RICHARD M. NIXON

2 Visions of America, A History of the United States

1968 ELECTION

• War dominates the Presidential campaign
• March 68 - Johnson withdraws
• Eugene McCarthy runs as anti-war candidate
• Robert Kennedy runs, then assassinated
• Democrats divided; protests and violence at convention
• Nominate Humphrey, seen as continuation of Johnson

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SILENT MAJORITY AND THE �CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH

• Nixon runs on backs of “silent majority”
• Cold War credentials
• “Southern Strategy”
• George Wallace runs as 3^rd party candidate
• Close election 43.4 to 42.7
• End of democratic unity and loss of southern states

NIXON AND VIETNAM

• “Peace with honor”

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• Began policy of “Vietnamization”

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• Bombing campaign against Cambodia

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• Protests after “invasion” – led to Kent State tragedy

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• Vietnamization eventually erodes anti-war opposition

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SEEKING PEACE WITH HONOR

Vietnamization – A Nixon administration policy that turned the bulk of the ground fighting over to the South Vietnamese Army

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Détente – Relaxing Cold War tensions by using diplomatic, economic, and cultural contacts to improve U.S. relations with China and the Soviet Union

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SALT I (1972) – The first treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States that limited the deployment of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles and the creation of missile-defense systems

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7 Visions of America, A History of the United States

FIGURE 29.6 PUBLIC OPINION ON THE �WAR IN VIETNAM

9 Visions of America, A History of the United States

KENT STATE

• Weekend riots in Kent, Ohio protest invasion of Cambodia
• Governor sends in National Guard
• 4 dead, nine injured in on campus protest on Monday
• “Town and gown” divide

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• College students organized protests that questioned the war effort and universities’ roles in war-related research.
• Student strikes merged opposition to the war and other community issues.
• Public opinion polarized.
• Massive anti and pro-war rallies occurred.
• Nonviolent and violent protests erupted at draft boards.

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“PENTAGON PAPERS”

• Secret study commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara on the history of U.S. involvement
• Leaked to NY Times by Daniel Ellsberg – “as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public”
• New York Times v. United States 6-3 ruling

26^TH AMENDMENT

• Draft age 18 but voting age in most states was 21
• Supreme Court ruled in 1970 federal government lacked authority to determine age in state and local elections
• Amendment passed by Congress in March 1971
• Quickly ratified by states

WAR POWERS RESOLUTION

• Passed over President Nixon’s veto
• President must notify Congress within 48 hrs of committing armed forces to military action
• Forbids armed forces for more than 60 days, with a 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of use of military force or declaration of war

WAR POWERS ACT

VIETNAM: WITHDRAWAL

• Nixon tried to use aid to prop up S. Vietnam regime
• Congress eventually cut back on aid to S. Vietnam
• 1973 Paris Peace Accords
• March 1975 North Vietnam launches final offensive
• April 1975 – last U.S. personnel leave
• Vietnam reunited – Saigon renamed “Ho Chi Min City”

EFFECTS OF WAR

• Most divisive U.S. war since Civil War

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• Made Americans hesitant to engage in overseas military activities

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• Highlighted socio-economic divide in U.S.

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• Loss of faith in Federal government

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• Battle for power between Congress and President

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LEGACY: “NO MORE VIETNAMS”

War dead, Revolution in Cambodia,refugee problem

Loss of confidence in American power and in gov’t leaders, War Powers Act

NIXON AND DETENTE

• “Realpolitik”
• Detente – easing of tensions
• Nixon and Kissinger worked in secret
• Played USSR and China against each other
• Open’s relations w/ China
• Signs first strategic arms limitation treaty w/U.S.S.R.
• Nixon could do this as a lifelong “cold warrior”

PING PONG DIPLOMACY

• Nixon first President to visit China
• U.S. ping-pong athletes first to visit China since 1949
• January 1^st 1979 the U.S. officially shifted diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing

WATERGATE - “A THIRD-RATE BURGLARY”

• June 17, 1972 5 men arrested for breaking into Dem party headquarters
• Part of systematic paranoia about leaks
• Rather than just allow justice to take its course, Nixon arranged hush money and encouraged the CIA to stop the FBI from investigating
• Washington Post picks up story

SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE

• Senator Baker, “What did the President know and when did he know it”?
• Request for White House tapes
• Nixon tries to fire special investigator – Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resign in protest
• Nixon releases only edited transcripts
• One tape has 18 ½ minute gap

U.S. V. NIXON (1974)

• The special prosecutor appointed by Nixon and the defendants sought audio tapes of conversations recorded by Nixon in the Oval Office.
• Is the President's right to safeguard certain information, using his "executive privilege" confidentiality power, entirely immune from judicial review?

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WATERGATE

• May 1973 Congressional hearings begin
• House Judiciary committee impeachment hearings – obstruction, refusal to produce evidence, abuse of power violation of constitutional liberties
• “Smoking gun” tape released August 5^th – Nixon asked CIA to get FBI to stop investigating Watergate break-in
• Nixon announces resignation Aug. 8^th on TV to avoid impeachment hearings
• Ford – “our long national nightmare is over”

THE MEANING OF WATERGATE

• Constitution survives crisis
• CHECKS AND BALANCES

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• Ford Pardons Nixon

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• End of “imperial presidency”? - Ford first President not elected to Pres or VP

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• Combined with Vietnam, further eroded people’s faith in government

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• Campaign finance laws