The Nixon AdministrationEnding the Cold War

1968 to 1974

Ending the Cold WarEssential Questions for the Unit1. Describe the success of the Nixon Administration. To what extent is his legacy ruined due to Watergate?

2. Describe the actions of the Ford and Carter Administrations. Which president achieved more domestically and internationally?

3. To what extent was Ronald Reagan responsible for the fall of the Soviet Union.

4. Discuss and analyze the key factors that led to the deterioration of the Soviet Union in 1991.

QUESTION.

Who were the Presidents that were involved in the Cold War that we have learned about so far?

Harry S TrumanDwight D. EisenhowerJohn F. KennedyLyndon B. JohnsonRichard Nixon

Gerald FordJimmy Carter Ronald Reagan

QUESTION.

Who were the Soviet Premiers that were involved in the Cold War that we have learned about so far?

Joseph StalinNikita Khrushchev

Leonid BrezhnevMikhail Gorbachev

QUESTION.

What theory justified the use and enforcement of containment?

What was the foreign policy of the United States, so far, during the Cold War?

Containment

Domino Theory

Election of 1968Review

Hubert Humphrey Richard Nixon George Wallace

Nixon and Agnew win

Nixon and Foreign Issues1. Befriending China2. Helping the Soviet Union

Befriending China

QUESTION.

Why would the United States want to become closer with the Chinese despite opposing Communism?

QUESTION.What is realpolitik?

A system of politics based on a country's situation and its needs rather than on ideas about what is morally right and wrong.

Henry Kissinger

China and the USSRSince the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Soviet Union and China did not get along. This relationship would shatter in 1963.

Why? (Think about what happened in 1962)

How could the Chinese see the Cuban Missile Crisis as a failure for the USSR?

China did not want to work with the west. Saw the USSR as weak.

USSR was open to working with the west. Wanted to deescalate the Cold War.

Befriending China

“In spite of its hardline, anti-West posture, China also welcomed opening lines of communication with the United States in order to develop an ally against the Soviet Union, whom [China] had come to distrust as much or more than it distrusted America.”

In February of 1972, President Richard Nixon became the first President to visit the People’s Republic of China.

"The Week That Changed The World"

Détente and the Soviet Union

“In May of 1972, just three months after his China visit, Nixon again had an opportunity to exercise his negotiating abilities…

[The USSR] approached Nixon about nuclear reduction talks, but [their] real agenda was that the USSR needed to purchase U.S. grain, and [they] were deeply concerned that the new U.S. - China relationship would leave Russia out in the cold.”

Détente and the Soviet Union

Nixon & Brezhnev

What came from Nixon’s trip to Moscow?1. $750 million deal on wheat, corn, and grain.2. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I).

However, the arms race would NOT end due to SALT I.

Détente and the Soviet Union

QUESTION.

What do we call this era of reduced tension between the west and the east?

Détente

South Vietnam was fallingThe Middle East was unstableCommunism was spreading to South America

Soon, the monumental Nixon/Kissinger team would fade from the scene and exit the world stage forever.

By 1974…

QUESTION.Why would the Presidency of Richard Nixon come to an end?