Politically, the United States went through several changes during the nineteen seventies.For most of the sixties the nation was governed by liberal Democratic administrations.Then in nineteen sixty-eight a conservative Republican, Richard Nixon, was elected president.Nixon won a second term four years later, but had to resign in nineteen seventy-four because of the Watergate scandal.Nixon's vice president, Gerald Ford, took his place. Two years later, Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter, a Democrat who until then was little known nationally.The election showed that Americans were angry with the Republican Party because of Watergate.But they soon became unhappy with President Carter.They blamed him for failing to improve the economy and for failing to end a crisis involving American hostages in Iran. He lost his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan."Are you better off than you were four years ago?"Reagan, a Republican, won two terms and led the nation during most of the nineteen eighties.For many people, the Reagan years offered a renewed sense of economic opportunity. Reagan reduced taxes, which increased his popularity.
