Changes

*In 1972, President Nixon formed a reelection committee entitled "Committee to Reelect the President", derisively called "CREEP" by his opponents.  This committee was later found to have broken the law in connection with a burglary of the other side's apartment in the Watergate building in D.C.  Nixon covered up the investigation, leading to his resignation in 1974 (once the Supreme Court ordered him to turn over secret tape recordings) to avoid impeachment.

*In 1972, President Nixon formed a reelection committee entitled "Committee to Reelect the President", derisively called "CREEP" by his opponents.  This committee was later found to have broken the law in connection with a burglary of the other side's apartment in the Watergate building in D.C.  Nixon covered up the investigation, leading to his resignation in 1974 (once the Supreme Court ordered him to turn over secret tape recordings) to avoid impeachment.

*In 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned due to corruption charges arising from when he was previously Governor of Maryland, and Agnew was replaced by congressman Gerald Ford, who became president in 1974 when Nixon resigned.  When Ford became president, he pardoned Nixon of any crimes, and this made people angry especially since Nixon's aides went to jail

*In 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned due to corruption charges arising from when he was previously Governor of Maryland, and Agnew was replaced by congressman Gerald Ford, who became president in 1974 when Nixon resigned.  When Ford became president, he pardoned Nixon of any crimes, and this made people angry especially since Nixon's aides went to jail.

*As the investigation into the Watergate scandal heightened, the "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973 consisted of Nixon ordering the Attorney General to fire the special prosecutor Archibald Cox who was investigating Nixon.  The Attorney General refused and resigned, and then his successor refused and resigned, and then his second successor (future Judge Robert Bork) fired Cox

*As the investigation into the Watergate scandal heightened, the "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973 consisted of Nixon ordering the Attorney General to fire the special prosecutor Archibald Cox who was investigating Nixon.  The Attorney General refused and resigned, and then his successor refused and resigned, and then his second successor (future Judge Robert Bork) fired Cox.

*President Gerald Ford signed the Helsinki Accords in 1975, which was ostensibly an attempt to advance "detente" (a softening in the Cold War) and to improve the treatment of human rights; critics viewed it as a naive agreement to cooperate with the communists

*President Gerald Ford signed the Helsinki Accords in 1975, which was ostensibly an attempt to advance "detente" (a softening in the Cold War) and to improve human rights; critics viewed it as a naive agreement to cooperate with the communists.

A "dark horse" candidate, Democrat Jimmy Carter from Georgia, won his Party's nomination for president, and then defeated the never-elected Gerald Ford in a close contest in 1976.  But Carter was not ready for the job, and anxious to give things away like Santa Claus.  He started in 1977 by agreeing to give the Panama Canal to Panama, even though the United States built it, paid for it, and needed it for security reasons.  The Senate ratified the treaty after a heated controversy, with conservatives opposing the giveaway, and Panama acquired full ownership of it in 1999.  Now communist China runs the Canal under a contract with Panama.

A "dark horse" candidate, Democrat Jimmy Carter from Georgia, won his Party's nomination for president, and then defeated the never-elected Gerald Ford in a close contest in 1976.  But Carter was not ready for the job, and anxious to give things away like Santa Claus.  He started in 1977 by agreeing to give the Panama Canal to Panama, even though the United States built it, paid for it, and needed it for security reasons.  The Senate ratified the treaty after a heated controversy, with conservatives opposing the giveaway, and Panama acquired full ownership of it in 1999.  Now communist China runs the Canal under a contract with Panama.