70’S
1970S
Turn in your 5 for 5
homework assignment
A TURNING POINT
 Social Movements from
1960s advanced.
 Backlash by Americans
feeling economic
insecurity and loss.
 Contributes to
rightward turn in
American politics.
 New Deal liberal reform
movement shattered.
 Culture wars we are still
fighting.
1960S HANGOVER
 National exhaustion
from the reform and
conflict of the
1960s, but still an
ongoing
commitment to
social change by:
 Environmentalists,
feminists, gays and
lesbians, people of
color
ENVIRONMENTALISM
Rachel Carson and DDT
 Fossil fuels and chemicals
threatening global warming.
 Nixon Environmental Protection agency
 Set air & water pollution
standards for cities
 Endangered Species Act Protect fish & wildlife threatened
with extinction.
WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT
 Equality of rights
 Jobs
 Government
 Education
 1973 Roe v Wade
 Supreme Court decision
that, on the basis of the
right to privacy, gave
women an unrestricted
right to abortion during the
first three months of
pregnancy.
Phyllis Schlafly
 Opposed WLM
 Stated equal rights
would attack a
woman’s right to be
protected & supported
by men.
1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS
11 Israeli
Athletes
killed by
terrorist
organization
“Black
September”
Watch the link below
1972 Munich Massacre
NIXON VISITS CHINA
Détente- effort to
relieve tension
between the U.S.
and China & Soviet
Union.
China & U.S. agree
to make strides for
peace.
Mmmm,
tasty
Nixon visit China
NIXON VISITS USSR.
1 st U.S. president to
visit since WWII.
Moscow Summit
 SALT (Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty)
 Limit Nuclear Arms
 Exchange scientific
information
WATERGATE BREAK IN 1972
Break-in
 looking for campaign
info from the
democratic party
headquarters.
Burglars caught
News reports reveal
one of the burglars
was ex-CIA.
 Rumors of Whitehouse
involvement
 Nixon
 Did not order break-in
 Did order the cover up
 Tapes
 Missing 18 ½ min.
 Nixon refused to give up
tapes
 Executive privilege
 Threaten national security
 Supreme Court orders Nixon to
release tapes
 Tapes revealed Nixon ordered
CIA to stop FBI investigation
 Vice President Agnew
 Resigns, he had taken bribes.
 Gerald Ford appointed new vice
President
 Nixon resigns before he is
impeached.
PRESIDENT GERALD FORD
“Our long national nightmare is over.”
 Ford pardons Nixon.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
 US dependent on Foreign
oil.
 OPEC placed embargo on
nations that supported
Israel ( US supports Israel )
 U.S. suffered fuel
shortages and high gas
prices.
 Rising prices + economic
stagnation
(unemployment, low
wages) + STAGFLATION
Organization of
Petroleum
Exporting
Countries
OIL ROSE FROM $3 TO $34 A BARREL (1973 1979)
Rationing for
Gasoline
Dept. of Energy
created
Restrictions on Fuel
ELECTION OF 1976
 Pres. Ford pardoned
Nixon
 Approval rating dropped
 Carter promised to
 Restore morality & honesty
to govt.
 Welfare reform
 National Medicare
“I WILL NEVER LIE TO YOU.”
-- PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER
An ineffective president.
 Micromanaged affairs
 Played the outsider and
alienated potential insider
allies.
 Economic problems too big.
CARTER 77-81
Returned the
Panama Canal to
Panama
Camp David Accords
 Peace treaty between
warring Egypt &
Israel.
U.S. diplomatic
relations w/ China
Dept. of Energy
SALT II with USSR
LOSS OF INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE
Fall of Saigon, 1975
 Communist N. Vietnam
overthrows Democratic S.
Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh
City)
Crumbling relations
between U.S. and
Soviet Union
 Soviet Union supports
revolutions in Africa and
invades Afghanistan in
1979.
IRANIAN REVOLUTION
 Argo Intro
IRANIAN REVOLUTION 1979
overthrow of
Iran's monarchy
and the
establishment of
an Islamic
Republic. Shah
Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi was
replaced by the
cleric Ayatollah
Khomeini.
IRANIAN HOSTAGE
CRISIS
 53 Americans are taken
hostage from the U.S.
embassy in Iran in
1979.
 Failed U.S. helicopter
rescue mission
reinforces sense of
helplessness.
TELEVISION
Television
Took more risks
 Challenged the status
quo.
 Social issues
 Criticized government
Mary Tyler Moore
 Single professional
working woman
All in the Family
 Racism
 Ignorant bigotry
 Watch the clip below….
 Listen to what Archie Bunker says
about the energy crisis vs.
technology
 Archie vs Democrats
How did the Mary Tyler Moore
show break the stereotype of
Women.
Mary Tyler Moore
ARCHIE BUNKER ON GUN CONTROL
Watch the link below
Archie on Gun Control
70’S MOVIES
Revival in Movies
 Distraction from
bad economy
 Source of
entertainment
 New technology
 Sound FX
 Visual FX
“MIRACLE ON ICE”
USA v. USSR
 1980 Lake Placid
Olympics
 Morale low in nation
 One of the biggest
upsets in sports
history
 Helped lift America
from a decade of
gloom and despair,
reviving patriotism
and nationalism
Miracle on Ice
VOTER REVOLT
 Americans seething
with frustration at
elected leaders and the
political system.
 With economic troubles
and international
humiliation, Carter
defeated in 1980
election.
NEW CONSERVATISM
NRA National Riffle
Association
 Openly supported a
presidential candidate for
the first time since it
began
Moral Majority
 Fundamental Christians
 Rev. Jerry Farwell
 Religious push to get the
Bible to influence
American politics.
NEW RIGHT
 Coalition of
 Evangelicals
 Catholics
 Conservatives
 Corporate leaders
$
 Comprised to fight against
 Business Regulation
 Policies that were anti




Minorities
Homosexuals
Welfare recipients
Feminist
1980 PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION
Ronald Reagan- (R)
Jimmy Carter- (D)
RONALD
REAGAN
Path to White
House
 College baseball
announcer
 Motivational
speaker
 Actor
 President Screen
actors guild
 Governor of Cali
“Are you better off than you were
four years ago?”
Reagan
This one
question days
before the
election
turned the
undecided
voters to
Reagan!
Republicans won control of the United
States Senate for the first time in 28 years
Republicans won control of the United States
Senate for the first time in 28 years