MR. LIPMAN’S APUS
POWERPOINT CHAPTER 39
The Era of the 1970s
Keys to the Chapter
• Nixon (and then Ford) Presidency
– Economy
– Vietnam
– Supreme Court
– Watergate
– War Powers Act
– OPEC
– China and Russia
– Native Americans
Keys to the Chapter
• Carter Presidency
– Stagflation (economy in a downward spiral)
– Human Rights
– OPEC Oil Embargo {round 2}
– Camp David Accords
– Shah of Iran
– Doctrine (“strategic protection”)
– Afghanistan (becomes Russia’s Vietnam)
The Economic Problem
• 1945 – 1970 – 25 years of economic growth
• 1970s – no productivity gains
• 1970 – 1990 – median family income
stagnated ….but women into work force helps
families move forward
• Shift in economy from manufacturing to service
Causes of the Economic Problem
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Foreign Competition
Vietnam War expenditures
Inflation
Oil Price Skyrockets
LBJ’s War on Poverty expands entitlements
END RESULT IS A LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN
AMERICA BY AMERICANS FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN HISTORY
The Energy Crisis: Gasoline Prices
• Effects of the energy crisis
– US built Alaskan pipeline to transport oil
– National speed limit of 55 to conserve fuel
– Increased use of coal and nuclear power
– M. East became central to foreign policy
The History of the Consumer Price Index,
1967–2000 Inflation becomes main enemy
Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War
• July 1969 – Nixon Doctrine
– US would honor defense commitments but in
future, others must fight their own wars
($ from America but not troops)
• Nixon attacks the protestors
– Appeals to “silent majority” who support war
– My Lai massacre adds to disillusionment
– War Expanded into Cambodia
Marchers During Anti-Vietnam Moratorium
November 15th, 1969
The My Lai Massacre 1968
Kent State May 1970
The Aftermath of the Kent State Shootings
• Pentagon Papers
– June 1971 – former official Daniel Ellsberg
leaked secret study documenting mistakes
and lies of Vietnam
• Exposed the lie about Gulf of Tonkin
• Supreme Court expands “No Prior
Restraint” doctrine
• All press begin to turn against Nixon
• Nixon’s “peace” in Vietnam
– January 23, 1973 – Cease fire
• US withdrew 27,000 remaining troops and
reclaimed 560 prisoners of war
– Nixon called the cease-fire “peace with honor”
• Reality it was an American retreat
• Nixon continued large-scale bombing of
Cambodia
• Repeatedly vetoes Congress attempt to stop
bombing…will lead to passage of the War
Powers Act in 1973
Gruesome Reminder of the Pol Pot Regime, Cambodia 1976-79
Victims of Cambodian Genocide, 1979
• Nixon Plays China against Russia in hopes of
bringing about detente
• February 1972 – Nixon traveled to China
• US accepted “one-China” policy; lessened US
commitment to Taiwan
• May 1972 – Nixon traveled to Moscow
– USSR willing to make deals with US
• Fearful of US-backed China and needed US food
• Era of Détente will grow
President Nixon Inspects Assembled Chinese Soldiers
with Premier Zhou Enlai
• 1972 – Nixon made 3 important agreements
with China and USSR
– 3-year agreement to sell USSR $750M grain
– Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty
– Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT)
• Freezing of number of nuclear missiles for 5
years
The Supreme Court of the 1960s
• The Warren Court (1953-68) expanded civil
liberties and the rights of criminal defendants
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Gideon v. Wainright (1963)
• Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
• NYTimes v. Sullivan (1964 1st amendment)
• Engle v. Vitale (1962 school prayer case)
• Reynolds v. Sims (1964) will change politics
– Some states had not reapportioned legislative
districts in 60 years: Now must reapportion with
each new census
• Rural voters much more representation than
urban voters (Ex. – an urban L. A. district had 6
million voters; another in rural California had
only 14,000)
– Court ruled that “one-man-one-vote” rule must
apply (also Baker v. Carr)
• The Burger Court will eventually become more
conservative after Roe v. Wade (1973)
– Supreme Court in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)
backed Nixon plan on affirmative action
• Opened storm of criticism from critics who called it
“reverse discrimination”
– Milliken v. Bradley (1974)
• Desegregation plans could not require students to move
across school-district lines (“busing”)
• Exempted suburban districts from burden of
desegregation – helps bring about white flight
• California Regents v. Bakke (1978)
– Court ruled that Bakke must be admitted preferences in admissions could not be
made based on ethnicity or race alone (No
Quotas)
• But, race could be used as part of a
school’s overall admissions policy
– Conservatives applauded the decision as a
win against affirmative action
Pro-Affirmative Action Cartoon
Anti-Affirmative Action Cartoon
• Nixon wins election of 1972 in a landslide
over George McGovern
– Won every state but Massachusetts and
District of Columbia
– Watergate burglary the spring before the
election had little impact on election but would
later force Nixon from the Presidency
• October 1973 – Syrians and Egyptians (armed
by USSR) launched surprise attack on Israel
– Wanted territory lost in 1967 Six Day War
– Israel quickly gains advantage and additional lands
– US airlifted $2 billion in war materials to help
Israel push back the invaders
– OPEC will retaliate against America for this aid by
imposing an embargo on oil shipments
Many Gas Stations Closed on Sundays During the Gas
Shortage in Order to Conserve Gas, 1973
Watergate and the Unmaking of a President
• June 17, 1972 – 5 men arrested in Watergate
apartment-office complex
– Trying to bug the Democratic headquarters
– Working for Committee for the Re-election of the
President (CREEP)
– Washington Post reporters Woodward and
Bernstein lead investigation and discover evidence
of a “dirty tricks” campaign in 1972
• Vice President Spiro Agnew
– October 1973 – forced to resign for taking bribes
from a contractor as governor
• Congress used 25th amendment (both houses
confirmed Ford to replace him him)
– When Nixon resigns same process will be used to
name Nelson Rockefeller vice president
• 1973 – 1974 – Senate committee conducted
televised hearings about Watergate
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Nixon denied any prior knowledge
John Dean accused president and others of cover up
Alexander Butterfield revealed secret taping system
Nixon refused to produce the tapes
Supreme Court orders tapes produced and erasures are
found on them
• October 20, 1973 – “Saturday Night Massacre”
– Nixon fired his own special prosecutor (Cox) appointed to
investigate Watergate but Attorney General says no
– Republican leaders in Congress informed Nixon
that impeachment was inevitable
– August 8, 1974 – Nixon announced his resignation
on TV
• September 8, 1974 – Ford pardoned Nixon for
any crimes committed as president
– Democrats and the public were outraged
• Early 1975 – North Vietnam began drive to
conquer South Vietnam
– Ford asked Congress for more aid to South
Vietnam
• Congress refused
– South Vietnam quickly collapsed
– World watched on t.v. as people seek to escape
– Eventually 500,000 Vietnamese arrived in
US…referred to as “boat people”
Vietnamese Evacuees Board an Air America Helicopter from
the Top of a Building Near the U.S. Embassy, 1975
Boat People Stranded off the Coast of Manila after
Leaving Vietnam
Final Word on Vietnam
• Costs of the Vietnam war to US
– $118 billion (in current US dollars)
– 56,000 killed; 300,000 wounded
– US lost self-esteem, confidence and economic
power
– Political institutions are challenged by citizens
– Power of the presidency is questioned
– Economy will be damaged for many years
Feminist Victories and Defeats
• 1972 – Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has
congressional approval but not ratified by necessary
38 states (3 short)
• Reed v. Reed (1971 divorce case)
– Court ends sex discrimination in legislation
• Antifeminists blamed women’s movement for rising
divorce rate
• Religious Protestants and Catholics organized to
oppose right to abortion
• Native Americans in the 1970s
– Used tactics of civil rights movement to gain
recognition as separate semi-sovereign peoples
• As opposed to blacks who fought to be
admitted into mainstream American society
– 1970 – seized island of Alcatraz
– 1972 – seized village of Wounded Knee, S. Dakota
– 1978 – United States v. Wheeler
• Indian tribes possessed “unique and limited”
sovereignty, subject to Congress, but not
individual states
• Results of the 1976 election {Carter v. Ford}
– Carter won close election
• Carter won every state except Virginia in South
• 97% of blacks voted for Carter
• Kept campaign promise to pardon thousands of draft
evaders during Vietnam
• Carter’s weaknesses
– Relied too much on small group of Washington
outsiders from Georgia
– Angered Congress by not consulting with leaders
• September 1978 – Camp David Peace Accords
– President Sadat (Egypt) and Prime Minister
Begin (Israel) at Camp David in Maryland
– Israel agreed to withdraw from territory
conquered during 1967 Six Days War
– Egypt promised to respect Israel’s borders
and recognize its right to exist
– Both sides promised formal peace treaty
within 3 months
• 1979 – Carter restored full diplomatic
relations with China, 1st time since 1949
• September 1977 – treaty handing over control
of Panama Canal to Panama by 2000
– Many Americans felt betrayed
– End of détente as relations with USSR
worsened
Economy Heads South
• Unprecedented economic problems hit US economy
under Carter (STAGFLATION)
• Inflation
• Trade deficits begin for the first time
• Unemployment becomes a major problem
• Increased foreign trade
– 1970s –America can’t control economy the way it used to
• Carter believed most of US’s problems came
from dependence on foreign oil
– Announces military doctrine to protect “strategic”
importance of oil to America’s future
– Seizure of hostages in Iran {November 1979}
weakens American confidence
– Americans begin to question themselves and seek
a return to the “good old days”
Cars Line up for Gas During the 1979 Fuel Shortage
US Hostages in Iran at Embassy
Iranians Burn an American Flag
• December 27, 1979 – USSR invaded
Afghanistan (next door to Iran)
– Done to prop up communist government
against Muslim militants
– Appeared USSR was surrounding Middle
East to control area’s oil
– Insurgents, armed by American CIA,
continue to resist & eventually Russia leaves
in defeat
– Costs of Invasion help bring about the
collapse of the USSR
– US would use “any means necessary, including
force” to protect Persian Gulf against Soviets
(Carter Doctrine)
Boycott of summer Olympics in Moscow
• 64 other nations followed US
Election of 1980 will bring about a sweeping
change in America and its politics {Swing to
Conservatism with Reagan}