The liberation movements of youths, ethnic minorities, and women in the late sixties and early seventies, and their challenge to prevailing social norms
The change in Vietnam strategy under Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, to achieve "peace with honor" rather than outright victory
The foreign policy emphasis on a "multipolar" world in the diplomacy of Nixon and Kissinger, in forging a bold new relationship with China and seeking a détente with the Soviet Union through grain sales and arms reductions
The political and practical effects of Nixon's efforts to build a policy of less federal dominance of the states and more respect for traditional values, and his continued advocacy of welfare state programs
The growing economic problem of "stagflation" under Nixon and Ford, an economic malaise as much international as domestic in origin
The origins and evolution of the Watergate scandals, culminating in the resignation of Richard Nixon
A thorough study of Chapter Thirty should enable the student to understand the following:
The reasons for the rise of the New Left and the counterculture
The problems facing American Indians, Hispanics, and gays in the seventies, and the nature of their respective protest movements
The meaning of the New Feminism
The Nixon-Kissinger strategy for ending the Vietnam War, and the subsequent Paris peace settlement
The changes in American foreign policy necessitated by the new perception of the world as multipolar, particularly with regards to China and Russia
The ways in which the Supreme Court issued several liberal rulings and then in the Nixon years began a change to a more conservative posture
The reasons for the decline in the American economy in the early 1970s and President Nixon's reaction to the decline
The evolution of Watergate from an obscure hotel break-in to the first presidential resignation in American history
The varying historical interpretations of Watergate
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