CHAPTER
24
From Nixon
to Carter
AUGUST 8, 1974: THE PRESIDENT DECIDES
After a week of sleepless nights, an exhausted, pale
President Nixon walked into the Oval Office of the
White House and sat down behind his desk. He was
alone except for a few television technicians and
the White House photographer, Ollie Atkins. His
voice cracked as he joked nervously with the crew.
HISTORY
NAL
JOURNAL
R
Before you read thisEchapter,Ouse what you already
know to write briefly about the political, economic,
and environmental crises that faced the nation
during the 1970s.
806
nation, fresh from a landslide reelection victory.
He had forged a new conservative coalition and
was widely hailed for his bold foreign policy
moves.
Yet he had overstepped the limits of the presidency and had broken the laws he had sworn to
uphold. Richard Nixon had defied the American
constitutional system, and now that system had
taught him that no one is above the law, not even
the President of the United States. HISTORY
S E
UR
N
O
At 9 P.M. the television crew signaled Nixon to
begin. The President gazed into the camera: “Good
evening. This is the thirty-seventh time I have spoken to you from this office in which so many decisions have been made that shape the history of this
nation.” Then came the moment that so many people had anticipated. For the first time in the nation’s
history, a President resigned from office.
Less than two years before, a beaming, triumphant President Nixon had addressed the
Chapter Overview
Visit the American Odyssey Web site at
americanodyssey.glencoe.com and click on
Chapter 24—Chapter Overview to preview
the chapter.
UPI/BETTMANN
After resigning the presidency, Richard
Nixon boarded a helicopter to begin his
r e t u r n t o p r i vat e l i f e i n C a l i f o r n i a .
807
SECTION
1
A New Majority
M AY 8 , 1 9 7 0 : W O R K E R S B AT T L E A N T I WA R P R O T E S T E R S
AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS
“When you were still up
The violent noon-hour
on Broadway you could
rampage marked the beginhear the ruckus, the
ning of two weeks of flaghollering. The peace demwaving marches in support
onstrators trying to outshout
of the Nixon administration
the construction workers.
and its Southeast Asia poliThe construction workers
cies. The marchers were fed
hollering, ‘U.S.A., all the way’
up with those they called
and ‘We’re Number One.’
flag-burning radicals who
And the peace demonstrators
opposed the war.
screaming up there that the
Although other workers
war was unjust and everyjoined in, the construction
thing else.”
workers led the way. Their
Thirty-one-year-old Joe
hard hats soon became a
Kelly, construction worker
symbol of traditional Amerand family man, was one of
ican values. Many, like Joe
A Need to Be Heard
several hundred workers who
Kelly, were demonstrating for
Working-class Americans take to the streets
battled peace demonstrators
the first time in their lives.
in support of President Nixon and his policies.
in New York City that day.
Their message found a
Wearing a yellow construcsympathetic ear at the White
tion helmet bearing the mesHouse. A few days after the
sage For God and Country, Kelly joined in, hurling insults
Wall Street riots, President Nixon himself was awarded
and throwing punches.
his own hard hat inscribed Commander in Chief.
Guide to Reading
808
Main Idea
Vocabulary
Read to Find Out . . .
Richard Nixon was carried
into the White House by a
conservative backlash that
allowed him to reshape the
political landscape of the
United States.
CHAPTER 24
backlash
silent majority
revenue sharing
Southern strategy
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
why Nixon’s conservatism appealed
to so many Americans in the 1970s.
the strategies that Nixon used to
build support for a broad domestic
policy known as New Federalism.
The War Within
Conflicts Set the Stage for Change
Like the workers and demonstrators who came to
blows on Wall Street, American society at the end of the
1960s was divided into hostile camps. A decade of war
and social change had ripped the nation apart. Not since
the Civil War had the country seemed so divided——with
conservatives pitted against liberals, workers against students, whites against African Americans, old against
young.
As the 1960s drew to a close, the United States
seemed to be at war with itself. Riots rocked 125
American cities following the assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968. In August of that
year, police battled protesters at the Democratic
National Convention in Chicago. Then, in October 1969,
nearly 300 members of the Weather Underground,
a militant wing of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), swept through the streets of Chicago smashing windows and shouting, “Long live the victory of the
people’s war!” Scenes of these so-called days of rage
filled the television news, fueling the fears of millions of
Americans.
The Conservative Backlash
programs that they believed benefited only the poor and
minorities. As one middle-class Chicagoan put it, “We
are the forgotten men. We don’t get one cent from the
government.” The cost of living rose steadily during
the 1960s (by more than 7 percent in 1969), and income
failed to keep pace. Many Americans saw the good life
slipping away from them, and they resented it. They
yearned for a return to traditional values and an end to
the turmoil.
Nixon and the Silent Majority
In his 1968 campaign for President, Richard Nixon
shrewdly tapped the deep well of discontent felt by these
Americans, whom he called the silent majority. He
promised to listen to “the great majority of Americans,
the forgotten Americans, the non-shouters, the nondemonstrators.”
Raised in a hard-working middle-class family, Nixon
seemed to share the silent majority’s values. He campaigned against the Great Society’s “welfare mess” and
pledged to “quit pouring billions of dollars into programs that have failed.” He railed against Supreme Court
decisions that he claimed had “tipped the balance against
the peace forces in this country and strengthened the
criminal forces.” He promised to end the Vietnam War
honorably and to restore law and order.
His appeal to what one writer called “the unblack, the
unyoung, and the unpoor” paid off. In his victory speech
after defeating Hubert Humphrey, Nixon promised to end
the years of turmoil and unite the country: “We want to
bridge the generation gap. We want to bridge the gap between the races. We want to bring America together.”
SECTION ONE
© RANAN LURIE, CARTOON NEWS
Like construction worker Joe Kelly, a growing number of Americans became fed up with the social protests
of the 1960s. The result was a conservative backlash, a
sudden reaction against the liberalism of the 1960s. Mostly white working-class and
middle-class Americans, these
people saw the protests as an
unprincipled attack on traditional values: hard work, family, religion, patriotism, and
respect for law and order.
They feared that unchecked
violence and social disorder
would destroy the country.
In part, they blamed the
liberal policies of the Johnson
years for the unrest of the
decade. They resented the
Warren Court for “meddling”
in social issues and for “coddling” criminals. According to
one poll, by 1968, 3 out of 5
Americans disagreed with the
Warren Court’s decisions.
Nixon at the Wheel Nixon is driving backwards—in effect driving to reverse 1960s civil
They also resented payrights gains. What groups were divided against one another during the late 1960s?
ing taxes to support federal
809
Despite his promises of unity, Nixon divided Americans even further. Intent on holding onto power, he took
to heart the advice of one of his aides who claimed that
the art of politics was the art of discovering who hated
whom. Nixon played on the anger and fears of the silent
majority as he set about building a new conservative
coalition.
Nixon’s New Conservatism
A Policy Born of Anger and Resentment
Once in office, Nixon sought to address the two
major concerns of the silent majority——resentment of the
federal government and fear of social disorder. A powerful civil rights movement, a broad antiwar coalition, and
a Congress controlled by Democrats, however, would
limit his attempts to advance conservative legislation. A
practical man as well as a fighter, President Nixon compromised when necessary and pursued his conservative
agenda whenever possible. Thus, in his first term, Nixon
accepted many liberal programs and signed bills to boost
Social Security benefits, expand the Job Corps, and build
low-cost housing. He approved Democrat-sponsored
legislation to lower the voting age to 18 and established
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Nixon’s New Federalism
Even as he signed these liberal bills, Nixon began to
steer a more conservative course. He introduced what he
called the New Federalism——a series of programs that
would “reverse the flow of power and resources from the
★
★
★
states and communities to Washington and start power
and resources flowing back . . . to the people.”
To shift power back to the states, Nixon established
a program of revenue sharing through which the federal government returned some of its tax money to local
governments. He and his supporters hoped that more
conservative state and local governments would use the
money for law enforcement and civic projects instead of
liberal programs to create jobs for the unemployed.
In one of his most controversial moves, Nixon sought
to reduce the federal government’s role in the nation’s
welfare system. In August 1969, the President introduced
the Family Assistance Plan (FAP), an attempt to streamline the massive federal welfare bureaucracy and reduce
welfare cheating. Instead of piecemeal handouts and a
maze of federal agencies, regulations, and caseworkers,
the FAP was a simple plan designed to give poor families a minimum annual income and then let them take
responsibility for themselves. The FAP proposed a guaranteed minimum yearly income of $1,600 for a family
of 4. To qualify for aid, heads of households had to sign
up for job training.
The FAP quickly came under fire from both conservative and liberal camps. Conservative critics rejected
the idea of a guaranteed annual income and insisted that
the new program would only increase the number of
people on the welfare rolls. Liberals denounced the plan,
claiming that the payments were inadequate and that the
job training program prepared trainees for low-paying
jobs that held little chance for advancement. Although
the plan passed in the House, it died in the Senate.
Despite his failure to overhaul the welfare system,
Nixon successfully chipped away at the Great Society’s
base by cutting off federal grants for urban renewal, job
G a l l e ry of P r e s i de n t s
★
★
★
Richard Milhous Nixon
“The greatest honor history can
bestow is the title of peacemaker.
This honor now beckons America—
the chance to help lead the world
. . . onto that high ground of peace
that man has dreamed of since the
dawn of civilization. If we succeed,
generations to come will say of us
now living that we helped make the
world safe for mankind.”
1969–1974
Born 1913; Died 1994
Republican, California
Served in the navy 1942–1946
Elected to the Senate 1950
Resigned as President 1974
Achievements in Office
Environmental Protection
Agency (1970)
First United States President to
visit China (1972)
Inaugural Address, January 20, 1969
© J . P. L A F O N T / S Y G M A
810
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
Background
Building a New Majority
Nixon Woos Disaffected Democrats
Law and Order
To combat crime and social unrest, Nixon appointed his former law partner, John Mitchell, attorney general. A steely-eyed political veteran, Mitchell was an
archconservative. He boasted, “This country is going so
far right you won’t recognize it.”
As head of the Justice Department, Mitchell promoted measures to strengthen police powers——even at
the cost of civil liberties. For example, he supported the
use of wiretaps without a court order and the detention
of criminal suspects without bail.
To silence antiwar and civil rights protesters and
other critics, Nixon and Mitchell marshaled the forces
of several federal agencies. The President used the
Internal Revenue Service to harass enemies by auditing
their tax returns. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) illegally tapped their phones and broke into their
homes and offices, searching for information to embarrass and discredit them.
In addition undercover FBI agents joined the ranks
of SDS and African American militant groups such as
the Black Panthers. In some cases the agents deliberately
set up violent clashes between these groups and the
police. In 1969, for example, when the FBI targeted the
Black Panther party, police killed an estimated 28
Panthers. Hundreds more were arrested.
While shifting the national agenda toward more
conservative programs, Nixon was also looking ahead to
1972 elections. He had been elected in 1968 by a slim
plurality——less that 1 percent of the popular vote. Congress remained in Democratic hands. Nixon realized
that to regain Republican control of Congress and to be
reelected he would need to forge a new majority.
Shortly after the 1968 election, Nixon adopted a strategy that would guide his policies for the remainder of his
presidency. In a report entitled “The Emergence of a Republican Majority,” Kevin Phillips, a Nixon campaign aide,
analyzed the results of the 1968 election. He claimed that
conservative Democrats——primarily white ethnic voters,
Southern whites, suburbanites, and blue-collar workers——
were tired of the liberals who had come to control the
Democratic party. He argued that these voters were ready
to leave the Democrats and join the Republicans to form
a new conservative majority under Nixon’s leadership.
An Appeal to the South
According to Phillips’s report, a growing number of
conservative Americans lived in the Sunbelt——the Southern states, plus Texas, California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arizona. Since the end of World War II,
these states had more than doubled in population.
SECTION ONE
811
UPI/BETTMANN
training, and education. In
1973 he abolished the Office
of Economic Opportunity, a
cornerstone of Johnson’s antipoverty program.
When the Democratic
majority in Congress opposed his bids to reduce
funding for certain programs,
Nixon defied them by impounding, or refusing to
spend, the funds. By 1973
Nixon had impounded nearly $15 billion in funds, crippling more than 100 federal
programs. Programs in the
areas of health, housing,
education, and the environment were the hardest hit.
Under Arrest Black Panther leader Bobby Seale and police come face-to-face in this 1971
The courts eventually
photo. What kind of actions did FBI undercover agents promote in the Black Panthers?
ruled that impoundment was
illegal because it gave the
President a veto power not
granted in the Constitution. Only Congress, they ruled,
had the authority to decide how federal funds should be
spent.
© ROGER MALLOCH, MAGNUM PHOTOS
Wallace Supporters Nixon’s Southern strategy was designed to lure voters like this one away from George Wallace. What does the
slogan on the woman’s button tell you about Wallace’s political platform?
The South had long been a Democratic stronghold,
but many white Southern Democrats believed that the
party had become too liberal. As a result some of them
had left the party and supported the conservative segregationist George Wallace in the 1968 presidential election. These conservative Democrats had helped
Wallace–—the former governor of Alabama——win 13.5
percent of the popular vote and carry 5 Southern states.
Nixon planned to lure these voters away from Wallace
with his conservative agenda. By adding the Wallace voters and other discontented Democrats to the 43.4 percent of Americans who had voted for Nixon in 1968, the
Republicans hoped to build a powerful new majority that
would help them recapture Congress and hold on to the
White House.
Nixon adopted a Southern strategy——a plan
designed to appeal directly to Southern white conservatives. To bring these voters into the Republican camp, the
President appealed to their discontent with racial integration, a liberal Supreme Court, and Eastern liberals.
HISTORY
Student Web Activity 24
Visit the American Odyssey Web site at
americanodyssey.glencoe.com and click on Chapter
24—Student Web Activities for an activity relating to
President Richard M. Nixon.
812
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
Attacks on Civil Rights
In the 1968 election, Nixon won barely 13 percent of
the African American vote, and he knew he was unlikely to attract more African American voters in 1972. To
gain votes in the South, Nixon believed he could afford
to alienate African Americans on civil rights issues. He
made his position clear in a September 1968 press conference when he stated: “There are those who want
instant integration and those who want segregation
forever. I believe we need to have a middle course
between those two extremes.” In effect Nixon sided with
those who wanted to delay desegregation and inferred
that African Americans were extremists.
Once in office Nixon used the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare (HEW) to carry out his strategy.
In 1969 HEW stepped in to delay desegregation plans for
school districts in South Carolina and Mississippi, despite
a Supreme Court ruling that school desegregation begin
at once. Shocked by the turnaround in federal policy, the
NAACP responded, “For the first time since Woodrow
Wilson we have a national administration that can be
rightly characterized as anti-Negro.”
Two years later the Supreme Court ruled that courts
could order the desegregation of school systems by busing if necessary. Nixon publicly denounced the ruling and
urged Congress to prohibit forced busing. Although
Congress did not heed his call, Southern segregationists
got the message——President Nixon was on their side. The
message also reached Northerners——including many
Democrats——who opposed busing.
Nixon further angered civil rights supporters by opposing the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This act had added 1 million African Americans to the
voting rolls, greatly increasing African American political power. Despite the President’s opposition, Congress
voted to extend the act.
The Nixon Court
Many conservatives also resented the liberalism of
the Warren Court. In their eyes recent Supreme Court
rulings on questions such as integration and school
prayer were an attack on traditional values.
To reverse the liberal decisions of the Warren Court,
Nixon sought to fill vacancies on the Court with conservative judges. When Chief Justice Earl Warren resigned in 1969, Nixon nominated conservative federal
judge Warren Burger to head the court. Later that year
Nixon selected a conservative Southerner, South Carolina
federal circuit judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr., to fill
another opening. He hoped this appointment would
help solidify his support among white Southerners.
Haynsworth, however, quickly came under fire for
his record of antilabor and anti–civil rights rulings, and
the Senate rejected his appointment. Furious at the defeat, Nixon chose another, less qualified conservative
Southern judge—–Florida federal appeals court judge
G. Harrold Carswell. Civil rights groups were outraged.
During a state election campaign in 1948, Carswell had
affirmed his belief in white supremacy. Even more damaging was his poor record as a federal judge; higher
courts had overturned many of his rulings. Even Carswell’s promoters were half hearted in their support.
When the Senate rejected Carswell’s nomination,
Nixon claimed the votes against Haynsworth and
Carswell reflected the Democratic Senate’s prejudice
against the South. He used the defeat to further align
himself with Southern conservatives. “I understand
the bitter feelings of millions of Americans who live in
the South,” Nixon declared.
Nixon’s subsequent Supreme Court nominees——
Harry A. Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., and William H.
Rehnquist——were all well qualified and conservative. The
Senate confirmed the nominations with little debate.
Although Nixon appointed four conservative justices, the Supreme Court did not always rule conservatively. On issues such as abortion, desegregation, and the
death penalty, it took a liberal stance. On other issues,
such as civil liberties, police power, and censorship, however, the Court’s rulings reflected a shift to the right.
To carry out the broadsides, he enlisted the aid of his
outspoken Vice President, Spiro Agnew. In speeches
across the country, Agnew used his knack for colorful
language to characterize the administration’s opponents.
He called liberal Democrats “sniveling hand-wringers.”
The television news media drew Agnew’s scorn for what
he saw as a liberal bias.
The Nixon administration also had a fear of what
they saw as the Eastern establishment. As a result Agnew called media executives “curled-lip boys in eastern
ivory towers.” While Nixon insisted his goal was to bring
Americans together, Agnew revealed a different strategy: “If in challenging, we polarize the American people,
I say it is time . . . to rip away the rhetoric and to divide
on authentic lines.”
Nixon’s Southern strategy failed to yield major
Republican victories in the 1970 state and congressional
elections. The Southern strategy did, however, lay the
groundwork for Nixon’s own reelection campaign in
1972. Coupled with the policy of New Federalism, the
Southern strategy helped shift the national agenda to the
right. While the policies of Johnson’s Great Society had
promised to protect the rights of the poor and minorities, Nixon’s new conservatism promised to look out for
the middle class. Yet even as Nixon was reshaping the
political landscape at home, a far more pressing issue
demanded his attention abroad——the Vietnam War.
Section Assessment
Main Idea
1. Use a diagram like this one to show features of
Nixon’s policy of New Federalism.
Feature
New
Federalism
Feature
Feature
Feature
Vocabulary
2. Define: backlash, silent majority, revenue sharing, Southern strategy.
Checking Facts
3. What issues concerned the people that Nixon
sought as supporters?
4. How did Nixon try to build a new coalition of
voters?
Attacks on Liberals
Critical Thinking
In his bid to capture the Wallace vote, Nixon
launched shrill attacks on his liberal opponents——the
press, the liberal Democrats, and the student protesters.
5. Evaluating Information Evaluate the pros and
cons of Nixon’s law-and-order campaign.
SECTION ONE
813
Geography: Impact on History
REGION
The Rise of the Sunbelt
Regions can be defined by many different criteria––climate, vegetation, geographic features, or industrial characteristics, for example. Since the 1970s a
new region has emerged with its own distinctive political and economic characteristics––the Sunbelt, the fastest growing area in the United States.
The Sunbelt
of training bases in the South.
Thousands of civilians followed
military personnel south to take advantage of the business opportunities the bases provided. Cities such
as San Diego, California; Mobile,
Alabama; and Norfolk, Virginia,
had huge increases in population. In
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana,
New Mexico, Arizona, and the
southern part of California.
This region includes 15 states,
each with a generally mild and
sunny climate, and extends from
Virginia on the East Coast to
Southern California in the West.
The states are Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Why the Region Grew
During World War II, the United States military established scores
E M E R G E N C E O F T H E S U N B E LT
50°N
N
CANADA
Wash.
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Maine
North
Dakota
Montana
Oregon
40°N
Idaho
Wyoming
Hawaii
0
250 mi.
Vt.
Minn.
South
Dakota
Nebraska
Pa.
Iowa
Calif.
20°N
Colorado
Kansas
Ohio
Ind.
Ill.
Utah
Mo.
W.
Va.
70°N
Oklahoma
New
Mexico
65°N
Alaska
S.C.
Ark.
SUNBELT
Miss.
Ala.
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Ga.
REGIONS
La.
30°N
Northeast
Texas
CANADA
Fla.
60°N
170°W
55°N
D.C.
N.C.
Tenn.
155°W
Arizona
Va.
N. J.
Del.
Md.
Ky.
0 250 km
160°W
R.I.
Conn.
Mich.
Nevada
22°N
40°N
40°N
0
160°W 0
400 mi.
400 km 140°W
120°W
0
300
Midwest
600 mi.
0
300
600 km
Albers Equal-Area projection
N.H.
Mass.
N.Y.
Wis.
South
MEXICO
110°W
100°W
Gulf of Mexico
90°W
West
80°W
Since the end of World War II, the American population has been shifting from the Northeast and Midwest to the Sunbelt.
What is the southernmost state in the Sunbelt?
814
GEOGRAPHY:
IMPACT ON HISTORY
© F. F O U R N I E R / W O O D F I N C A M P
the 1950s the testing and development of rockets, missiles, space vehicles, and military aircraft often
took place on or near military facilities and brought still more jobs
and people to the area.
The economic climate of the
late 1970s forced many changes
on businesses and individuals. New
government policies and a severe
drought created a crisis for American farmers, for example. Between
1979 and 1988, nearly 1 million jobs
on farms and in related businesses
disappeared. As a result, many people from farming regions were
forced to look for work elsewhere.
The recession of the late 1970s
and early 1980s deeply affected the
auto and steel industries of the
Northeast and Midwest. Factory
after factory in these states closed,
leaving unemployed workers little
choice but to leave the area.
States began to compete with
each other to lure new business to
their area. Offers of tax incentives
and the lenient labor laws in the
South and West drew companies to
the region. Some industries that
moved were new (such as the computer industry), but many others
were not.
There were other attractions to
the Sunbelt. Lower cost of living,
lower taxes, available energy
sources, and inexpensive land all
prompted business growth. Several large dams provided sources of
water and abundant, cheap electricity. New air and highway transportation networks also helped the
Sunbelt to grow.
Finally, air conditioning––no
longer a luxury affordable only to
Urban Growth Sun City businesses and neighborhoods spill into the Arizona
desert. Why have retirees moved to the Sunbelt?
the rich––made working in the Sunbelt’s stifling summer heat more
bearable and the region more attractive to potential employers.
The Attraction
of Prosperity
the Sunbelt states. Sun City, Arizona, is an example of an area
whose growth has been largely the
result of the interregional migration
of retirees.
Increased Political Power
On the heels of corporate moves
to the South and West came service,
entertainment, and retail industries.
As the population exploded, once
quiet residential communities began to look more like cities, with
malls, industrial parks, and large
housing developments replacing
open fields and wooded areas.
The warm climate and sandy
beaches along the Gulf of Mexico
and the southern Atlantic fueled
growth in the tourist industry.
Warm weather, planned retirement
communities, and the lower cost of
living also lured many retirees to
As the population has shifted
to the South and West, the political importance of the Sunbelt has
also increased. According to 1990
census reports, some of the Sunbelt
states have grown by as much as 20
percent since 1980. As a result,
Sunbelt states have gained 11 seats
(excluding California, which had a
total state gain of 7 seats) in the
House of Representatives. Northern and Midwestern states have lost
21 seats in the House during the
same period. Current Census Bureau estimates indicate that this
trend will continue into the 2000s.
Making the Geographic Connection
1. What have been some of the political consequences of the growth
of the Sunbelt region?
2. What kinds of businesses and
industries have moved to the
Sunbelt?
3. Region What has made the
Sunbelt so attractive to people and
companies since the end of World
War II?
GEOGRAPHY: IMPACT ON HISTORY
815
SECTION
2
Nixon Foreign Policy
J U LY 1 9 7 1 : K I S S I N G E R M A K E S T O P - S E C R E T C H I N A T R I P
© D E N N I S B R A C K / B L A C K S TA R
In the early-morning darkness,
States official to visit that country in
United States Security Advismore than 20 years. Now, after
er Henry Kissinger boarded a
months of careful diplomatic moves
Pakistani jet for a secret
and secret messages relayed by
flight into mainland China.
third parties, Kissinger was meeting
His mission, code-named Polo after
China’s leaders face-to-face.
Marco Polo, another trailblazing
Back in the United States,
China traveler, was to arrange a
Nixon and a few trusted aides waitpresidential visit to the People’s
ed anxiously for news from
Republic of China. His cover was a
Kissinger. On July 11, Kissinger
“stomach indisposition” he had supcabled his deputy at the White
posedly developed during a stopover
House, Alexander Haig, who then
in Pakistan. To help Kissinger’s plane
put a call through to Nixon’s home
evade Soviet and Indian radar, Chiin San Clemente, California.
nese navigators teamed with the
“What’s the message?” Nixon
Pakistani crew to guide the plane on
asked.
A Step Toward Détente
a special route over the Himalayas.
“Eureka,” Haig replied.
The secrecy of Kissinger’s trip was nearly
According to the plan, Kissinger
Four days later, on network telerevealed by a newspaper reporter.
would not contact the United States
vision, Nixon told the world of
until he returned to Pakistan; if sucKissinger’s mission. The news
cessful, he was simply to send the
amazed many in Nixon’s audience
code word Eureka.
because Republicans had adamantly opposed recogniKissinger’s trip to mainland China was in itself a mation of the People’s Republic of China and had barred the
jor breakthrough; he was the first high-level United
country’s admission to the United Nations.
Guide to Reading
816
Main Idea
Vocabulary
Read to Find Out . . .
Although Nixon angered
many Latin Americans by
intervening in their affairs, he
won widespread praise for his
efforts to reduce cold war
tensions and to promote
peace in the Middle East.
CHAPTER 24
détente
realpolitik
balance of power
liberation theology
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
how Nixon and Kissinger changed
United States relationships with the
Soviet Union and China.
why Nixon continued a United States
policy of intervention in Latin
American affairs.
why Nixon won the 1972 election.
Détente
A Shift in Foreign Policy
Although President Nixon’s policy in Vietnam provoked fierce criticism, he was widely hailed for a series
of bold moves in other parts of the world. Envisioning a
new world order, Nixon abandoned the cold war policy
of confrontation and initiated a policy of détente, an attempt to repair strained relations between the United
States and the Communist powers. In a dramatic reversal of nearly 25 years of cold war politics, Nixon sought
better relations with both China and the Soviet Union.
A New World View
Kissinger and Nixon promoted a foreign policy based
on a balance of power among nations. “It will be a safer
world and a better world,” the President declared in 1971,
“if we have a strong, healthy United States, Europe, Soviet Union, China, Japan——each balancing the other.”
Nixon and Kissinger believed that détente was the
key to this balance. Détente would limit Communist expansion and curb the nuclear arms race through negotiation rather than armed conflict.
Détente made sense economically, too. The United
States was not eager to pour billions of dollars into another regional conflict like Vietnam. In addition trade
with the Soviet Union and China would open up new
markets for American products.
Nixon was able to undertake this bold shift in foreign
policy in part because of his reputation as a cold warrior.
Elected to Congress in 1946 on an anti-Communist platform, he gained fame in the 1940s as a member of the
House Un-American Activities Committee. Certainly no
one could question Nixon’s
genuine commitment to anticommunism.
UPI/BETTMANN
The world in 1970 little resembled the world of the
1950s, when the cold war policy of containment was
forged. Five economic superpowers——the United States,
the Soviet Union, Japan,
China, and the European
Economic Community, a
coalition of the nations of
Kissinger:
Western Europe——had reThe Master Player
placed the 2 superpowers,
Kissinger and Nixon’s
the United States and the
shared love of secrecy and
Soviet Union. President
personal power also conNixon believed that ecotributed to Nixon’s success
nomic power was the key
in international relations. As
to political power and
national security adviser and
that these 5 superpowers
later as secretary of state,
would determine the politiKissinger reported directly
cal future.
to Nixon, devised policy
Nor was the Commuwith him, and often connist world united in 1970.
ducted secret negotiations
Tensions between the Soon his behalf. This working
viet Union and China had
style frequently excluded
erupted in the 1960s, resultother government officials
ing in armed clashes beand avoided public debate.
tween the two former allies
In dealing with China, howin 1969. By playing one
ever, Nixon and Kissinger’s
Communist power against
system of secrecy helped
the other, Nixon and Kissinthem achieve a foreign polger hoped to gain concesAn Official Review Premier Zhou Enlai and President
icy breakthrough.
sions from both.
Nixon inspect troops during Nixon’s 1972 visit to China.
Nixon and Kissinger
Why did the United States initiate a policy of détente?
The People’s
shared a belief in realpolitik,
Republic of China
practical politics. According
Since the Communist takeover of China in 1949, the
to this view, a nation should pursue policies and make alUnited States had refused to recognize the People’s Republic
liances based on its national interests rather than on any
of China, the most populous nation on the earth. Diploparticular view of the world. Thus, if improved relations
matic relations between the 2 nations had been cut off.
with China and the Soviet Union would benefit the
Instead the United States recognized the anti-Communist
United States, then the United States should set aside
Chinese government in exile on the island of Taiwan.
its bias against communism and pursue those relations.
SECTION TWO
817
The United States had treated the People’s Republic as an outlaw nation; it had cut off trade and vetoed
the country’s admission to the United Nations. To the
cold war policy makers, the People’s Republic was a “red
menace” threatening to gobble up its Asian neighbors.
By the time Nixon became President, however, each
side had good reasons for wanting to heal the rift. After
years of border disputes and the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia, China distrusted and feared the Soviet
Union. The United States hoped that recognition of
China would help end the war in Vietnam, drive a deeper wedge between the two Communist superpowers, and
pressure the Soviet Union into making greater negotiating concessions on limiting nuclear arms.
The winds of change began to blow in the fall of
1970 when Nixon confided to a Time magazine reporter
that he wanted to go to China. Then, in April 1971, a
ping-pong ball made headline news when the Chinese
hosted an American table tennis team in the first official
contact between the 2 nations in more than 2 decades.
Only 1 week later the United States announced the end
of the trade embargo against China.
In July 1971, Nixon sent Kissinger on a secret mission to Beijing. Soon afterward Nixon stunned the
world with the announcement that he would travel to
China to normalize relations between the 2 countries.
That fall, after the United States abandoned its opposition, China was admitted to the United Nations.
In February 1972, Nixon arrived in China for a weeklong visit. Accompanied by reporters and television camera crews, the President visited the Great Wall and met
with Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
Friendly gestures abounded. Chinese musicians played
“America the Beautiful,” and Nixon quoted lines from
Mao’s poetry.
The United States and China agreed to allow greater
scientific and cultural exchange and to resume trade.
Although formal diplomatic relations were not established until 1979, Nixon’s trip marked the first formal
contact with China in more than 25 years.
The Soviet Union
In a second dramatic foreign policy move, Nixon visited Moscow only three months after his trip to China.
The Soviets eagerly welcomed the thaw in cold war politics. They wanted to prevent a Chinese-American
alliance and to slow the costly arms race. They also
hoped to gain access to United States technology and
to buy badly needed American grain.
During his visit Nixon met with Soviet leader Leonid
Brezhnev and signed agreements on trade and technological exchange. Even more important, Nixon signed a
landmark arms agreement, the result of negotiations
known as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT).
The economic and military pacts were linked: the
United States promised to allow the Soviets to buy wheat
and corn and other consumer goods if the Soviets agreed
to make arms concessions.
The SALT Agreement
© J . P. L A F F O N T / S Y G M A
SALT made history with the openness of the
negotiations and the limits it placed on specific nuclear
missiles. It limited the number of missile defense systems
in each country to one system for the capital city and
one system for the main missile launching center. It
allowed the addition of certain weapons only if others
were dismantled. SALT had weaknesses: it did not
limit long-range bombers or missiles loaded with multiple independently targeted warheads; it did not prohibit
the development of new nuclear weapons systems. Even
so, by restricting the number of some nuclear weapons,
it eased tensions between the United States and the
Soviet Union and put a brake on the expensive and
perilous nuclear arms race. It also laid the groundwork
for the more substantive SALT II negotiations.
Middle East
Kissinger and Shuttle Diplomacy
Cold War Begins to Warm Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev
and President Nixon share a lighter moment during Nixon’s
trip to Moscow in 1972. Why was the Soviet Union anxious to
meet with the United States?
818
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
By 1973 Nixon foreign policy stood at a turning
point. Nixon and Kissinger’s major theories——realpolitik,
maintenance of an equilibrium of power among nations,
and détente——had worked well in relations with China
and the Soviet Union. Their foreign policy approach
was soon to be tested severely in the Middle East.
© ABBAS/MAGNUM PHOTOS
Occupied Golan Heights Israeli Defense Minister Moshe
Dayan looks out from an observation post in Syria. What
prompted the Yom Kippur War?
of the settlement, the United States promised massive
military aid to both parties.
Pleased by Kissinger’s negotiations and the United
States’s promises of aid, Egypt abandoned the Soviet Union
in favor of the United States. With Kissinger’s help, Arabs
and Israelis met to talk about long-term peace for the first
time. Kissinger also carefully staked out a more neutral
territory for the United States in Arab-Israeli affairs, thus
reducing the likelihood of future oil embargoes.
Nonetheless shuttle diplomacy had its costs. By shutting the Soviets and the Palestinians out of Middle East
negotiations, Nixon and Kissinger endangered détente
and encouraged the Soviet Union to arm radical Arab factions such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO). Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy also created suspicions among the negotiating parties that the United
States was playing one country against another.
Latin America Since 1945
The Region Undergoes Many Changes
The Yom Kippur War
Armed and advised by the Soviet Union, Egypt and
Syria attacked Israel on October 6, 1973, the Jewish holy
day of Yom Kippur. They were attempting to regain
territories lost to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Almost
immediately, Nixon and Kissinger saw this conflict as an
opportunity for the United States to assume a peacemaking role in the Middle East and thus gain an edge
over the Soviet Union in the region.
To make their plan work, Kissinger, now secretary
of state, tried to determine the war’s outcome by alternately withholding and granting supplies to Israel. The
stakes rose when the Arab oil-producing countries
stopped shipments to the United States to protest its aid
to Israel. Fuel prices skyrocketed and so did United
States inflation. Nixon and Kissinger now had an urgent
economic need to establish better relations with Arab
countries, even at the expense of Israel. When the Israelis
violated a cease-fire, Kissinger forced them to back down
by cutting off supplies. On October 26, a new cease-fire
took effect.
Searching for Lasting Peace
During the next two years, Kissinger shuttled back
and forth between Middle Eastern cities, trying to resolve the oil crisis and broker a lasting peace. Arab
nations ended the oil embargo in March 1974, and in
September 1975, Egypt and Israel signed a historic peace
agreement: Egypt officially recognized Israel for the first
time, and the Israelis gave up part of the Sinai Peninsula,
their first-ever withdrawal from occupied lands. As part
The years following World War II brought sweeping changes to Latin America. Economies grew rapidly, and democracy flourished. Yet by the 1970s, 2
shadows loomed over Latin America——deepening economic crises and the rise of military dictatorships.
Economic Growth
In the postwar prosperity of the 1950s, the rapidly
growing economies of North America and Western Europe clamored for Latin American exports such as oil,
minerals, coffee, bananas, and sugar. As the world economy grew, Latin America prospered.
Export income and loans helped fund Latin America’s own industrial development. In 1950 Latin America
produced just $11 billion worth of manufactured goods.
By 1974 that total had climbed to $66 billion.
Foreign investment mounted too. By the mid-1960s,
United States investment in Latin America reached
$9 billion, and in 1980 it topped $35 billion.
The Growing Debt
As industrial production grew, Latin American
nations began borrowing from banks in the United States
and Western Europe to finance their economic growth.
Bankers flocked to Latin America. Latin American countries sank even deeper in debt when oil prices rose in 1974
and 1979.
The ability of these borrowers to repay their loans,
however, depended on an expanding international market for products from Latin America and stable interest
rates. In the 1980s the demand for Latin American oil
SECTION TWO
819
UPI/BETTMANN
nomic change, such as land reform,
disturbed the upper classes, who
feared the loss of their wealth and
power. The elite turned to their traditional allies, the military, to halt the
reforms. From 1962 to 1964, democratic governments in 8 countries fell
to military dictatorships.
An Era of Change
Governments Topple
The failure of Latin American
democracies and the rise of repressive military governments led some
Latin Americans to choose more
radical means of bringing about
Government Target Archbishop Romero greets his parishoners after a Sunday mass
change. During the 1960s, left-wing
at the San Salvador Basilica. Why were left-leaning clergy often targets of government
revolutionary guerrilla movements
repression?
sprang up throughout Latin America. Revolutionaries were willing to
postpone democratic reforms such
fell when Western industrial nations suffered a recession.
as free elections and a free press until basic social reforms
As their export earnings declined, Latin American nahad been achieved.
tions were also hit by rising interest rates. The results
The Catholic Church, which served 80 percent of
were disastrous. The debt consumed most of Latin
the population, added its voice to those clamoring for reAmerica’s export earnings. Once eager to make loans,
form in Latin America. The church had long been an
bankers now closed their doors to the struggling debtors.
ally of the rich and powerful. In the 1960s, however,
One despairing manager of a Mexican oil company
thousands of young priests and nuns began to speak
lamented in September 1982, “Six months ago, there
out, asserting that the church must side with the poor
were so many bankers in [my office] you couldn’t walk
in the struggle for social justice. This doctrine, known
across the room. Now they don’t even answer my teleas liberation theology, led many religious leaders to
phone calls.”
call for Socialist reforms. As Mexican Bishop Sergio
Mendes declared in 1970, “Only socialism can give Latin
The Rise of Democracy
America a true development. . . . I believe that a socialThe victory of democracy over dictatorship during
ist system best conforms to Christian principles of true
World War II led many Latin Americans to demand
brotherhood, justice, and peace.”
democracy at home. A group of Brazilians opposed to
the dictator ruling their country in the 1940s declared,
A Troubled Era
“If we fight against fascism at the side of the United NaBy 1970 the military ruled most of Latin America.
tions so that liberty and democracy may be restored to
Only Costa Rica, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Colombia,
all people, certainly we are not asking too much in deand Venezuela enjoyed democracies. Chile and Uruguay
manding for ourselves such rights and guarantees.”
fell to dictators during the 1970s. Economic crises in the
In addition postwar prosperity was creating an
1970s and massive opposition to repression, however, led
emerging middle class that believed that its interests
to the fall of many military governments during the 1980s.
would be best served by democracy. By 1946 dictators
had been forced out of Peru, Cuba, El Salvador,
United States-Latin American Relations
Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. New poAfter World War II, the United States wanted demolitical parties sprouted, and women gained the right to
cratic governments and the free enterprise system to
vote. By 1959 only 4 military governments remained.
flourish in Latin America so that these nations would
The new democracies faced serious challenges——
be good allies and trading partners. It also wanted to
poverty, illiteracy, and hunger. Often their attempts at ecoprotect United States investments and to prevent the
820
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
ticed by the United States in Latin America for nearly
100 years. After World War II, intervention came to
mean anything from providing weapons and training
for Latin American armies to economic sanctions and
invasions.
spread of communism. On occasion these foreign
policy goals conflicted with each other and with the
aims of the Latin American countries involved.
Mexico in particular had a love-hate relationship
with the United States. It welcomed United States investments and wanted its northern neighbor to allow millions of Mexicans to cross the border to find work, yet
it fought to stay clear of United States-sponsored trade
agreements. Although the United States still offered
many advantages that Mexico depended on——jobs for migrant workers, large oil markets, technology, and investments——Mexico, along with the rest of Latin
America, was beginning to challenge the United States’s
domination of its economic development.
To break the American grip on their economies,
many Latin American countries wanted to create their
own industries rather than just supply raw materials and
cheap labor for United States businesses. Some reformminded politicians also wanted to break up large plantations and redistribute land to small farmers. Some
wanted to nationalize certain industries——to take them
from private owners and run them as national government businesses. The United States government joined
major landowners and businesspeople in opposing such
socialist reforms.
Allende Pushes for Change
A Policy of Intervention
To protect United States business interests and to
prevent leftist politicians from achieving successes in
Latin America, the United States government often
supported the region’s right-wing dictators. Interventionism, government interference in the political or
economic affairs of another country, had been pracMICHAEL MAUNEY/LIFE MAGAZINE © TIME INC.
In 1970 a Socialist named Salvador Allende ran for
the presidency of Chile, promising land reform and
nationalization of foreign industries. Although Nixon
and Kissinger discounted the importance of most of
South America, they saw Allende’s candidacy as a major threat to the United States. Both Nixon and Kissinger feared that a Socialist Chile would ally with Cuba
and the Soviet Union and perhaps start a Communist
“domino effect” in South America. An undercover campaign to defeat Allende thus began. Nixon authorized the
CIA to try to “fix” the election with bribes, propaganda,
and other “dirty tricks.” When Allende won, Nixon ordered the CIA to incite a military coup before Allende
actually took office. CIA operatives even conspired with
right-wing groups to assassinate Allende. Those tactics
also failed, but Nixon and Kissinger did not give up.
By now, with the CIA’s reputation on the line,
the secret war against Allende intensified. While
the United States cut off all aid to Chile, the CIA spent
millions of dollars financing antigovernment media
and military opposition. Finally in 1973 a military force
headed by General Augusto Pinochet seized the
government and killed Allende. Even though Pinochet’s
government abolished civil liberties, executed thousands,
and ended economic reforms, the United States quickly resumed trade and economic relations with Chile.
Congress later investigated the involvement of
the United States in the overthrow of Chile’s elected
government and condemned Nixon and Kissinger’s
maneuvers against Allende. This episode also weakened
détente, because it was a clear violation of an earlier
United States-Soviet pledge to use negotiations rather
than force in dealing with regional crises.
The Election of 1972
A Republican Triumph
Physician Turned Politician Salvador Allende tried to build a
socialist society within a parliamentary democracy. Why did
Nixon and Kissinger fear Allende’s presidency?
Nixon’s trips to China and the Soviet Union boosted
his popularity at home. In the summer of 1971, following
the invasion of Laos, only 31 percent of the American
public supported Nixon’s policies. By the summer of
1972, however, after his well-publicized visits abroad, his
approval rating soared to nearly 62 percent. As Election
Day neared, a Republican victory seemed certain.
SECTION TWO
821
The Republican Campaign
Presidential Election, 1972
Democratic candidate
George McGovern
Republican candidate
Richard Nixon
Popular
Votes
Electoral
Votes
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Percent
A Sweeping Victory Nixon captured approximately 47 million votes and McGovern nearly 30 million. What percentage
of the electoral vote did Nixon obtain?
The Divided Democrats
The Democratic party was hopelessly split. Four
major candidates competed for the presidential nomination: former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Maine
Senator Edmund Muskie, South Dakota Senator George
McGovern, and former governor of Alabama George
Wallace.
Humphrey, who had lost to Nixon in 1968, was unable to muster support for a rematch. The moderate
Muskie started strong, but the liberal McGovern soon
overtook him. McGovern’s opposition to the Vietnam
War gave voters a clear alternative to Nixon’s war
policies.
Wallace posed the greatest threat to Nixon. Wallace
had galvanized many conservative voters with his attacks
on busing, criminals, protesters, and “pointy-headed intellectuals.” As a Democratic nominee or a third-party
candidate, Wallace could pull these voters away from
Nixon. Wallace won a string of Southern primaries and
came in a close second in some Northern states. His
campaign was cut short in May 1972 by the bullet of a
would-be assassin. The attack left Wallace paralyzed for
life and forced him to withdraw from the campaign.
An early opponent of the Vietnam War and a social
reformer, McGovern won a number of key primaries.
Recent reforms in Democratic party rules had increased
the number of women, minority group members, and
young persons among the delegates at the convention,
assuring McGovern’s nomination. McGovern was not a
middle-of-the-road candidate. He called for a $30 billion
cut in defense spending, immediate withdrawal from
Vietnam, and pardons for Vietnam draft resisters.
Many traditional Democratic supporters were unhappy with the party’s drift to the left. Denied a seat at
the convention, AFL-CIO President George Meany
ordered union members——traditionally staunch Democrats——to withhold support from McGovern.
822
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
Nixon’s campaign suffered no setbacks. His trips
to China and the Soviet Union and his withdrawal of
troops from Vietnam helped silence his foreign policy
critics. An upturn in the economy further bolstered his
popularity. He easily won over voters who had previously
supported Wallace with promises to fight busing and end
“the age of permissiveness.”
Nixon also capitalized on the Democrats’ disarray
and their choice of the liberal McGovern. He called
them the party of “hooligans, hippies, and radical liberals.” Many conservative Democrats agreed and voted
Republican on Election Day.
Nixon won the 1972 election by a landslide, carrying every state but Massachusetts. He won 60.8 percent
of the popular vote and 520 of the 537 electoral votes.
The Southern strategy had paid off.
Yet a shadow loomed over Nixon’s victory. He had
been accused of authorizing a “dirty tricks” campaign
against the Democrats. Shortly before the election, burglars hired by the Committee to Re-Elect the President
had been caught breaking into Democratic national
headquarters in Washington. Nixon and his aides denied
any involvement, and at first the public believed them.
As Nixon began his second term, however, the tangled
story behind the burglary began to unravel.
Section Assessment
Main Idea
1. Use a chart like this one to show what you consider to be triumphs and shortcomings of
Nixon’s foreign policy.
Nixon’s Foreign Policy
Shortcomings
Triumphs
Vocabulary
2. Define: détente, realpolitik, balance of power,
liberation theology.
Checking Facts
3. Why were both the Soviet Union and China
receptive to visits by President Nixon?
4. Why was Nixon so popular in 1972?
Critical Thinking
5. Analyzing Information Give several examples
of how the relationship between the United
States and Latin America has changed since
1945.
Social Studies Skill
INTERPRETING POLITICAL CARTOONS
Learning the Skill
For more than 200 years, American newspapers and
magazines have published political cartoons. Reading
political cartoons from the past can help you appreciate
how people of other times felt about important issues.
Interpreting current political cartoons can increase your
awareness of differing views on today’s important
issues.
A cartoon is meant to entertain, usually by using a play
on words or by creating amusing images. A political cartoon also makes a comment on a current political issue
by using caricatures, symbols, and analogies.
To help you interpret a political cartoon, study the use
of each of the visual techniques described below. Then
combine the individual messages to determine what impression the cartoonist wants to leave with the reader.
Please see the print version
of this page to view missing
text or images. Permission
for digital use was denied.
Caricature
A caricature is an exaggerated picture. By deliberately
exaggerating unusual or distinctive features of a wellknown subject, the cartoonist produces a comic image
and also helps the reader to recognize the subject. The
cartoon on this page, for example, exaggerates two of
President Nixon’s most recognizable facial features—
the size of his nose and the dark circles around his eyes.
Symbol
A symbol is an idea, image, or object that stands for
or suggests something else. Some symbols are widely
used and need no explanation. For example, a dove as
a symbol of peace is recognized almost anywhere. In
the cartoon on this page, the person labeled Congress
symbolizes the father figure in the story of George
Washington and the cherry tree. The axe behind Nixon’s
back is a symbol of his guilt. The cartoonist in this case
expects the reader to be familiar with the cherry tree
story and to recognize these symbols.
gress what the axe was to George Washington’s father—
proof of his involvement. In this unfavorable comparison,
Nixon does not admit his offense as young Washington
did. Instead he uses his privilege as the nation’s Chief Executive to try to hide the evidence of his actions.
Practicing the Skill
1. Look at the political cartoon on page 825 of
your textbook. What does the crown in the cartoon represent?
2. What feature of John Ehrlichman is exaggerated in this cartoon?
3. Why do you think the cartoonist chose this
setting for the drawing?
4. What is the message shown by having Nixon
with his hand in the mouth of Arthur Burns?
5. What does it mean that Kissinger and
Ehrlichman also have headwear?
Analogy
An analogy compares two related things or ideas by
using one as a reference for illustrating the other. For example, an analogy might be drawn between the benefits of walking and the benefits of reading, as follows:
reading is to the mind as walking is to the body.
In this cartoon, evidence of President Nixon’s actions
is compared to George Washington’s axe. The analogy
is that the evidence in the Watergate affair was to Con-
Applying the Skill
Find a cartoon in a newspaper or magazine. Write
a brief summary of the cartoon’s message.
The Glencoe Skillbuilder Interactive
Workbook, Level 2 CD-ROM provides
more practice in key social studies skills.
SOCIAL STUDIES SKILL
823
SECTION
3
The Watergate Crisis
J U N E 1 7 , 1 9 7 2 : B U R G L A R S B R E A K I N T O D E M O C R AT I C PA RT Y H E A D Q UA RT E R S
© D E N N I S B R A C K / B L A C K S TA R
Shortly after midnight on
The police found more
June 17, 1972, security guard
taped doors on the building’s
Frank Wills was making his
sixth floor, headquarters of the
rounds of the Watergate
Democratic National Commitbuilding, a vast office-aparttee (DNC). They cautiously bement complex in Washinggan to search the DNC offices
ton, D.C. As he checked the
one by one.
doors connecting the building to
Suddenly, behind a glass and
an underground parking garage,
wood partition, one of the police
the 24-year-old Wills noticed
officers spotted an arm. “Hold
something odd. The locks on the
it!” he shouted. “Come out!” A
doors had been taped to keep
moment later, not 2 but 10 hands
them from locking. “I took the
shot up. Five men dressed in
tape off, but I didn’t think anybusiness suits emerged. On the
thing of it,” he said later. “I
floor lay lock picks, 40 rolls of
A Turn in the Presidency
thought maybe the building enfilm, 2 cameras, 2 “bugs”——tiny
The Watergate burglary was one of several
gineer had done it.” Wills finished
electronic devices for listening——
“dirty tricks” in a larger plan called Gemstone.
his rounds and then strolled
and $1,754 in cash.
across the street to a diner for a
When police returned the
cheeseburger, french fries, and a
next day, they found more elecshake.
tronic equipment, several suitcases, and $3,566.58 in
An hour later Wills was back at work. Once again
cash. They also found a tiny black address book. In it,
he checked the garage doors. They had been retaped!
next to the name Howard Hunt, were a telephone numThis time Wills called the police.
ber and the phrase: W. House.
Guide to Reading
824
Main Idea
Vocabulary
Read to Find Out . . .
The Watergate scandal challenged, and ultimately proved,
the stability of the nation’s
constitutional government,
particularly its system of
checks and balances.
CHAPTER 24
impeachment
pardon
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
how President Nixon abused the
powers of his office.
how a free press and the system
of checks and balances helped
preserve the integrity of the federal
government.
It would take 22 months and the combined efforts
of Congress, the press, and the courts to bring the Watergate story to light. What emerged was not just the
story of a burglary but a tale of crimes committed by
the man sworn to uphold the Constitution and the
nation’s laws——the President of the United States.
He greatly admired former Presidents Woodrow Wilson
and Teddy Roosevelt.
Yet Nixon had a darker side. At times mean-spirited
and suspicious, he made his reputation in the late 1940s
by hounding alleged Communists in the United States
government. This was the Nixon who thrived on the
power of the imperial presidency and whom his critics
dubbed King Richard.
The Nixon White House
The Inner Circle
An Imperial Presidency
The Enemies List
By surrounding himself with aides who almost always agreed with him, Nixon created his own house of
mirrors, where all opinions reflected his own. Protected
from criticism, Nixon grew increasingly isolated.
© O L I P H A N T. R E P R I N T E D W I T H P E R M I S S I O N O F U N I V E R S A L P R E S S S Y N D I C AT E
When Richard Nixon first took office in 1969,
the White House was already the seat of considerable
power. Since the outbreak of World War II, United States
Presidents had gradually assumed powers in foreign
policy making that the Constitution seemed to reserve
for Congress. During the war President Roosevelt had,
in effect, made treaties with foreign nations without the
advice or consent of the Senate. Both Truman and Johnson had sent troops into combat without a congressional declaration of war. When national security was at
stake, they argued, the President had to be able to
respond quickly——even if that meant Congress was not
consulted.
Nixon, however, outdid his predecessors in ignoring
constitutional checks on presidential powers. He
impounded funds for federal programs he opposed,
defying the constitutional mandate that Congress control spending. He ordered
United States troops to
invade Cambodia without
seeking congressional approval. As the executive
branch flexed its muscles, the
legislative branch weakened,
and the balance of powers
set forth in the Constitution
tipped in favor of a more
powerful presidency. By the
1970s the constitutional presidency had become what
some critics called the imperial presidency.
Nixon surrounded himself with a small group of
trusted and loyal aides. At the head of what some critics
called the palace guard stood Harry Robins “H. R.” Haldeman, the President’s chief of staff, and John Ehrlichman.
Haldeman was Nixon’s closest aide. A former advertising executive, Haldeman first worked for Nixon in
1956 when Nixon was campaigning for Vice President.
The uncomplaining Haldeman described his role: “I get
done what he wants done, and I take the heat for it.”
Ehrlichman, a former Seattle lawyer, handled domestic
policies. Together with Henry Kissinger, Haldeman and
Ehrlichman formed an inner circle that wielded more
power than the President’s cabinet.
President Nixon
Richard Nixon reached
the White House after nearly 25 years in politics. A
skilled lawyer and a shrewd
politician, Nixon loved public
life and hoped to be remembered as a great statesman.
All the President’s Men This cartoon shows how those who wanted to be heard by the President had to press hard to do so. His most powerful assistants are positioned closest to him.
Whom does Nixon seem most willing to listen to here?
SECTION THREE
825
One Nixon aide recalled: “You were either for us or
against us, and if you were against us we were against
you.” In 1971 Nixon ordered his special counsel, Chuck
Colson, to put together an enemies list. Colson, who described himself as a “flag-waving . . . anti-press, anti-liberal, Nixon fanatic,” eagerly set about his task.
Colson drew up a list of more than 200 individuals
and 18 organizations that the administration regarded
as enemies. The list included many notable liberal Americans. Among them were politicians such as Senators Edward Kennedy and George McGovern, Representatives
Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm, and the entire African
American leadership of the House; college presidents,
such as Kingman Brewster of Yale University; Hollywood
stars, such as Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Jane
Fonda; and 57 members of the media.
Once the list was complete, Nixon asked the FBI to
spy on these individuals and try to discredit them. He
also ordered the IRS to harass them with tax audits.
The Huston Plan
A concern that the antiwar movement might undo
him as it had toppled Johnson in 1968 fed Nixon’s fears.
The massive public outcry following the announcement
of the Cambodian invasion in April 1970 had shaken the
President. He believed he had to silence his critics or face
defeat at the polls in 1972.
In June 1970, White House aide Tom Huston submitted a plan for a secret police operation to combat the
antiwar movement. The Huston plan would expand and
unify the work of the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The entire operation would be run out of the White House. To
defend what the White House considered to be national
security, agents would infiltrate antiwar groups, open people’s mail, and tap telephones. They would break into
homes and offices in search of information that could be
used to discredit or even blackmail Nixon’s critics.
Although Huston admitted that much of the plan
was illegal and would violate the rights of United States
citizens, President Nixon approved it. FBI Director
J. Edgar Hoover, however, feared that the plan would reduce the FBI’s power and blocked it.
CREEP
As the 1972 presidential election neared, Nixon’s
worries mounted. The Republican party had failed to
regain control of either the House or the Senate in the
congressional elections of 1970. Past campaign losses, to
John F. Kennedy for President in 1960 and to Pat Brown
for governor of California in 1962, haunted Nixon. He
wanted 4 more years in the White House.
In early 1971, Nixon looked like a loser. A poll in February showed Democratic presidential hopeful Edmund
826
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
Muskie out in front of Nixon, 43 to 40 percent. By March
Muskie was ahead 44 to 39 percent, and by May he led
Nixon by a still greater margin at 47 to 39 percent.
Taking no chances with his reelection campaign, the
President put his trusted friend John Mitchell in charge.
In March 1971, Mitchell resigned as attorney general and
set up the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).
The burly, pipe-smoking Mitchell soon launched a massive illegal fund-raising campaign. Of the nearly $60 million collected, more than $350,000 was squirreled away
in a special fund to pay for “dirty tricks” operations
against Nixon’s Democratic foes.
The Plumbers
Nixon feared that the press might expose his illegal
campaign activities. Those fears deepened that summer
when the New York Times published the “Pentagon
Papers.” Although the papers dealt with Vietnam policy
before the Nixon administration, Nixon feared their publication would lead to leaks of classified documents damaging to his administration. To prevent such a disaster,
CREEP created a special investigations unit, nicknamed
“the plumbers,” to stop security leaks.
The plumbers’ first target was Daniel Ellsberg, the
Defense Department analyst who had leaked the
Pentagon Papers to the press. In an attempt to uncover
embarrassing details about Ellsberg’s personal life, the
plumbers broke into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.
They found nothing they could use against Ellsberg.
Then, in January 1972, CREEP aide G. Gordon
Liddy came up with a daring plan. A team of plumbers
would break into Democratic National Committee headquarters, copy documents, and wiretap the phones. By doing so the White House could keep tabs on Democratic
election strategies. The plan, okayed by John Mitchell, was
set in motion on the morning of June 17, 1972, at the
Democratic party offices in the Watergate complex.
Unraveling Watergate
The Press, the Courts, and Congress at Work
Later, on the morning of June 17, Washington Post
reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein got a call
about the Watergate break-in. Woodward, a 29-year-old
Yale graduate, and Bernstein, a 28-year-old college
dropout, were an unlikely team. Inexperienced but
ambitious, the 2 young reporters worked tirelessly to
uncover the entire story.
Their investigations soon revealed that two of
the Watergate conspirators——G. Gordon Liddy and
E. Howard Hunt——were employees of CREEP. They also
learned that the burglars had been paid from a CREEP
fund the White House staff controlled. The deeper the
two reporters dug, the more evidence they found that the
Watergate break-in was one of many illegal activities
planned and paid for by the President’s advisers.
Eager to put a lid on the investigation, Nixon held
a press conference that August. He assured the public
that White House counsel John Dean had conducted an
investigation of the incident and found that “no one on
the White House staff was involved in this very bizarre
incident.” At the same time Nixon secretly authorized
the payment of more than $460,000 in CREEP funds to
keep the Watergate burglars quiet about White House
involvement.
Woodward and Bernstein kept digging. In a frontpage story on October 10, the 2 reporters pulled
together the evidence they had unearthed that
summer.
BI agents have established that the Watergate
bugging incident stemmed from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted
on behalf of President Nixon’s re-election and
directed by officials of the White House and the
Committee for the Re-election of the President.
F
—Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
Washington Post, October 10, 1972
THE WATERGATE SCANDAL
As individuals one by one decided on a course of action, the truth concerning the
Watergate scandal began to reveal itself. The national media followed and sustained the
drama from the beginning of the scandal to its historical conclusion.
T H E S E N AT O R
THE JUDGE
© THE WASHINGTON POST
Mike Mansfield
Chief Judge
U.S. District Court
Senate Majority
Leader
He thrust Watergate
into the midst of the
Senate Select Committee proceedings by
reading McCord’s letter
publicly.
In order to maintain
public confidence in the
political process, he
urged the Senate to
examine the recent
campaign and how it
was waged.
THE PRESIDENT
THE AIDE
John Dean
Alexander Butterfield
White House Counsel
White House Aide
While still working at the
White House, he created
a legal safety net for
himself before giving his
Senate testimony.
Only when threatened
with arrest by the Senate sergeant-at-arms
did he testify publicly
about the existence of
the White House taping
system.
President Nixon resisted all efforts to reveal
information to Congress or the courts about his
administration and his involvement in Watergate.
Only upon the collapse of his political base did
Nixon offer his resignation.
© THE WASHINGTON POST
The media
The media
investigated
leads and verified
leaks.
© THE WASHINGTON POST
THE COUNSEL
uncovered the link
between the White
House and the
Watergate break-in.
© THE WASHINGTON POST
The media
profiled the men
in the Watergate
spotlight.
John J. Sirica
THE SUPREME COURT
The media
THE PROSECUTOR
Warren Burger
Archibald Cox
Chief Justice
The Supreme Court up-
Special Prosecutor
kept the public
informed about the
proceedings.
He rejected the White
House offer of tape
summaries and limited
access to further evidence believing it
would compromise his
investigation.
held the lower courts’
rulings about the tapes
and reaffirmed that the
Court, not the executive branch, had the
power to define the
law.
© THE WASHINGTON POST
© THE WASHINGTON POST
© THE WASHINGTON POST
The truth about Watergate emerged as a result of the investigatory activities of the courts, Congress, and the media. Why did
Senator Mansfield assemble a Senate committee to investigate the 1972 presidential election?
SECTION THREE
827
It was sensational news. The White House fought
back, calling the Post’s story “a senseless pack of lies” put
together by the liberal paper to discredit the administration. As the 1972 election neared, Nixon worked to
bury the Watergate story.
For a time the President’s strategy seemed to work.
Few other journalists picked up the story. Just before
the 1972 election, polls showed that only 48 percent
of Americans had even heard of Watergate.
The Watergate Trial
The Watergate story might have remained just a
bizarre incident, but early in 1973, shortly after Nixon
began his second term, the Watergate burglars went on
trial before federal judge John J. Sirica. Nicknamed Maximum John because of his reputation for handing out long
prison terms, Sirica was a no-nonsense judge who warned
the Watergate defendants, “Don’t pull any punches——you
give me straight answers.” Angered by the Watergate
scandal, Sirica was determined to use his courtroom to
search for the real story behind the Watergate break-in.
Afraid of a lengthy prison sentence, one of the
Watergate burglars, James W. McCord, agreed to cooperate. In a letter to Judge Sirica, McCord alleged that
White House officials had lied about their involvement in
the affair and had pressured the defendants “to plead guilty
and remain silent.” McCord’s letter blew the lid off the case.
The Senate Hearings
While Judge Sirica pursued the case in a Washington courtroom, the Senate began its own investigation
of Watergate. From May to November in 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Practices
heard testimony from a parade of White House officials.
Sam J. Ervin, the 76-year-old senator from North
Carolina, chaired the committee. Ervin was a Harvard
Law School graduate who had earned the respect of his
colleagues during his 18-year Senate career.
Ervin was known to be a staunch defender of First
Amendment rights. He called the Constitution “the finest
thing to come out of the mind of man.” Ervin steered
the hearings with a commanding wit and down-to-earth
common sense.
On April 30, 1973, Nixon made another attempt to
shield the White House from the gathering storm by
announcing the resignations of Dean, Haldeman, and
Ehrlichman. All 3 men had been involved in Watergate.
Speaking on television, the President denied any attempt
at a cover-up and vowed: “There can be no whitewash
at the White House.” Polls, however, showed that half
of those watching believed the President had taken part
in a cover-up.
Under pressure from Congress and the public, Nixon
ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to appoint a
special prosecutor to investigate Watergate. Richardson
chose Harvard law professor Archibald Cox and promised
the Senate that Cox would have complete independence
from the White House and broad powers of investigation.
Public interest in the case grew that summer as the
Senate committee began televised hearings. Each day
millions of Americans watched——fascinated——as the
story unfolded.
The most damaging testimony came from John
Dean, the White House counsel. Dean testified for nearly
30 hours. He claimed that there had been a cover-up and
charged that the President himself had directed it.
Then, in July, another bombshell exploded. White
House aide Alexander Butterfield told the Senate
CO
UR
TE
SY
TH
E
WA
SH
IN
GT
ON
PO
ST
Headline News By the spring of 1973, Watergate was big news, and the byline of Woodward and Bernstein was
familiar to readers following the story. What event brought the Watergate burglary back into the news in 1973?
828
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
UPI/BETTMANN
© F R E D W A R D / B L A C K S TA R
UPI/BETTMANN
UPI/BETTMANN
The Constitution at Work The Watergate committee, above, was chaired by Sam J. Ervin, shown at
the top right. Among those questioned were H. R. Haldeman, second photo right, John Ehrlichman,
third photo right, and John Mitchell, bottom right. In what branch of government did Ervin serve?
The Tapes
Both the Senate committee and Special Prosecutor
Cox called on Nixon to surrender tapes of conversations
that might pertain to the Watergate break-in. Nixon
refused and claimed executive privilege, insisting that the
release of the tapes would endanger national security.
Cox and Ervin persisted. Cox declared, “There is no
exception for the president from the guiding principle
that the public, in the pursuit of justice, has a right to
every man’s evidence.” He sought a court order to force
Nixon to hand over the tapes.
Nixon again tried to shift attention away from the
scandal. On August 15 he urged Americans to put
Watergate behind them. He felt that after 12 weeks and
2 million words of televised testimony, it was time to get
on with the “urgent business
of our nation.” Few Americans agreed.
Finally Nixon ordered
Attorney General Richardson
to fire Cox. Richardson, remembering his promise to the
Senate, refused and resigned.
When Richardson resigned,
Nixon ordered the deputy
attorney general, William
Ruckelshaus, to fire Cox.
Ruckelshaus refused and was
himself fired. Finally Solicitor
General Robert Bork fired Cox. Public outcry over what
came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre forced
Nixon to appoint another special prosecutor, attorney
Leon Jaworski. Jaworski renewed the demand for the
tapes. Nixon balked, and Jaworski took the case to court.
The crisis was deepening. Already nearly 50 Nixon
administration officials, including Mitchell, Haldeman,
and Ehrlichman, faced criminal charges.
That fall Nixon’s troubles multiplied. In October
1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew pleaded no contest
to charges of income tax evasion and accepting bribes
while governor of Maryland and resigned. Nixon nominated Gerald R. Ford, a popular, conservative member
SECTION THREE
829
UPI/BETTMANN
committee that early in 1971 Nixon had installed a tape
recording system in the White House. The news that the
President had bugged his own office was electrifying.
Here was proof of Nixon’s guilt or innocence.
By August the hearings were the top-rated daytime
television show. Democrat Sam Ervin became a national hero as he grilled Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and
other White House figures about Watergate. Republican
Senator Howard Baker asked each witness the question
to which all Americans wanted the answer: “What did
the President know and when did he know it?”
W AT E R G AT E C H R O N O L O G Y, 1 9 7 2 – 1 9 7 4
OCTOBER 1973
House Judiciary
Committee launches
impeachment inquiry.
➤
M AY 1 9 7 3
Senate hearings
begin.
of Congress from Michigan, to fill the post. Congress
quickly confirmed the nomination.
Then, in December, Nixon’s own finances came under fire. Federal investigators reported that in 1970 and
1971 the President had paid only about $800 a year in
federal taxes on an annual salary of $200,000. Since 1969
he had paid no state income tax even though he was still
a legal resident of California.
Pressure for the tapes was also mounting. In April
1974, the President released edited transcripts of some
of the tapes in question. Although his aides had cut the
most incriminating comments, the profanity, pettiness,
and ethnic insults that peppered the President’s conversations shocked many people.
Even more revealing was what was missing from the
tapes. Gaps in the tapes indicated the President was not
telling the public the whole truth. When Nixon again
refused to release the unedited tapes, Jaworski took the
case to the Supreme Court. On July 24, in United States
v. Nixon, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that
President Nixon had to release the tapes.
1975
➤
1974
➤
➤
➤
1973
N OV E M B E R 1 9 7 2
Nixon reelected.
AU G U S T 1 9 7 4
Nixon releases
tapes and resigns.
➤
➤
➤
➤
➤
1972
AU G U S T 1 9 7 2 Nixon
denies involvement.
J U N E 1 9 7 3 John
Dean implicates
Nixon in cover-up.
J A N UA RY 1 9 7 3
McCord alleges White
House involvement.
J U N E 1 9 7 2 Watergate
break-in is reported.
J U LY 1 9 7 3 Butterfield
testifies conversations
were taped. Nixon refuses
to release tapes.
J U LY 1 9 7 4 Supreme
Court orders surrender of
tapes. House committee
recommends impeachment.
IRS to harass critics; and defying congressional authority by refusing to turn over the tapes. The articles of
impeachment would now go to the House of Representatives for a vote.
Nixon was trapped. On August 5, he handed over
the tapes, confessing that they were “at variance with
some of my earlier statements.” The tapes revealed that
just days after the Watergate break-in, the President had
ordered the CIA to halt the FBI investigation of the
case: “Don’t go any further into this case, period.”
Impeachment charges seemed certain.
The Final Days
For three days Nixon paced, brooded, and conferred
with his few remaining friends in Congress. No matter
how he counted the votes in the House and Senate, they
added up to certain impeachment and probable conviction in the Senate.
By Wednesday, August 7, key Republican leaders had
joined the chorus demanding the President’s resignation.
Nixon made his decision.That evening Nixon met with
The Move for Impeachment
830
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
Gallup Poll of Nixon’s Popularity
Population Approval (percent)
Also in July the House Judiciary Committee began to
draft articles of impeachment, or charges of misconduct,
against the President. The impeachment process allows
Congress to check the power of officials in the executive
and judicial branches. Impeachable offenses include criminal activity, but are not limited to acts that are illegal.
Under the Constitution the House of Representatives
determines whether impeachment charges are justified. If
so, the Senate then serves as the jury for the trial. Only one
President, Andrew Johnson, had ever been impeached.
On July 30, following several days of televised debate,
the House committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Nixon on 3 counts: obstructing justice by trying to cover up the role of the White
House in the Watergate burglary; violating the rights of
United States citizens by using the FBI, the CIA, and the
100 First Term
Second Term
Laos invasion
80
Vietnam accords
Watergate
60
Release of
transcripts
40
China trip
20
Inflation
0
1970
1971
1972
1973
Release of tapes
and resignation
1974
1975
Year
With changing events, Nixon’s popularity rose and fell like a
roller coaster. What was Nixon’s approval rating when he
resigned?
DOONSBURY © G.B. TRUDEAU. REPRINTED WITH
P E R M I S S I O N B Y U N I V E R S A L P R E S S S Y N D I C AT E
You Be the Judge In their work, cartoonists made use of the personalities, attitudes, and actions of those involved in the Watergate scandal. What kind of attitude about cover-ups and lies is suggested by the White House dialogue in this cartoon?
a group of 46 loyal congressional leaders. In a long, rambling speech, he thanked them for their years of support.
Twenty minutes later he would address the nation——the
first American President ever to resign from office.
The following day Nixon and his family flew back
to California, and Gerald Ford was sworn in as President.
President Ford declared, “Our long national nightmare
is over.” A President had fallen, but the American political system had survived.
The Aftermath
and judicial branches used their powers to rein in the
executive branch. Congress investigated the charges, and
the independent judiciary forced the President to release
evidence. Eventually 31 Nixon officials were convicted and
went to prison for Watergate-related offenses.
At the same time, Watergate was deeply disquieting. The nation’s leaders had committed serious crimes.
Then the new President had pardoned the most important offender. Had a deal been made? How could Americans continue to trust their government? Coming on the
heels of the war in Vietnam, Watergate further undermined the nation’s self-confidence.
A Pardon, New Laws, and Continuing Doubts
A month later President Ford pardoned, or excused,
Nixon for any crimes he had committed or might have committed while in the White House. Many Americans felt
Nixon had escaped justice. Others, however, believed it
was time to put Watergate to rest and to look to the future.
To counter the trend toward greater presidential
power and curb future abuses, Congress enacted a series of laws. The War Powers Act of 1973 required the
President to consult with Congress before sending American troops into prolonged action. In 1974 Congress
passed the Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control Act, which prohibited the impounding of federal money by the President.
Also in 1974 Congress strengthened the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1972, setting limits on campaign contributions. Finally Congress extended the Freedom of Information Act by passing the Privacy Act,
allowing citizens to have access to the files that the government may have gathered on them.
The Nixon White House had threatened the foundation of American democracy——constitutional law. Yet,
as many pointed out, the system worked. The legislative
Section Assessment
Main Idea
1. Use a diagram like this one to show events leading to Nixon’s resignation.
Event
Event
Resignation
Event
Event
Vocabulary
2. Define: impeachment, pardon.
Checking Facts
3. Identify examples of Nixon’s abuse of power.
4. What laws did Congress pass after Watergate to
curb abuses of presidential power?
Critical Thinking
5. Drawing Conclusions What were some of the
consequences of Ford’s decision to pardon
Nixon?
SECTION THREE
831
Turning Point
The Attempted
Impeachment of Nixon
SUMMER 1974
The Case
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832
CASE STUDY
The impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon in 1974 revolved around 4 words
in the United States Constitution——“high Crimes
and Misdemeanors.” Article II, Section 4, grants
Congress the power of impeachment:
he President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed
from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction
of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.
T
The Constitution, however, does not define
“high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” In the summer
of 1974, the members of the Ninety-third Congress
faced the difficult task of deciding for themselves
what that definition was.
These four words served as the constitutional
battleground for the impeachment case against
Nixon. This battle would involve all three branches
of government, as well as the “fourth estate”——the
press. It would challenge the fundamental political
will of the American people and their leaders——and
put the Constitution to one of its greatest tests.
The Background
In late July 1974, more than 2 years after the
Watergate break-in, the House Judiciary Committee voted for 3 articles of impeachment against
President Richard Nixon based on his actions in the
Watergate affair:
• Article I——that the President “prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice” (obstruction of justice)——passed 27 to 11.
OS
ORLD PHOT
AP/WIDE W
AN
“. . . My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is
complete, it is total, and
I am not going to sit here
and be an idle spectator
to the diminution of the
Constitution. . . . The
framers confided in the
Constitution the power if
need be to remove . . . a
President swollen with
power and grown tyrannical.”
ETTM
Peter Rodino, chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee (HJC)
UPI/B
“I have revered all
Presidents and I have
searched within my heart
and my conscience and
searched out the facts,
and when I test the facts
I find that the President
of the United States . . .
must be found wanting.”
“For those who are
looking for the smoking
pistol, I am just afraid
they are not going
to find it, because
the room is too full
of smoke.”
/ B L A C K S TA R
© DENNIS BRACK
Barbara Jordan, Democrat from
Texas, member of the HJC
“It’s a . . . weak circumstantial case. . . . The
committee has avoided
any kind of standard on
what is an impeachable
offense.”
Charles Wiggins, Republican from
California, member of the HJC
TTMAN
Hamilton Fish, Republican from
New York, member of the HJC
UPI/BE
• Article II——that the President “repeatedly engaged
in conduct violating the constitutional rights of
citizens. . . .” (abuse of presidential powers)——
passed 28 to 10.
• Article III——that the President “failed without lawful cause or excuse to produce papers and things
as directed by duly authorized subpoenas. . . .”
(contempt of Congress)——passed 21 to 17.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Peter W. Rodino, Jr., a
Democrat from New Jersey, hoped to bring these
articles before a full vote of the House, the next step
in the impeachment process, on August 19. If the
House voted for any one of these articles, Nixon
would be brought to trial before the Senate sometime that fall. Lastly, if the Senate convicted Nixon,
he would be removed from office.
Charting a New Course History provided little guidance for members of the Ninety-third Congress as they moved through the process. Before
1974 the House had voted to impeach only 13 officials, including 1 President, Andrew Johnson, in
1868. To many in Congress, however, the evidence
against Nixon seemed overwhelming, and there was
no need to consider historical precedent. In addition,
the Senate Watergate Committee, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski and his staff, and the press all
compiled their own evidence. Representative Jack
Brooks of Texas, a Democratic member of the
House Judiciary Committee, listed Nixon’s offenses:
“The cover-up of crimes, obstructing the prosecution of criminals, surreptitious entries, wiretapping
for political purposes, suspension of civil liberties
of every American, tax violations and personal
enrichment at public expense, bribery and blackmail;
flagrant misuse of the FBI, the CIA and the IRS.”
Support for the President Still, the President’s
supporters in Congress——most of them fellow Republicans——remained convinced that the evidence
failed to prove Nixon had committed an impeachable offense. Ten Republican members of the House
Judiciary Committee, led by Charles Wiggins of
California, stayed firm in their support of Nixon.
Each had voted against all three articles of impeachment.
Nixon hoped that his congressional supporters
could slow down or even stop the impeachment
CASE STUDY
833
Turning Point
UPI/BETTMAN
House Judiciary Committee members (left to right): Harold D. Donohue, D-Massachusetts, John
Doar, chief counsel, Chairman Peter Rodino, D-New Jersey, Edward Hutchinson, R-Michigan, and
Albert Jenner, minority counsel.
process. After the Judiciary Committee’s vote in late
July, however, hope waned that there would be
enough votes to stop the momentum. Nixon’s presidency depended on keeping the support of at least
34 senators. Nixon felt he could count on 36 senators––8 Democrats and 28 Republicans. To convict
the President of impeachment took a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate. As long as Nixon
could count on these 36 senators, he could complete
his term.
The Opinions
Nixon’s supporters viewed the House Judiciary
Committee’s vote and the continuing momentum for
impeachment as a political act, not a constitutional
one. Some Republicans even believed that the “liberal” Democrats hoped to overturn the national
election results of 1972 that had swept Nixon into
office. Like Nixon, his supporters held an intense dislike and distrust for members of the press, which
they felt had prejudiced the country against the
President. More importantly to them, no “smoking
gun” that proved the President had directly com834
CASE STUDY
mitted a crime had yet been found——after more than
2 years of investigations. Without this evidence, his
supporters believed no grounds for his impeachment
existed.
Nixon’s opponents, both Democrats and Republicans, also did not like the impeachment process,
but for vastly different reasons. To them, evidence
clearly showed that Nixon had abused the power of
the presidency. If impeachment proceedings
stopped, a serious injustice would be committed
against the constitutional system of checks and
balances.
The Decision
After the House Judiciary Committee’s vote,
members of Congress felt a grave sense of urgency.
It was August of an election year. Could Congress
avoid a prolonged impeachment battle with
Nixon? Could it persuade him to resign and avoid
a brutal fight?
Rodino, House Speaker Carl Albert, and House
Majority Leader Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, resolved to
move the impeachment process forward. They
On August 9, Nixon turned in his resignation,
by Constitutional requirement, to the Secretary of
State: “I hereby resign the Office of President of the
United States.” This one-sentence letter made Nixon
the first President in United States history to resign.
His resignation ended the impeachment process,
but ensured a smooth and peaceful transition of
power from Nixon to Vice President Gerald R. Ford,
who became the thirty-eighth President.
The Significance
Although Nixon resigned from office without
seeming to admit his guilt, the constitutional system
of checks and balances did its work. Some Americans believed that Nixon’s resignation merely revealed that corruption existed at even the highest
level of government, but most agreed that it proved
that Article II, Section 4, of the United States Constitution worked as intended.
RESPONDING TO THE CASE
1. Why did some in Congress support the
President in his fight against impeachment? Why
did others want him removed from office?
2. In your opinion, did Nixon commit “high Crimes
and Misdemeanors”? Defend your viewpoint.
3. Do you agree or disagree that Nixon’s resignation proved that the constitutional system
worked? Defend your viewpoint.
T
R
The media, both print and electronic, played an
important role in keeping the public informed
throughout the Watergate saga. President
JEC
Nixon’s resignation was the culmination of more
than two years of investigation and litigation. Write
a news story about Nixon’s resignation and the immediate events that led up to it. Be sure to include this story
in your portfolio.
RTFOL
IO
PO
4. The Ninety-third Congress never defined “high
Crimes and Misdemeanors” during the impeachment process. Should the Constitution be
amended to define this term? Why or why not?
P
cleared the House’s calendar and set a firm date of
August 19 for impeachment proceedings. Wiggins
and other Nixon supporters tried to delay the process
with procedural matters. Although the President’s
supporters knew they might lack the votes to delay,
they were determined to remain loyal to Nixon.
Then, in the midst of all the activity, Wiggins learned
of the existence of a “smoking gun”——and of his betrayal by the President.
The “Smoking Gun” On July 24, the Supreme
Court had voted 8 to 0 that Nixon must turn over
64 unedited tape recordings to Special Prosecutor
Jaworski. Although no President had ever disobeyed
a Supreme Court decision, Nixon delayed handing
over the tapes until early August. Nixon realized
that if he did not comply with the Court’s order, the
House would consider that a high crime. In turning
over the tapes, however, Nixon worried that he was
giving evidence to both his supporters and opponents that would reveal that he had directed a coverup attempt soon after the Watergate break-in and
had lied about it——the tapes would become the
“smoking gun.”
Alarmed by Nixon’s hesitation and his deteriorating health, the President’s chief of staff, Alexander Haig, asked Wiggins to meet with him and
James St. Clair, the special counsel to the President,
on August 2. Having just learned the contents of the
transcripts of the tapes, Haig and St. Clair let Wiggins read 5 or 6 key pages before the documents
were made public. Once Wiggins read the transcript
pages he felt betrayed and could no longer defend
the President. On August 5, Wiggins made public
his change of mind: “. . . I am prepared to conclude
that the significant career of public service of
Richard Nixon must be terminated involuntarily.”
Nixon’s White House staff continued to try to
convince the President that efforts to fight were hopeless——that the country would be best served by his
resignation. Nixon, however, still resolved to carry the
fight, mistakenly believing he continued to have
enough support in the Senate to block his conviction.
The Decision to Resign The country was
approaching a crisis. Finally, in a face-to-face meeting with Senator Barry Goldwater and a few other
supporters on August 7, Nixon realized he had only
2 choices: have the Senate remove him from
office, or resign.
O
CASE STUDY
835
SECTION
4
Ford and Carter
W I N T E R 1 9 7 3 : O I L E M B A R G O F U E L S G A S PA N I C
© D E N N I S B R A C K / B L A C K S TA R
During the winter of
waved guns at harried service
1973–1974, an unfamiliar
station employees, and somedrama was enacted at gas statimes even smashed gas pumps in
tions all across the United
rage and frustration. “These peoStates. From dawn to dusk, cars
ple are like animals foraging for
queued up at the gas pumps, formfood,” said the owner of a station
ing lines that often snaked down
in Miami. “If you can’t sell them
the street for blocks. Panicky mogas, they’ll threaten to beat you
torists rushed to any gas station
up, wreck your station, run over
that had a supply, and they often
you with a car.”
had to wait for 2 hours or more.
A feeling of powerlessness
When they finally did reach the
intensif ied the motorists’ anger.
pump, they were often limited
Political and trade decisions made
to buying only a few gallons of
halfway around the globe hingas——and at a higher price! Even
dered their freedom to drive to
after the oil embargo was over, gas
work or the shopping center.
prices continued to rise. Another
The forces at work at the gas
A Scarce Commodity
Many Americans had to rearrange their
round of sharp increases occurred
pumps would continue to overlives around the availability of gasoline.
during the energy crisis of 1979.
shadow American life throughBy 1980 the price of gasoline was
out most of the 1970s: religious
more than $1 a gallon, more than
fervor and political unrest in
twice the 1973 price.
North Africa and Southwest Asia,
The competition for fuel frayed people’s nerves and
the unstable politics that governed the international flow
rattled their tempers. Drivers fought with one another,
of oil, and a runaway United States economy.
Guide to Reading
836
Main Idea
Vocabulary
Read to Find Out . . .
Ford and Carter tried to
rebuild the integrity of the
presidency and to instill
Americans with a new sense
of confidence; however, a
series of economic, foreign,
and environmental challenges
undermined their efforts.
CHAPTER 24
inflation
stagflation
embargo
recession
human rights
dissident
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
the causes and effects of the economic policies adopted by Ford.
the foreign policy initiatives pursued
by Carter.
reasons Americans developed a new
environmental awareness in the late
1970s.
Ford Follows Nixon
Ford Faces Many Challenges
When Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in
disgrace, he left to his successor, Vice President Gerald
R. Ford, a nation in crisis. A humiliating defeat in Vietnam had battered American prestige, and the Watergate
scandal had left the American people deeply shaken.
Ford tried to pull the country together. On September 8, 1974, in an effort to consign the Watergate
scandal to history, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon
for any federal crimes he might have committed as part
of the Watergate break-in and cover-up. The pardon
outraged many Americans who strongly believed that all
citizens, even the President, must be accountable to the
Constitution and the laws of the land. Despite Ford’s best
intentions, the United States remained a troubled and
divided nation.
The Stagflation Dilemma
was rising inflation. As a result of inflation, the dollar fell
in value against foreign currencies, and its purchasing
power at home and abroad fell dramatically. A pair of
gloves that once sold for $5 might now sell for $10. The
annual inflation rate, which had been 3.3 percent in 1972,
soared to 11 percent by 1974. Economists referred to this
combination of stagnating growth and spiraling inflation
as stagflation.
An Energy Crisis Is Born
The major cause of the United States’s inflationary
spiral was an international oil crisis with roots in the
turbulent politics of North Africa and Southwest Asia.
The United States economic machine demanded huge
amounts of oil. Foreign oil suppliers——principally Arab
nations——met nearly one-third of that demand.
Since 1960 many oil-rich nations in Africa, Southwest Asia, and South America had sold their oil as part
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC). OPEC countries set common prices and regulated production quotas and ceilings. These trade practices allowed them to control both the price and
availability of oil throughout the world.
During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, in which
Israel fought Syria and Egypt, Saudi Arabia imposed an
embargo, or a restriction of trade, on oil shipped to
Israel’s allies, including the United States. At the same
C
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to President Ford’s
effort to restore public faith in government was his
inability to control the economy. Since the end of World
War II in 1945, most Americans had become used to
a rising standard of living. Now, however, two economic conditions that rarely
occur at the same time shattered American prosperity:
T H E M I D D L E E A S T, 1 9 7 3
slowing productivity and risCA
YUGOSLAVIA
BLACK SEA
UC
BULGARIA
ing inflation——or the steady
A SU
S MT
ALBANIA
Istanbul
S.
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increase of prices.
SOVIET
40°N
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UNION
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UNION
TURKEY
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nating, or slowing down. DurEL
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ing the 1970s industrial
M
ED
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A
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productivity——the rate of
R
PLATEAU
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RAN
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OF IRAN
goods produced per hour——
AFGHANISTAN
Gulf of
Jordan R.
Jerusalem
IRAN
ISRAEL Amman
Sidra
Alexandria
IRAQ
had slowed, causing the cost
WEST BANK
JORDAN
30°N
of producing goods to rise. At
Cairo Suez SINAI
the same time, foreign firms,
KUWAIT
Canal PENINSULA
PAKISTAN
OMAN
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LIBYA
Gu
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especially those in Japan and
EGYPT
l
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SAUDI
QATAR UNITED
ARABIA
Madinah
Strait of Hormuz
West Germany, were able to
ARAB
Riyadh
Tropic of Cancer
EMIRATES
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manufacture high-quality
N
Makkah
goods quickly and inexpenRUB AL KHALI
20°N
(DESERT)
OMAN A R A B I A N
sively and to market them sucCHAD
SEA
cessfully in the United States.
SUDAN
SOUTH
NORTH
500 mi.
0
250
YEMEN
YEMEN
American consumers spent
OPEC member
Socotra
San a (S. Yemen)
more on these high-quality,
0
250 500 km
Aden
Capital city
ETHIOPIA
Mercator projection
AFARS & ISSAS (FR.)
less expensive products, caus30°E
60°E
40°E
20°E
SOMALIA 50°E
ing United States productiviOPEC oil price increases sent a message to the United States and the Soviet Union: Develty to slow down even more.
oping countries would no longer cater to the needs of the superpowers. What Southwest
The second cause of the
Asian nations belong to OPEC?
American economic dilemma
AS
PI
AN S E A
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.
ri s R
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.
TS
.
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SECTION FOUR
837
LIFE MAGAZINE/© TIME, INC.
When the Arab oil embargo and OPEC price increases hit the United States
economy in 1973, most
American car buyers wanted
nothing to do with Detroit’s
oversized “gas-guzzlers.”
Many consumers switched
to foreign cars, especially
those manufactured in Japan.
Imported autos, which held
only a 17 percent share of
the United States market in
1970, captured a whopping
37 percent by 1980. By that
year, a dozen American auto
plants had closed, and
300,000 autoworkers had
Steel Industry in Decline Angry at the rapidly rising numbers of imported cars, unemployed
lost their jobs.
steelworkers in Fairfield, Alabama, vented their frustration by bashing this Toyota. Why were
The steel industry came
Americans buying so many Japanese cars during the 1970s?
close to a complete collapse.
In 1946 the United States
time, other OPEC countries nearly quadrupled their
provided 60 percent of the world’s steel. By 1980 that figprices. Although the embargo was lifted in 1974, its
ure had fallen to 14 percent, and steel executives queseconomic effects continued through the end of the
tioned whether their industry could survive.
decade.
Again foreign steel manufacturers presented stiff
competition. Because of their computerized and autoWheels and Steel
mated production facilities, they were able to keep proThe oil embargo had a profound effect on United
duction costs down. United States steel companies,
States auto and steel industries. The big, gleaming cars
whose plants were old-fashioned by foreign standards,
produced in Detroit had long represented American
saw their costs rise 10 percent a year, forcing them to
know-how around the world. Now, more than any
raise the price of American steel. As a result American
other product, they symbolized the United States’s
manufacturers began buying nearly one-fifth of their
industrial decline.
steel from foreign producers. The steel industry appealed
★
★
★
G a l l e ry of P r e s i de n t s
★
★
★
Gerald R. Ford
“I have not sought this enormous
responsibility, but I will not shirk it.
Those who nominated me and confirmed me as Vice President were
my friends. . . . They were of both
parties, elected by all the people
and acting under the Constitution
in their name. It is only fitting then
that I should pledge to them and to
you that I will be the President of
all the people.”
August 9, 1974
838
CHAPTER 24
1974–1977
Background
Born 1913
Republican, Michigan
Served in the navy 1942–1946
Elected to House of
Representatives 1948
Succeeded to presidency 1974
Achievements in Office
Amnesty program for Vietnam
War draft dodgers
Council on Wage and Price
Stability (1974)
COURTESY GERALD FORD LIBRARY
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
to Congress to use stiff quotas, tariffs, and other international agreements to set limits on imports. Congress
refused, fearing retaliation by foreign governments
against American trade.
The President Responds
President Ford decided that the economy could best
be revived by attacking inflation. At press conferences,
he wore a red and white lapel button emblazoned with
the letters WIN, the acronym for “Whip Inflation Now.”
In addition he supported high interest rates, which made
money more expensive for everyone to borrow, including the government. By tightening credit Ford hoped to
reduce spending, which would result in an oversupply
of goods and thus lower prices. Ford also clamped down
on government spending by vetoing new health, housing, and education legislation.
The measures Ford took helped to cool inflation,
which fell to 6 percent by 1976. As a result of Ford’s
restrictions, however, industrial production plummeted
and unemployment rose. Before long, almost 1 out of
every 10 people was out of work. During 1974 and 1975,
the country plunged into its worst recession, or economic slowdown, since the Great Depression.
reduced their operating hours and schools extended vacations, all in an effort to conserve energy. As a result of
these dramatic lifestyle changes, Carter’s approval rating fell to 26 percent, almost as low as Nixon’s had been
at the darkest moments of his presidency. Americans
were weary of want and sacrifice, and they directed their
anger and frustration at Washington.
Human Rights and
Foreign Policy
Fostering Peace and Respect for Sovereignty
Standing up for human rights at home and abroad
was the cornerstone of Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy. A
devout man, Carter tried to apply the religious principles that governed his private life to the conduct of
The United States Economy, 1972–1980
15
12
Increase in
Consumer Prices
Unemployment
9
Carter Takes Charge
6
3
0
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Year
Total Federal Budget Deficit
2.5
Dollars (in hundred billions)
The struggling economy was the key issue as Americans went to the polls in 1976 to elect a President.
Although Americans liked Gerald Ford well enough as
a person, they rejected his leadership, especially his economic policies. James Earl Carter, a peanut farmer and
former governor of Georgia, was elected the nation’s
thirty-ninth President.
Jimmy Carter knew that he had to cure the economic ills that were draining the nation’s vitality. He tried
to jolt the economy out of recession by increasing government spending and cutting taxes. Both measures
were meant to stimulate economic growth. Unemployment came down, but inflation took off. For 2 years the
annual inflation rate hovered above 10 percent.
Further fueling inflation was a dramatic OPEC price
increase in 1979. The cost of a barrel of OPEC oil
zoomed to $30, and another oil shortage ensued. Businesses, industries, and homeowners faced energy shortages, and once again motorists lined up at gas stations
to buy expensive fuel.
Carter asked Americans to turn down their thermostats to 68 degrees in the winter, switch off unnecessary lights, and go “gasless” on Sundays. Businesses
Percent
Recession: An Election Issue
2.0
1.5
1.0
Ford takes office
Carter takes office
0.5
0
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Year
Economic stagflation began during the Nixon years. Presidents Ford and Carter tried short-term methods to cure the
economy’s woes. According to the charts, what effect did these
methods have on the United States economy?
SECTION FOUR
839
© MICHAEL PHILIPPOT/SYGMA
Playing the Peacemaker
Resistance Fighters The Afghan rebels used guerrilla tactics to overcome the superior equipment of the Soviets. What was Carter’s response to the Soviet attack of
Afghanistan?
public affairs. Like Woodrow Wilson early in the 1900s,
Carter crafted a foreign policy based on the defense of
basic rights and freedoms he believed should be available to all people throughout the world: the right to
choose leaders in fair and honest elections, the right to
a fair trial, the right to worship and travel freely, and the
right to free expression.
When Carter thought a nation had violated the
human rights of its own citizens or citizens of another
country, he spoke out strongly. This was particularly
true of the Soviet Union. The Kremlin often punished
★
★
★
dissidents, those who openly
criticized Soviet policies. When
Carter offered imprisoned or exiled dissidents his moral support,
Soviet leaders accused him of
meddling in their internal affairs.
In 1979 the Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan. Outraged
at what he considered to be interference in the affairs of a sovereign
nation, Carter ordered sanctions
against the Soviet Union. The
United States and other nations
refused to participate in the 1980
Olympic Games in Moscow; in
addition the United States government imposed a grain embargo on
the Soviet Union.
Carter’s stand on human
rights was reflected in other areas
of his foreign policy. His primary
goals were to foster peace and respect for other nations’
sovereignty.
For example, Carter sought to slow down the arms
race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
American and Soviet negotiators worked hard to draft
a treaty limiting the number of missiles, bombers, and
nuclear warheads each side could stockpile. Finally, in
June 1979, Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev
signed the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
(SALT II), expanding the first agreement negotiated during President Nixon’s administration.
G a l l e ry of P r e s i de n t s
★
★
★
James Earl Carter, Jr.
“Let us learn together and laugh
together and work together and
pray together, confident that in
the end we will triumph together
in the right. The American dream
endures. We must once again have
full faith in our country—and in
one another. I believe America can
be better. We can be even stronger
than before.”
1977–1981
Born 1929
Democrat, Georgia
Graduated naval academy 1946
Served in the navy 1946–1953
Elected state senator 1962
Elected governor 1970
Achievements in Office
Negotiated Israeli-Egyptian peace
treaty (1978)
Negotiated SALT II (1979)
Inaugural Address, January 20, 1977
COURTESY JIMMY CARTER LIBRARY
840
CHAPTER 24
Background
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
HIGHLIGHTS OF FORD AND CARTER ADMINISTRATIONS, 1974–1979
AU G U S T 1 9 7 4
Ford assumes the
presidency after
Nixon resigns.
1978
➤
1 9 7 5 Ford
initiates Whip
Inflation Now
campaign.
1979
1980
➤
1977
➤
1976
➤
➤
1975
J U N E 1 9 7 9 SALT II
agreement signed
with Soviet Union.
1 9 7 8 Senate passes
Panama Canal treaties.
➤
➤
1974
➤
1 9 7 6 United States
celebrates its
Bicentennial.
1 9 7 7 Department
of Energy is created.
1 9 7 9 Camp
David Accords
are signed.
➤
SEPTEMBER
1 9 7 4 Ford
pardons Nixon.
N OV E M B E R
1 9 7 9 United
States hostages
are taken in Iran.
© DIRCK HALSTEAD/GAMMA LIAISON
Continuing Nixon’s policy of détente, Carter hoped
to reduce the “balance of terror” between the United
States and the Soviet Union. Strong opposition to the
SALT II agreement surfaced in the United States. Congress did not believe the limits set forth by the treaty
could be verified. The treaty languished in the Senate.
In response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter
asked the Senate to delay consideration of the pact. In
the end SALT II was never ratified.
Continuing President Nixon’s efforts, Carter established normal diplomatic relations with the People’s
Republic of China. In doing so, he cleared the way for
valuable technical and commercial exchanges between
the two formerly hostile nations.
The Panama Canal
Carter also tried to encourage peace and sovereignty
in Latin America and to develop a more favorable image of the United States in that region. His administration cut back military aid to South and Central American
dictators and negotiated an agreement to give control
of the Panama Canal to that nation by the year 2000.
Despite strong conservative opposition, the United States
Senate ratified this agreement in 1978, along with a
second treaty that gave the United States the right to
defend the neutrality of the canal.
The Camp David Accords
President Carter’s most successful foreign policy initiative was to assist in forging a peace treaty between
Israel and Egypt. These age-old enemies had fought
four wars since the creation of Israel in 1948. When their
most recent conflict ended in 1973, a tense, bitter diplomatic stand-off ensued between the victorious Israelis
and the defeated Egyptians.
In 1978 President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt told
American news reporter Walter Cronkite that he would
do whatever he could to make peace with Israel. Carter
then seized what he knew was a unique opportunity. In
Former Enemies Begin (left) and Sadat (right) celebrate their
efforts toward peace. Why was Carter able to bring the two
men together?
September of that year, Carter invited Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Sadat to Camp
David. For two weeks, Carter, Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance, and others patiently talked the 2 leaders through
their differences and tried to reconcile them. Finally
Carter was able to make the historic announcement
SECTION FOUR
841
that the two leaders had constructed a “framework for
peace.” In March 1979, Begin and Sadat flew to Washington to sign the formal agreement in the White House.
States at the start of the crisis. It was not until January
20, 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s Inauguration Day,
that the hostages were freed.
The Iranian Hostage Crisis
In February 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
the absolute ruler of Iran and a close ally of the United
States, was deposed in a revolution sparked by extreme
liberal and conservative Iranians. Iran’s new leader, Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, despised the
United States for its political, financial, and military support of the Shah.
On November 4, an armed mob stormed the
United States embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran,
and seized diplomats and military personnel. Angry
and frustrated, Americans stared helplessly at their television screens while an angry, chanting Iranian mob set
up a giant poster that defiantly proclaimed in English:
U. S. Can Not Do Anything.
For many months, it seemed that the message on the
Iranian poster told the truth. Finally, in April 1980, President Carter authorized a daring commando raid to rescue the hostages. The raid was a disaster for the United
States. Encountering a violent dust storm over southern
Iran, several of the helicopters ferrying the commandos
to Tehran suffered mechanical failures. The raiders
landed to assess the situation and decided to scrub the
mission. As the commandos beat a hasty retreat from
the Iranian desert, a helicopter collided with a cargo
plane, killing 8 men and wounding 5.
Months later Carter agreed to release $8 billion in
Iranian assets he had ordered “frozen” in the United
A New Sense of Limits
Foreign Affairs and Economy Questioned
The United States’s troubled economy and apparent weakening of power and influence in foreign affairs
left many Americans worried and pessimistic about the
future. Throughout the 1970s, Americans faced change
in nearly every facet of their lives. The nation that had
sent men to the moon, the nation where everything had
seemed attainable, was developing an unfamiliar sense
of limits.
The Polluting of America
© P. L E D R U / S Y G M A
A newly urgent concern for the environment typified
this sense. Environmentalists warned that two forces were
abusing and destroying the United States’s natural
resources. The first was governmental reluctance to curb
unrestricted industrial growth and commercial development. The second was the greed of businesses that some
claimed placed profit before responsibility. Environmental horror stories became front-page news. Birds
hatched chicks deformed by severe genetic abnormalities.
Commercial fishing crews returned from the deep oceans
with catches contaminated by mercury and a wide variety of industrial chemicals. Oil spills fouled stretches of
coastline with heavy crude
that destroyed scenic beauty
and sometimes killed the
local wildlife.
Then in 1978 the problem hit home. The soil and
groundwater of Love Canal,
New York, a community
near Niagara Falls, was
found to be so polluted by
poisonous chemicals from
nearby industries that the
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) declared the
entire town unfit for human
habitation. The residents of
Love Canal were evacuated,
their homes boarded up, and
the community sealed off by
a tall, chain-link fence. The
Anti-American Fervor These young men wanted the Shah, who was in the United States
United States had its first
seeking medical treatment, returned to Iran. Why was there anti-American feeling in Iran?
toxic-waste ghost town.
842
CHAPTER 24
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
© N E A L PA L U M B O / G A M M A L I A I S O N
The Nuclear Power Dilemma
Environmentalists also objected to the spread of nuclear power plants. Well-organized protesters appeared
in every part of the country to condemn the construction and operation of the power plants. Although the protesters filed legal challenges, waged spirited public
information campaigns, and sometimes resorted to civil
disobedience, their concerns went largely unheeded——that
is, until one fateful day in March 1979.
On that day a series of human and mechanical errors in the Unit 2 reactor of the Three Mile Island nuclear power station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
combined to produce the worst nuclear power accident
in United States history. The reactor’s core overheated,
releasing radioactive water and steam. Fearing a massive
release of radiation, officials evacuated 100,000 nearby
residents. The disaster never came, but the Unit 2 reactor, littered with radioactive debris, was shut down.
The nuclear dilemma typified the difficult 1970s,
a decade in which every advance harbored a setback and
every promise included a threat. Looking back, some
observers believe the decade forced a fundamental
change in the American outlook, described by economist Robert Lekachman as “a shift from the easy politics of growth to the era of limits.”
Section Assessment
Main Idea
A Near Miss The cooling towers of Three Mile Island loom
large in this downtown scene of Goldsboro, Pennsylvania.
What happened to the Unit 2 reactor during the nuclear accident?
Throughout the 1970s, legislation was proposed to
protect the environment. Congress toughened air pollution standards and imposed strict regulations on the
logging industry. In 1972 the government told business
and industry that the release of toxic waste into United
States waterways must stop by 1985. To further improve water quality, the EPA distributed $19 million to
local governments for the construction of waste treatment plants. In 1978 Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus
extended for 2 decades restrictions against development on 40 million acres of federal lands in Alaska. In
addition President Carter placed more than 100 million
acres of Alaskan land under the federal government’s
protection as national parks, national forests, and wildlife
refuges.
1. Use a chart like this one to show the foreign and
domestic challenges faced by Ford and Carter.
Place a check mark next to any challenge that
you think they resolved successfully.
Challenges
Ford
Carter
Domestic
Foreign
Vocabulary
2. Define: inflation, stagflation, embargo, recession,
human rights, dissident.
Checking Facts
3. What happened during the OPEC oil embargo?
4. What happened to the economy during the Ford
administration?
Critical Thinking
5. Determining Cause and Effect What caused
Americans to see limits on the power and stature
of the United States?
SECTION FOUR
843
Science,
TECHNOLOGY,
and Society
Outer Space to the Kitchen
After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, politics drove the space race. As scientists
overcame technological barriers, and political tensions
between the United States and the Soviets eased, much
of what was learned from space research began to make
its way into our everyday lives. Scientists continue working to make outer space more habitable.
S PA C E F O O D
NASA
The need for lightweight, nutritious food for astronauts led to the
development of the freeze-drying
process and to the improved
packaging and processing methods for many of our foods today.
NA
SA
S T E P S I N T O S PA C E
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1970s
➤
1960s
➤
➤
1950s
S PA C E R A C E B E G I N S The
M E N I N S PA C E Soviet Yuri
S PA C E E X P L O R AT I O N First
Soviets launch Sputnik and put
the first animal into orbit. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration is established.
Gagarin is first human in
space; Alan Shepard is the first
American in space; Apollo 11
lands men on the moon.
U.S. space station, Skylab,
launched. Viking space probes
reach Mars. First U.S.-Soviet mission, Apollo-Soyuz, launched.
S C I E N C E , T E C H N O L O G Y, A N D S O C I E T Y
F I R S T S PA C E W A L K
Edward H. White, the first American to walk
in space, floats outside his Gemini 4
spacecraft. He had to fire a maneuvering
gun to move around in the zero gravity
during this 1965 mission.
SYNTHETIC SOIL
Researchers are developing
synthetic soil to use in growing
plants as part of a recyclable
life support system in a future
spacecraft.
NA
SA
SPACE RACE
SPINOFFS
Research other applications of space
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technology that have
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PHOTO CREDIT TO COME HERE
made their way into
workplaces, homes, hospitals, or the entertainment
industry. Try to include illustrations in the report. Be sure
to place this work in your
portfolio.
© KEVIN WILSON PHOTOGRAPHY
NASA
W R I T I N G U N D E R WAT E R
The pen used here was originally developed for NASA astronaut record keeping
on Apollo missions. Its special cartridge
allows ink to flow regardless of gravity
or atmospheric pressure.
2000s
➤
1990s
➤
➤
1980s
W O R K S H O P S I N S PA C E The first
E X PA N D I N G F R O N T I E R S Hubble
United States reusable spacecraft,
the shuttle Columbia, orbits the earth
for the first time. Sally Ride becomes
the first American woman in space.
Space Telescope, an orbiting observatory, is launched with a 15-year
lifetime in space. Launch of the
space probe Cassini to Saturn.
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S PA C E
S TAT I O N Permanent crew mem-
bers move to the space station,
built through the cooperation of
16 nations, to conduct scientific
research.
S C I E N C E , T E C H N O L O G Y, A N D S O C I E T Y
845
Chapter
24
Assessment
HISTORY
2. a plan where the federal government returns some tax money back
to the states
3. “forgotten” Americans who did
not protest the war
4. an attempt to repair relations with
China and the Soviet Union
11. What is OPEC? Describe how it
contributed to the economic problems of the United States in the
1970s.
12. What were some of the basic
beliefs that drove President Carter’s
foreign policy?
13. Why were the Camp David
Accords so important?
14. How did the Iranian hostage crisis hurt the Carter administration?
15. Name two environmental crises
that took place during the Carter
administration.
5. an economic slowdown
Critical Thinking
Recalling Facts
1. Identify some events and policies
that helped bring about the conservative backlash of the late 1960s.
2. Name two Democratic-sponsored
pieces of legislation that Nixon supported and signed into law.
4. Name the four Supreme Court
justices President Nixon appointed.
5. Identify Henry Kissinger. Describe the various roles he held
in the Nixon administration.
6. Explain why President Nixon was
eager to implement a policy of
détente with the People’s Republic
of China and the Soviet Union.
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CHAPTER 24
1. Making Generalizations Use a
diagram like this one to make and
support a generalization about
Nixon’s view of the presidency and
the power given to that office.
Generalization
1.
2.
3.
4.
ting
por
Sup tails
De
3. Give two examples of conservative policies Nixon implemented.
What actions of the Nixon administration caused Congress to enact
the War Powers Act and the
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act?
Portfolio Project
List five qualities you think a
President should possess. If
you were able to vote tomorrow,
what three domestic isR
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sues would concern you the
most? What three global issues
would concern you? Write an essay to
explain how you would determine your
choice if no candidate held your views on
all issues.
2. Making Comparisons Two segments of society with different values
disagreed over the Vietnam War.
Compare how the silent majority and
social protesters felt about the issues
of patriotism and law and order.
FROM NIXON TO CARTER
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1. an accusation, a charge against
10. Briefly explain how the
impeachment process works
according to the Constitution.
4. Determining Cause and Effect
P
Match the key term below with the
phrase that best defines its meaning.
Write the word and the appropriate
phrase on a separate sheet of paper.
détente
realpolitik
recession
revenue sharing
impeachment
silent majority
9. Describe what happened in the
Saturday Night Massacre. Who was
involved?
Nixon’s belief in realpolitik influence
decisions he made about the Soviet
Union and the People’s Republic of
China?
T
Reviewing Key Terms
8. Give three examples of Nixon’s
unlawful exercise of the power of his
office.
3. Analyzing Decisions How did
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Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American Odyssey Web site
at americanodyssey.glencoe.com
and click on Chapter 24—SelfCheck Quiz to prepare for the
Chapter Test.
7. Briefly explain the United States
policy of interventionism in Latin
America. Give an example.
Cooperative Learning
The Vietnam War polarized U.S. citizens. Work in small groups to identify
a social or political issue today that
deeply divides people. Each group
should then report their issue to the
class. Try not to duplicate any issues
another group has worked on. The
groups should also research each
side of their selected topic and prepare a report to share with the class.
As you prepare your reports, be sure
to give each side of the issue equal
conviction.
Reinforcing Skills
Interpreting Political Cartoons
Locate a political cartoon in your local newspaper or in a national news
magazine. Identify the main issue
addressed by the cartoon and the
techniques used by the cartoonist
to influence people’s opinion of this
issue. Share your findings with the
rest of the class.
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Phoenix, Arizona, 1950–1994
Standardized Test Practice
1. The purpose of the War Powers
Act, passed in 1973, was to ensure
that the President would
N
17
Sun City
60
Glendale
A have greater authority over the
military.
B consult Congress before committing
troops to extended conflicts.
C have the authority to sign treaties
without Senate approval.
D have a freer hand in fighting the
spread of communism.
Paradise
Valley
89
33° 30' N
Phoenix
Scottsdale
10
Tolleson
Tempe
0
3
10
6 mi.
0
3
6 km
Polyconic projection
60
Mesa
Test-Taking Tip: The War
Powers Act was partly a reaction to
the Vietnam War and to Watergate.
Congress wanted to make sure the
President was not becoming too
powerful in relation to the other
branches. Three of the answers
actually do the opposite—they give
the President more power. Which
choice limits presidential power?
89
PHOENIX
AREA
CITY LIMITS (sq. mi.)
POPULATION
Gilbert
1950
16.9
106,818
Chandler
1994
345
1,051,515
112° W
Intermittent river
Study the map to answer the following questions.
2.
1. How large was the growth in square miles in the Phoenix area
between 1950 and 1994?
2. How much did the population of Phoenix increase from 1950 to
1994?
3. In which direction did the city undergo the largest area of growth?
4. Beyond the city limits of Phoenix, where do you think population will
increase?
Technology Activity
30
25
20
15
10
5
Using a Word Processor The Freedom of Information Act
0
of 1974 allowed public access to many government
records. Before 1974 and prior to the abuses of the CIA
and FBI in the 1970s, those records were kept secret. Research how
to use the Freedom of Information Act to examine government
records. Then, using your word processor, write a step-by-step
guide explaining the procedure.
As a political conservative,
President Nixon wanted to
A
B
C
D
increase federal welfare programs.
speed the desegregation process.
return power to state governments.
appoint reform-minded Supreme
Court justices.
Test-Taking Tip: Think of the
meaning of political conservative:
someone who generally believes the
government role in society should be
limited and that individuals should be
responsible for their own well-being.
Choose the answer that would best
accomplish this goal.
C H A P T E R 24
ASSESSMENT
847
Then...
The Stereo
The popularity of rock ’n’ roll, the development of
stereo records, and the introduction of stereo sound in
radio broadcasting all fueled the demand for consumer
products that could produce quality and higher volume
sound. A new industry––home entertainment––was
born during the 1960s.
had at least 6 separate units, which made
it bulky, heavy, potentially confusing to
assemble, and often visually unattractive.
Fun Facts
MUSIC MAKES MONEY
By the 1980s the recording industry employed nearly
31,990 men and women and had total annual sales
of nearly $4 billion.
FILE PHOTO BY RALPH J. BRUNKE
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THEN AND NOW
© R O Y D O T Y, C O U R T E S Y P O P U L A R S C I E N C E
1 A component stereo system in the 1960s
Stats
2 A 1960s turntable (shown right)
was one unit of a component
stereo system. Its parts were
the drive system, the stylus,
the cartridge, and the tonearm. Other components of a
stereo included an amplifier and speakers or
headphones.
RECORDS
A long-playing vinyl record (LP) is
12 inches in diameter.
FIL
E P
H
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BY
DO
UG
An LP plays at 331/3 rpm (revolutions
per minute) and has about 30 minutes of sound on each side.
MI
ND
EL
L
There are about 250 grooves per
inch on an LP.
COSTS
DR. JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
In 1968 a stereo LP cost $4.98; a
monaural LP cost $3.98.
The average price for a stereo component system in 1969 was about
$200.
SALES
Record sales for 1968 were
$1.1 billion.
In 1975 there were 73 million phonographs in the United States.
3 The waves in the grooves of a record make the stylus,
or needle, vibrate. An enlarged image of this part is shown
above. The vibrations then become electric signals that the
speakers or headphones change into sound.
...Now
played in the home. Compare contemporary systems with
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Write a brief report on the different ways music can be
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MUSIC TO YOUR EARS
those available during the years covered in this unit.
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Compare them in terms of cost, technology, quality, and
portability. Be sure to include this report in your portfolio.
SUPE
RSTO
CK
SOUND IN EVERY SHAPE AND SIZE
ARCHIVE PHOTOS
A console stereo system was available in a variety of shapes and
designs—it could look like a fireplace, a cube, a grandfather clock,
a tea cart, or a chest. Some were even shaped like hexagons!
THEN AND NOW
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