Watergate

Facing Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress during his first term, Nixon wanted to win an overwhelming re-election victory in 1972 that would bring Republican congressional majorities. The Committee to re-elect the President launched a massive fun-raising campaign to collect money before contributions had to be reported under a new law.

Early in 1972, Nixon’s team proposed to tape the telephones of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C. The attempt failed. Five burglars were arrested in the Democratic National Headquarters. The administration decided to cover up its involvement. Nixon told the CIA to order the FBI to cease its investigations on the grounds that national security was at stake. The press, particularly the Washington Post, however, continued the investigation and found out that some members of the Nixon’s Cabinet were involved into the affair. Former Presidential Counsel, John Dean III, accused Nixon of involvement in the Watergate cover-up. The Democratic majority in the Congress instituted impeachment proceedings against Nixon. As the evidence of his involvement began to mount, he resigned on August 9, 1974.

Gerald Ford’s first priority was to restore trust in the government. Initially Ford enjoyed a great deal of confidence, but when he pardoned Nixon it quickly eroded.

In public policy Ford followed the course Nixon had set. He reached modest recovery, but the situation was still serious.

Jimmy (James Earl) Carter won presidency in 1976. He issued pardons to nearly 10,000 people who had evaded the military draft during the Vietnam conflict; launched an energy program which was to decrease the US’s dependence on foreign oil imports; arranged a meeting at Camp David between Israel’s Prime Minister Menachen Begin and Egypt’s Anvar Sadat in the fall of 1978. However, his success in this area of foreign policy was overshadowed by the tragedy of the Iranian hostage crisis where he failed to negotiate successfully.

In 1980 he lost election to Ronald Wilson Reagan. Born in Illinois, he achieved stardom as an actor in Hollywood movies and television before turning to politics. He was a figure of reassuarance and stability for many Americans.

Reagan believed that government intruded too deeply into American life. He pursued a program of deregulation.

A recession marked the early years of Reagan’s presidency, hitting almost all sections of the country. American rivals – Japan and Germany – won a greater share of world trade. Farmers suffered hard times. The number of farmers declined. The oil crisis contributed to the decline.

But all these events had one important benefit: it curbed the runaway inflation that had started during the Carter years.

By early 1984, the economy rebounded. The annual inflation rate remained between 3 and 5 % from 1983 to 1987, except in 1986 when it fell to just under 2%. From 1982 to 1987, the US economy created more than 13 million new jobs.

However, an alarming percentage of this growth was based on deficit spending. Under Reagan the national debt nearly tripled. The increased military budget – combined with the tax cuts and the growth in government health spending – resulted in the federal government spending for more than it received in revenues each year. However, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress refused to cut such spending. The deficit soared and the stock market crashed in 1987 what dramatized doubts about the stability of the economy.

In foreign policy President Reagan sought a more assertive role for the nation, for example, the US provided El Salvador with a program of economic aid and military training when a guerilla insurgency was threatening to topple its government. The Reagan administration tried to encourage an end to racial apartheid – the US Congress even imposed a set of economic sanctions on South Africa in 1986. Only in December 1988, American efforts were contributed.

In relations with the USSR, Reagan’s policy was one of peace through strength. He called the Soviet Union the “evil empire”. Two events increased US-Soviet tension: the suppression of the Solidarity labor movement in Poland in 1981, and the destruction of an off-course civilian airliner, Korean Airlines Flight 007, by a Soviet jet fighter in 1983. The USA also provided aid to the mujahidin resistance in Afghanistan.

Huge sums of money were spent on a massive defense building – SDI (the Strategic Defense Initiative), 1983.

After re-election in 1984, Reagan softened his rigid position on arms controls. Moscow sis the same and in November 1985, Reagan held a summit meeting with the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Geneva. In December 1987, President Reagan and General Secretary M. Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) providing for a destruction of a whole category of nuclear weapons.