Jimmy Carter & Gerald Ford

Tough Times in the U.S.

• Sept 8, 1974 Ford pardons Nixon• Good choice?

• Economic issues• OPEC causes oil prices to soar• Whip Inflation Now falls through• “Tight money” policy fails miserably• Fighting Democrats in Congress

Better Luck Abroad

Helsinki Accords

• Agreements that promised cooperation between nations of Eastern and Western Europe

• One of Ford’s biggest successes

Southeast Asia

• Cease-fire in Vietnam breaks down

• US doesn’t send help and South Vietnam surrenders in 75

• Cambodia seizes merchant ship in Gulf of Siam and Ford responds with military force

Reign of Jimmy Carter

Domestic Agenda• Energy Crisis

• National Energy Act: tax on gas-guzzling cars, no price controls on oil/gas in US, tax credits for alternative energy

• Violence in 79• Violence in Middle East led to

fuel shortage and OPEC raised price

• 14% inflation by 1980

• Changing Economy• Rise in service sector jobs and

decrease in manufacture jobs

Civil Rights

• 28 African Americans, 29 women, 14 Latinos earn positions in judicial branch

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case

Reign of Jimmy Carter

Foreign Policy

• Rejected Realpolitik

• Promotes human rights throughout the world

• No military aid to US allies Argentina and Brazil

• Gives up control of Panama Canal wise decision?

• SALT II

Middle East

• Camp David Accords• Israel withdraws from

Sinai Peninsula and Egypt recognizes Israel

• Iran Hostage Crisis• Iranians resented shah• Carter supported shah

over Ayatollah Khomeini• Armed students took 52

American hostages at US embassy in Tehran

• Hostages released in 1981 when Reagan sworn in

Questions to Consider

• How might the country have been different if former US president had gone on trial for criminal wrongdoing?

• If you had been in President Ford’s position, would you have pardoned Nixon? Why or why not?

• Do you agree with the ruling set forth by Regents of the University of California v. Bakke?

Environmental Activism

• Energy Crisis led people to a heightened sense of environmentalism; could not take the Earth for granted

• 1962: Rachel Carson and Silent Spring• Argued that pesticides were killing off birds and fish

• April 22, 1970

• Environmental Protection Agency: set and enforce pollution standards, conduct environmental research and assist state/local gov’t in pollution control

Environmental Activism

Alaska

• Discovery of Oil in 1968

• With new jobs created, people were concerned about Alaska’s wildlife

• Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 71

Nuclear Energy

• Drawbacks of dependence on foreign oil made nuclear energy appealing

• Three Mile Island• Reactor over-heated

and cooling system failed

• 100,000 residents evacuated