Chapter 23 The Nixon Years 1968 - 1974

The Nixon Years

      

     The Nixon presidency was during the years 1968 to 1974. American politics shifted dramatically in 1968, and that divided United States.  Republican Richard Nixon capitalized on disruption to gain the presidency. Nixon was interested in foreign affairs , and he took bold steps in changing relations with China and the Soviet union. With the Watergate scandal Americans forced Nixon to resign the presidency.

    Although he had a reserved and remote personality, many Americans respected Nixon for his experience and service. Nixon was willing to say or do anything to defeat his enemies, who included political opponents, the government bureaucracy, the press corps, and leaders of the antiwar movement. Believing that the executive branch needed to be strong, Nixon gathered a close circle of trusted advisors around him. Nixon had several close advisers. After campaigning tirelessly for Nixon, advertising executive H. R. Haldeman became Nixon’s chief of staff. Lawyer John Ehrlichman served as Nixon’s personal lawyer and rose to the post of chief domestic advisor. Asked to be Attorney General after working with Nixon’s campaign in New York, Mitchell often spoke with Nixon several times a day. Although he had no previous ties to Nixon, Harvard government professor Henry Kissinger first became Nixon’s national security advisor and later his Secretary of State.

    When the United States supported its ally Israel in a war against Egypt and Syria in 1973, the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo, or ban, on shipping oil to the United States.  The resulting shortage resulted in high oil prices, which in turn drove inflation even higher. During Nixon’s first few years in office, unemployment and inflation rose, and federal spending proved difficult to control.  In response, Nixon turned to the practice of deficit spending, or spending more money in a year than the government receives in revenues.  He also imposed two price freezes lasting several months each. Under Nixon’s New Federalism, states were asked to assume greater responsibility for the well-being of their citizens, taking some of this responsibility away from the federal government.

    Kissinger admired the European political philosophy of realpolitik, or practical politics.  Under this policy, nations make decisions based on maintaining their strength rather than on moral principles. Nixon and Kissinger’s greatest accomplishment was in bringing about détente, or a relaxation in tensions, between the United States and these Communist nations. Nixon viewed arms control as a vital part of his foreign policy.  Although he had taken office planning to build more nuclear weapons, Nixon came to believe that achieving balance between the superpowers was a better strategy than an increasing nuclear arms race. In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT.  In this treaty, both nations agreed to freeze the number of certain types of missiles at 1972 levels.

In March 1972, a group within the Committee to Reelect the President made plans to wiretap the phones at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C.  This group was led by E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. The group’s first attempt failed.  During their second attempt on June 17, 1972, five men were arrested.  The money they carried was traced directly to Nixon’s reelection campaign, linking the break-in to the campaign. The break-in and the coverup which resulted became known as the Watergate scandal.

    At the trial of the Watergate burglars in early 1973, all the defendants either pleaded guilty or were found guilty. Judge John J. Sirica, presiding over the trial, was not convinced that the full story had been told.  He sentenced the burglars to long prison terms, suggesting that their terms could be reduced if they cooperated with upcoming Senate hearings on Watergate. During the Senate hearings, Alexander Butterfield, a former presidential assistant, revealed the existence of a secret taping system in the President’s office. The taping system had been set up to provide a historical record of Nixon’s presidency.  Now it could be used to show whether or not Nixon had been involved in the Watergate coverup. In an effort to demonstrate his honesty, in May 1973 Nixon agreed to the appointment of Daniel Ellberg for the Watergate affair.  A special prosecutor works for the Justice Department and conducts an investigation into claims of wrongdoing by government officials.

    A crisis- filled years of assassinations, antiwar protest, and violence polarized the country in 1968. Richard Nixon was determined to maintain his power at all costs. Nixon’s main interest was in foreign affairs, where he made significant changes. Richard Nixon was willing to use presidential power to do whatever was necessary to remain in the White House.