not getti ngJ.fairdeal. likeblackAmerica ns. Hut
beforeKenn ed ycoulddoJ.11theseth ing shewas sho t
and k illed.Thishappenedwhileh e wasdriving
th ro u g hthestreetsofDallasinNovember 1% 3.
LyndonU.Johnson(1% 3- 9)tookoverfrom
KennedyasPresident.JohnsonhadbeenKennedy's
Vice President .Hehadspentyearsas amemberof
C o n gr ess, makingpoliticalfriendsandwinning
influe n cethere,I Icusedthisinfluence:tospeedup
Kenn ed y 's plans forreform.Oneofhi s first actions
wastopersuadeCongressto passKenn ed y 'sp lan to
Impro ve thepositionofAmericanblacks. In 1 %4
rhisbecame lawastheC ivi l Rig hts Act.Johnsonalso pro misedtheAmerican people a .. "var
0 11pover ty ;"I I c set up systemsofhealthcarefor the
elderly(Medicare)and forth epoo r (Me dic aid).l ie
also increasedfederal aidtoeducation.l i t' saidthat
he w ant edto tu rntheU nit edStatesinto" thegre at
so ciet y"-; 1 count ryw hereeveryonereceivedfair and
decenttrearm cn r.
llmJ o hn so nhimselfcausedhisplansto fail. Inthe
lata 1960s heinvolvedth eU n itedStatesmo reand
more:deeplyinwarinVietnam.Theh ug ecostofth e
warforcedJohnsontogiveupmanyofh is plan sfo r
improvements.Riotsandprotestsflared up allover
thecountry- againstthewar,agains tpoVCrty,
against continuingracialinjustice.
B y 1% 8tilt'A merican peoplewerebitterlydivide d.
M an y blamedjohnsonfo r thecountry'sproblems.
Hebecamesounpopularthathedecidednoteven to
trytogetre-elected.In 1969he ga"·t'u pthe
Pr esid en cy andretired.
Ric hard N ixon (1969-74) was elected to take
J oh nso n 's place asPr esident.N ixonwasa
Rep ub lica n .lie"vas much lessinterest edth an
Kenne dy and johnso n in help in gthepoor. The
g ove rn me ntwaspaymgomm or ethanenough
money 011 welfareschemesalread y ,he said.I Ic
believedthatpeopleshouldovercomeh ard sh ipby
th eirowneffo rts.
InNovember1972.th eAmericanpeoplere-elected
Nixon.Themamreason fo r thiswasth atbyth enhe
wasclosetogettingtheUnitedStatesoutofthe
hatedwarIIIVietnam.A cease-fi rewasfinallysigned
in j.anuary1973. Arrangementsweremadefor all
A mericanfighnngmentocome ho m e.The
Americanpeoplefdtahugesenseofrelief
110
TheWatergateaffair
OnthenightofJune17,1972,po lice inWashington
arres ted five burglars. Theycaughttheburglars
in sid eth eD em o crati cParty'sn ation alheadquar ters
intheWaterga teo ffice bu ild ing ,Journa listso nthe
Washj",~rol/POSIn ewsp apersta rtedtolook int o the
b urglary ,They disco vered thattheburgla rshad
beenpaidto stea lin fo rmationtodi scred itPresident
N ixon'sDem ocraticopponents.
InFebruar y1973 ,th e Senat e set u p a com mitteeto
lookintotheWat er g.ateaffair. Its m ccnngs were
b ro adcastlive on televisio n. D ay b y d ayviewers
watched th e committe e uncover a netwo rkoflies
and dishonestyatthe veryheart o f th e nation's
govermllt'nt. Nixonvowedtime andt ime again
thatItt'hadkn o w nnot hing abo u t th eWat er gate
break-in , Umas thein vesti gano ns "vent0 11,fewer
and fewer people believedh im. Man y began[0
dem andthat he sho u ldbeImpeached for misu sm g
h is po wer sasPr esident.
T he end camein Au gu st1974. Ataperecord ing
m adeinNixon's officeprovedthathe hadknown
allabouttheWaterga teaffair. His im peachment
andevenimprisonmen tnowseemedcertai n. To
avoid th is, Nixon resig ne d as Pres ide nt ofthe
United States part way thr o ug h his term o f
officc -.the firstman evertodoso.
T o man y people at homeandabroadtheWat er g at e
affairseemed to sho w d earl ythatthe A merican
political syste mbadgonerotten .Bu rit waspans
ofthat very system - th e new spap t'rs, th e law
courts,th eCongress-whichbroug htthe misdeeds
ofthe Presidentan d his adviser sto lig ht. T h ey
showed thatnoteventhehi gh estinth e la ndw as
abo ve the law.
Iro n ically, it wasNixonhimsd fwho perhapsbest
su m med u pthisaspectofth eWat crg at e affair.
Sho rtlybefo rehis resignatio nhe said:
"Some peoplewillsaythatWat er g ate dem o n-
strates thebank ru p tcyofth e A m eri can system. I
believe precisely th e op pos ite is true.Water gate
represen ted a series ofillegal acts, It w as the
system thatbrough t thesefact s tolift'and th atwill
bring thoseg uiltytoj ust ice,"