CHALLENGES TO THE POSTWAR ORDERCHAPTER 38: 1973-1980

CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE

• Economic growth and prosperity slowed and left to what was called "stagflation", a combination of stagnation and inflation

• This was also an unsettling time in areas such as gender and religion

WATERGATE AND THE UNMAKING OF A PRESIDENT

• 5 men arrested on June 17, 1972 after attempting to plant "bugs" in the Democratic party's headquarters

• Revealed soon after they worked for "CREEP", Republican Committee to Re-Elect the President

NIXON ADMINISTRATION

• Continuing theme of deceit in his administration

• VP Spiro Agnew resigned for taking bribes

• Nixon nominated and Congress confirmed Gerald Ford, a 12 term congressman from Michigan

WATERGATE COVER-UP

• Nixon denied prior knowledge of break in

• Former WH aide revealed existence of recording from Oval Office

• Nixon agreed to release only the "relevant" portions of tapes and hid behind Executive Privilege

RESIGNATION

• SC ruled Nixon can't use executive privilege to withhold tapes

• The "smoking gun" tape revealed Nixon giving orders 6 days after break in to use CIA to hold back an FBI inquiry

• Articles of impeachment were soon drawn up

RESIGNATION

• Republican leaders suggested resignation, impeachment was inevitable

• Nixon announced his resignation on TV August 8, 1974

• Nixon resignation speech

SOURCES OF STAGNATION

• The entire decade of the 1970s did not witness a productivity advance equivalent to even one year's progress in the preceding two decades

• The median income of the average family stagnated and failed to decline only because of the addition of working wives' wages to family incomes

CAUSE OF PRODUCTIVITY SLUMP

• More women/teens in workforce

• Declining investment in new machinery

• Vietnam...took $ from education and manufacturing

DEFICIT SPENDING

• Perhaps the biggest factor in stagnation

• President Johnson fought and funded Vietnam while also funding Great Society programs at home

• Did not raise taxes to cover the costs; spent money the country didn't have

THE FIRST UNELECTED PRESIDENT

• Appointed by Nixon to VP and confirmed by Congress, never elected

• Pardoned Nixon for any crimes have may have committed as president, "discovered or undiscovered."

FORD'S FOREIGN POLICY

• Continued detente (easing of hostility) with USSR

• Helsinki Accords signed by 34 world leaders legitimized boundaries of Poland and Eastern Europe

• In return the Soviets signed a "third basket" agreement meant to promote human rights and more liberal exchange of people and information between the East and West

ONE WAY STREET

• American grain and technology flowed to the USSR but not much of importance came back

• USSR continued human rights violations

• The idea of detente quickly dissolved and Cold War attitudes returned

END OF VIETNAM WAR

• The discontinuation of aid by the United States ended the war and ensured victory for North Vietnam

• Last American were evacuated on April 29, 1975

THE COST OF WAR

• $118 billion

• 56,000 dead and 300,000 wounded

• Lost more than a war...lost face in eyes of foreigners, lost self esteem, lost confidence in political leaders, and lost much of the economic muscle that set the U.S. apart from rest of the world

FEMINIST VICTORIES AND DEFEATS

• Congress passed Title IX in 1972 prohibiting sex discrimination in any federally assisted educational program or activity

• Equal Rights Amendment also proposed in 1972 protected "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied on the account of sex"

ROE V. WADE

• Struck down laws prohibiting abortions, arguing that a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy was protected by the constitution right to privacy

FEMINIST DEFEATS

• Nixon vetoed a proposal to setup nationwide public day care

• Anti feminists blamed the women's movement for the rising divorce rate (tripled between 1960-1976)

DEFEAT OF THE E.R.A.

• Anti feminists argued it would remove traditional protections that women received if viewed as equals to men

• They are just "bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems"

• The ERA fell three states short of success

IMPACT OF WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

• Despite defeats, it left a lasting impact on American society and culture

• Women's labor force participation increased, major professions opened doors to women, growing number of single, divorced, and dual income families ensure the importance of women to American life

THE 70'S IN BLACK AND WHITE

• Millikan v. Bradley decision ruled that desegregation plans could not require students to move across school district lines

• Reinforced "white flight" from cities to suburbs

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

• Whites cried "reverse discrimination"

• Bakke v. California

• Court ruled race can be taken into account, but can't be the only factor considered

THE BICENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN

• Gerald Ford held off Ronald Reagan for Republican nomination

• Ford was challenged by the "New Right."

• Ford portrayed as being too moderate

• Ford's opponent in the 1976 presidential election was Democrat Jimmy Carter

1976 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

• Carter ran more against the memory of Nixon/Watergate than Ford

• "I'll never lie to you"

• Attracted votes as an outsider who would clean the disorderly house of "big government"

CARTER PRESIDENCY

• Popularity remained high initially despite pardoning over 10,000 draft evaders of Vietnam War

• His honeymoon did not last long

• Angered Congress by not consulting Congressional leaders, isolated himself with fellow Georgians

CARTER'S HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY

• Concern for "human rights" was guiding principle of foreign policy

• Able to convince Egypt and Israel to sign a peace accord

• Resumed diplomatic relations with China after 30 year interruption

ECONOMIC TROUBLES

• The inflation rate rose to 13% by 1980

• "Oil Shocks" taught Americans they could never again consider a policy of economic isolation

• Carter blamed inflation on nation's dependence on foreign oil, but Americans ignored conservation efforts he proposed

MALAISE SPEECH

• July 15, 1979

• Criticized the American public for falling into a "moral and spiritual crisis

• Too concerned with material goods

• Malaise speech

NEOCONSERVATIVES

• Often former liberals appalled by what they regarded as the excesses of the 1960s spearheaded a conservative revival

• Championed free market capitalism

• Restoration of traditional values at home

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE IRANIAN IMBROGLIO

• Salt II Agreements

• Limited supply of lethal weapons by U.S. and Soviets

• Criticized by conservatives

IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

• Buried hopes of Salt II treaty

• Anti-American militants stormed US embassy in Tehran and took its occupants hostage

• Carter ordered a failed rescue mission, seemed to underscore nation's helplessness