Unit 6 Lesson 6: The Nixion years

Question 1

During his presidential campaign, Richard M. Nixon said that he wanted to help what?

Answer 1

the silent majority

Question 2

Who were the Silent majority?

Answer 2

These Americans were disturbed by the unrest of the 1960s but did not protest publicly.

Question 3

True to his campaign promise, Nixon began a..

Answer 3

“law-and-order” program.

Question 4

What was the law and order program?

Answer 4

Federal funds were used to help local police departments. Nixon also named four conservative justices to the Supreme Court. They tended to favor dealing harshly with lawbreakers.

Question 5

Nixon inherited the space program from Kennedy and Johnson. Its greatest triumph came in 1969 just as Nixon took office. What happened in 1969?

Answer 5

In 1969, two astronauts landed a small craft on the moon’s surface. With millions of television viewers around the world watching, Neil A. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the moon

Question 6

During the Nixon years how was the econmoy? What is stagflation?

Answer 6

The economy suffered from stagflation, a combination of rising prices, high unemployment, and slow economic growth.

Question 7

What did Nixon do to halt inflation?

Answer 7

To halt inflation, Nixon froze wages and prices. To stimulate economic growth, he increased federal spending.

Question 8

Still, economic problems would not go away. What did increasing frderal spending do?

Answer 8

Increased federal spending caused federal budget deficits; that is, the government spent more than it received in revenues.

Question 9

How did an oil embargo affect to econmoy?

Answer 9

Early in Nixon’s second term, an oil embargo put added pressure on the economy. Higher energy prices caused the price of goods to rise even more

Question 10

How did Cambodia get dragged into the Vietamese war?

Answer 10

In 1969, Nixon ordered the bombing of communist bases in Cambodia. Then, American and South Vietnamese forces invaded by land. These moves helped plunge Cambodia into its own civil war between communist and noncommunist forces.

Question 10

How did the US show support to South Vietnam?

Answer 10

The United States continued to send large amounts of aid to South Vietnam. Even so, the South Vietnamese were unable to stop a North Vietnamese advance.

Question 10

How did the war come to an end?

Answer 10

Under pressure at home, President Nixon began to turn the war over to South Vietnam and withdraw American troops. Meanwhile, peace talks were held in Paris. In January 1973, the two sides reached a cease-fire agreement.
The next year, the last American combat troops left Vietnam.

Question 11

What happned to Vietnam in April 1975?

Answer 11

In April 1975, communist forces captured Saigon. They renamed it Ho Chi Minh City. Soon after, Vietnam was united under a communist government.

Question 12

Who was Khmer Rouge, what did he have to do with Cambodia?

Answer 12

That year, the communist Khmer Rouge (kuh MER ROOZH) won the civil war in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge imposed a brutal reign of terror on their own people. More than one million Cambodians starved to death or were killed.

Question 13

How many died due to the Vietnam war?

Answer 13

The Vietnam War was a costly conflict. More than 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives. Over 150,000 American soldiers were wounded, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers suffered lingering effects from the psychological stress of the war. More than one million Vietnamese soldiers and perhaps half a million civilians died. The war shattered the Vietnamese economy.

Question 14

Who were boat people?

Answer 14

After 1975, hundreds of thousands of people fled Vietnam and Cambodia. Refugees from Vietnam escaped in small boats. Many of these boat people drowned or died of hunger and thirst. Others made it to safety. Eventually, many were allowed to settle in the United States.

Question 15

How did the Vietnam war make people feel?

Answer 15

Besides its huge cost, the war produced no victory and divided the nation. Some returning soldiers faced protests, and many others came home without a welcome, a much different experience than soldiers who had returned from previous wars to the admiration of the American people. Vietnam left Americans wondering about how far the nation should go to fight communism.

Question 16

How did President Nixon move to ease world tensions.

Answer 16

His first move was to seek improved relations with the People’s Republic of China.

Question 17

How did Americans feeel about Mao Zedongs communsit governemnt in China?

Answer 17

Since 1949, the United States had refused to recognize Mao Zedong’s communist government in China. Instead, it recognized the Chinese Nationalists, now confined to the island of Taiwan. The United States gave arms and aid to the Nationalists and supported their claim to being the legitimate government of all China.

Question 18

How did Richard Nixion contrast Americans when it comes to China?

Answer 18

Richard Nixon had long been one of the most outspoken opponents of recognizing the communist government in China. As President, though, Nixon allowed secret talks with Chinese officials that led to new openings for the two countries.

Question 19

How did Nixon ease tensions with China?

Answer 19

Nixon then visited the People’s Republic of China in 1972. Television cameras captured the President walking along the Great Wall of China and attending state dinners with Chinese leaders. The visit was a triumph for Nixon and the start of a new era in relations with China. As tensions eased, the United States and China established formal diplomatic relations in 1979.

Question 20

As tensions with China eased Nixion formed…

Answer 20

As tensions eased, the United States and China established formal diplomatic relations in 1979.

Question 21

Why was Nixions trip to the Soveit Union so significant. (May 1972)? What did his trip do?

Answer 21

In May 1972, he became the first American President to visit the Soviet Union since the beginning of the Cold War. The trip was part of Nixon’s effort to reduce tensions between the superpowers. This policy was known as détente.

Question 22

What does Detente, Nixions policy mean?

Answer 22

A French word meaning “loosening,” détente represents an end to strained relations between countries.

Question 23

How did Detente help ease tensions?

Answer 23

Détente eased the tensions of the Cold War by establishing more trade and other contacts between the superpowers. It also led them to sign a treaty to limit the number of nuclear warheads and missiles. The treaty was known as the SALT Agreement. (SALT stands for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.)

Question 24

What was the SALT agreement?

Answer 24

to limit the number of nuclear warheads and missiles (SALT stands for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.)

Question 25

What was The Watergate Scandal of 1972?

Answer 25

On June 17, 1972, police caught five men breaking into Democratic party headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. The burglars were there to steal information about the Democrats by taking secret documents and wiretapping phones.

Question 26

How did the Watergate scandal intervere with Nixions reelection campinagin?

Answer 26

Watergate did not go away with Nixon’s reelection. The American people would learn that Nixon was indeed involved. After the break-in, he gave the spies money to keep quiet about his involvement and enlisted the CIA to obstruct the investigation.

Question 27

Tape recordings and Nixion?

Answer 27

Despite Nixon’s denials of involvement, a Senate committee began public hearings in May 1973. The hearings revealed that Nixon had made secret tape recordings of conversations in his office. Nixon refused to give the committee the tapes, knowing that the tapes would prove his guilt.

Question 28

How did the Watergate scandal lead to Nixion resigning?

Answer 28

A month later, on August 5, Nixon handed over the tapes that proved he and several close advisers had tried to cover up the truth about the Watergate break-in. Three days later, before an impeachment trial could begin, Richard Nixon became the first President to resign from office.