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He opened ties to the People's Republic of China and successfully pursued a
policy of detente [de 't :nt] (послаблення напруги) with the Soviet Union.
In 1974, he resigned from office as it became clear that Congress was about
to impeach him for White House involvement in the Watergate cover-up.

U.S. Government. The United States is a federal union of 50 states,
with the District of Columbia as the seat of the federal government. The
Constitution outlines the structure of the national government and specifies

its powers and activities, and defines the relationship between the national
government and individual state governments. Power is shared between the
national and state (local) governments. Within each state are counties,
townships, cities and villages, each of which has its own elective

government.
The American Constitution is the oldest written constitution in force
in the world. The authors of the Constitution built in a provision for

amending the document when political, social or economic conditions
demanded it. Twenty-seven amendments have been passed since
ratification. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution, called the Bill of

Rights, assure individual rights and freedoms.
The Constitution divides the powers of the government into three
branches – the Executive, headed by the President; the Legislative, which

includes both houses of Congress (the Senate [’sen t] and the House of
Representatives); and the Judicial, which is headed by the Supreme Court.
The Constitution limits the role of each branch, through a system of checks
and balances, to prevent any one branch from gaining undue power. For

example, the President can veto [’vi:tə ] bills approved by Congress and the
President nominates individuals to serve in the Federal judiciary; the
Supreme Court can declare a law enacted by Congress or an action by the

President unconstitutional; and Congress can impeach the President and
Federal court justices and judges.
Education. American public education is operated by state and local
governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education

through restrictions on federal grants. In most states, children are required to
attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first
grade) until they turn 18 (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the

end of high school). The U.S. spends more on education per student than any
nation in the world.
The United States has many competitive private and public institutions

of higher education. According to prominent international rankings, 13 or 15
American colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in the

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