The Post Watergate Period – Chapter 24

                After the Watergate scandal, the American society began to turn skeptical with abundance of ominous feelings. People were questioning the capacity of any president to heal the wounded country. Gerald ford inherited the presidency after the harshly decried term of Nixon. He tried to revive the spirit of trustworthiness among the American people, however, his attempts resulted in failure. America was so desperate that they rapidly replaced him with a lesser known Democrat, Jimmy Carter.

                Ford confronted mayor difficulties with the presidency he inherited. It all started with him forgiving Nixon after all the havoc he made in the country. People started to dislike him all over the nation. As a result, all of Ford’s programs and attempts of taking America out of the abyss in which they fell failed. Unfortunately, he never managed to step forward as a strong leader or deal effectively with problems that dogged economy.

                Due to Ford’s lack of strong leadership, America didn’t hesitate in choosing a new leader. The people were still in “pain” from the Watergate scandal; they needed change and achieved it by changing to a Democratic government with Jimmy Carter as president. Ford didn’t stand a chance against Carter because he did not appear “presidential” to many voters in the 1976 election. Carter brought a new perspective to the American public since he stated clearly that he was not part of the Washington establishment and would bring a different point of view to the capital. His campaign emphasized his trustworthiness and his status as a Washington outsider. Carter’s small-town background and deep religious beliefs influenced his style and policies as President.

                Carter’s biggest success was probably in foreign affairs. His religious beliefs led him to emphasize peacemaking and human rights. However, those beliefs resulted in collateral damage since they prevented his reelection as a president. His peacemaking efforts helped bring some stability to the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Unfortunately, the relations with the Soviet Union worsened.

                Carter’s focus on foreign affairs worsened the situation back at home. The Carter administration had trouble getting its domestic programs through Congress. The economic policy was inconsistent and ineffective. Perhaps the most positive aspect during Carter’s presidency in the last years was that he gave stronger support to civil rights than Nixon or Ford themselves.

                After Richard Nixon’s presidency, the United States faced a variety of problems in terms of trust and honesty that affects the country in modern day. The post Watergate period is probably one of the darkest epochs in American history since it portrayed the government as a villain. America, the world and the history would never be the same.