities
–  Revenue Sharing Act (1972)
•  block grants of funds given to states
and cities & let them spend it as
they want
Nixon and the Press
•  Long standing feud
since the days of
“Checkers” Speech
•  Audit on NY Times
and Washington
post editors
Spiro T. Agnew
•  Nixon’s “hatchet
man” to publicly
attack enemies
The Pentagon Papers
•  Daniel Ellsburg wrote
top secret history of
Vietnam for the DoD
•  New York Times Co.
v. United States: prior
restraint"
Nixon and Detente
•  China
–  Impact of Vietnam
–  Kissinger and ‘back
channels”
–  Normalized relations
(1972)
•  Russia
–  SALT 1 Treaty
Nixon and Vietnam
•  Promise to end war
–  yet get “peace with
honor”
•  Vietnamization
–  bring troops home/
increase air war
•  Cambodia bombings
•  Christmas Bombing
(1972)
–  Truce-1973; Fall of
Saigon-1975
Watergate
Watergate Break-in
–  “Plumbers” and CREEP
–  Cover up Begins
–  1972 Election
•  Trial, Hearings, and
Tapes
•  US v. Nixon
•  Independent Prosecutor
Archibald Cox Saturday
Night Massacre
“I am not a Crook”
The End of a President
•  Impeachment begins
•  Resignation (August 9,
1974)
•  Significance of Watergate
–  Congress limits pres.
power
–  Campaign reform
–  Freedom of Information Act
–  Widens gap of distrust of
gov’t
•  Ford Pardons: Quid Pro
Quo?
Trouble in the Middle East
Oil Embargo
Shuttle Diplomacy
•  Several Arab nations imposed an
oil embargo in reaction to the
Yom Kippur War.
•  Henry Kissinger tried to solve the
crisis in the Middle East.
•  They agreed not to ship oil to the
United States and certain other
countries who supported Israel.
•  The Arab countries were a part of
OPEC (the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries).
•  The United States was dependent
on foreign sources for one third of
its oil needs.
•  The embargo caused serious
problems throughout the U.S.
economy.
•  He was unable to get all the
parties to meet together to talk
about solutions.
•  Started what came to be called
shuttle diplomacy
•  Kissinger traveled—shuttled—
from group to group trying to work
out separate agreements.
•  Eventually the fighting ended and
the oil embargo was lifted.