1. What is meant by the term “Nixonomics,” including wage and price controls? What was the overall effect of Nixon’s economic policies on the United States? Explain.
“ Nixonomics” is a term that refers to several economic policies that President Richard Nixon enacted as a part of the stimulus strategy to stabilize the economy of the US after taking over after the election. By all standards, they became a center of controversy among economists because they were extreme and contravened the traditional Republican policy approaches. According to Abrams & Butkiewicz, (2016) “Nixonomics,” is an umbrella term used to explain a series of economic policies undertaken by the Nixon administration to curb inflation, regulate wage and commodity prices and create employment as an economic recovery strategy. In terms of wage and price controls, it refers to a policy enacted giving the government control authority to regulate the wages of workers and the price of commodities in the US but it failed terribly (Abrams & Butkiewicz, 2016). However, other economic policies especially increasing government expenditure helped to improve the overall economy of the US albeit just temporary. After 1973, the inflation rate in the US increased tremendously.
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2. What was “Watergate” and how did it affect U.S. politics? Explain.
The Water Gate was a scandal involving a break-in to the Democratic Party National Offices based in Washington DC by a group of burglars composed of individuals with great skill and expertise on the security breach and electronic surveillance associated with President Richard Nixon and his close aides. The details of the break-in remain rather skewed and contradictory to date but the investigation made several conclusive points considered as reliable evidence that led to the scandal. First, the break-in was pre-planned as a part of an effort to keep secret details of mass public corruption and payoffs made to close associates of President Nixon that would ruin his re-election bid (Barberio, 2020). Second, the cover-up efforts by the implicated individuals in the top-secret documents revealed a pattern of abuse of public office and obstruction of justice by the Nixon administration. According to Barberio, (2020) t completely changed the politics of the US in that the electorate lost complete confidence and trust in their leaders. American politics took a new trajectory characterized by suspicion and mistrust between the leaders and voters. Public scrutiny of political candidates became a key element of the politics in the country.
3. Describe Nixon’s China Policy. What was its significance to the Cold War?
Nixon’s administration undertook several actions that marked the beginning of a new era of the America-China foreign relations. Crean (2019) observed that President Nixon, unlike his predecessors who had completely maintained diplomatic isolation with the country due to the country’s communist ties with Russia and other enemies of the US, renewed diplomatic ties with China. His policy included various bilateral agreements that opened commerce between the two countries and diplomatic collaboration of international matters. He lifted trade embargos of Chinese commodities and international movement of human capital between the two countries (Crean, 2019). As a result of these new policies, the Cold War between America and Russia took a very new turn in favor of the US. The USSR had long depended on the Chinese supported but as a result of the new America-China ties after the 7-day visit by President Nixon, they were weakened. Subsequently, the US won the cold war, and USSR was disintegrated.
4. What was the energy crisis? How did it come about and what was the U.S. response to it? Discuss.
The energy crisis of 1973 was a nationwide shortage of oil and petroleum products in the US that emerged as a result of an embargo imposed by Arab OPEC MEMBER countries as retaliation to the country’s military support to Israel. Cohen (2021) avowed that the Arab OPEC members perceived US actions to support Israel as an act of hostile action against them because, at the time, the border conflict between them and Israelis was at its peak. Also, there was the issue of non-partisan or active involvement by other foreign countries in the conflict which was violated in the process. The Nixon and James Carter administration took several measures to respond to the crises mainly focused on expanding the country’s alternative energy research and management fields (Cohen, 2021). The idea was to intensify research for new inventions and technological advancement of the use of other energy sources besides petroleum such as nuclear energy.
5. What was the Iranian Hostage crisis? How did this crisis reveal the foreign policy weakness of the Carter administration? Describe the circumstances surrounding the release of the hostages. What are some possible lessons that the United States could learn from this experience? Explain.
The Iranian hostage crisis was a political event that happened in 1979 whereby university students in Tehran subdued the security forces guarding the US Embassy in Iran and holding hostage 52 American diplomatic staff for a period of 444 days. The crisis created an international scene with Iranians and Americans equally throwing accusations at each over about covert operations designed to interfere with local and regional politics in the Middle East region (Jensehaugen, 2019). The extended period of the negotiation for the release of the hostages revealed various weaknesses in the Carter foreign policy including Refrainment from Military action with enemies of the US. Eventually, through the Algiers accord in 1981, all the hostages were released after the US agreed to the terms of unfreezing Iranian assets in the US and non-interference of Iranian or Middle East political affairs (Jensehaugen, 2019). The experience provided key lessons especially on foreign policy on the non-partisan involvement in local political affairs. Also, during negotiation with enemies of the state, the country must consider using all tools at their disposal including military action.
References
Abrams, B. A., & Butkiewicz, J. L. (2016). The political economy of wage and price controls: Evidence from the Nixon tapes. Public Choice , 170 (1-2), 63-78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-016-0381-0
Barberio, R. P. (2020). Nixon and Watergate. Presidents and Political Scandal , 39-57. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45504-0_3
Cohen, J. (2021). The first oil shock? Nixon, Congress, and the 1973 petroleum crisis. The Journal of the Middle East and Africa , 12 (1), 49-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520844.2021.1886501
Crean, J. (2019). “‘Nixon is with us on China’: Raging against the dying of the lobby”. The Journal of American-East Asian Relations , 26 (4), 368-396. https://doi.org/10.1163/18765610-02604003
Jensehaugen, J. (2019). A Palestinian window of opportunity? The PLO, the US and the Iranian hostage crisis. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies , 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2019.1661646
