Theme: As the war in Vietnam finally came to a disastrous conclusion, the United States struggled to create a more stable international climate. Détente with the two communist powers temporarily reduced Cold War tensions, but trouble in the
Middle East threatened America’s energy supplies and economic stability.
Theme: Weakened by political difficulties of their own and others’ making, the administrations of the 1970s had trouble coping with America’s growing economic problems. The public also had trouble facing up to a sharp sense of limits and a general disillusionment with society. With the notable exception of the highly successful feminist movement, the social reform efforts of the 1960s fractured and stalled, as the country settled into a frustrating and politically divisive stalemate.
Nixon’s “Vietnamization” policy reduced American ground participation in the war, but his Cambodia invasion sparked massive protest. Nixon’s journeys to Communist Moscow and Beijing (Peking) established a new rapprochement with these powers. In domestic policy, Nixon and the Supreme Court promoted affirmative action and environmental protection.
The 1972 election victory and the cease-fire in Vietnam were negated when Nixon became bogged down in the Watergate scandal and congressional protest over the secret bombing of Cambodia, which led to the War Powers Act. The Middle
East War of 1973 and the Arab oil embargo created energy and economic difficulties that lasted through the decade.
Americans gradually awoke to their costly and dangerous dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and began to take tentative steps toward conservation and alternative energy sources.
Non-elected Gerald Ford took over after Watergate forced Nixon to resign. The Communist Vietnamese finally overran the South Vietnamese government in 1975. The defeat in Vietnam added to a general sense of disillusionment with society and a new sense of limits on American power. The civil rights movement fractured, and divisive issues of busing and affirmative action enhanced racial tensions. The most successful social movement was feminism, which achieved widespread social breakthroughs though failing to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
Campaigning against Washington and Watergate, outsider Jimmy Carter proved unable to master Congress or the economy once he took office. The Camp David agreement brought peace between Egypt and Israel, but the Iranian revolution led to new energy troubles. The invasion of Afghanistan and the holding of American hostages in Iran added to
Carter’s woes.
1.
stagnation
2.
inflationary cycle
3.
Vietnamization
4.
Nixon Doctrine
5.
silent majority
6.
My Lai
7.
Cambodia
8.
Kent State University
9.
Jackson State College
10.
Twenty-sixth Amendment
11.
Pentagon Papers
12.
Henry A. Kissinger
13.
Détente
14.
ABM Treaty
15.
SALT
16.
MIRVs
17.
judicial activism
18.
Griswold v. Connecticut
19.
Gideon v. Wainright
20.
Escobedo v. Illinois
21.
22.
27.
Miranda v. Arizona
New York Times v.
Sullivan
23.
Engel v. Vitale
24.
School District of
Abington Township v.
Schempp
25.
Reynolds v. Sims
26.
Roe v. Wade
Aid to Families with
Dependent Children
28.
SSI
29.
Indexing
30.
Philadelphia Plan
31.
EPA
32.
OSHA
33.
Rachel Carson
34.
Clean Air Act of 1970
35.
southern strategy
36.
George McGovern
37.
38.
39.
43.
peace with honor
Cambodia Bombing
War Powers Act
40.
Pol Pot
41.
War Powers Act
42.
New Isolationism
Oil embargo
44.
Six Day War
45.
Yom Kippur War
46.
Energy Crisis
47.
Watergate
48.
CREEP
49.
John Dean III
50.
Executive privilege
51.
Twenty-fifth Amendment
52.
Gerald Ford
53.
Saturday Night Massacre
54.
Smoking Run Tape
55.
pardon
56.
Helsinki Accords

57.
Title IX of the Education
Amendments
58.
ERA
59.
Reed v Reed and Frontiero v Richardson
60.
Roe v Wade
61.
Phylis Schlafly
62.
Milliken v. Bradley
63.
reverse discrimination
65.
Alcatraz
66.
Wounded Knee
67.
First Wave
68.
Second Wave
69.
NOW
70.
WITCH
71.
James Earl Carter, Jr.
72.
Department of Energy
73.
Camp David
74.
Anwar Sadat 64.
Thurgood Marshall
:
75.
Menachem Begin
76.
Panama Canal
77.
prime rate
78.
Iranian Crisis
79.
Malaise Speech
80.
Leonid Brezhnev
81.
SALT II
82.
Iranian Hostages
83.
Afghanistan
84.
Embargo
Sources of Stagnation
Describe the economic problems faced by the United States in the 1970s.
What may have been the sources of those problems?
Nixon "Vietnamizes" the War
What was President Nixon’s plan for getting the US out of Vietnam?
Cambodianizing the Vietnam War
What developments caused many people to become even more critical of the war in 1970 and 1971?
Nixon's Detente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow
What was the “China Card,” and how did Nixon use it?
A New Team on the Supreme Bench
In which cases did the Supreme Court signal its move in a more “liberal” direction?
Why was Nixon unhappy with the Supreme Court?
Nixon on the Home Front
How conservative was President Nixon? Explain.
How did Nixon’s policies change the nature of “affirmative action?”
What groups benefitted from Nixon’s policies?
The Nixon Landslide of 1972
How did the situation in Vietnam help Nixon win a landslide in the 1972 election?
"The shaky `peace' was in reality little more than a thinly disguised American retreat." Explain
The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act
What did Cambodia have to do with the War Powers Act?
.
The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis
Explain the cause and effects of the Arab Oil Embargo.
Watergate and the Unmaking of a President
Of what wrongdoing was the Nixon administration guilty?
The First Unelected President
Did President do the right thing when he pardoned Nixon? Explain.
Defeat in Vietnam
What was the cost (not in just money) of the Vietnam War (focus especially on the political outcomes).
Feminist Victories and Defeats
Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail?
MAKERS OF AMERICA: THE VIETNAMESE
What difficulties did Vietnamese immigrants experience when they came to America?
The Seventies in Black and White
Explain the significance of the Bakke case.
The Bicentennial Campaign and the Carter Victory
Why did Jimmy Carter win the presidency in 1976?
Makers of America: The Feminists
Compare and contrast the first and second feminist waves.

Carter's Humanitarian Diplomacy
Describe Carter's foreign policy achievements.
Economic and Energy Woes
What economic problems did Carter face?
How did Carter react to the renewed energy crisis?
Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Imbroglio
What foreign policy problems plagued the second half of Carter's presidency?
“You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” Richard Nixon
(1913–1994) (Press conference after election loss, 1962)
“The deepest international conflict in the world today is not between us and the Soviet Union, but between the Soviet
Union and Communist China.…Therefore, one of the positive prospects in the current situation is that, whatever the basic intentions of Soviet leaders, confronted with the prospect of a China growing in strength…they may want a period of
détente in the West.” Henry Kissinger (1923– )
“As long as I have a mind to think, a tongue to speak, and a heart to love my country, I shall deny that the Constitution confers any autocratic power on the President, or authorizes him to convert George Washington’s America into Caesar’s
Rome.…When all is said, the only sure antidote for future Watergates is understanding of fundamental principles and intellectual and moral integrity in the men and women who achieve or are entrusted with governmental or political
power.” Sam Ervin (1896–1985) ( Report of Senate Watergate Committee, 1974)
1. Could any of Nixon’s achievements in office compensate for his Watergate crimes? What should history say about the Nixon presidency?
2. What were the short-term and long-term consequences of the communists’ victory in Vietnam? How do these affect an assessment of the war? What could America have done differently to win the war in Vietnam?
3. How was the civil rights movement affected by federal policies in the 1970s, especially affirmative action?
4.
What were the consequences of America’s new economic vulnerability? How did it affect politics at home and abroad during the 1970s?
5. Describe THREE of the following and analyze the ways in which each of the three has affected the status of women in
American society since 1940.
The persistence of traditional definitions of women’s roles
Advances in reproductive technology
The rebirth of an organized women’s movement
Changing economic conditions (93)
6. “Between 1960 and 1975, there was great progress in the struggle for political and social equality.” Assess the validity of this statement with respect to TWO of the following groups during that period. (04B)
African Americans Asian Americans Latinos Native Americans Women
7. In the period since 1945, the Republican Party, as represented in the administrations of Dwight Eisenhower (1953-
1961) and Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974), virtually abandoned the opposition to the New Deal expressed in the 1930’s.
Assess the validity of this generalization. (75)
8. Foreign affairs rather than domestic issues shaped presidential politics in the Election year 1968. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to foreign and domestic issues. (90)
9. Analyze the ways in which TWO of the following shaped American politics after the Second World War.
Anti-communism in the 1940’s and 1950’s
The women’s liberation movement in the 1960’s
The “silent majority” in the 1970’s
(02B)

10. Describe and account for changes in the American presidency between 1960 and 1975, as symbolized by Kennedy’s
“Camelot,” Johnson’s Great Society, and Nixon’s Watergate. In your answer address the powers of the presidency and the role of the media. (03B)
11. Analyze the extent to which TWO of the following transformed American society in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
The Civil Rights Movement The antiwar movement The women’s movement (05)


In the 1970s the Us economy slumps, although economists still do not agree on the causes.

Responding to anti-war protests, Nixon puts forth a plan called Vietnamization, to gradually withdraw US forces while preparing the South Vietnamese to carry out the fight. With US involvement in Vietnam seemingly coming to an end, Nixon wins reelection handily against Senator George Mc Govern. In 1974, Nixon is the first president ever to resign – he faced impeachment for covering up a burglary by his campaign committee.

Nixon visits China, a surprise to many. He later visits the USSR, and is able to work out with the Soviet leadership agreements to reduce nuclear arms.

Economic opportunities for minorities is a major national concern.

It is revealed that while Nixon claimed to be winding down the Vietnam War he had secretly expanded it by ordering the bombing of neutral Cambodia to attack North Vietnamese troops that had taken refuge there. Even after the 1973 cease-fire with N. Vietnam, Nixon continued attacks on communist positions despite Congressional calls for cessation of the bombing.

Outraged by US support of Israel, Arab nations retaliate by imposing an oil embargo on the US.

An attempt to add an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution is defeated.

Looking at a fresh political face, an outsider untainted by Washington politics, the Democrats nominate GA
Governor Jimmy Carter, who wins the presidency in 1976. The crowning achievement of Carter’s administration is the Camp David Agreement, which offers hope for peace in the Mideast. But economic problems, energy concerns, huge federal and trade deficits, and what critics see as an amateurish foreign policy sap support for the administration.

In 1971, the Spreme Court handed down one of its most controversial decisions in the case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.

The War Powers Act of 1973 became a congressional imperative given the undeclared war in Vietnam and President
Nixon’s decision to bomb Cambodia, a neutral nation.
24. The 1950s
A. Emergence of the modern civil rights movement
B. The affluent society and "the other America"
C. Consensus and conformity: suburbia and middle-class America
D. Social critics, nonconformists, and cultural rebels
E. Impact of changes in science, technology, and medicine
25. The Turbulent 1960s
A. From the New Frontier to the Great Society
B. Expanding movements for civil rights
C. Cold War confrontations: Asia, Latin America, and Europe
D. Beginning of Détente
E. The antiwar movement and the counterculture