Chapter 40 Outline
1. Stagnant Economy and Causes
- caused by increasing presence in the work force of women and teens who had fewer
skills than adult male workersand were less likely to take full time, long-term jobs whose
skills might be developed.
- Other observers blamed declining investment in new machinery, the heavy costs of
compliance with gov’t imposed safety and health regulations, and the general shift of the
American economy from manufacturing to services.
- War also a cause. It drained tax dollars from needed improvements in education, deflated
scientific skill and manufacturing capacity from the civilian sector and touched off a
spiral of inflation.
- Rising oil prices contributed to inflations as well as Johnson’s insistence on fighting the
war and funding the Great Society programs at home, all w/out a tax increase to finance
them.
- Cost of living tripled in the dozen yrs after Nixon’s inauguration.
- Also, reversal in America’s financial fortunes. Competitive advantage of major
American businesses had small incentive to modernize the plants and seek more efficient
production methods. The Germans and Japanese now w/ the latest technology, had
dominated the steel, automotive, and electronic industries.
2. “Vietnamization” of Vietnam War and Nixon Doctrine
- After Nixonwas inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1969, he had to deal w/ the public over the issue
of Vietnam. His “Vietnamization” policy called for the withdrawal of 540,000 soldiers
over an extended period. The South Vietnamese with American weapons, training,
tactics, and money could then take over the war. The Nixon Doctrine said that the U.S.
would honor existing defense commitments, but in the future, the Asians and others
would have to fight their own wars without American involvement. Nixon sought to
fight the war w/out the loss of American blodd. Even this angered Americans who
demanded an immediate, prompt, and irreversible withdrawal. There was a massive
antiwar protest in Oct. 1969 when 100,000 people jammed the Boston Common and
50,000 people walked past the White House carrying candles.
- The Vietnam conflict was the longest in American History. The armed forces were made
up of the least privileged Americans. Blacks were discriminated against. Morale
plunged esp. when soldiers fragged their own officers.
- The massacre at My Lai stirred up more antiwar feelings. Now, Nixon decided to attack
Cambodia.
3. Bitterness of Vietnam
- Cambodia was used by the VC for a springboard of troops, weapons, and supplies. April
29, 1970- without consulting Congress, Nixon ordered Americans to clear enemy
sanctuaries in Cambodia. Nationwide, students on college campuses responded with
massive protests. At Kent State University, members of the National Guard fired on
protesting students, killing 4, and wounded others.
- After 2 months, Nixon withdrew troops from Cambodia. The Cambodian involvement
deepened the bitterness between the “Hawks,” who supported the war, and “doves,” who
were against it.
The youth of America were slightly pleased when the gov’t reduced draft calls and
shortened the draftability period to one year. They were even more pleased when the
gov’t passed the 26th Amendment in 1971, lowering the voting age to 18.
- Then, in 1971, antiwar discontent was was fueled by the publishing of the Pentagon
Papers, the top secret Pentagon study of the War. These papers were loaded to the Times
by former Pentagon official Daniel Ellsburg. It laid bare the blunders and deceptions of
the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, esp. the provoking of the North Vietnamese
attack in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.
4. Kissinger/Nixon and China/ USSR relations
a. Détente- known as relaxed tension with 2 communist powers of Russia and China;
- It resulted in several agreements; came about after Nixon accepted an invitation to visit
china in 1972.
- He paved way from improved relations between China and the United States; Nixon,
next traveled to Moscow in May of 1972 to clear tensions with the Russians
- This was an attempt by him, an anti communist, to get Russians and Chinese on the side
of the United States, so that they could together force Vietnam into peace.
-
- Great grain deal of 1972- a 3 year arrangement by which the food rich United States
agreed to sell the soviets at least 750 million worth of wheat, corn and other cereals
- Anti-ballistic missile treaty limited each nation to two clusters of defensive missiles.
- Also, Henry Kissinger was for good realations with communist countries to help end the
war in Vietnam. He began secretly meeting on Nixon’s behalf with Northern Vietnamese
officials in Paris.
b. SALT
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to freeze the numbers of long range nucleaqr missles
for 5 years. These 2 (Anti Ballistic Misstle treaty and the Strategic arms Limitation
Talks) were both ratified in 1972, constituted a long overdue step towards the arms race.
5. Major court decisions in Warren court and their impact
- presided over by Chief Justice Earl Warren- headed the court during decisions that affected
sexual freedom, the rights, and the structure of political representation
Grisvold v Conneticut-the court struck down a state law that prohibited the use of contraceptives
even among married couples protecting the right of women and abortion rights
Gideon v Wainwrite- all defendants in serious criminal cases were entitled to legal counsel ven if
they were too poor to afford it
Escobedo and Miranda- ensured the right of the accussed to remain silent and to enjoy other
protections when accussed of a crime. They stopped confessions by torture
New Nork Times v Sullivan- said that public figures could sue for libel only if they could prove
that “malice” had motivated their defamers
Engel v Vitale and School District of Abington Township v Schempp- voted against required
prayers and bible reading in public schools- beased on the first amendment and separation of
church and state
Roe v Wade- legalized abortion
- believed in appointing strictly interpreted believers of the constitution
6. Nixon on the homefront
a. New Federalism
- he expanded welfare programs that conservative Republicans denounced; he approved
Food Stamps and Medicaid; he wanted to aid families with dependent children
-implemented a new federal program, supplementary security income which gave
generous benefits to the aged, blind and disabled; raised pensions for the old age,
- he helped reduce the nation’s poverty rate
-he attacked racial discrimination
- Philadelphia planon 1969 required construction-trade unions working on
federal contracts in Philadelphia to establish goals and timetables for the hiring of black
apprentices
-opened broad educational oppurtunities for blacks and women
b. EPA
- Environmental Protection Agency created by Nixon in 1970; two decades of mounting
concern for the environment beginning with the establishment in Los Angeles in the Air
pollution Control Office in 1950
c. Rachel Carson and Silent Spring
- Author Carson gave the environmental movement a huge boost in 1962 when she
published Silent spring, an enormously effective piece of latter-day muckraking that
exposed the negative effects of pesticides
d. Curbing inflation
- Nixon overcame his distaste for economic controls to curb inflation; he imposed a
nighty wage and price freeze in 1971; took the united states off the gold standard and
devaluing the dollar. This effectively ended the Bretton Woods, system of international
currency stabilization
e. Southern Strategy
- nixon’s plan emphasized an appeal to white voters by soft pedaling civil rights and
openly opposing school busing to achieve radical balance- important to the presidential
campaign of 1972.
7.Nixon Landslide in 1972
a. Candidates - Richard Nixon (Republican), campaign emphasized he had wound down
the ‘democratic war’ in Vietnam, peace announcement by Dr. Kissinger gave Nixon a
huge boost McGovern, a South Dakota senator that promised to pull troops out and
appealed to racial minorities, feminists, leftists, and youth alienated the traditional
working-class backbone o his party.
b. Issues – Vietnam was still an issue, four years after Nixon had promised victory.
Conflict was continuing on, but coming to an end with the use of Nixon’s mines, which
guard Vietnamese ports.
c. Results – Nixon wins in a landslide, winning every state except for Massachusetts and
D.C., 520 electoral to 17. Nixon claimed that the election gave him an unprecedented
mandate for his policies..but Republicans lost both the house and the senate.
8. Bombing of Vietnam leads to end of war –
a. Failed Peace - When peace treaties stopped working and two sides couldn’t come to
term, he launched a 2 week bombing of North Vietnam to bring them back to
conferences.
b. Cease-fire – After bombing on January 23, 1973, cease-fire signed by US saying they
would pull out and the government of South Vietnam would be permitted to continue
receiving limited U.S. support, but not fighting forces. An election would later be held to
determine the future of the country. North Vietnamese were allowed to keep 145,000
troops in South Vietnam. Shaky peace was a thinly disguised American retreat.
9. Watergate Scandals – On June 17,1972, two months before renomination, 5 republicans from
the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President, known as CREEP, were caught
in a bungled burglary with electronic bugging equipment inside Democratic headquarters.
a. Creep often used dirty tricks to raise millions of dollars by secretive, unethical, or
unlawful means. “Dirty tricks” campaign of espionage, sabotage, including faked
documents, directed against democratic candidates in the campaign 1972
b. Slimy corruption made Grant and Harding look ‘almost respectable.’ Many white
house aides and advisers were forced to resign due to their obstruction of justice via
cover ups. By 1974, Twenty-nine people had been indicted, pleaded guilty, or had been
convicted of Watergaet-related crimes
c. Improper use of FBI, CIA, IRS- federal agencies were used to harass political
opponents. An ‘enemies list’ turned up in which innocent citizens were prosecute,
hounded.
d. Nixon’s aides authorized a burglary of the files of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psycahitrist to
destroy man who ‘leaked’ the Pentagon Papers. “plumbers unit” was used to plug leaks
on confidential information.
e. John Dean III, a former White House lawyer testified against the involvement of higher
echelon involvement in the Watergate break-in. Accused Nixon of obstruction of justice.
10. War powers act
-the us air force had secretly been bombing north Vietnamese bases in cambodia.
-govt officials and pres. Were saying cambodian neutrality was being respected.
-Americans wondered what sort of representation they had in the govt. If they were fighting a
war no one knew about.
-the secret bombings destroyed Cambodian politics, economics, people.
-pol pot committed genocide, killed 2 million in cambodia.
-followed by vietnamese invasion, occupation for a decade.
-congressional opposition to presidential war making powers led to war powers act. Nov 1973
-required pres to report to congress within 48 hours of committing troops to a foreign conflict or
substantially enlarging American combat units In a foreign country.
11. Problems in middle east (six day war)
-6 day war was when israel beat soviet backed Egypt in 1967, which heightened tensions, and
gave Israel much territory.
-rearmed syrians and Egyptians unleashed surprise attacks on Israel to regain territory.
-Kissinger, us secretary of state, flew to Moscow to restrain soviets, who were backing the
attackers.
-Nixon ordered 2 billion sent to Israel in airlift, saved the day.
-Americas backing of Israel angered middle east. They suddenly enacted an oil embargo on us in
oct 1973.
-resulted in energy crisis, us went through cold winter, low thermostats, low speedometers...
-congress approved An expensive Alaska oil pipeline and national speed limit of 55 mph to
conserve fuel.
-1949 to 1972 # of automobiles increased 250%. America was oil addicted, extremely vulnerable
to any interruption in oil imports.
-middle east was being greedy and evil, so they quadrupled the price of oil after lifting the
embargo in 1974. OPEC was organization of petroleum exporting countries,this group of
countries were a powerful group of oil producing middle eastern countries.
-us made iea, international energy agency as a response. This promoted revolutionization of
energy industry, promoted nuclear and coal as sources of energy.
12. Impeachment inquiry and resignation
-In 1974, the house judiciary committee demanded the watergate tapes from Nixon. He agreed,
and gave some edited tapes. When the committee demanded the rest of the material, nixon flatly
refused. In July 24, 1974, the supreme court ruled against Nixon unanimously, forcing him to
procure the tapes. Nixon reluctantly complied. Later, he voluntarily released 3 more tapes that
were irrefutable evidence of his criminal activity.
-Nixon announced his resignation in august, 1974. He did so because if he were formally
impeached, he would lose all his benefits, such as a huge pension (150k+ a year).
-Gerald ford was the first pres to be elected solely by congress. He was held in contempt and
disliked by many as a stupid guy. Worse, he ws selected as pres, not voted, because nixons vp
resigned in disgrace after a scandal. Ford granted a complete pardon to Nixon. This led to more
hatred and outrage against ford, esp by democrats.
13. Assessment of Ford
 Gerald Ford was made president solely by the vote of Congress
 However, he was dim witted and not qualified for the position
 He was selected and not elected vice president after Spiro Agnew’s resignation
 He was a president without precedent
 He granted Nixon a complete pardon for his crimes and thus angered the Democrats
 “Buddy Deal”-Nixon had spurred a deal when Ford was made VP
 Ford’s Goals: (1) End Nixon’s agony (2) Heal the politic structures and (3) laissez –faire
business (4) enhance Ford’s détente after he signed historic Helsinki accords in July 1975
(end to WW2)
 Soviet “third basket”- guarantee more liberal exchanges of people and information
between East and West and protect “basic human rights”, but the Jewish were restricted
by the Russians and that added restriction to the US-Soviet Trade Bill (Us sent grain and
technology to the Soviets but didn’t receive as much)strengthening the need for Cold
War
14. End of Vietnam
 Early 1975 south Vietnam collapsed to the North (communists), America’s extras
weapons proved unhelpful
 Americans accepted the South Vietnamese as US citizens
 $118 billion debt, 300,000 wounded and 56,000 dead
 Americans lost self-esteem, foreign presence (global leadership), less pride
15. The feminist movement (pg. 968-969)-1970s-Women’s Stride for equality
a. Title IX of the education Amendment
 Prohibited sex discrimination in any federal education program

Opportunities for girls and women in athletics  1980s and 1990s to professional
sports
 Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)-equal rights based on sex
b. Court Decisions
 Reed vs. Reed (1971) and Frontiero vs. Richardson- challenge sex discrimination in
legislation and employment
 Roe vs. wade (1973)-prohibits abortion, right of privacy
 Increased Divorce Rate
c. Defeat of ERA
 Schlafly led the campaign to stop the ERA “bitter women trying to cure their personal
problems”
 The amendment died in 1982
d. Role of NOW vs. WITCH
 Friedan ( credited for the “second wave” of women’s movement) cofounded the
National organization for Women (NOW); equal rights amendment in 1982, not
ratified; young women against the roles of the traditional roles of males
 Morgan-Congress for Racial Equality, student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee;
pro-social justice; founded WITCH (women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy
from Hell); 1968 Protest at the Miss America pageant in NJ
 Contrasting Issues: pornography, marriage, capitalism, men, gender equality, female
military service
 Common Causes: Battle over Abortion Rights
16. More Racial Issues
1. The race issue wouldn't go away. In Milliken v. Bradley, the Supreme Court ruled
that, while integrating schools, officials could not force students across district
lines.
1. The practicality of this was that integration took a hit. If students went to
their nearest school, the schools would stay largely segregated.
2. The "white flight" to the suburbs sped up. What was left behind to deal
with the tensions of integration were the less-advantaged classes of
society.
2. "Affirmative action" (giving preference to minorities in selection) led to charges
of "reverse discrimination."
1. The idea was that affirmative action meant selection for colleges or jobs
based on race, not on achievement.
2. In the Bakke case (1978), the Supreme Court dealt with reverse
discrimination.
1. Bakke had sued saying he'd been turned down grad school due to
policies that favored minorities. He won. The Court said admission
preference could not be based on race.
2. Paradoxically, the court also said race can be used in
the overall admission policies to help balance out the student
body's demographics.
3. Thurgood Marshall was the only black justice. He voted against
Bakke and said the decision might undo years of civil rights
progress.
17. Election of 1976
a. 1976 was the nation's bicentennial celebration. After years of race problems,
Vietnam, and Watergate. Despite all of the turmoil and ousting a
president, America and the Constitution had survived. America needed a
celebration.
b. It was also an election year. President Ford tried to get elected on his own, the
Democrats chose Jimmy Carter.
i. Carter capitalized on being a “Washington outsider,” and therefore
untainted by the supposed corruption of D.C. (he’d previously been
governor of Georgia).
ii. The election was very close, but the Republican "brand" had been too
tarnished by Watergate nonsense. Carter won 297 to 240.
c. Congress also went heavily Democrat. During his "honeymoon period", Carter
got a new Dept. of Energy established. He also got a tax cut through.
i. Carter's honeymoon was short though. Being a political outsider was good
during the election, but not good inside Washington D.C. where "backslapping" and "back-scratching" is how things get done.
18. Carter’s Policies
a. Jimmy Carter was a devout Christian and had a high concern for human rights.
That would be his guiding principle when it came to foreign policy.
i. Carter's crowning foreign policy achievement was a Middle East peace
settlement at Camp David between Israel and Egypt
ii. Full diplomatic relations with China were reestablished.
iii. Another agreement planned to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama by
the year 2000 (and did).
iv. To many, Carter's policies seemed nice, but soft and too willing to give.
1. Plus, the Cold War kept on going. Thousands of Soviet backed
Cuban troops showed up in various African countries to support
communist forces there. Carter made no response.
b. Economic and Energy Woes
i. Carter had worse problems than foreign affairs—the economy was
tanking.
ii. Inflation was rising by 13% in 1979 (4% is normal). The cost of importing
oil was skyrocketing.
iii. Carter proposed energy conservation laws, but they weren't well received.
iv. Interest rates were very high as well. This meant borrowing money (to buy
a home for example) was too expensive.
c. Along with oil, the Middle East gave Carter more headaches in 1979 when the
shah of Iran was ousted by Islamic fundamentalists. The shah had been put into
power with help from the CIA and was seen as a symbol of the West and the U.S.
i. The new Muslim government took over the oil fields. Oil production went
down and OPEC raised oil prices farther.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
ii. Carter went to Camp David, talked with energy experts, then scolded
America for its dependence on oil and materialism. This was probably
true, but it was a scolding, not an energy solution.
1. Within a few days he fired four cabinet members and reverted to
his close-knit Georgia crew. Some wondered if Carter was losing
touch with the people.
Iranian Hostage Crisis - militant Muslim radicals in Iran stormed the U.S.
embassy in Teheran and took everyone hostage.
i. The militants demanded that the U.S. hand over the shah who'd fled
earlier. Worse, what would the U.S. do about the 52 Americans being held
hostage?
ii. Another bad event at the same time mixed the Cold War, oil, and the
Muslim World.
1. The Soviet Union suddenly attacked and took over
Afghanistan (Dec. 1979). This move threatened (1) to expand
communism, (2) oil fields and production, and (3) next-door
neighbor Iran.
Another high-note for Carter came with the SALT II agreements. He met with
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and agreed to limit nuclear weapons.
i. The high-note was short lived—the Senate was very reluctant to ratify the
agreement.
At the same time, militant Muslim radicals in Iran stormed the U.S. embassy in
Teheran and took everyone hostage.
i. The militants demanded that the U.S. hand over the shah who'd fled
earlier. Worse, what would the U.S. do about the 52 Americans being held
hostage?
ii. Another bad event at the same time mixed the Cold War, oil, and the
Muslim World.
1. The Soviet Union suddenly attacked and took over
Afghanistan (Dec. 1979). This move threatened (1) to expand
communism, (2) oil fields and production, and (3) next-door
neighbor Iran.
Carter reacted by placing an embargo on the U.S.S.R. and by boycotting the 1980
summer Olympics in Moscow.
i. He proposed setting up a "Rapid Deployment Force" for trouble-spots and
asked that young people, including women, be required to register for a
possible military draft.
ii. Carter admitted he'd misjudged the Soviets at the SALT II talks. This is
when SALT II died.
The Iran hostage situation was still going—it would be the undoing of Carter.
i. The U.S. tried economic sanctions, they failed.
ii. A secret rescue mission was planned and tried. It literally went down in
flames in a sandstorm.
iii. Carter was unable to resolve the Iran hostage situation. Fair or not, the
American hostages in Iran became a symbol of problems which Carter
could not solve.