The Ford & Carter
Administrations

Ford Not Elected
 Ford (who was the House Minority
Leader from Michigan) was appointed Vice President by Nixon to replace VP Agnew , who resigned due to bribery charges.
 When Nixon resigned, Ford then became President.
 Ford then appointed Nelson
Rockefeller to be VP.

Controversial Pardon
 Nixon faced criminal charges in the federal courts.
 Ford decided to pardon Nixon of all alleged crimes.
 The pardon was criticized widely, but he defended it.

Stagflation : A Very Sick 70’s
Economy
 Stagflation= high unemployment + high inflation
 You can’t fix one problem without making the other worse!
 Causes of inflation:
 OPEC forms / 1973 oil embargo because US supported Israel in Yom Kippur War/ prices rise
 Causes of unemployment: 9% unemployed
 Decline of factories / rise of service jobs
 Foreign competition

Whip Inflation Now
 Called for voluntary wage / price freezes
 Created jobs, lowered taxes.
 No quick fixes in sight.

What the Country Needed
 Honest, open, good man.
 Underappreciated at the time.
 Burdened with bad economic and social challenges that had no easy answers.

Questions to Ponder…
 What audience was the speech intended for? Why is this significant?
 What 3 justifications did Ford use to pardon Nixon?
 Which justification do you think is most significant?
 Based on the speech, what was life like in the United States at the time the speech was delivered?

A Wholesome Outsider Elected:
 Was a born again Christian .
 An unassuming peanut farmer .
 Not tainted by Washington .

Domestic Problems:
 Dependence on oil increases our sense of vulnerability as inflation and shortages result.

Carter’s Solutions
 National Energy Act: taxes gas guzzlers , gives tax credits for solar energy, allows gas prices to rise
 Inflation: Cut spending , allowed interest rates to rise
 Malaise speech: gave a speech in which he laid out all the problems, but gave few solutions .

Foreign Policy
 Pressured countries to protect human rights (think Bill of Rights)
 Agreed to return the Panama Canal Zone to Panama in 1997 .
 SALT II signed with Soviet Union
 Soviets invade Afghanistan to help form communist government
 SALT II treaty is pulled
 Americans boycott 1980 Olympics in Moscow

Israel and Egypt Map

Camp David Accords
 Spent weeks with the leaders of Israel and Egypt.
 Made a deal :
 Egypt recognized Israel as a legitimate nation.
 Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
 The most significant progress ever made in the
Middle East conflict b/w Israel and surrounding
Arab nations.

Iran

Iranian Hostage Crisis
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Iran hates us for supporting a corrupt king, who they call the “shah”
A Muslim cleric inspires a revolt and the shah flees to the
U.S.
52 Americans are taken hostage in the U.S. embassy in
Tehran until we return the shah .
We refuse & the shah dies in the U.S. of natural causes.
An attempted rescue fails and 8 men die in the effort.
The hostages are held for 444 days , and only released when Reagan becomes president.

Affirmative Action Fuels White
Backlash
 University of California v.
Bakke:
 The court rules that colleges cannot use quotas (setting aside a certain % of spots for minorities) when considering who will be accepted to public colleges.

Effectiveness: Carter
 Not very:
 Had good ideas, but outsider status hurt his ability to get things done with Congress
 Like Ford, plagued with unsolvable economic woes.
 Brilliance of Camp David overshadowed by hostage crisis debacle.