A CRISIS IN CONFIDENCE, 19691980
America: Past and Present
Chapter 31
Nixon in Power
• Apparent success in first term
• Triumphs in foreign affairs
• Nixon cuts himself off from Congress,
his own cabinet, and the nation
Reshaping the Great
Society
• Nixon and the Great Society
• more efficient administration
• shift responsibility to the states
• shift school desegregation to the courts
• Shift to conservative Supreme Court
• appointment of conservatives and
moderates
• Burger Court similar to Warren Court
• Pace of change slows but continues
Nixonomics
• Nixon and inflation
• inflation spurred by Vietnam
• federal spending cuts
• interest rates forced up
• 1970--Nixon-induced recession
• 1971--wage and price controls
• Economy revives
Building a Republican
Majority
• Nixon obsessed about reelection
• Inactive on desegregation to win South
• Attack cultural revolution to win “middle
America”
• Democrats retain majority by joining
crusade against drugs, crime
In Search of Détente
• Foreign-policy assumptions
• Cold War to be managed, not won
• America must make a strategic retreat
• improve relations with China to neutralize
Russia
• February 1972--Nixon visits China
In Search of Détente:
Outcome of China Visit
• February 1972--U.S. recognition of
Communist China set in motion
• May 1972--Russians sign SALT I
• Apparent mutual desire to reduce Cold
War tensions
Ending the Vietnam War
• Nixon’s plan
• gradual reduction of American troops
• intensify American bombing
• hard line at the peace talks
• 1970--invasion of Cambodia
• January, 1973--peace talks conclude
with disguised American surrender
The Crisis of Democracy
• June, 1972--Nixon agents arrested for
attempted Watergate break-in
• Nixon stonewalled the press about
White House involvement
• even instructed aides to lie under oath
The Election of 1972
• Nixon’s opponents
• American Independent George Wallace-shot and disabled, followers vote for Nixon
• Democrat George McGovern--nomination
alienates middle class
• Nixon landslide suggests new alignment
• middle class shifting to Republicans
• African Americans, Jews, the poor remain
strongly Democratic
The Watergate Scandal
• Summer 1973--Senate investigation
• damaging Senate hearings on cover-up
• White House tapes discovered
• Summer 1974
• Nixon must relinquish tapes
• House Judiciary committee recommends
impeachment
• August 9, 1974--Nixon resigns
The Watergate Scandal:
Consequences
• Demonstrates growing power of the
executive branch
• Illustrates vitality of institutions
• the press
• the federal judiciary
• Congress
Energy and the Economy
• U.S. way of life based on cheap energy
• 1970s energy crisis sparks inflation
The October War
• October, 1973--Yom Kippur War pits
Egypt, Syria against Israel
• U.S. supplies weapons to Israel
• Arab oil nations retaliate with boycott
• prices of gasoline and home heating fuel
rose sharply
The Oil Shocks
• Effects of soaring oil prices
• consumer spending plunges
• recession by 1974
• inflation persists through 1970s
• Tax cut aids recovery
• 1979--Iranian Revolution causes
second surge in oil prices
The Oil Shocks: Price Increases of
Crude Oil and Gasoline, 1973-1985
The Search for an Energy
Policy
• Ford tries to encourage production
• Carter tries to encourage conservation
• Congressional legislation to
• encourage production, e.g. Alaska pipeline
• encourage conservation, e.g. gas rationing
• Energy problem persists
The Great Inflation
• Oil prices drive inflation
• price of goods soars
• real income declines
• Attempted government controls result in
record high interest rates
The Shifting American
Economy
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U.S. share of world markets declines
U.S. heavy industry declines
High technology prospers
Businesses tend to diversify
Private Lives—Public Issues
• Traditional American family gives way to
more diverse living arrangements
• Number of working women increases
sharply
• Gay rights movement emerges
The Changing American
Family: Family Life by 1990
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21% of women solely in childrearing
30% of married coupes without children
25% of households consist of one adult
Birthrate begins to climb after 15-year
fall
• Divorce rate levels and drops slightly
The Changing American
Family: New Family
Structure
• Many never marry or postpone marriage
• Most mothers work outside the home
• Proportion of single-parent households
doubled
• Women without partners head 1/3 of
impoverished families
• Children comprise 40% of the poor
Types of Households in the
United States, 2000
Gains and Setbacks for
Women
• Rapid movement of women into work force
• Breakthroughs for women
• leaders in industry, higher education
• Roe v. Wade strengthens reproductive rights
• women appointed to Supreme Court
• Resistance
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most women remain in female-dominated jobs
wages only 77.5% of men’s earnings
Equal Rights Amendment fails
abortion widely stigmatized
Voting on the Equal Rights
Amendment
The Gay Liberation
Movement
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1969--Stonewall Riot sparks gay rights movement
1980--Democrats include gay rights plank
1980s--AIDS activism
1987--600,000 march on Washington
1993--“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy a setback
1996--Defense of Marriage Act prohibits state
recognition of same-sex unions
• 2000--Vermont legalizes same-sex “civil unions”
Politics After Watergate
• Watergate erodes public trust
• Confrontation leaves nation leaderless
The Ford Administration
• Pardon of Nixon unpopular
• Democratic Congress alienated
• disclosure of illegal CIA activities under
Kennedy and Johnson
• opposes Democratic bills protecting the
environment and civil rights
The 1976 Campaign
• Ford damaged by Watergate
• Democrat Jimmy Carter wins close vote
• former governor of Georgia
• campaigns as outsider
• calls for decency, morality in government
Disenchantment with Carter
• Carter displays lack of political vision
• Outsider status hampers effectiveness
• 1979--Carter blames American people
for "national malaise"
From Détente to Renewed
Cold War
• U.S. international dominance declined
sharply in the 1970s
• Internal and external events weakened
foreign policy
Retreat in Asia
• April 1975--North Vietnam captures
Saigon
• U.S. response--evacuation, no aid
• Subsequent incidents met with caution,
restraint
Accommodation in Latin
America
• 1977--treaty returns Panama Canal to
Panama
• 1979--U.S. refuses aid to Nicaraguan
government against Sandinistas
• Carter assists El Salvador against
Marxist rebels
The Quest for Peace in the
Middle East
• Carter’s success
• 1978--Camp David Accords
• 1979--Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty
• Carter’s failure
• 1979--Iranian Revolution
• November--U.S. embassy in Teheran
invaded, 58 Americans taken hostage
• Carter fails to secure hostages’ release
The Cold War Resumes
• Carter, Brzezinski shift from Détente
• condemn Soviet human rights abuses
• new missile systems deployed
• increased aid to China
• December, 1979--Russians invade
Afghanistan
A Failed Presidency
• Carter lost public confidence during the
Iranian hostage crisis
• Double-digit inflation also contributed to
voter disappointment