The Ford Presidency 1974-1977 “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” Gerald...

The Ford Presidency1974-1977 “My fellow

Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

Gerald Ford swearing in speech – August 9, 1974

The Ford Presidency1974-1977 Ford was

an affable man

First unelected president

The Ford Presidency1974-1977 A former

football player at the University of Michigan

Former member of the House

The Ford Presidency1974-1977 Ford served on the

Warren Commission that investigated the Kennedy Assassination

The Nixon PardonSeptember 8, 1974One of Ford’s first

actions, and his most controversial, was to issue a full pardon to Richard Nixon for any crimes he might have committed.

The Nixon PardonSeptember 8, 1974 I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United

States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution…do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

The Ford Presidency1975 Final U.S.

evacuation of South Vietnam – April 30, 1975

Saturday Night Live debuts with parodies of President Ford

The Ford Presidency1975 President Ford falling down the steps of

Air Force One

The Ford Presidency1975

President Ford standing over a women hit by one of his golf shots

The Ford Presidency1975-1976 Congress investigated the CIA (The

Church Committee) In the 1950’s it administered the drug

LSD on unsuspecting Americans to test its effects

Assassination plots against Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders

Introduction of African swine fever virus to Cuba in 1971 through anti-Castro rebels

The Ford Presidency1975-1976 Congress also investigated the FBI

Illegal surveillance of several hundred thousand American citizens

Tapped Martin Luther King’s private phone conversations, sent him fake letters and threatened him

The Ford Presidency1975-1976

These investigations were a product of the climate of mistrust created by Vietnam and Watergate (LBJ and Nixon)

They led to restraints put on the FBI and CIA that some have argued made us vulnerable to terrorist attack in years to come

The Ford Presidency1974-1977U.S. economy

experiencing high levels of inflation

Energy crisis - OPEC

Whip Inflation Now (WIN)

The BicentennialJuly 4, 1976

The BicentennialJuly 4, 1976

The Election of 1976

Ford held off conservative Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination

The Democrats selected a “Washington outsider”, James Earl Carter; the former Governor of Georgia; “Call me Jimmy”

Carter was a born-again Christian who vowed that he would never lie to the American people

The Election of 1976

The Election of 1976

The Carter Presidency1977-1981

StagflationHigh levels of Unemployment

AND InflationEnergy Crisis

Rising gas pricesThree-Mile Island

Near nuclear meltdown

The Energy Crisis of the 70’s

The Energy Crisis of the 70’s

The Carter Presidency1977-1981 The Panama Canal Treaty

U.S. vow to turn the Canal over to Panama in 2000

Camp David AccordsCarter brokers a peace agreement

between Egypt and Israel

Camp David Accords

The Carter Presidency1977-1981

Soviets invade Afghanistan – Dec. 24, 1979Détente endsU.S. boycotts 1980 summer

OlympicsOsama Bin LadenSoviet Union’s Vietnam

The Iranian Hostage CrisisNovember 4, 1979 – January 20, 1981

After a coup in 1953, the CIA reinstalled the government of Reza Mohammed Pahlevi – The Shah of Iran

The Shah was a U.S. ally that bordered the Soviet Union

The Iranian Hostage CrisisNovember 4, 1979 – January 20, 1981

Iran’s petrodollars ended up in the hands of the Shah and his allies and NOT the mass of Iranian people

He brutalized political opposition (secret police)

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

The Shah sought to modernize/westernize Iran and this met with opposition from Islamic fundamentalists

One of his leading opponents was the Ayatollah Khomeini

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

Khomeini represented Islamic fundamentalists who rejected the westernization of Iran

They viewed the U.S. as the embodiment of evil (The Great Satan)

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

In 1978, the Iranian people revolted against the Shah (The Iranian Revolution)

President Carter and the U.S. continued to support its long time ally

The Shah is forced to leave Iran

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

November 4, 1979 Iranian students

in Tehran storm the U.S. embassy and take Americans hostage

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

They hold these hostages for the

next 444 days

Massive anti-U.S. protests are held in the streets of Tehran

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

The protests and President Carter’s inability to do anything about it frustrated the American people

A botched rescue mission added to the frustration

The Reagan Presidency1981-1989Election of

1980 (November 4, 1980)

1 year anniversary of the hostage crisis

The Reagan Presidency1981-1989

Reagan called for an America with greater military power

Vowed we would not be humiliated as a superpower

Criticized budget deficits and the progressivism of the 60’s and 70’s

Election of 1980

The Reagan Presidency1981-1989 Reagan became the

oldest man ever to be elected president at age 69

On the day of his inauguration the hostages were released from Iran

In his inaugural speech he outlined his political philosophy

1st Inaugural AddressJanuary 20, 1981 “In this present crisis, government is not the

solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

“It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people.”

1st Inaugural AddressJanuary 20, 1981 “We are a nation under God, and I believe

God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.”

“Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes."

The Reagan Presidency1981-1989

The Reagan appealThe Great CommunicatorUpbeat, positive, patriotic in the

traditional senseSurvived and recovered from an

assassination attempt, two months in office, with great speed and great humor

The Reagan Presidency1981-1989 Reaganomics

Tax cuts Cut federal spending/programs Deregulation

Worst economic downturn since the Depression (1982) followed by the longest period of economic prosperity (to that time), 1983-1989 (low UE and low inflation)

Reagan Foreign Policy

Staunchly ant-Communist Referred to the Soviet Union as the Evil

Empire Lebanon and Grenada (1983-84)

220 U.S. Marines in Lebanon killed by two trucks lined with explosives

Within days, the Reagan administration launched a successful invasion of the island nation of Grenada (in Caribbean)

Grenada

The invasion was condemned by the United Nations but very popular in the U.S.

The U.S. was successfully exerting its military might again, in the name of freedom and democracy

Election of 1984

Reagan runs for re-election claiming it is morning again in America Economy back on track America flexing military

might Tax cuts

The Democrats nominate Carter’s VP, Senator Walter Mondale

Election of 1984

The Reagan PresidencySecond Term The

Challenger Disaster (January 28, 1986)

The Reagan PresidencySecond Term Reagan and

Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev

Negotiate historic arms reduction agreements

Iran-Contra Scandal (1987)

Despite a congressional law (Boland Amendment) forbidding it, the Reagan administration was funneling money to anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua (The Contras)

The money came from the sale of weapons to Iran (at war with Iraq) in exchange for Iran’s help in the release of American hostages in Lebanon

Iran-Contra Scandal

Oliver North worked for the NSC and was an ex-Marine coordinating this activity

He became a hero to some Americans for proudly proclaiming the illegal act, “a neat idea”

Iran-Contra Scandal

Throughout the process President Reagan claimed he had no memory of the events

A number of Reagan administration officials were convicted of crimes in relation to Iran-Contra

President Reagan was never officially implicated

The Reagan Legacy

The Reagan Revolution Conservative, anti-government The Religious Right

Budget Deficits Widening gap between rich and poor Contributed to the fall of communism

in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe