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The Nixon Years. p.666-673. Nixon staged a political comeback, being elected president after his loss to Kennedy in 1960, and his failed bid for governor of California in 1962.
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The Nixon Years p.666-673
Nixon staged a political comeback, being elected president after his loss to Kennedy in 1960, and his failed bid for governor of California in 1962. • Nixon came to office practicing a “New Federalism”, in which the federal government was reduced, and money was sent back to state and local governments. • The President tried to increase his support from Southerners by weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Nixon also opposed bussing of students (?)
President Nixon reflected his conservative side in his placement of four conservatives judges on the Supreme Court, in spite of the Senate’s rejection of to of his nominees. • Nixon also showed a liberal side by increasing government involvement in increasing Social Security payments, and by increasing funding for food stamps (?) • Nixon had environmental concerns that he addressed in his signing of the Clean Air Act of 1970, and establishing the Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA)
Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and started OSHA • President Nixon also pursued affirmative action, to try to overcome the effects of generations of discrimination. This was also applied to hiring quotas of women.
Henry Kissinger was Nixon’s NSA advisor and later his secretary of state. • Kissinger advocated a policy called “realpolitik”, which meant making foreign policy based on national interest, not on broad policies like containment. • Kissinger felt that the U.S. should not necessarily fight communism or get involved in other nation’s struggles on general principles. • How was realpolitik the opposite of containment?
In spite of his anti-communist reputation, Nixon worked to reduce tensions with the Soviets in efforts called “détente”. • Kissinger’s idea of realpolitik had a goal of making the world a more stable place, where the U.S. and its adversaries would accept each others positions. • Nixon also entered into long-range negotiations with Soviets over nuclear arms reductions, resulting in the SALT I treaty.
Nixon and Kissinger shocked the world with new of improving relations with the People’s Republic of China. • Why? In 1971 the Chinese invited the U.S. Table Tennis Team to play in China. Nixon wanted to increase relations with the Chinese to keep the Soviets off balance.
Years of hostilities finally boiled over in 1973 when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel • The Soviets supported Egypt, and the U.S. sent arms and supplies to Israel • OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries, mostly Arab, placed an oil embargo on the US, resulting in high gas prices (50 cents a gallon??) • Henry Kissinger employed “shuttle diplomacy”, flying back and forth to meet with the countries that refused to meet with each other. • War was averted, and the embargo lifted. Gas prices did NOT go down.