The New Left, Nixon & Watergate
1969 - 1974
The New Left
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“Old Left” (Socialists & Communists) focused on
economic/class issues
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Primarily concerned with white working class
Liberal – Left alliance fell apart after WWII due to Cold War
“New Left” focused on group identities & perceived
oppression
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Prosperity enlarged middle class, but highlighted cont. poverty
Civil rights movement provided model
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Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) modeled on SNCC
National Organization for Women (NOW) modeled on NAACP
American Indian Movement’s (AIM) “Red Power” modeled on
“Black Power”
Protests & Counterculture
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Vietnam War came to symbolize all that was wrong with
America
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Showed imperialism, oppression of non-white people, lying by
gov’t officials, & use of violence to maintain capitalism
‘teach-ins” began in colleges in spring 1965
60,000 avoided draft by fleeing country
4 students killed by Nat’l Guard at Kent State in May 1968
Political participation by young adults soon fizzled out
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Counterculture short-lived because nihilistic
26th Amendment (1972) lowered voting age to 18, but few
took advantage of it
Civil Rights Struggles Continued
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Battles shifted to de facto segregation
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In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
(1971) Court ruled busing acceptable to integrate schools
Congress responded with 1972 & 1974 Educational
Amendments Act:
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No further than next-nearest school
Not if students’ health or education impaired
Milliken v. Bradley (1974) – interdistrict busing unacceptable
Whites challenged “affirmative action” as reverse
discrimination
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Court ruled in Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke (1978)
that racial quotas unacceptable in college admissions
New (Second Wave) Feminism
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New feminists pushed for abolition
of gender roles & discrimination
Betty Friedan published The
Feminine Mystique in 1962
National Organization for Women
(NOW) founded in 1966
Ms. Magazine began publication in
1972, to counteract magazines like
Good Housekeeping
Title IX of Educational
Amendments Act (1972) mandated
equality in athletics funding
Abortion
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Roe v. Wade & Doe v.
Bolton (1972) est. legality
of abortion as part of a
woman’s constitutional right
to “privacy”
Limits:
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Only in 1st trimester
Once baby can survive
outside the womb, state has
interest in protecting life
Woman’s life and health must
also be protected
The Equal Rights Amendment
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Equal Rights Amendment
originally proposed in 1923
Passed by Congress in 1972,
but never ratified by the
states
Environmental Movement
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Rachel Carson warned of dangers
of pesticides in Silent Spring (1962)
Federal Environmental Protection
Agency created in 1970
Clean Air Act (1970) reduced air
pollution by 1/3
Occupational Safety & Health
Administration (OSHA) reduced
workplace hazards
First Earth Day celebration was in
1970
Rachel Carson
1968 Presidential Campaign
The New Federalism
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Appealed to “silent majority” frustrated by growing tax
burdens
Vetoed some spending bills & impounded some funds
appropriated by Congress
Welfare state continued to grow, nevertheless
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Budget for social services exceeded defense for 1st time
since World War II
Supplemental Security Income (1972) increased benefits
for elderly, blind & disabled
Proposed Family Assistance Plan would’ve guaranteed
all families a minimum annual income
Stagflation
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Three causes:
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Trying to fight War on Poverty & Vietnam War without raising
taxes
Declining worker productivity & increased competition from
Europe & Asia
Oil crises in Middle East
Nixon’s “New Economic Policy”:
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Abandoned convertibility of dollars into gold & devalued dollar
(ended Bretton Woods system)
Slapped 10% surcharge on all imports
Temporarily froze wages & prices
Détente in Foreign Policy
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National Security Advisor Henry
Kissinger controlled foreign policy
Goal of détente:
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Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s
play China & USSR off of each other
put pressure on North Vietnam to
negotiate end to war
Nixon visited China in Feb. 1972 –
began process of normalizing
relations (completed in 1978)
Nixon visited Moscow in May 1972
& signed SALT agreements banning
ABM systems & limiting ICBMs
Watergate
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Chuck Colson set up team of
“plumbers” to fix “leaks”
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Headed by E. Howard Hunt & G.
Gordon Liddy
Performed dirty tricks for CREEP
James McCord of CREEP spilled
beans to Judge Sirica
Grand jury & Senate both
launched investigations
April 1973: Nixon fired Attorney
General John Dean & advisors
Erlichmann & Haldeman for
“cover-up”
Watergate
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May 1973: Archibald Cox
appointed special prosecutor
Nixon fired Cox for demanding
tapes, but new prosecutor, Leon
Jaworski, demanded tapes, too
Feb. 1974: House committee began
impeachment hearings; voted 3
articles of impeachment in July
Edited tapes turned over in May; full
tapes in August after unanimous
Supreme Court ruling
Aug. 8, 1974: Nixon resigned
Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s