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US History
Decline and Rebirth (1968-1988)
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| What economic problems did Nixon face when he got into office in 1969, which can be attributed to the Johnson administration? (paying for Great Society programs & Vietnam War at the same time put strain on federal govt) | growth of inflation, unemployment was rising, the gross national product (market value of all the products & services produced in one year) was exhibiting lack of growth, the US had substantial trade deficit |
| After Nixon imposed a 90-day freeze on prices and wages, in 1971 he eventually directed that a program of deficit spending began. What id deficit spending? | the government is spending money they don't have; somewhat similar to the approach utilized by Roosevelt during the Great Depression |
| plan begun by Nixon that has made the Republican party dominant in many ares of the South that had previously voted Democratic; emphasized law & order and traditional values in their campaign | "Southern Strategy"; Nixon's "strategy" included delaying school desegregation plans in Mississippi & attempting to block extensions of the voting rights act of 1965 |
| What were Nixon's greatest achievements during his time in office? | the area of foreign affairs |
| Where did Nixon make two trips to with the intention to reduce foreign tensions? | Soviet Union in May 1972 and Communist China in Feb. 1972 |
| Nixon's discussion with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, they agreed to halt the continued buildup of nuclear weapons by signing what treaty? Fort eh 1st time the 2 superpowers agreed to halt production & reduce missiles to 200 per side | SALT I treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) |
| Who was an important aid to Nixon during his presidency, in which Nixon greatly trust his judgement on foreign affairs? | Henry Kissinger, former Harvard professor; went with Nixon to Communist China |
| Kissinger told Nixon it would be foolish to think that Communist China would ever be overthrown, it would thus benefit Amer. to recognize that fact. What happened when Nixon/Kissinger went to China in 1972? | meetings with Chinese leader Mao Zedong & other officials decided trade talks between the 2 countries would begin & cultural changes would start immediately |
| What was the most shocking thing that Nixon agreed to while in China? | Nixon agreed to support the admission of Communist China to the United Nations; going against what had been traditional US policy for the entire Cold War period |
| Nixon won the election of 1972 by a landslide Electoral College vote (521 to 17), mainly as a result of what? | his foreign policy successes |
| the break-in into Democratic campaign headquarters was one of a series of "dirty tricks" carried out by individuals associated with the effort to reelect Nixon in 1972; extensive efforts were also made to cover up these activities | Watergate Affair |
| a group of intelligence officials who worked for the committee to reelect Nixon; job of this group was to stop leaks of information (like the Pentagon Papers) & perform "dirty tricks" on political opponents of the pres. | Plumbers & CREEP (Committee to Reelect the Pres.) included ex FBI agent and former CIA member |
| this was paid to the Watergate burglars during their trial to deny the involvement of Nixon; payments were approved by Nixon | "hush money" |
| Waht was the first illegal action by Nixon? | after he publicly announced that the White House had nothing to do with the break in, he contacted friendly CIA agents to try to convince them to call the FBI & tell them to cease their investigation of Watergate |
| October 20, 1973, event when Nixon ordered the firing of Archbald Cox (special investigator in charge of Watergate investigation); Attorney Gen. Richardson & several others (Justice Dept.) refused to carry out this order and resigned | Saturday Night Massacre; greatly damaged Nixon's popularity in Congress and the public eye |
| What were the 3 articles of impeachment formally approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Pres. Nixon in July, 1974? | the president ignored their subpoenas, misused presidential power, and obstruction of justice; before getting the change to impeach him, Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974 |
| Even though Pres. Ford entered office under the worst conditions, he was well liked in Washington. However, how was General Ford's presidency tainted form the beginning? | he pardoned Nixon for any crimes that he might have committed |
| What was the major problem that Ford's presidency faced? | the economy; both from unemployment and inflation, an economic situation known as stagflation |
| In 1977, Jimmy Carter campaigned as “outsiders” of the post-Watergate era. How did this hurt him? | his inability to find "insiders" in Congress with whom he could successfully work to get legislation passed |
| In order to solve the unemployment and inflation problem, Carter asked ppl to voluntarily refrain from spending (bring inflation down), he cut govt spending to cool the economy, & tighten the Fed. Reserve Board money supply. What resulted? | none of these policies worked |
| The pressures from OPEC drove the prices of gasoline higher during the Carter presidency. This decision by OPEC to raise oil prices in 1973 had a dramatic economic impact in both the US & the rest of the world. What is OPEC? | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; this organization sets the price for oil and determines how much of it will be produced |
| 1978, peace agreement between Israel and Egypt that was mediated by Pres. Carter; as a result, Israel promised to return occupied land to Egypt in return for official recognition of Israel's right to exist by Egypt | Camp David Accords; the high point of Carter's presidency |
| What caused the Iranian Hostage Crisis? | in 1978, a revolution of fundamentalist Muslims force the Shah to leave the country; 1979, the exiled Shah, suffering from cancer, was allowed by Carter to seek treatment in the US; this outraged the Iranians |
| on Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian protesters seized the US embassy in Tehran (Iran) and held 66 American diplomats hostage for 444 days; Pres. Carter was unable to free the hostages despite several attempts | Iranian Hostage Crisis; this event symbolized the paralysis of American power in the late 1970s |
| When Reagan was elected in 1980 as a concervative, this was the first totally successful assault on the New Deal Democratic coalition. What was he successful at doing? | Conservatives successfully convinced many Amer. that the Democrats were the cause of the declining image of Amer abroad & the reason for the decline in traditional morality at home |
| the social issues of the era (1980), such as increasing women's rights, sexual freedom, and affirmative action, drew many blue-collar workers away from the Democratic camp. What is affirmative action? | policies that began in the 1970s to make up for past discrimination and give minorities & women advantages in applying for certain jobs and in applying for admission to certain universities |
| primarily Protestant movement (beginning in the 70s) pushed to return "morality" tot eh forefront in Amer. life; active in opposing abortion; large supporter of Republican candidates, starting with Reagan | religious right; many supported the Republicans in large numbers |
| the conservative movement that began in the 1960s & triumphed witht he election of Reagan in1980; able to attract many middle-class & Southern voters to Republican party by emphasizing themes of patriotism, smaller govt, & return of "traditional values" | New Right; became a major force in American politics; besides Reagan, they also pushed the Republicans to the majority of the Senate in 1980 |
| this president was a true master of politics, used his honed skills as an actor to set the right tone/messages at speeches & meetings throughout, used his staff well, instituted traditional conservative economic practices | Ronald Reagan (1981-1989); the Great Communicator |
| what traditional conservative economic practices did Reagan institute beginning in 1981? | federal tax cuts ("supply-side economics") capital gains taxes were reduced, also with the intent of encouraging investment |
| Reagan and his economic staff cut federal taxes because they believed in "supply-side economic". What does this mean? | stated that if more money was put in the hands of the wealthy Americans by cutting taxes, they would invest it in the economy, thus creating more jobs & additional growth (and eventually additional tax revenue) |
| what angered the liberals in regards to Reagan's federal tax cuts? | because of Reagan's tax cuts, the federal govt was taking in less money, causing many domestic programs to be cut, including aid for education and urban development; at the same time Reagan increases the defense budget by 13 mil |
| a series of policies during the Reagan admin. that began to give some power back to the states that had always been held by the fed. govt; some tax $ were returned to state and local govt in the form of "block grants" | New Federalism; under this program, how federal money was spent by states was determined by the states & not the fed. govt |
| In response to the perceived foreign policy weakness of Amer in the Carter years (1977-81), Reagan helped rebuild the "toughness" of Amer. to improve its image. How did this benefit Reagan? | his tough Cold War rhetoric & support of conservative social issues helped with reelection in 1984 |
| this was the biggest tax cut in Amer. history; cut taxes by $750 billion over 5 years & cut personal income taxes by 25%; critics argue that the national deficits of the late 1980s-early 90s were caused by these tax cuts | Tax Reform Act of 1986 |
| What were some of the economic problems developing during Reagan's second term (1985-89)? | avg price for a share of stock fell nearly 20% in 1987, day known as "black Monday"; fed govt deficits grew drastically; the US began to import more than it exported |
| Under Reagan, the gap between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest Americans did what? | increased |
| Even though Reagan faced serious economic problems in his second term, what still remained incredibly popular? | his foreign policy; when the Libyan leader challenged Amer. ships sailing close to Libya, the US bombed Libyan air bases; Reagan & Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev established a close relationship & held meaningful negotiations reducing nuclear weapons |
| in 1986 and 1987, during Reagan's 2nd term, what did govt officials do to get hostages back in relation to the Iranian Hostage Crisis? | sold missiles to Iran and money from this sale was used to aid anti-communist Contra forces in Nicaragua |
| What were the problems with the govt officials selling missiles and using the money to aid the "contras" resulting in nearly a dozen Reagan officials being forced to resign? | Amer had an official trade embargo with Iran because of their taking of Amer hostages; Congress passed legislation carefully regulating how much funding could go to the contras; a major scandal for Reagan admin |
| Considering the two decades before Reagan's time in office, what did he do for the American people? | restored the pride of the American people |
Created by:
danyell04