Standard 25The student will describe changes in national policies since 1968.

A

The Nixon Presidency

Richard Nixon is credited with opening relations with China.

He reduced many trade restrictions between the U.S. and China, and silenced anti-China voices within the White House.

In February 1972, President and Mrs. Nixon traveled to China.

Watergate The term Watergate has come to

encompass an array of illegal and secret activities undertaken by the Nixon administration.

The activities came to light in the aftermath of five men, known as the Plumbers, being caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972.

The Washington Post picked up on the story, while reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an FBI informant known as "Deep Throat" to link the men to the Nixon White House.

Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974

American Attitudes Toward the Government Sour

Because of Watergate, and the ensuing cover-up, America’s view of the government started to sour.

People began to view the government as corrupt and untrustworthy.

The Ford Presidency Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.

was the 38th President of the United States.

He took over after Richard Nixon resigned.

Ford pardoned Nixon of all transgressions.

He presided over what were then the worst economic times since the 1930s.

Ford survived two assassination attempts.

He is viewed as a highly ineffective president.

Richard Nixon wasA. A president who took a hard-line military stance against

the Chinese and enthusiastically supported civil rights legislation.

B. The first president to publicly recognize communist China and eventually resigned due to a scandal.

C. The only man ever to serve as both president and vice president without being elected to either office.

D. A former governor of Georgia who went on to become president and improve relations with communist nations.

Watergate is remembered as an important event in US history because itA. Resulted in only the second presidential

impeachment in history.

B. Nearly destroyed the Reagan presidency.

C. Forced a US president to resign in disgrace.

D. Ended the political career of Lyndon Johnson.

Watergate badly damaged citizens’ confidence inA. The Constitution.

B. The power of Congress.

C. The executive branch.

D. The media.

B

Roe v. Wade

The case resulted in a landmark decision regarding abortion.

Most laws against abortion in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

University of California v. Bakke

It was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on affirmative action.

It bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of affirmative action programs giving equal access to minorities.

A pregnant woman had the right to get an abortion in any state due toA. The Equal Rights Amendment.

B. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Regents of UC v. Bakke.

C. SDI.

D. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade.

C

The Carter Presidency

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the 39th President of the United States.

The Camp David Accords, one of Carter's most important accomplishments as President, were a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

Iranian Issues The Shah of Iran had been a strong

ally of the United States. The Iranian Revolution broke out in

Iran and the Shah was overthrown. Carter granted the Shah entry and

temporary asylum for the duration of his cancer treatment.

In response to the Shah's entry into the U.S., Iranian militants seized the American embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage.

Although the release of the hostages was negotiated and secured under the Carter administration, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, moments after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President.

Jimmy Carter was praised for which of the following?A. Watergate

B. His handling of the Iranian Hostage Crisis

C. The Camp David Accords

D. Instituting WIN

A good campaign strategy for Jimmy Carter in 1980 would have been to focus onA. Camp David Accords.

B. Iran Hostage Crisis.

C. State of the economy.

D. SALT II.

D

The Reagan Presidency Ronald Wilson Reagan was the

40th President of the United States.

"Reaganomics“, Reagan’s economic plan, were an example of supply-side economics. Reagan gave tax cuts to the

wealthy in the hopes that they would pass the wealth down. Also known as “trickle-down

economics”. Reagan aimed to encourage

entrepreneurship and limit the growth of social spending, as well as to reduce regulation and inflation.

The national debt increased significantly

The Iran-Contra Scandal

The Iran-Contra affair was a political scandal in the United States which came to light in November 1986, during the Reagan administration, over an arms-for-hostages deal with Iran and funding for the Nicaraguan Contras.

Large modifications to the plan were conjured by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North.

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Reagan directly confronted the Soviet Union through a policy of "peace through strength," including increased military spending.

The Soviet Union attempted to keep pace with US military spending.

This attempt to keep pace led to the collapse of the communist economic system and the fall of the Soviet Union.

Although he was not in office when the Berlin Wall came down and the USSR dissolved, many citizens give credit for ending the Cold War toA. John F. Kennedy

B. Ronald Reagan

C. Richard Nixon

D. Jimmy Carter

Reagan’s economic plan once he took office was nicknamedA. “conservative money theory”

B. “Reaganomics”

C. “national debt”

D. “stagflation”

Which US president viewed the USSR as an “evil empire” that could not be trusted and therefore pursued a massive build up of US military forces?A. Gerald Ford

B. Jimmy Carter

C. Ronald Reagan

D. George W. Bush

A critic of Ronald Reagan would probably focus on which of the following?A. The end of the Cold War.

B. The state of the US economy from 1983 to 1988.

C. The Iran-Contra Scandal.

D. The state of the US military when Reagan left office.