24.1 nixon’s presidency. nixon at home new federalism attempted to give more power to the states...
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24.1 NIXON’S PRESIDENCY
NIXON AT HOME• New Federalism attempted to give more power
to the states & local govts.
• “revenue sharing” allows states and locals to choose how to spend federal govt. dollars
• Both liberals and conservatives opposed his Family Assistance Plan (FAP)
• Would require unemployed people to work, but would guarantee them govt. payments too.
NIXON AT HOME• With a liberal Congress, he increased Social
Sec., Medicare, Medicaid
• But cut other liberal programs that helped the poor, women, minorities
• His “law and order” politics appealed to middle class white voters…
• But sometimes involved illegal FBI and CIA actions
NIXON AT HOME• Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” flipped
conservative Democrats to the Republicans
• He allowed many conservative southern states to slow down the process of school desegregation
NIXON AT HOME• As Supreme Court Justices retired/died, he replaced
them with more conservative ones
• But they sometimes made liberal decisions• The “Swann” decision said districts could bus their
students across town to combat de facto segregation• For the most part, busing has been abandoned over
the years, highly unpopular
FIGHTING “STAGFLATION”• High inflation was caused
by high govt. spending
• High unemployment caused by increased foreign competition (“outsourcing jobs”)
FIGHTING “STAGFLATION”• OPEC (oil-rich countries)
cut off oil to us 1973-1974
• Price of gas went up 400%
• Nixon was unable to combat “stagflation”
NIXON ABROAD• Nixon and Kissinger decided to actually
start talking with Communist countries
• We shifted our focus towards powerful countries, not weak ones like Vietnam
• Overall, they worked towards détente, easing tensions with Commies
NIXON ABROAD• Nixon’s week in China in 1972 allowed us to
start creating business ties with them
• Also just improve “friendliness” (ping pong scene from Forest Gump, anyone?)
• Nixon’s visit to Moscow led to the SALT I treaty
• This limited certain types of missiles (but not the total # of nukes)