Ballston spa high school advanced Placement United States History spring semester january 2012

Chapter #39: The Stalemated Seventies – Big Picture Themes

2. Nixon was brought down by the Watergate Scandal. The scandal involved a break-in and mic bugging at the Democratic headquarters. Nixon got into trouble for “obstructing justice” and telling people to keep quiet about it.

3. Jimmy Carter was elected as a Washington outsider. He struggled as president with (a) the economy which took a nose-dive and (b) foreign affairs as he was unable to deal with U.S. hostages taken in Iran.

4. Though times were certainly not bad, mixed with the Watergate scandal, it was a decade without tremendous progress.

Spiro Agnew

Know: Productivity, Inflation

1. Describe the economic problems faced by the United States in the 1970s.
Nixon "Vietnamizes" the War

Know: Liberal Establishment, Vietnamization, Silent Majority, Nattering Nabobs of Negativism, My Lai

2. What was President Nixon’s plan for getting the US out of Vietnam?
Cambodianizing the Vietnam War

Know: Cambodia, Kent State University, Twenty-sixth Amendment, Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg

3. What developments caused many people to become even more critical of the war in 1970 and 1971?


Nixon's Detente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow

Know: Henry Kissinger, Détente, ABM Treaty, SALT Treaty, MIRVs

4. What was the “China Card,” and how did Nixon use it?


A New Team on the Supreme Bench

Know: Judicial Activism, Miranda, Engel v. Vitale, Warren Berger, Roe v. Wade

5. Why was Nixon unhappy with the Supreme Court?

Nixon on the Home Front

Know: Aid the Families with Dependent Children, Reverse Discrimination, Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, Silent Spring, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Southern Strategy

6 How conservative was President Nixon? Explain.


The Nixon Landslide of 1972

Know: George McGovern

7. How did the situation in Vietnam help Nixon win a landslide in the 1972 election?

The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act

Know: Pol Pot, War Powers Act

8. What did Cambodia have to do with the War Powers Act?

Bombing North Vietnam to the Peace Table

9. "The shaky `peace' was in reality little more than a thinly disguised American retreat." Explain.

Know: OPEC

10. Explain the cause and effects of the Arab Oil Embargo.


Watergate and the Unmaking of a President

Know: Watergate, CREEP, Enemies List, Plumbers, John Dean, Executive Privilege, Spiro Agnew, Gerald Ford, Saturday Night Massacre

11. Of what wrongdoing was the Nixon administration guilty?


The First Unelected President

12. Did President do the right thing when he pardoned Nixon? Explain.

13. What was the cost (not in just money) of the Vietnam War?

Know: Title IX, ERA, Roe v. Wade

15. Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail?