The Stalemated Seventies
Disorder and Discontent
Stagflation
Vietnam
Minorities and Civil Rights
Images of the Seventies
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1968 Richard Nixon
Elected President
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Stagflation
High inflation matched with high unemployment
Causes
– More women and teens in
work force with less skills
– Deteriorating capital
– US regulations
Former President Lyndon B.
Johnson’s spending on the
Vietnam War and his Great
Society program depleted the
U.S. treasury
Demand-pull Inflation
Too much money in people’s
hands and too little products
to buy.
U.S. caught by the Japanese
and the Germans in industries
that the U.S. once dominated:
steel, automobiles, consumer
electronics.
Oil Imports
What was happening?
Nixon’s Poor Record
on Civil Rights
•Nixon felt that any effort to
woo the black electorate in
the South was a waste of his
time
•Nixon denounced busing of
Black students into white
school districts, effectively
prolonging segregation in the
South
Voting Literacy Test
In case the president is unable to perform the duties of his office, who assumes
them?______________________
"Involuntary servitude" is permitted in the United States upon conviction of a crime. (True or
False)___________
If a state is a party to a case, the Constitution provides that original jurisdiction shall be
in_________________
Congress passes laws regulating cases which are included in those over which the United
States Supreme Court has____________________________ jurisdiction.
I hereby certify that I have received no assistance in the completion of this citizenship
and literacy test, that I was allowed the time I desired to complete it, and that I waive any
right existing to demand a copy of same. (If for any reason the applicant does not wish to
sign this, he must discuss the matter with the board of registrars.)
Signed:___________________________________________
(Applicant)
Where is Vietnam?
• During WWII, the
Japanese government
took control of much of
the area and set up a
puppet regime that was
eventually forced out by
the Vietnamese at the
end of that war in 1945.
• After WWII and until
1955, France fought
hard to regain their
former territories in
the region
The French Leave Their Troubles Behind
•The French were
finally defeated at
Dien Bien Phu on the
8th of May 1954 by
the communist
general Vo Nguyen
Giap.
•The communist
regime set up its
headquarters in
Hanoi under the
leadership of Ho Chi
Minh.
South Vietnam Formed to Flee Communism
Many North
Vietnamese left the
country and fled
south where the
self-proclaimed
president, Ngo
Dinh Diem had
formed the
Republic of
Vietnam.
A US Navy PBR (Patrol Boat, River) gunner en route to Hué, Vietnam, 1968. The
city came under intense attack during the Tet Offensive of 68 and was held by NVA
forces and the Vietcong for 25 days before retaken by US and ARVN forces. Most
of the city was destroyed.
1955 – 1960 – US Advisors go to Vietnam
•Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the assistance
of the southern communist Vietcong, tried to take over the
government in South Vietnam
•November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and executed.
The following year, the North Vietnamese began a massive drive to
conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia.
How did the US get stuck in Vietnam?
Fearing a
communist takeover
of the entire region,
the United States
grew more and more
wary of the progress
of Ho Chi Minh and
the Vietcong.
•Americans were
bent on stopping
communism from
spreading any further.
•
Corruption in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
•Corruption was widespread
among officials and the armed
forces of South Vietnam,
known as The Army of the
Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
•By 1950 the US began
sending their first troops,
firstly in an advisory role,
which slowly escalated into a
full blown commitment.
United States Enters the Frey
•The large-scale
involvement of
the US came
under President
Lyndon B.
Johnson and his
Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution.
An American Navy tango boat on the Sang Haam Luong River, also
known as the Lower Mekong River, 1968. South Vietnam's rivers
and waterways were a vital part of the military mechanism. The
Navy was responsible for keeping the rivers open and provided
patrols, reconnaissance and escorts to many missions.
President Johnson did not
want to be a “Loser”
•The increasing
involvement and the
escalation of troop
involvement meant there
were more casualties and
more problems at home.
•Johnson held the power to
halt the war in Vietnam,
but could not face the
thought of being regarded
as the first president in US
history to lose
•He passed it off to Nixon
by deciding not to run for a
second term as president
American naval hovercraft
Three Air Force F-105 Thunderchief aircraft, en
route to bomb military targets in Vietnam
Flying Air Force "gas station.“
•The refueling aircraft is an Air
Force KC-135 Stratotanker,
January, 1966.
•The US Air Force was the preeminent air force in the Vietnam
War.
•The US Army controlled more
aircraft (mainly helicopters) and
the Navy and Marine Corps
performed many of the same
missions, but the US Air Force
dropped more destructive
energy than all of the others
combined.
•The type of aircraft illustrated (F105 Thunder chief) is credited
scoring the first MiG kill over
Vietnam.
Support troops from the US 25th Division take cover from the force of a
US helicopter's rotor wash as it lands near Duc Co,Vietnam, 1965.
The red soil of the country was infamous among the soldiers, the fine sand/dust would
penetrate everything leaving a red color everywhere. The soldiers considered it the pits;
it was "numbha ten" as they called anything bad in slang. The soldiers in Vietnam defined
their own terminology for many things based on a mixture of Vietnamese, French and
American. For instance, all new soldiers were considered FNG's (Fuc*ing New Guy),
until they knew the lingo.
US Soldiers Participating in Operation Thayer II
• Walking the high-
ground that outlines
rice paddies, members
of the 1/12th, 1st
Brigade, 1st Cavalry go
through the paces of a
search and destroy
maneuver.
•The U.S. troops were
participating in
"Operation Thayer II,"
which took place in
North Qui Nhon, South
Vietnam.
1968 – Poised for Conflict – My Lai Massacre
•My Lai lay in the South
Vietnamese district of Son My,
a heavily mined area where the
Vietcong were deeply
entrenched.
•Numerous members of
Charlie Company had been
maimed or killed in the area
during the preceding weeks.
•The agitated troops, under
the command of Lt. William
Calley soon degenerated into
the massacre of over 300
apparently unarmed civilians
including women, children, and
the elderly.
Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing.
• Calley ordered his men to enter
the village firing, though there had
been no report of opposing fire.
• According to eyewitness reports
offered after the event, several old
men were bayoneted, praying
women and children were shot in
the back of the head, and at least
one girl was raped and then killed.
• For his part, Calley was said to
have rounded up a group of the
villagers, ordered them into a
ditch, and mowed them down in a
fury of machine gun fire.
1969
Native Americans Seize Alcatraz
•The occupiers held the island for
nearly eighteen months, from
Nov. 20, 1969, until June 11, 1971,
reclaiming it as Indian land and
demanding fairness and respect
for Indian peoples.
•It was an effort to restore the
dignity of the more than 554
American Indian nations in the
United States.
•Historians and other experts say
the occupation-though chaotic
and laced with tragedy-improved
conditions for the 2 million
American Indians and Alaska
Natives alive today.
Nixon’s Policy - Vietnamization
•540,000 American troops
would be pulled out of the
Southeast Asian nation.
•South Vietnamese would
slowly fight their own war,
and the U.S. would only
supply arms and money
•Called the Nixon
Doctrine.
1st Division troops destroy a rice cache found at a Michelin Rubber
Plantation, 1969.
•
The Vietcong used elaborate tunnel
systems to store food and
ammunition as well as housing
medical and combat facilities.
• The largest tunnel systems in
South Vietnam (some under US
bases) could be as vast as 200
kilometers (125 miles) long and
were built to withstand bombings,
explosions, poison gas etc.
•Many of the systems were built
using forced labor from
surrounding villages.
•Special US soldiers called “Tunnel
Rats” would crawl through the
systems to find the enemy
The Vietnam War Enters Cambodia
•North Vietnamese had
been using Cambodia
as a springboard for
funneling troops and
arms
•April 29, 1970, Nixon
suddenly ordered U.S.
troops to invade
Cambodia to stop this.
Riots occurred at Kent
State University and at
Jackson State College.
A moved US soldier from the 9th Division at Tan
An, Vietnam 1968. He has received three Purple
Heart decorations.
Two months later, Nixon withdrew U.S. troops from
Cambodia
•Cambodian incident
even more split the
“hawks” and the
“doves” (war vs. peace).
•U.S. Senate repealed
the Tonkin Gulf
Resolution
Cambodian mercenaries wade through a marsh
at Boxoai,Vietnam, 1968.
• Cambodia played seesaw with its
alliances shifting allegiance between
the US and China.
• The US was granted permission to
bomb North Vietnamese
strongholds within Cambodia during
so called "hot pursuits".
War Extends into Cambodia
• Nixon actually used this agreement
as an argument for extensive
bombing campaigns on Cambodia, as
the communist Khmer Rouge were
assisting the North Vietnamese to
hide, transport and launch attacks
from within Cambodia.
In 1970, Nixon ordered an attack on Cambodia,Vietnam’s neighbor.
Passers-by stop to watch as flames envelope a young
Buddhist monk, Saigon, October 5th, 1963.
The man sits impassively in the central market square, he
has set himself on fire performing a ritual suicide in
protest against governmental anti-Buddhist policies.
Diems government blamed the incident on the Vietcong
and never admitted responsibility.
The Buddhist leadership quickly organized
demonstrations that eventually led to seven monks
burning themselves to death.
I guess you must eventually become immune - the man
behind the monk is still trying to find a light for his
cigarette.
Repatriation Ceremony in Vietnam
Remains of American GIs,
killed in Vietnam during
the Vietnam War, are
carried by an honor guard
to a plane at Hanoi's No
Bai International Airport
during a repatriation
ceremony.The remains
are flown to Hawaii to be
identified.
1970
Shootings at Kent State and Jackson
State
On May 4th, 1970, U.S. National
Guardsmen opened fire on
students demonstrating at Kent
State University in Ohio.
The National Guard had been sent
in to prevent riots and regain
control of the campus but began
shooting after some of the students
began throwing rocks.
More than 60 shots were fired and
when the dust had settled four
students were dead and nine
wounded.
1971
New York Times publishes Pentagon Papers
In 1971, the 26th Amendment, lowering the voting age to
eighteen, was also passed.
New York Times published a top-secret Pentagon study of
America’s involvement of the Vietnam War
Papers had been leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, former Pentagon
official—which exposed all the deceit used by the Kennedy
and Johnson administrations.
There would be no Pentagon Papers
without Robert S. McNamara
Secretary of Defense from
1961 through early 1968.
•,
•Promoted the escalation of
the Vietnam War from
advisers to more than
500,000 American troops
engaged in a difficult war
• McNamara quietly left the
government in early 1968.
•Before doing so, however, he
ordered a small staff in the
Department of Defense to
undertake a secret study of
U.S. decision-making about
Vietnam since the end of the
Second World War.
Classified top secret
•The study consisted of 47
volumes and about 7,000 pages
• Only 15 copies of the study
were made and distribution of
the copies was controlled.
•Two copies of the study,
however, went to the RAND
Corporation, which did
considerable work for the
military.
•Daniel Ellsberg, believed the war
was wrong and that the
government was not being
honest with the public about the
war
•He copied it and leaked most of
it to Neil Sheehan, a New York
Times reporter who had been in
Vietnam.
58,000 men and women had died in the war
•The conflict in Vietnam lingered
past Nixon’s reelection in 1972
until the spring of 1975
•The Communist-aided North
finally broke through weakened
South Vietnamese lines and took
Saigon
•The War Powers Act of November
1973 required the president to
report all commitments of U.S.
troops to foreign exchanges within
48 hours
•Congress began an all volunteer
army
1972
Nixon Visits China
•He made the historic
journey to China in
February of 1972.
•Traveled to Moscow in May 1972, and the Soviets, wanting
foodstuffs and alarmed over the possibility of a U.S.-China
alliance against the U.S.S.R., made deals with America in
which the U.S. would sell the Soviets at least $750 million
worth of wheat, corn, and other cereals, thus ushering in an
era of détente, or relaxed tensions.
Yom Kippur War of 1973
•The Arab attack during the
Yom Kippur holiday took
Israel by surprise
•Initially Egypt and Syria
regained some of their lost
territory, then lost it again to
the Israeli counterattack
•UN troops stationed on
borders of the Sinai
Peninsula and Golan heights
helped stabilize the region.
1972 - Watergate Begins
•Early in 1972, Nixon’s aides
proposed an elaborate scheme to
wiretap various leaders of the
Democratic Party and use gained
information to disrupt their
nomination process in the
upcoming election
•The wire tappers were arrested
and every member of the Nixon
administration was suspected
John Dean III Rats Out the President
•The lengthy unraveling of the facts took
several years and led to the eventual
resignation of Nixon
•Lengthy hearings proceeded, headed by
Senator Sam Erving, and John Dean III
testified about all the corruption, illegal
activities, and scandal that took place
1973
Watergate Hearings in Congress
.
Tapes had recorded
conversations that could
solve all the mystery in
this case, but Nixon, who
had explicitly denied
participation in this
Watergate Scandal
earlier to the American
people, refused to give
them to Congress.
• Vice President Spiro
Agnew was forced to
resign in 1973 due to tax
evasion.
Vice President Gerald Ford
• Gerald Ford was nominated
for new vice president
• “Saturday Night Massacre”
(Oct. 20, 1973), in which
Archibald Cox, special
prosecutor of the case who
had issued a subpoena of the
tapes, was fired and the
attorney general and deputy
general resigned because they
didn’t want to fire Cox.
SO
Who
Fired
Archibald Cox?
The Constitution Works
Gerald Ford becomes first “unelected” president
•On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court
ruled that Nixon had to give all tapes to
Congress.
•Those already given showed Nixon
cursing and swearing. Bad.
•July 1974, the House approved its first
article of impeachment for obstruction of
the administration of justice.
•On August 5, 1974, Nixon finally released
the three tapes that held the most
damaging information—the same three
tapes that had been “missing.”
•On August 8 of the same year, he
resigned, realizing that he would be
convicted if impeached, and with
resignation, at least he could still keep the
privileges of a president.
•Lesson: the Constitution works.
A New Team on the Supreme Bench
Nixon nominates four justices
•Earl Warren was
appointed as Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court
•He headed many
controversial but
important decisions:
– Griswold vs.
Connecticut (1965)
struck down a state
law that banned the
use of contraceptives,
even by married
couples, but creating
a “right to privacy.”
Legal Counsel and Civil Rights
– Gideon vs. Wainwright
(1963) said that all
criminals were entitled to
legal counsel, even if they
were too poor to afford it.
– Escobedo (1964) and
Miranda (1966) were two
cases in which the
Supreme Court ruled that
the accused could now
remain silent.
Escobedo's brother-in-law, a convict from
Chicago, was shot and killed in 1960 .
Escobedo was arrested without warrant early
the next morning and interrogated. However,
Escobedo made no statement to the police and
was later released that afternoon. A witness in
custody told the police that indeed Escobedo
fired the fatal shots because the victim had
mistreated Escobedo's sister. Escobedo was
arrested again, asked to speak to his attorney,
but the police refused. His attorney went to the
police station and repeatedly asked to see his
client, but was repeatedly refused access.
Police interrogated Escobedo for 14 1/2 hours
and repeatedly refused his request to speak
with his attorney. Escobedo made statements
implicating his knowledge of the crime. After
conviction for murder, Escobedo appealed on
the basis of being denied the right to counsel.
School Prayer and Cows?
Engel vs.Vitale (1962) and
School District of Abington
Township vs. Schempp (1963)
were two cases that led to the
Court ruling against required
prayers and having the Bible in
public schools, basing the
judgment on the First
Amendment, which separated
church and state.
•Reynolds vs. Sims (1964) ruled
that the state legislatures, both
upper and lower houses, would
have to be reapportioned
according to the human
population, irrespective of
cows.
•
1975 – South Vietnam Falls to Communists
Farm workers Gain Right to Bargain with Growers
•There had been secret bombing
raids on North Vietnamese forces in
Cambodia that had occurred since
March of 1969, despite federal
assurances to the U.S. public that
Cambodia’s neutrality was being
respected.
•Cambodia was taken over by the
cruel Pol Pot, who committed
genocide by killing over 2 million
people over a span of a few years.
Presidential Election of 1976
Gerald Ford vs Gov Jimmy Carter
•September 17, 1978, President
Anwar Sadat of Egypt and
Prime Minister Menachem
Begin of Israel signed some
accords at Camp David.
•Mediated by Carter after
relations had strained, this was a
great success.
1978 - Camp David Accords
1979 – US Hostages Seized in Iran
•Iran’s shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who had been
installed by America in 1953 and ruled as a dictator,
•The exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran in
February 1979 and whipped popular discontent into
rabid anti-Americanism.
•When the Shah came to America for cancer
treatment in October, the Ayatollah incited Iranian
militants to attack the U.S.
• The Shah was overthrown and succeeded by the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
•On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the
United States Embassy in Tehran and took
approximately seventy Americans captive.
•This terrorist act triggered the most profound crisis
of the Carter presidency and began a personal ordeal
for Jimmy Carter and the American people that lasted
444 days.
Iranian Hostage Crisis 444 Days
At first Carter tried
economic sanctions,
but that didn’t work.
Later, he tried a daring
commando rescue
mission, but that had
to be aborted, and
when two military
aircraft collided,
eight of the would-be
rescuers were killed.
Hostages Released
The stalemate hostage situation dragged on for
most of Carter’s term, and was never released
until January 20, 1981—the inauguration day of
Ronald Reagan.