Nixon Era, 1968-1974

Governing to the Right

1968 Presidential Election Electoral Vote

Nixon’s “Mandate”

Presidential Political

Candidate Party

Richard Nixon Republican 31,783,783 43.42% 301 55.95%

Hubert Humphrey Democratic 31,271,839 42.72% 191 35.50%

George Wallace American Ind. 9,901,118 13.53% 46 8.55%Other (+) - 243,258 0.33% 0 0.00%

 > 30% > 40% > 50% > 60%

 > 80%

Vice Presidential Popular Vote Electoral VoteCandidate

Spiro Agnew

Edmund Muskie

Curtis LeMay-

Map Key Turnout

Nixon’s 1968 “Mandate”

• A “Minority” President: 43% of Popular Vote

• George Wallace won 14% of popular vote and 5 Southern states on “states’ rights,” “anti civil rights” platform

• Nixon promised “peace with honor” in Vietnam

• But Congress was solidly Democratic

Nixon’s Political Challenge

• Extricating the United States from Vietnam• Working with the Democratic Congress• Addressing the emerging problems with the

slowing economy: unemployment, rising inflation and trade deficit caused by Johnson’s spending policies

• Defining a conservative domestic agenda on social welfare, civil rights, poverty, the environment, and law and order.

Securing A Republican Majority: Political Realignment

• The Republicans needed to draw voters away from the Democratic Party by identifying constituencies disaffected with the policies of the Kennedy/Johnson era.– The Southern Strategy to convert white

southern Democrats to the Republican Party– Working Class White Ethnics: convert labor

Democrats to Republicans– Suburbanites

The Demagogic Appeal to the “Silent Majority”

• Vice President Spiro Agnew attacked the “excesses” of sixties liberalism and radicalism, labeling opponents of Nixon’s policies: – "nattering nabobs of negativism," – "pusillanimous pussyfoots" – "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of

history"– "effete corps of impudent snobs"

Political Divide according to Nixon• Pro Nixon Voters: “The Silent Majority”

– the middle class, – blue collar workers– Sunbelt residents, – ethnics (e.g., white ethnics)

• The Opposition: – Advocates of “forced busing”– Hippies– “Welfare chiselers” – People “soft on crime”– Antiwar activists– Drug users– Advocates of sexual permissiveness

Political Practice

• Vietnam War– Escalation of the conflict with May 1970

Cambodian invasion– Change the selective service system to a lottery

system– Vietnamization of the fighting: e.g., reduce

American casualties– Punish the North Vietnamese into negotiating– Ignore antiwar protests

Political Practice

• Domestic: New Federalism– Replace “welfare” with a work incentive program,

“workfare” - not implemented– Revenue sharing: distribute federal revenue to state and

local governments rather than through federal programs– War on drugs: create the DEA– Promote environmental improvement, creating the

Environmental Protection Agency and laws to promote clean air, clean water, recycling, protection of wilderness and natural resources

Political Practice

• Civil Rights:– Enforce affirmative action, including in blue

collar trade unions – Title IX guaranteeing equality in sports in

educational institutions– Used the Justice Department to oppose busing

to desegregate schools. Courts continued to support desegregation, including using busing.

Political Practice

Rhetoric: Nixon appealed to conservative rhetoric, and used Agnew to mobilize the Republican ‘base’

Reality: He governed closer to the center, and compromised and supported Democratic initiatives. In return, he dampened the liberal thrust of the Kennedy/Johnson initiatives

Clouds on the Economic Horizon

• From 1945-1970 the US economy had unprecedented prosperity

• By 1970, the European and Asian economies devastated by WWII had “caught” up with the American economy, and had newer, more advanced technologies or production in many cases

• Johnson’s deficit spending on the Vietnam war undermined the U.S. dollar which had supported the international monetary system since 1945

Clouds on the Economic Horizon

• 1945: Bretton Woods agreement made the US the guarantor of world monetary stability by pegging the dollar to gold at $35 an ounce.

• By 1971, US could not sustain the system and went off the gold standard, effectively devaluing the dollar

1970

1969

1972 Presidential Election Electoral Vote

1976 Presidential Election Electoral Vote

1980 Presidential Election Electoral Vote

1968 1972

1976 1980