Limits of a Superpower 1969-1980: Chapter 29 AMSCO

Questions 1-3 ref er to the excerpt below.

"Unlike some anticommunists ... I have always believed that we can and must communicate and, when possible, negotiate with Communist nations .... "There were, however, a few things in our favor. The most important and interesting was the Soviet split with China .... "It was often said that the key to a Vietnam settlement lay in Moscow and Peking rather than in Hanoi. . .. Aside from wanting to keep Hanoi from going over to Peking, Moscow had little stake in the outcome of the North Vietnamese cause, especially as it increasingly worked against Moscow's own major interests vis-a-vis the United States. While I understood that the Soviets were not entirely free agents where their support for North Vietnam was concerned, I nonetheless planned to bring maximum pressure to bear on them in this area."

-Richard Nixon, RN: Memoirs of Richard Nixon, 1978

Which of the following best explains why Nixon's foreign policy was a departure from the previous administrations'?

• He was the first president willing to negotiate with Communist leaders.

• He was willing to use massive bombing to force an issue.

• He turned over his foreign policy to his national security adviser.

• He exploited that Communism was not a unified world movement.

Nixon's bold move to open up relations with Communist China was helped most by

• The support of the Communist leaders in the Soviet Union.

• His long history of being a hard-line opponent of communism.

• Mao Zedong's belief that the Cultural Revolution had failed.

• His belief that Americans trusted China more than the Soviet Union.

Which of the following was Nixon able to negotiate as a result of his new relationship with China?

• Withdrawal of Chinese troops from Vietnam.

• Autonomy for Poland in Eastern Europe.

• Freeze on the number of US and USSR ballistic missiles.

• A peace treaty between South and North Korea.

Richard Nixon claimed that "I am not a crook," but which of the following best explains his crime?

• Destroying evidence that was on the tapes.

• Covering up illegal activities of his reelection campaign.

• Firing the special prosecutors and his attorney general.

• Lying to the grand jury during the investigation

Which best explains the role of the tapes in Nixon's fall?

• Transcripts of the tapes were published in the newspapers.

• The tapes used in United States v. Nixon proved that he was lying.

• The tapes provided evidence that he was involved in the cover-up.

• The tapes turned his closest advisers against him.

Questions 6-8 refer to the excerpt below.

"Our people are losing faith, not only in government itself but in their ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. "We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the Presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate. "We remember when the phrase 'sound as a dollar' was an expression of absolute dependability, until ten years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. We believed that our Nation's resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil."

-Jimmy Carter, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, 1979

Which of the following would most strongly support Carter's contention in his phrase "we were taught that our armies were always invincible"?

• The secret expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by Nixon.

• The killing of protesters at Kent State and Jackson State Universities.

• The decision by newspapers to publish the Pentagon Papers.

• The defeat of South Vietnam by North Vietnam in 1975.

Why might Carter and historians consider 1973 a turning point in Americans' confidence in the economy?

• Nixon devaluated the dollar by taking it off of the gold standard.

• Nixon imposed a wage and price freeze to fight inflation.

• The OPEC oil embargo caused runaway inflation and loss of jobs.

• President Ford would not take strong measures to fight inflation.

"Our people are losing faith, not only in government itself but in their ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. "We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the Presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate. "We remember when the phrase 'sound as a dollar' was an expression of absolute dependability, until ten years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. We believed that our Nation's resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil."

Which of the following best identifies the effect of the speech from which the above excerpt is taken?

• Consumers increased their efforts to conserve energy.

• Americans blamed Carter for weak and ineffective leadership.

• Carter increased his approval ratings with his honesty.

• The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to support the President.