Nixon’s YearsChapter 25 Section 1
Domestic Policies
WHO IS NIXON?
  Won
the 1968 Presidential Election
  Former Vice President under Eisenhower
  More reserved and quiet, less social
  Close with family- wife and 2 daughters
  Nixon
preferred to work with his White House
Staff over Cabinet Members
 
 
 
 
H.R. Haldeman- Chief of Staff
John Ehrlichman- lawyer and later Chief of Domestic
Advisors
John Mitchell – Attorney General
Henry Kissinger- National Security Advisor and later
Secretary of State
NIXON’S DOMESTIC POLICIES
  Believed
in restoring law and order
  Moved away from many policies under Kennedy
and Johnson
  Wanted to end inflation, control government
spending and reduce unemployment
  Energy use and costs
DOMESTIC ISSUE- INFLATION
 
Inflation- increase in pricing and decrease in value of
dollar
Spent too much with Vietnam War
  Doubled between 1965 to 1968
  Govt spent more than it collected in taxes
  Nixon wanted to stop inflation but didn’t believe in price
controls
 
 
Deficit Spending – spent more $ in a year than the
government receives in revenue
 
Nixon hoped this would stimulate the economy even though
he did not initially support this philosophy
  Imposed 60 to 90 price and wage freezes
  Businesses did not support and prices still rose after
freeze ended
DOMESTIC ISSUE- INFLATION AND
OIL
  Increased
population and economy using more
energy each year
  Depended on cheap, imported oil for about 1/3 of
our energy needs
  Price controls hurt oil industry
  Middle East Conflicts caused U.S. oil prices to
rise and increased inflation
 
 
Gas- 25 cents- rose to 65 cents a gallon
Bread- 28 cents- rose to 89 cents a loaf
  OPEC
 
 
placed an embargo on oil shipped to U.S.
Increased foreign oil prices
Increased prices reduced spending, led to recessions
SOCIAL PROGRAMS
  Nixon
wanted to reduce government spending by
shutting down several social programs
  Some felt programs were wasteful and
encouraged “welfare cheaters”
New Federalism
  States would have more responsibility for their
citizen’s well-being
  Revenue sharing bills were passed which issued
federal funds to state and local govt. to spend as
they wish
SOUTHERN STRATEGY
 
Believed he had little to gain by supporting Civil
rights
 
Worried about losing southern democrat support
  Only
12% of black voters supported Nixon in
1968
  Nixon also lost to Kennedy in 1960 presidential
race
  Wanted to cut funding that supported
enforcement of fair housing laws
  Did not support busing to encourage integration
of schools even though Supreme Court ruled
otherwise