Policies of Richard Nixon 1969 to 1974
Richard Nixon Born in Yorba Linda, California Graduated from Duke University School of Law Republican and strong anti-communist Served in the United States Navy during World War II 1947 to 1950, served as US House of Representatives from California 1950 to 1953, served as United States Senator from California 1953 to 1961, 36 th Vice President of the United States for Dwight D. Eisenhower 1969 to 1974, 37 th President of the Untied States
Détente Period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union during the early 1970s First move towards international Détente were made by Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany with the Moscow Treaty of 1970 Moscow Treaty of 1970- The German city of Bonn recognized the territorial adjustments of World War II and renounced German territorial claims in the East The Moscow summit produced a document on Basic Principles of US- Soviet Relations The two governments agreed to work for the peaceful resolution disputes and the reduction of tensions in various areas Conference on European Security at Helsinki, Finland Resulted in agreements between the Warsaw Pact (mutual defense treaty between communist states in Eastern Europe) and NATO groupings to ratify European status quo Produced accords on human rights, which became a standard by which public opinion judged repressive regimes internationally
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) Cooperative research, between the United States and the Soviet Union in a variety of areas such as, space exploration and expanded commerce Abolishment of nuclear weapons would be impossible, limiting the development of both offensive and defensive strategic systems would stabilize US- Soviet relations Over the next two and a half years, the two sides haggled over whether or not each nation should complete their plans for ABMs; verification of a treaty; and U.S. concern that the Soviets continued to build more Submarine- Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs). Concluded in Moscow in 1972 and limited the deployment of antiballistic missile defense to two sites, one in the capitals of both of the countries.
SALT I ABM Treaty limited strategic missile defenses to 200 interceptors each and allowed each side to construct two missile defense sites, one to protect the national capital, the other to protect one ICBM field SALT Treaty was approved by Congress in the summer of 1972, it was a three-year commitment the sale of grain to the Soviet Union Allowed for grain dealers to buy large amounts of grain early on the spring from American farmers at depressed process and then gain profit when the soviets entered the grain markets late in 1972 Benefited American farmers Interim SALT agreement was a five-year agreement made that placed a limit on the number of missiles that each could deploy
Brezhnev Doctrine Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signaled to the Communist Party Congress Soviet interest in an arms control agreement with the United States President Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I Brezhnev, in Moscow, May 1972 Goals to increase trade and decrease danger of nuclear warfare Nixon and Brezhnev signed seven agreements covering the prevention of accidental military clashes
Opening of China There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation. Richard Nixon, after his election in 1968, pushed for better relations with China despite historical tensions and hostilities. Bring China into the community of nations to create more balanced power in the East February 21,1972 Nixon travelled to China seeking to improve relations with a Communist country US became the first to be interested in having political and economic ties to China in the 19 th century United States has an open-trade policy with China, goods can be traded freely between the two countries
Impact on American Military Withdrawal from the Vietnam quagmire would provide the opportunity to modernize the forces, upgrade the caliber of the men and women serving, and reorient the military toward new missions. The administration went ahead with a new generation of strategic submarines (the Trident program) and increased funding for strategic forces by 15 percent the year after SALT I was concluded. But it also reduced the size of the armed forces from 3.5 million to 2.3 million, withdrew units from several Asian nations, cut the army from nineteen to thirteen divisions and the marines from four to three divisions, ended the draft, and reduced the number of ships in the navy and wings in the air force. The military was ordered to prepare for one major war and one minor war, rather than for two major wars and one minor war, as in the Kennedy and Johnson years.
Watergate Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon s reelection campaign, and they had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. While historians are not sure whether Nixon knew about the Watergate espionage operation before it happened, he took steps to cover it up afterwards, raising hush money for the burglars, trying to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from investigating the crime, destroying evidence and firing uncooperative staff members. In August 1974, after his role in the Watergate conspiracy had finally come to light, the president resigned. His successor, Gerald Ford, immediately pardoned Nixon for all the crimes he committed or may have committed while in office. Although Nixon was never prosecuted, the Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leadership and think more critically about the presidency. Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974
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