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A picture of the Panama Canal. President Carter signed an agreement with Panama to ensure that the United States will have no part in ownership of the Panama Canal.

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A newspaper article from when Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. Ford then took office the same day.

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During the 1970's, America saw the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. Each president was unique in the way they handled certain situations. However, one common trait that each president had was that they played a part in decreasing the trust and faith the American people had in the government. The first act of diminishing faith in the government came from Richard Nixon who, on June17, 1972, was involved in one of the biggest scandals known in the presidency. The crime was committed so that Nixon could learn about his opponent in the upcoming election. When the men involved where caught and the investigation pointed fingers at the Nixon administration, Nixon admitted to his wrong doing and resigned from the presidency. It is an important event because it showed the American people that the government does in fact keep secrets from them. The second person to blame for the loss in faith of government is Gerald Ford. Ford took over presidency when Nixon resigned. Ford made many attempts to please the American people. However, the American people were not too happy as President Ford was almost assassinated twice on September 5 and 17 days later on September 22, 1975 both in California. Fortunately, both attempts were fails. This was important because it showed the nation that Ford was doing so poorly that other people took to murder not once but two times because they wanted a change. This again showed the people that they should not have faith in the government. Finally, Jimmy Carter was a third reason that in the 1970s, people lost faith in trusting the government. There were two events that caused this: the hostages in Iran and the Panama Canal. Iranians took American people as hostages and released them the minute Carter was sworn out of office. This showed America that Carter was not doing enough to get them back and shows that the government might be hiding something or there would not be any hostages. The hostages were held for 444 days ( November 4, 1979 - January 20, 1981).  The Panama Canal was given away to Latin Americans as a way to cease dispute and fighting. However, the people took this as Carter giving away America's made trading source and power. Americans felt embarrassed that Carter could not handle a small dispute and gave power up in a flash. This happened on September 7, 1977. This was important because it showed the American people that they could not trust their president to make the right/favored choice. It was resolved by angry people and the gaining of Panama Canal back in 23 years like the treaty said. All of these acts by presidents slowly but surely put an uneasy feeling in the back of every Americans head as they lost faith in the government and presidencies to make the right choice and please the people.

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American Hostages being held in Iran for 444 days.

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"If any agreement between two nations is to last, it must serve the best interests of both nations. The new treaties do that. And by guaranteeing the neutrality of the Panama Canal, the treaties also serve the best interests of every nation that uses the canal.
This agreement thus forms a new partnership to insure that this vital waterway, so important to all of us, will continue to be well operated, safe, and open to shipping by all nations, now and in the future.
Under these accords, Panama will play an increasingly important role in the operation and defense of the canal during the next 23 years. And after that, the United States will still be able to counter any threat to the canal's neutrality and openness for use." (1:36 - 2:42)
Key Message: President Carter gave Latin America full control of the Panama Canal. He did this to seize the violence as he says in his first sentence. His efforts made the Americans angry because it the canal was an important trading route and was built by Americans. To them, Carter gave away money and hard work in order to not be stressed with fighting with another country. Therefore, the American people became increasingly annoyed with the government.

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President Jimmy Carter - Statement on the Panama Canal

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View the full speech here: http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3928 President Jimmy Carter remarks on the Panama Canal treaty, which turns the canal over to Panama. September 7th, 1977

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"Fear of Iran" is a political cartoon that emphasized the theory that the U.S. was shipping weapons to Iran in return for freeing the U.S. hostages.
Key Message: The United States was shipping weapons to Iran in secret, so they could get the hostages back. The government did not tell the American people about this deal.

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A newspaper issued September 27, 1975, seventeen days after the first assassination attempt.

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"As a result, on March 21, I personally assumed the responsibility for coordinating intensive new inquiries into the matter, and I personally ordered those conducting the investigations to get all the facts and to report them directly to me, right here in this office.

I again ordered that all persons in the Government or at the Re-Election Committee should cooperate fully with the FBI, the prosecutors, and the grand jury. I also ordered that anyone who refused to cooperate in telling the truth would be asked to resign from Government service. And, with ground rules adopted that would preserve the basic constitutional separation of powers between the Congress and the Presidency, I directed that members of the White House Staff should appear and testify voluntarily under oath before the Senate committee which was investigating Watergate.

I was determined that we should get to the bottom of the matter, and that the truth should be fully brought out—no matter who was involved." (3:23 - 4:40)
Key Message:  Nixon lied about his involvement in the Watergate Scandal. He even conducted an investigation on the scandal to make it seem like the government was innocent. However, he drew more attention to himself leading to the truth coming out causing the American people to lose trust in the government.

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President Nixon's First Watergate Speech (April 30, 1973)

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The Loss of Faith in American Government

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The Loss of Faith in American Government

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By: Amy Suraci and Alaina Powell