1 – NIXON & WATERGATE. ECONOMY NIXON STAGNANT ECONOMY By 1973 Inflation rate doubled Unemployment...
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Transcript of 1 – NIXON & WATERGATE. ECONOMY NIXON STAGNANT ECONOMY By 1973 Inflation rate doubled Unemployment...
STAGNANT ECONOMY• By 1973
• Inflation rate doubled• Unemployment rate was up 50%
• Due to:
• Vietnam war• Growing foreign competition• Difficulty of finding jobs for new workers
• Nixon faced economic dilemma of Stagflation
• = Combination of high inflation with high unemployment
• Nixon decided to focus on controlling inflation
• Had little success
OIL AND GASOLINE - OPEC• US depended on Middle East
for petroleum oil
• Many of Middle Eastern countries belonged to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
OPEC PLACES EMBARGO• OPEC as an oil cartel
• used oil as economic and political weapon• 1973 – Yom Kippur War (Israel against Egypt and Syria)
• US sent aid to Israel (was longtime ally to US)• Arab OPEC nations responded with an Embargo = cut off
all oil sales to US• 1974 – OPEC resumes selling oil to US but price
quadrupled
• Worsened problem of inflation in US
DÉTENTE• Nixon’s and Kissinger’s (adviser for
national security affairs) create Détente policy
• = Policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions between Soviet Union, China, and US
• Was all in interest of World Peace• Bipolar World vs Multipolar World
• Bipolar = two super powers (US and Soviet Union)
• Multipolar = growing role of other countries (China, Japan, and Western Europe)
• Nixon and Kissinger wanted to move away from pressures between two superpowers and create world peace in a “multipolar” world
NIXON VISITS CHINA
• Start détente with China
• US lifted trade and travel restrictions• US withdrew fleets defending Taiwan
• FEB 1972 = Nixon met with Mao Zedong
• “Let us start a long march together, not in lockstep, but on different roads leading to the same goal of building a world structure of peace and justice”
- NIXON• Nixon hoped strengthening ties with
China = would encourage Soviets to pursue diplomacy
• WORKED!
NIXON VISITS SOVIET UNION• Three months later, Nixon visits Soviet Union
• Soviet Summit = Nixon met with Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev
• Together signed Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT)
• = plan to limit nuclear arms the two nations had been working on for years
ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT• Earth Day - April 22, 1970
• Became grassroots for environmental effort• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Enforced pollution standards• Prompted environmental research• Coordinated anti-pollution activities with state and local gov’ts
• Endangered Species Act
• Est. measure for saving threatened animal species
Vetoed by Nixon but still passed by Congress
• Clean Air Act = emission standards for factories & automobiles
• Clean Water Act = restricted pollutants into lakes and rivers
WATERGATE SCANDAL• Watergate scandal = an illegal
break-in and attempts to block the investigation of it
• Showed that no one, not even the president, is above the law
WHAT HAPPENED• Nixon campaign aides were
determined to win his re-election by any means necessary
• Hired 5 men to raid & wiretap the Democratic party offices in a Washington, D.C., complex called Watergate
WIRETAPS• Hoping to photograph files and place taps on phones, the
men were caught by security guard
• Rather than forcing those involved to resign, the administration tried to hide the link to the White House
COVER-UP UNRAVELS• After Nixon’s re-election the cover-up began to unravel
• One of the burglars said that the White House was involved
• Soon 3 of Nixon’s top aides, who had been involved, resigned
• In Senate hearings, televised live, one of them said that Nixon had known of the cover-up
WHITE HOUSE TAPES• Aide testified that there was taping system to record all
conversations of Nixon in White House
• Nixon installed to help write memoirs• When it was revealed that White House meetings had
been tape recorded, the Senate committee demanded the tapes
• Nixon refused to turn them over
• Court battles over the tapes lasted a year
WHILE ALL THIS WAS HAPPENING… - SPIRO AGNEW• Spiro Agnew = Nixon’s Vice President
• Forced to resign• Took bribes from state contractors while governor of MD• Continued to take bribes while at D.C.
TAPES CONT.• In March 1974, a grand jury charged 7 Nixon aides with
• obstruction of justice• perjury/lying under oath
• Nixon released more than 1,250 pages of taped conversations
• but withheld conversations on some key dates.
IMPEACHMENT• In July 1974, the Supreme Court ordered the White House
to release the tapes
• Three days later a House committee voted to impeach President Nixon
• If the full House of Representatives approved, Nixon would go to trial in the Senate
• If judged guilty = he would be removed from office