Fought in World War 2 in the Navy
Ran for Congress position after war and won, served for 25 years
Became House Minority Leader in 1965
Became Vice President for Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned
Foreign policy was the same as Nixon's
retained Kissinger as Secretary of State and worked on pursuing detente with the Soviet Union
Helsinki Accords were made, which put the nations of Europe on record as in favor of human rights
Focused on disarmament of the Soviet Union, instead of trying to get them to allow more political freedoms and giving the people under their control more human rights
SALT II was signed, which pledged to limit nuclear arms productions
When Khmer Rouge in Cmabodia started a genocide, killing 1.5 million, the US did not intervene
American merchant ship, Mayaguez, was captured by Khmer Rouge, American Marines were sent in to free it.
Saigon falls and South Vietnam loses the war, leads to mass sea refugee migration (boat people), some of which the people came to America.
Was seen as clumsy, told CIA's biggest secret by accident, that they had been involved with attempts to assassinate leaders such as Fidel Castro
Was seen as a hardworking, dependable man, so both Democrats and Republicans supported his appointment to Vice President under Nixon
Inflation and economy were bad (stagnation), so he implemented WIN (Whip Inflation Now), was a failure and made economy worse
Due to his pardon of Nixon, he dramatically lost public support
Had to deal with the effects of Watergate that were still going on, such as a huge distrust for the government
Rough relationship with Democratic government- vetoed many laws Congress passed that would have gotten the government involved with the economy in order to fix it