American Politics from Nixon to Carter

The 1968 election brought about the collapse of the New Deal coalition without establishing a dominant conservative alternative. Nixon reshaped American foreign policy after the debacle of Vietnam. He also exploited new wedge issues involving patriotism, crime prevention, school busing and racial equality in order to secure a triumphant reelection in 1972. Nonetheless, the Democrats remained firmly in control of Congress. After Nixon’s resignation over Watergate, American politics temporarily shifted leftwards, indicating the potency of the new post-New Deal liberal politics. But by the end of the 1970s the weak presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and their foreign policy failures had contributed to a strong political swing to the right.