•Should a president be able to keep secrets from the American public? Or should there be such thing as “Executive Privilege”?

•Had an appeal to middle America

•One of the key’s to Nixon’s victory was his southern support

•Nixon, used his “Southern Strategy” to take away votes from his rival Humphrey

•Nixon wanted to dismantle old programs he deemed as having too much federal control

•Wanted to give more power back to the states and local governments

•He called his program, New Federalism

•His argument was to let the agencies that were closest to the citizens be given the opportunity to address their issues

•Among these changes, Nixon developed the idea of revenue sharing

• In which, states and local governments are granted access to funds

•Although, the idea was grant the states more power, it had an opposite affect

•As states became more dependant on Federal funding,

•They were forced to accept new government conditions on the funding

•Despite all of his changes, Nixon was recalled as a president with little domestic interests

•Nixon was very concern with America’s position on a global scale

• In a controversial move he selects,

•Henry Kissinger as his national security advisor

•Kissinger was a former Harvard professor

•Kissinger, a Jew, had fled Nazi Germany as a child to the United States

•Although when he took office, Kissinger was outranked, he would soon assume power

•He would shape Nixon’s foreign policy

•Nixon wanted to find a exit to Vietnam and bring an end to bi-polar world of Communism and non-Communism

•However, Nixon was very much an anti-communist, so he created his approach called, DÉTENTE

•Which means a relaxation of tensions

• However, just as Johnson before him, all of his work in the white house would be overshadowed by one event, Watergate Scandal

• The scandal originated from the Nixon administration's attempts to cover up the involvement in a break in

• The Watergate Hotel housed the Democratic National Committee headquarters

• As the election loomed in 1972 Nixon was seeking every advantage he could

• Even though his ratings were good, he was still unpopular from the Vietnam war

• Nixon was so consumed with his opponents, he even complied an “enemies list”

• It was filled with politicians to media, all of who he considered a threat to his presidency

• Nixon claimed executive privilege- that White House conversations should be private

• As word got out about the break it was discovered that one of the members involved was not an ex-CIA agent, but was working for reelection group

• As questions continued, documents were burned, false testimony was provided to investigators

• While he may not have ordered the break in, Nixon did order the CIA to stop the FBI investigation

• His justification was that the investigation could threaten national security

• The White House claimed it was a 3rd party break in

• The strategy worked, most Americans believed Nixon

• Nixon would even go on to be reelected

• However, in 1973 the wheels came off and Nixon will be the first president to resign his post as president

• In 1973, Nixon’s Vice President was forced to resign for taking bribes

• Gerald Ford is named Vice-President

• Nixon had taped conversations in the White House

• Once the committee got a hold of the unedited tapes it was over for Nixon

• The House voted to impeach Nixon on Presidential misconduct

• Rather than be impeached, Nixon resigns as president

• With Nixon’s resignation Ford Will become President

• Ford will urge America to put Watergate behind them

• However, the effects of the scandal will last long after Nixon’s resignation

• He avoids impeachment, or charging him with presidential misconduct

• Watergate led to Federal Campaign Amendments, limiting campaign contributions

• Ethics in Government Act required the financial disclosure of officials

• Overall the American public was left with a deep distrust

•Most Americans considered Ford to be decent and honest

•Bland, not an exciting or dynamic president

•Ford pardons Nixon “for the good of the nation”

•Approval Ratings drop from 71% to 50%

•Ford had to inherit the inflation, rising cost of goods from the Nixon era

•Then a new issue of “stagflation” costs go up and economy goes no where

•He attempts to revive the economy by keeping taxes low, cut government spending, and balancing a budget

•Foreign policy, his only major event: signing the Helsinki Accords

•These were agreements made with the Soviets about Europe

•With the economy failing, rising inflation and unemployment political turmoil around the world, Americans would turn to a new president in 1976