and beijing. at best, if the two major communist powers decided that they had bigger fish to fry, hanoi would be pressured into negotiating a settlement we could accept. in 1973, nixon encouraged the export-import bank to finance in part a trade deal with the soviet union in which armand hammer's occidental petroleum would export phosphate from florida to the soviet union, and import soviet ammonia. the deal, valued at $20 billion over 20 years, involved the construction of two major soviet port facilities at odessa and ventspils, and a pipeline connecting four ammonia plants in the greater volga region to the port at odessa. in 1973, nixon announced his administration was committed to seeking most favored nation trade status with the ussr, which was challenged by congress in the jackson-vanik amendment. during the previous two years, nixon had made considerable progress in u.s.–soviet relations, and he embarked on a second trip to the soviet union in 1974. he arrived in moscow on june 27 to a welcome ceremony, cheering crowds, and a state dinner at the grand kremlin palace that evening. nixon and brezhnev met in yalta, where they discussed a proposed mutual defense pact, détente, and mirvs. nixon considered proposing a comprehensive test-ban treaty, but he felt he would not have time to complete it during his presidency. there were no significant breakthroughs in these negotiations. middle eastern policy nixon with israeli prime minister golda meir, june 1974 nixon with president anwar sadat of egypt, june 1974 as part of the nixon doctrine, the u.s. avoided giving direct combat assistance to its allies and instead gave them assistance to defend themselves. during the nixon administration, the u.s. greatly increased arms sales to the middle east, particularly israel, iran and saudi arabia. the nixon administration strongly supported israel, an american ally in the middle east, but the support was not unconditional. nixon believed israel should make peace with its arab neighbors and that the u.s. should encourage it. the president believed that—except during the suez crisis—the u.s. had failed to intervene with israel, and should use the leverage of the large u.s. military aid to israel to urge the parties to the negotiating table. the arab-israeli conflict was not a major focus of nixon's attention during his first term—for one thing, he felt that no matter what he did, american jews would oppose his reelection. on october 6, 1973, an arab coalition led by egypt and syria, supported with arms and materiel by the soviet union, attacked israel in the yom kippur war. israel suffered heavy losses and nixon ordered an airlift to resupply israeli losses, cutting through inter-departmental squabbles and bureaucracy and taking personal responsibility for any response by arab nations. more than a week later, by the time the u.s. and soviet union began negotiating a truce, israel had penetrated deep into enemy territory. the truce negotiations rapidly escalated into a superpower crisis; when israel gained the upper hand, egyptian president sadat requested a joint u.s.–ussr peacekeeping mission, which the u.s. refused. when soviet premier brezhnev threatened to unilaterally enforce any peacekeeping mission militarily, nixon ordered the u.s. military to defcon3, placing all u.s. military personnel and bases on alert for nuclear war. this was the closest the world had come to nuclear war since the cuban missile crisis. brezhnev backed down as a result of nixon's actions. because israel's victory was largely due to u.s. support, the arab opec nations retaliated by refusing to sell crude oil to the u.s., resulting in the 1973 oil crisis. the embargo caused gasoline shortages and rationing in the united states in late 1973, and was eventually ended by the oil-producing nations as peace in the middle east took hold. after the war, and under nixon's presidency, the u.s. reestablished relations with egypt for the first time since 1967. nixon used the middle east crisis to restart the stalled middle east peace negotiations; he wrote in a confidential memo to kissinger on october 20: i believe that, beyond a doubt, we are now facing the best opportunity we have had in 15 years to build a lasting peace in the middle east. i am convinced history will hold us responsible if we let this opportunity slip by ... i now consider a permanent middle east settlement to be the most important final goal to which we must devote ourselves. nixon made one of his final international visits as president to the middle east in june 1974, and became the first president to visit israel. economy nixon at the washington senators' 1969 opening day with team owner bob short (arms folded) and baseball commissioner bowie kuhn (hand on mouth). nixon's aide, major jack brennan, sits behind them in uniform. at the time nixon took office in 1969, inflation was at 4.7 percent—its highest rate since the korean war. the great society had been enacted under johnson, which, together with the vietnam war costs, was causing large budget deficits. unemployment was low, but interest rates were at their highest in a century. nixon's major economic goal was to reduce inflation; the most obvious means of doing so was to end the war. this could not be accomplished overnight, and the u.s. economy continued to struggle through 1970, contributing to a lackluster republican performance in the midterm congressional elections (democrats controlled both houses of congress throughout nixon's presidency). according to political economist nigel bowles in his 2011 study of nixon's economic record, the new president did little to alter johnson's policies through the first year of his presidency. nixon was far more interested in foreign affairs than domestic policies, but he believed that voters tend to focus on their own financial condition and that economic conditions were a threat to his reelection. as part of his "new federalism" views, he proposed grants to the states, but these proposals were for the most part lost in the congressional budget process. however, nixon gained political credit for advocating them. in 1970, congress had granted the president the power to impose wage and price freezes, though the democratic majorities, knowing nixon had opposed such controls throughout his career, did not expect nixon to actually use the authority. with inflation unresolved by august 1971, and an election year looming, nixon convened a summit of his economic advisers at camp david. nixon's options were to limit fiscal and monetary expansionist policies that reduced unemployment or end the dollar's fixed exchange rate; nixon's dilemma has been cited as an example of the impossible trinity in international economics. he then announced temporary wage and price controls, allowed the dollar to float against other currencies, and ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold. bowles points out, by identifying himself with a policy whose purpose was inflation's defeat, nixon made it difficult for democratic opponents ... to criticize him. his opponents could offer no alternative policy that was either plausible or believable since the one they favored was one they had designed but which the president had appropriated for himself. nixon's policies dampened inflation through 1972, although their aftereffects contributed to inflation during his second term and into the ford administration. nixon's decision to end the gold standard in the united states led to the collapse of the bretton woods system. according to thomas oatley, "the bretton woods system collapsed so that nixon might win the 1972 presidential election." after nixon won re-election, inflation was returning. he reimposed price controls in june 1973. the price controls became unpopular with the public and businesspeople, who saw powerful labor unions as preferable to the price board bureaucracy. the controls produced food shortages, as meat disappeared from grocery stores and farmers drowned chickens rather than sell them at a loss. despite the failure to control inflation, controls were slowly ended, and on april 30, 1974, their statutory authorization lapsed. governmental initiatives and organization nixon gives the 1971 state of the union address. official nixon portrait by james anthony wills, c. 1984 graph of increases in u.s. incarceration rate nixon advocated a "new federalism", which would devolve power to state and local elected officials, though congress was hostile to these ideas and enacted few of them. he eliminated the cabinet-level united states post office department, which in 1971 became the government-run united states postal service. nixon was a late supporter of the conservation movement. environmental policy had not been a significant issue in the 1968 election, and the candidates were rarely asked for their views on the subject. nixon broke new ground by discussing environmental policy in his state of the union speech in 1970. he saw that the first earth day in april 1970 presaged a wave of voter interest on the subject, and sought to use that to his benefit; in june he announced the formation of the environmental protection agency (epa). he relied on his domestic advisor john ehrlichman, who favored protection of natural resources, to keep him "out of trouble on environmental issues." other initiatives supported by nixon included the clean air act of 1970 and the occupational safety and health administration (osha), and the national environmental policy act required environmental impact statements for many federal projects. nixon vetoed the clean water act of 1972—objecting not to the policy goals of the legislation but to the amount of money to be spent on them, which he deemed excessive. after congress overrode his veto, nixon impounded the funds he deemed unjustifiable. in 1971, nixon proposed health insurance reform—a private health insurance employer mandate, federalization of medicaid for poor families with dependent minor children, and support for health maintenance organizations (hmos). a limited hmo bill was enacted in 1973. in 1974, nixon proposed more comprehensive health insurance reform—a private health insurance employer mandate and replacement of medicaid by state-run health insurance plans available to all, with income-based premiums and cost sharing. nixon was concerned about the prevalence of domestic drug use in addition to drug use among american soldiers in vietnam. he called for a war on drugs and pledged to cut off sources of supply abroad. he also increased funds for education and for rehabilitation facilities. as one policy initiative, nixon called for more money for sickle-cell research, treatment, and education in february 1971 and signed the national sickle cell anemia control act on may 16, 1972. while nixon called for increased spending on such high-profile items as sickle-cell disease and for a war on cancer, at the same time he sought to reduce overall spending at the national institutes of health. civil rights the nixon presidency witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the south. nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist wallace and liberal democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some southern whites. hopeful of doing well in the south in 1972, he sought to dispose of desegregation as a political issue before then. soon after his inauguration, he appointed vice president agnew to lead a task force, which worked with local leaders—both white and black—to determine how to integrate local schools. agnew had little interest in the work, and most of it was done by labor secretary george shultz. federal aid was available, and a meeting with president nixon was a possible reward for compliant committees. by september 1970, less than ten percent of black children were attending segregated schools. by 1971, however, tensions over desegregation surfaced in northern cities, with angry protests over the busing of children to schools outside their neighborhood to achieve racial balance. nixon opposed busing personally but enforced court orders requiring its use. some scholars, such as james morton turner and john isenberg, believe that nixon, who had advocated for civil rights in his 1960 campaign, slowed down desegregation as president, appealing to the racial conservatism of southern whites, who were angered by the civil rights movement. this, he hoped, would boost his election chances in 1972. in addition to desegregating public schools, nixon implemented the philadelphia plan in 1970—the first significant federal affirmative action program. he also endorsed the equal rights amendment after it passed both houses of congress in 1972 and went to the states for ratification. he also pushed for african american civil rights and economic equity through a concept known as black capitalism. nixon had campaigned as an era supporter in 1968, though feminists