Johnson and Nixonb discussion
open the file titled Johnson and Nixon, read the material and write a post on the following prompt: How does the presidency of Lyndon Johnson compare to that of Richard Nixon.
Johnson’s Great Society and the Nixon Presidency Lyndon Johnson’s platform, known as “The Great Society” was a reform program in the tradition of FDR’s New Deal. Declaring a “war on poverty,” his administration passed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. It created the Job Corps, which provided for education for small children, and established work-study programs for college students. He also pushed through passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After his victory over the conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964, Johnson pressed for further reforms. These included the Medicare Act (1965), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), and the Voting Rights Act (1965). Other programs provided support for the arts and for scientific research, highway safety, crime control, slum clearance, clean air and water, and the preservation of historic sites. Great Society Legislation: HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES ACT OF 1963 PREVENTION & ABATEMENT OF AIR POLLUTION (THE CLEAN AIR ACT) (1963) VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ACT OF 1963 INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK ACT (1964) CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 URBAN MASS TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 1964 FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY ACT OF 1964 CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT OF 1964 FOOD STAMP ACT OF 1964 WILDERNESS ACT (1964) NATIONAL ARTS CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1964 OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965 SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS OF 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965 PUBLIC WORKS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1965 DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT (1965) NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS & THE HUMANITIES ACT OF 1965 AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT (1965) HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965 CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF 1966 CHILD PROTECTION ACT OF 1966 NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT (1968) Nixon Presidency: Détente with Communism In the midst of his campaign against Vietnam, Nixon and his foreign policy advisor, Henry Kissinger, embarked on an epic diplomatic venture. They would deal with the governments of China and the Soviet Union separately. His policy towards communism was known as détente, which meant a relaxation of tensions, Nixon became the first American president to visit the People’s Republic of China in February of 1972. This was the first step in the normalization of diplomatic relations. He followed his visit to China by meeting with the Soviet leadership in Moscow in May. During a week of summit meetings with Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet officials, the United States and the Soviet Union reached a number of agreements, including the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), on May 26. The treaty limited the United States and the USSR to 200 antiballistic missiles each. This would be followed by SALT II, which banned the development of programs for new missiles (those with any key parameter 5% better than current missiles). It was signed in June of 1979 by Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan late in 1979 and the discovery of a Soviet combat brigade in Cuba, the Senate did not ratify SALT II, although both countries abided by it until 1986. The Economy under Nixon: The most serious issue Nixon faced was the high rate of inflation caused primarily by the high level of military spending during the Johnson administration and its refusal to raise taxes. Nixon balanced the 1969 federal budget, and the Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates. Yet prices continued to rise, and in 1970 Congress passed legislation giving the president power to regulate wages and prices. Even though Nixon was not in favor this legislation, he implemented it the following year. The second phase of his antiinflationary policies involved the creation of a pay board and a price commission to limit wage and price increases after the freeze ended. Inflation slowed but it did not stop. On other matters, Nixon did not pursue a rigidly conservative course. He proposed a bold plan for a minimum income for poor families, which alarmed his conservative supporters and failed to pass Congress. He also signed the Clean Air Act of 1970 as well as legislation creating the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet Nixon sought the support of southern conservative Democrats by pulling back on the federal government’s commitment to school desegregation and by appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court. The new Supreme Court) headed by chief Justice Warren E. Burger, was somewhat less liberal than its predecessor, but it did not mount a conservative counterrevolution. After his reelection and withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, Nixon set out to reduce the role of government in people’s lives, which brought him into conflict with liberals of both parties. In an effort to combat inflation, Nixon set a limit on federal spending, even refusing to spend funds Congress had already appropriated. This led critics to accuse him of leading an “imperial presidency.” Watergate: On March 19, 1973, James McCord, an employee of the Committee to Re-Elect the president (CREEP) and accused burglar, wrote a letter to Judge John Sirica revealing that high level Republican officials had prior knowledge of the break-in at the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972. Nixon denied the involvement of anyone in the White House. Yet soon after, however, Jeb Stuart Magruder, head of CREEP, and John W. Dean III, legal counsel to the president, admitted their involvement. Following these revelations, Nixon dismissed Dean. Most of the president’s closest advisers, including H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and Richard Kleindienst, subsequently resigned. Dean then charged that the president had participated in an attempted cover-up of the affair. Grand jury investigations and the findings of a Senate investigation headed by Sam Ervin of North Carolina revealed that the president had acted to obstruct investigations into the matter. Investigations also revealed that the president and his staff had abused the powers of their offices and orchestrated a vast array of illegal and unethical practices during the election campaign The Senate Watergate committee learned of the existence of tapes Nixon had made of White House conversations, which Nixon refused to surrender to the committee. This led to calls for his resignation, even impeachment. In response, Nixon appointed a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, to investigate the affair. He soon upset the president by seeking access to records, including the tapes. Before long, Nixon ordered that Cox be fired. Rather than dismiss Cox, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, resigned. Robert Bork, the solicitor general, carried out Nixon’s order, which outraged the public. Nixon named a new prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, and turned tapes over to Sirica; however, some of the tapes were missing, and an important section of another had been deliberately erased. In March 1974, a federal grand jury indicted Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and four other White House aides on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate investigations. Nixon was named as an “unindicted co-conspirator.” Nixon then released edited transcripts of the White House tapes to the press. Once the Judiciary Committee obtained the tapes, it became clear that the transcripts had excluded material adverse to the president. In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee, in televised proceedings, voted to adopt three articles of impeachment against the president, which included obstructing justice, abusing the powers of his office, and failing to comply with the committee’s subpoenas. On the eve of the debates, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to turn over 64 additional tapes to the special prosecutor, an order with which Nixon complied. The tapes proved conclusively that Nixon had been in on the cover-up from its earliest stages. Facing impeachment and conviction Nixon became first president to resign on August 9, 1974, Gerald Ford became president. Gerald Ford, a congressman from Michigan, had become vice-president in October of 1973, after the resignation of Nixon’s original vice-president, Spiro Agnew, who pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering. Shortly after taking office, Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he had committed in office
Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers
Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.
Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS
Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?
Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.
We write plagiarism Free Content
Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.
Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.
