“ Learning to Lead our Lives ”

1. “Learning to Lead our Lives” Nixon and Reagan; who was the more successful President? Skill: Historical Enquiry. NGfL: USA All images/ cartoons are believed to be in the public domain. Many of the images were sourced from the internet encyclopaedia wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org

2. What makes a good President? Democrat President John F. Kennedy What qualities did he possess?

3. Who was the better Republican President? Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan

4. Task: Who was the better Republican President?

5. How successful was…Richard Nixon? Nixon was elected Republican President for the first time in 1968. He won the election by wining support from the middle classes, promising to restore ‘law and order’ and ‘bring the GIs home’ from the war in Vietnam. 4th May 1970: Anti-war protest at Kent State University. Hundreds of students wanting to protest threw stones at the National Guardsmen. They fired without warning at the crowds and shot 4 students dead. This provoked a mass wave of protests at universities across the whole of America. 2 more students died after being shot by the National Guard. www.47ipsd.us

6. How successful was…Richard Nixon? 1972: The SALT Talks. There had been talks before, but these were a breakthrough! The USA promised to accept Communism as a system of government and promised to increase trade with communist countries. America agreed to supply cheap grain to the USSR. The USA agreed to recognise East Berlin as a communist nation, in return the USSR would recognise East Berlin’s security. Nixon’s achievements with Communist nation China. China had heavily supported the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. Nixon referred to them as ‘Red China’. Surprisingly as part of the diplomatic revolution, Nixon announced he would visit China in 1972. This was a landmark move. Nixon visited all the tourist attractions and said iit was like ‘going to the moon’. His visit helped the SALT talks.

7. How successful was…Richard Nixon? Nixon hated Communism. Yet as president he started friendlier relationships with Communist countries like China and the USSR. Nixon understood that in a nuclear war there could be no winners, and he could not defend the USA or protect the people if nuclear war started. America had been defeated in Vietnam. Nixon opened links with Communist China and began US-Soviet nuclear arms control, which bought about a relaxation of tension in the Cold War – ‘Détente’. Nixon came up with a new foreign policy: ‘diplomatic revolution’, trying to limit Communist expansion and the arms race. China and the USSR cooperated. They too had their own problems and could not continue to afford a costly Cold War. They had been arguing with each other, and had become more hostile and fearful.

8. How successful was…Richard Nixon? Nixon attempted to bring peace to Vietnam by starting peace talks. He promised to withdraw troops but increase military support, a policy called ‘Vietnamisation’. But secretly he was ordering heavier bombardment of the North Vietnamese. He even allowed the fighting to spread to neighbouring states, including Cambodia. In 1973 Nixon did manage to bring about a ceasefire between the North and South Vietnamese troops. Nixon started moving troops out but promised that GIs would return if the ceasefire was broken. In 1972 the War Powers Act was passed. This ensured that all future Presidents must justify sending soldiers to war within 30 days. In 1975 the North Viet Cong launched a massive invasion of the the south. Nixon refused to help and the South was quickly conquered. All of Vietnam was now Communist. The US had failed to contain Communism. The Vietnam War was America’s first military defeat. 58156 GIs had been killed. Over 300,000 men had been inured, of which 100,000 had lost at least one limb.

9. How successful was…Ronald Reagan? Reagan’s background  Reagan had been a popular actor in the 1940s and 1950s – before James Dean and other youth role models came on the scene He had then been Governor of California and criticised the hippy movement He had extremely conservative views – he believed in the importance of respect and the family He was a smooth and confident speaker – both in public and to individuals www.ronaldreagan.com

10. How successful was…Ronald Reagan? Reagan himself was a fierce anti-Communist, believing the USSR was the ‘evil empire’. He believed that the only way to counter the Soviet threat was to ensure the USA was militarily as strong as possible. In 1980, Reagan said: “We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.” • What Reagan promised and did • Reagan promised massive tax cuts which he delivered between in his first term of office (1981-1985). The American government became bankrupt, but individual Americans supported his tax cuts.

11. How successful was…Ronald Reagan? Reagan and Gorbachev www.wikipedia.org • In the early 1980s Reagan supported anti-Communist movements around the world. He gave money to the Contras in Nicaragua. Strictly speaking this was illegal, so Reagan found the money by selling weapons to Iran. This was politically explosive, since at the time the US was supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. • Reagan massively increased defence spending in order to deal with the threat from the Soviet Union. He embarked upon a project called ‘Star Wars’ where American missiles would shoot down Soviet nuclear missiles in space. This could have increased tension with the Communist country, but the Soviets could not afford to develop their own defences. Instead, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to reduce the numbers of Soviet missiles.

12. How successful was…Ronald Reagan? Speaking in front of the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987 Ronald Reagan challenged reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, exclaiming: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

13. “Learning to Lead our Lives” Nixon and Reagan; who was the more successful President? lesson 7 part II Skill: Evaluation NGfL: USA

14. What do you think is happening in this picture? Richard Nixon departs from the White House before Gerald Ford was sworn in as President Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives and Records Administration

15. Nixon and the Watergate Scandal In 1972 there was another Presidential election which Nixon wanted to win. The Republicans were very popular and looked likely to get the majority in Congress. On the 17th June 1972 important officials working for Nixon broke into the headquarters of the Democrats, to ‘bug’ the office. Nixon claimed he had no prior knowledge of this break in. The Democrats were outraged and called it ‘political espionage’.

16. Nixon and the Watergate Scandal Nixon did not take this issue seriously in the run up to the election, thinking he could ‘sweep it under the carpet’. He won the election. However, as Nixon attempted to ‘cover up’ this problem, information was leaked to the American newspapers who turned it into a scandal. It emerged that Nixon paid 1 million dollars to try to quieten the burglars. Nixon was using his Presidential power for his own personal gain. He tried to stop the police and even Congress from investigating the issue. But the newspapers still exposed new allegations. Eventually US Senate (the highest court in the land) investigated, taking witness statements. This was shown on TV!

17. Nixon and the Watergate Scandal Nixon denied publicly that there was ‘no whitewash at the Whitehouse’ in April 1973, promising his public that he was innocent of any cover up. But, evidence to prove him guilty was found by Senate. The Watergate tapes! These tapes recorded conversations between Nixon and members of his staff in meetings, proving that Nixon was trying to cover up the burglary. He used foul language I the meetings, and sounded more like a powerful gangster than a President. Nixon clearly thought he was ‘above the law’. Demands were made by newspapers ant the public that the Senate should impeach Nixon. He resigned in August 1974, the first American President to ever resign. The Watergate Scandal had a bad effect on American politics. The American public had lost faith in their government, and it was clear that the President had too much power at this fingertips.

18. The Washington Post • Write a news article from the point of view of Bob Woodward and karl Bernstein, journalists who originally broke the Watergate Scandal to the public. • You should include paragraphs about: • What it was, Who was involved • Where and When it took place • Why • The effects of the Watergate Scandal • You can quote the President, or a Democrat…

19. ‘Countdown’ Conundrums Republican Watergate Star wars swrarats hmiepac egweattra cinbpeurla Impeach