Nixon sought to ease the superpower conflict and slow the arms race

Vietnam and a Peace with honor - Nixon pursued three courses

Vietnamization - replacing American troops with south vietnamese troops. Nixon with drew many many troops from the war

Kissinger was sent to secret negotiations for peace.

Increased bombing - it didn’t disrupt supply lines instead the ground war spread to Cambodia and Laos which were also being bombed.

South Vietnam refused the secret agreements and so the Paris agreement of Jan 1970 ended only fighting b/w America and the North Vietnamese.

58,000 americans died and hundreds of thousands were injured. 15 billion had been spent on the war and yet the US still lost Vietnam to Communism.
Nixon improved American relations with both China and the Soviet Union.

in 1969 a widening gulf b/w the PRC and the USSR allowed Nixon to play the two nations off against each other.

June 1971 Kissinger secretly travelled to China to normalize relations with the nation and a month later Nixon himself went to China. this visit signaled the end of 20 years of open hostility

Nixon travelled to Moscow and signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1). this moved both nations to what they hoped was a peaceful co-existence.
Nixon’s re-election in 1972 seemed certain. George McGoven (the dem) candidate was unpopular at the time.

the Committee to Re-elect the President - willing to do anything and everything to re-elect Nixon. they went so far as wire tapping the Democratic headquarters.

when the wire-tappers were caught a white house coverup was started. the CIA was ordered to halt the FBI investigation of the break ins.

Nixon’s VP was forced to resign over a separate incident and Nixon had to resign on aug. 9 1974 to avoid impeachment.

Years of Malaise - Gerald Ford

This generation was called the me generation as they looked after themselves first.

Stagflation - high unemployment with high inflation and little economic growth.

the Oil Crisis from Oct 1973 -May 1974 which caused an oil shortage and gas crisis. the serious inflation problem was made worse by high oil prices and the attempts to curb inflation resulted in a recession

he was unsuccessful as a president.

the Iran Hostage Crisis - a revolution in Iran overthrew the Shaw and the new leader the Ayatollah Khomeini preached against the great satan.

in nov 1979 - 52 americans were taken hostage from the American Embassy in Tehran.

Reagan had a unique ability to speak to the people and he recognized the importance of acting like a president and instilling hope and confidence in the nation.

he promised the people of the US a new direction or as he put it “Morning in America”

Reagan supported traditional values and embraced the ideology of the New Right - a social conservatism. millions of americans called for the restoration of traditional values and Reagan became their spokesperson.
Reaganomics - Reagan cut taxes by 25% in 3 years and he practiced supply-side economics. by giving tax cuts and breaks to business and the wealthy and this would then trickle down to the poor and lower unemployment.

Reagan cut the school lunch programs, student loans, job training and transit systems. this cut gov spending and reduced gov involvement in everyday life.

Reagan was re-elected in 1984 on his message of Hope.

Reagan thought that the US had grown weak and he launched the largest peacetime military buildup ever. the defense budget increased to 300 billion and thousands of missiles were deployed in Western Europe.

Glasnost - Reagan argued that this was a result of his hard line in his first term. Reagan met with Gorbachev from 85-88 and Reagan is credited with winning the cold war.

congress passed a law making it illegal to support the Contras but the aid still flowed to the Contras secretly in the Iran Contra Affair.

Lt Col. Oliver North and the US gov sold arms to the radical Iran gov and then the millions in profits had been funneled to the Contras

Reagan was absolved of the affair but was severally criticized, Oliver North was convicted but the charges were later dropped on a technicality.

Reagan’s success lay in his ability to articulate the hopes and fears of a nation.
April 16, 2009
major themes in American History since the Civil War

involvement in International Affairs

consumerism

individualism - cowboys, frontiersman, hippies

liberalism v. conservatism

capitalism

religion

destiny and optimism

reformism and progress

violence

there are two essay questions a matching section and an identify and state the importance of section.