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Key Points: Details:

Summary:

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Ferguson’s Notes

An Age of Limits24

Class Website: http://desotocountyschools.org/ferguson

● Nixon’s New Conservatism

○ Silent majority: the forgotten Americans, the non-shouters, the

non-demonstrators

■ Support came from middle-class voters upset over events

in the 1960s

■ Pledged to restore law and order and cut back on the

Democrats (Johnson’s) programs

● Nixon tried to reform the federal gov’t role in

Americans’ lives

● Democrats controlled Congress, and Nixon is a

Republican

○ New Federalism: distribute a portion of federal power to state

and local gov’ts

■ Nixon believed Johnson’s “Great Society” programs gave

the federal gov’t too much responsibility in dealing with

social problems

■ Revenue sharing: state and local gov’ts could spend their

federal dollars however they saw fit within certain

limitations

● State and Local Fiscal Assistance

Act/Revenue-Sharing Bill became law in 1972

● The federal gov’t wouldn’t be as demanding in how

state and local gov’ts could spend federal dollars

○ Family Assistance Plan (FAP): every family of four with no

outside income would receive a basic federal payment of $1,600 a

year, with a provision to earn up to $4,000 a year in supplemental

income (the bill was attacked in Senate)

■ Supporters: direct aid would end gov’t red tape and

expensive programs

● Unemployed participants would have to take job

training and accept any reasonable work offered

them

● Liberals believed the payments were too low and

the work requirement was too stiff

■ Critics: direct aid makes families more dependent on the

gov’t

Chapter 24: An Age

of Limits

Section 1: The Nixon

Administration


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○ To win backing for his New Federalism program from a

Democrat-controlled Congress, Nixon increased spending on

some social programs

■ Nixon increased spending on Social Security, Medicare,

and Medicaid payments and made food stamps

■ Nixon unsuccessfully tried to eliminate the Job Corps and

vetoed a bill, in 1970, to provide additional funding for

Housing and Urban Development

■ Nixon impounded, or withheld, necessary funds for

programs, thus holding off their implementation

● By 1973, Nixon impounded almost $15 billion,

affecting more than 100 federal programs

■ The federal courts ordered the release of the impounded

money

● The courts ruled that the presidential

impoundment of money was unconstitutional and

that only Congress had the authority to decide

how federal funds should be spent

○ Nixon had been elected on a dual promise to end the war in

Vietnam and mend the divisiveness within America that the war

had created

■ Nixon started to de-escalate America’s involvement in

Vietnam, oversaw secret peace negotiations with North

Vietnam, and secretly worked on his reelection campaign

for 1972

● Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s advisor for national

security affairs, had been meeting privately with

North Vietnam’s chief negotiator, Le Duc Tho,

since 1969

● Nixon and members of his staff ordered wiretaps

on many left-wing individuals and the Democratic

Party offices at the Watergate office building in

Washington, D.C.

■ He also implemented his “law and order” policies that he

promised the “silent majority”

● The CIA investigated and compiled documents on

thousands of American dissidents-people who

objected to the govt's policies

● IRS audited the tax returns of antiwar and civil

rights activists

● Nixon created a personal “enemies list” that the

gov’t would harass


Administration (con’t)


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● Nixon’s Southern Strategy

○ Nixon had won the 1968 presidential election by less than one

percent of the popular vote therefore wanting to create a new

conservative coalition to build on his support

■ Southern strategy: a plan to win conservative southern

white voters away from the Democratic Party by

appealing to their unhappiness with federal desegregation

policies and a liberal Supreme Court

■ Nixon realized Southerners were upset with Democrats

when they voted for former Alabama governor George

Wallace, a conservative segregationist

● Nixon wanted to win over Wallace’s supporters in

hopes of keeping the White House and recapturing

the majority in Congress

○ In effort to increase the success of the Southern Strategy, Nixon

slowed the country’s desegregation efforts

■ In 1969, Nixon ordered the Department of Health,

Education, and Welfare (HEW) to delay desegregation

plans for school districts in South Carolina and Mississippi

● The NAACP responded by filing a suit in which

the high court ordered Nixon to abide by the

second Brown ruling

■ Nixon also opposed extending the Voting Rights Act of

1965

● Despite Nixon’s opposition, Congress extended

the act

○ Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of Education (1971)

■ -Nixon opposed integration through busing and went on

national TV to urge Congress to halt the practice

■ Facts of the Case

● After the Supreme Court's decision in 1954 in

Brown v. Board of Education, little progress had

been made in desegregating public schools. One

example was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North

Carolina, system in which approximately 14,000

black students attended schools that were either

totally black or more than 99 percent black. Lower

courts had experimented with a number of possible

solutions when the case reached the Supreme

Court.




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■ Question

● Were federal courts constitutionally authorized to

oversee and produce remedies for state-imposed

segregation?

■ Conclusion

● In a unanimous decision, the Court held that once

violations of previous mandates directed at

desegregating schools had occurred, the scope of

district court's' equitable powers to remedy past

wrongs were broad and flexible. The Court ruled

that 1) remedial plans were to be judged by their

effectiveness, and the use of mathematical ratios

or quotas were legitimate "starting points" for

solutions; 2) predominantly or exclusively black

schools required close scrutiny by courts; 3)

non-contiguous attendance zones, as interim

corrective measures, were within the courts'

remedial powers; and 4) no rigid guidelines could be

established concerning busing of students to

particular schools.

○ Nixon claimed the Warren Court encouraged lawlessness in

America and was too liberal during the 1968 election

■ During Nixon’s first term in the White House, he had the

opportunity to appoint four justices

● In 1969, Nixon appointed Warren Burger to head

the Court and appointed three other conservative

justices (Senate must approve)

● Patricia Nixon, President Nixon’s wife, urged her

husband to appoint women to the Supreme Court

(rejected one woman)

■ The more conservative Supreme Court didn’t always take

the conservative approach

● Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of

Education (1971): encouraged busing to integrate

schools.




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■ The Women’s Movement Gains Momentum

● Sparks of unrest

○ Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique:

rejected the popular idea that women were

content with the roles of wife, mother, and

homemaker

■ Published The Fountain of Age:

growing old does not mean growing

worthless

○ Feminism: the belief that women should

have economic, political, and social equality

with men (right to vote in 1920)

○ President JFK appointed a Presidential

Commission on the Status of Women in

1961

○ Reported women paid far less, even when

doing the same job, and seldom promoted to

management positions

● National Organization for Women (NOW-1966):

lobbied for women’s rights

■ Pushed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

(EEOC) to enforce the ban that was placed on gender

discrimination when hiring

■ EEOC declared sex-segregated job ads illegal and to

issue guidelines to employers, stating they could no longer

refuse to hire women for traditionally male jobs

■ New York Radical Women - 1968 disrupted the Miss

America pageant saying it degraded women

■ A new generation

■ Gloria Steinem was a feminist, who wrote After Black

Power, Women’s Liberation

■ First openly feminist article in a women’s magazine known

as Ms. (1972)

■ Helped develop the National Women’s Political Caucus in

1971

■ Encouraged women to run for political office

■ Many gender-based distinctions were questioned:

■ Girls exclusion from sports was questioned (baseball and

football)

■ Women didn’t always take their husband’s last name




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○ Controversy over the effects of the Women’s movement

developed

○ Higher Education Act/Education Amendment Act (1972): ban on

gender discrimination in “any education program or activity

receiving federal financial assistance.”

○ Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): proposed constitutional

amendment barring discrimination on the basis of sex (first

introduced in 1923)

■ Congress passed ERA in 1972, but it was three states

short of passing in 1982 (need 38 states to ratify it)

■ Many working-class and minorities felt leaders of

National Organization for Women (NOW) did not see

their needs

■ Phyllis Schlafly and others believed NOW, ERA, and Roe

v. Wade condemned the home-maker and destroyed

traditions

○ Roe v. Wade (1973): Supreme Court overturned state law limiting

women’s access to abortions

■ Facts of the case:

● Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her

pregnancy by abortion. Texas law prohibited

abortions except to save the pregnant woman's

life. After granting certiorari, the Court heard

arguments twice.

● The first time, Roe's attorney -- Sarah

Weddington -- could not locate the constitutional

hook of her argument for Justice Potter Stewart.

● Her opponent -- Jay Floyd -- misfired from the

start. Weddington sharpened her constitutional

argument in the second round.

● Her new opponent -- Robert Flowers -- came

under strong questioning from Justices Potter

Stewart and Thurgood Marshall.

■ Question:

● Does the Constitution embrace a woman's right to

terminate her pregnancy by abortion?




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● Confronting a Stagnant Economy

○ Gov’t spending of social programs and the Vietnam War led to a recession and

unemployment, which created stagflation: phenomenon of high inflation and high

unemployment

■ President Johnson’s policy to fund the war and social programs

through deficit spending caused inflation

■ Increased competition in international trade and a flood of new

workers led to stagflation

■ America’s heavy dependency on foreign oil caused major economic

problems

● Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC):

formed mainly by Arab nations in an effort to get higher

prices for their oil

● The U.S. was importing 1/3 of its oil

■ Yom Kippur War/October War (1973-74) pitted Israel against

Egypt and Syria (other Arab nations supported Egypt and Syria)

● Egypt and Syria invaded Israel in an attempt to recover the

land they lost during the Six Day War in 1967 (wanted the

Sinai Peninsula back which they lost during the Six-Day

War).

● When the U.S. sent massive aid to Israel, the Arab OPEC

nations responded by cutting off oil sales to the U.S.

● By the time OPEC started selling oil to the U.S. again in

1973, the price had quadrupled

● Some believed oil companies were keeping prices artificially

high for profit

■ The reduction in oil caused an energy crisis in the U.S. during the

winter of 1973-74

● Oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1968, after

explorers had been searching all over Northern Alaska since

the 1950s

● A pipeline was considered the only viable system for

transporting the oil to the nearest ice-free port, almost 800

miles (1,300 km) away at Valdez

● U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska

Pipeline Authorization Act into law on November 16, 1973,

which authorized the construction of the pipeline (finished

being built in 1977)

■ The gov’t called for energy conservation, but oil imports grew

● Gas rose from 30 cents to $1.00 a gallon

■ The Arab oil squeeze affected the entire world

● The Netherlands allowed motorists 2 ½ gallons of gas per

week

● Norway banned Sunday driving

● France lowered speed limits



http://alaska

http://port

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilometre

http://alaska


http://nixon

http://act

http://act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973


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○ Nixon had to revive the economy if he wanted to win reelection in 1972

■ Nixon attempted to raise taxes and cut the budget, in an effort to

reduce deficit spending

● Congress didn’t go along with Nixon’s plan

■ Nixon tried to reduce the amount of money in circulation by urging

that the interest rate be raised

● Raising interest rates only created a mild recession or

slowdown in the economy

■ In August 1971, Nixon enforced price and wage controls to stop

inflation

● Labor leaders feared that the tactic would hurt low wage

earners

● Nixon eased price and wage controls after he won reelection,

which caused inflation to reach 12% in 1974

● Nixon’s Foreign Policy Triumphs

○ In 1968, Nixon commented, “I’ve always thought this country could run itself

domestically without a president.”

■ Realpolitik (political realism): foreign policy should be based solely

on consideration of power, not ideals or moral principles

● Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s advisor for national security affairs

and later Nixon’s secretary of state, believed in evaluating a

nation’s power, not its philosophy or beliefs

● If a country is weak, communist or not, simply ignore it

■ Containment was no longer the policy, but instead direct

confrontation with powerful nations was acceptable (negotiations

also played a role)

■ Détente: a policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions

● Détente was on full display when Nixon decided to visit

Communist China in 1972

○ Since the Communists took control of China in 1949, the U.S. wouldn’t

recognize the Chinese gov’t until Nixon’s visit in Feb 1972

■ Nixon took advantage of the conflict(s) between the S.U. and China

● The Chinese accused the Soviets as being soft in its policies

against the West

● The two Communist superpowers broke ties in 1960

■ Nixon opened up diplomatic and economic relations with the

Chinese, which resulted in important agreements b/w China and the

U.S.

● Agreed to promote peace in the Pacific region, develop trade

relations, and cultural and scientific ties

● Nixon promised to pull U.S. troops out of Taiwan, which

decreased Chinese support for the North Vietnamese




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○ Nixon felt he had the leverage to promote a new policy with the S.U. leader

Leonid Brezhnev (Nixon was the first American president to visit the S.U. in

May 1972)

■ Agreed to promote trade (buy US grain) and to cooperate on issues

of mutual concern

■ Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/SALT I Treaty: five-year

agreement that limited the number of intercontinental ballistic

missiles (ICBMs) and submarines-launched missiles to the 1972

levels

■ Foreign policy triumphs in China and S.U. and the announcement

that peace “is in hand” in Vietnam helped reelect Nixon in 1972 (it

took six more months for Vietnam to end)

● President Nixon and His White House

○ Nixon increasingly worked to extend and maximize his power

○ Nixon shifted authority from his cabinet, which Congress must approve, to his

personal White House staff

○ Withheld vital info from Congress and the public

○ Nixon charged the news media with biased reporting

○ Enemies list: made up of critics who opposed his policies

■ Conducted background checks on men and leaked damaging info to the

press about those men opposed to Nixon’s policies

○ Plumbers: included former CIA and FBI agents that were ordered to stop leaks

and carry out various illegal activities in the name of “national security”

○ Nixon inner circle, which was based on secrecy and consolidation of power,

consisted of the following:

■ H. R. Haldeman-White House chief of staff

■ John Ehrlickman-Chief domestic advisor

■ John Mitchell-Nixon’s former attorney general resigned in order to

lead CREEP

■ John Dean-white house counsel to President Nixon

■ James McCord-in charge of the plumbers

○ The Imperial Presidency, written by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., argued that by the

time Nixon became president, the executive branch had taken on an air of

imperial, or supreme authority

○ Teddy Roosevelt and the Panamanian revolution against Columbia

○ FDR and his first and second New Deals

○ LBJ and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

○ Nixon impounded funds for federal programs he opposed and ordered troops to

invade Cambodia without Congressional approval

○ Watergate: involved criminal activities and cover-ups in order to ensure

Nixon’s reelection

○ At 2:30 a.m., June 17, 1972, a guard caught five men trying to enter the

Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee in order to install

wiretaps and other spying devices

■ The group's leader was former CIA agent James McCor



Section 2: Watergate:

Nixon’s Downfall


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● Discovered that men had ties to White House and paid with funds from Nixon’s

campaign organization, the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP)

■ Workers shredded all the incriminating documents in Haldeman’s

office

■ The White House, with Nixon’s consent, asked the CIA to urge the

FBI to stop its investigation into the burglary on the grounds of

national security

■ CREEP gave almost $450,000 in bribes to the Watergate burglars

to keep them quiet

● The Nixon administration denied any link to the men, which prevented it from being an

issue during the 1972 election

■ Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

found the truth

■ Informer William Mark Felt, Sr., who was second in command for the

FBI, (“Deep Throat”) revealed that White House officials and CREEP

hired 50 agents to sabotage the Democrat’s chances in the 1972

election

● The Cover-Up Unravels

○ On March 20, 1973, James McCord sent a letter to the presiding judge, John

Sirica, stating he lied under oath and hinted that powerful members of the

Nixon administration had been involved in the break-in

○ Nixon responded by dismissing many members of his inner circle (John Dean,

Haldeman, Ehrlichman, etc.

○ The president also went on TV where he denied any cover-up, announced he

appointed a new attorney general, Elliot Richardson, who had the power to

appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate

○ In May 1973, Senator Samuel James Ervin of North Carolina led the

investigation of Watergate for the Senate (the hearings were televised)

○ Ex-CIA agent James McCord admitted that top White House officials helped

plan the break-in and tried to cover it up

○ John Dean declared President Nixon had been deeply involved in the cover-up

○ Presidential aide, Alexander Butterfield, revealed Nixon had secretly

tape-recorded all of his presidential conversations (the would-be smoking gun

in the case against Nixon)

■ Justice Department special prosecutor Archibald Cox demanded

Nixon turn over the tapes

■ Nixon said releasing the tapes would endanger national security

(executive privilege)

○ While Nixon was being investigated, the Justice Department charged Vice

President Spiro Agnew with bribe-taking from an engineering firm and

income-tax evasion while serving as governor of Maryland

■ Agnew pleaded no contest and resigned in exchange for minimal

punishment

■ Nixon nominated House minority leader Gerald Ford as vice president

○ In Oct 1973, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox took President Nixon to court

in order to obtain Nixon’s tapes


Nixon’s Downfall (con’t)


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○ Refusing to turn over the tapes, Nixon ordered his Attorney General Elliot

Richardson to fire Cox

■ Saturday Night Massacre: both his Attorney General, Richarson, and

Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus, resigned rather than

fire Cox

■ Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox, but his replacement Leon

Jaworski also demanded the tapes

○ On July 25, 1974, a House Judiciary Committee considered whether to

recommend Nixon be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

■ The committee eventually voted to recommend the impeachment of

Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal

● The Fall of a President

-In the spring of 1974, Nixon told a TV audience that he was releasing 1,254 pages

of edited transcripts of White House conversations about Watergate

○ U.S. v. Nixon (on July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the

president surrender the unedited tapes)

■ Facts of the Case

● A grand jury returned indictments against seven of President

Richard Nixon's closest aides in the Watergate affair. The

special prosecutor appointed by Nixon and the defendants

sought audio tapes of conversations recorded by Nixon in the

Oval Office. Nixon asserted that he was immune from the

subpoena claiming "executive privilege," which is the right to

withhold information from other government branches to

preserve confidential communications within the executive

branch or to secure the national interest. Decided together

with Nixon v. United States.

■ Question

● Is the President's right to safeguard certain information,

using his "executive privilege" confidentiality power, entirely

immune from judicial review?

■ Conclusion

● No. The Court held that neither the doctrine of separation

of powers, nor the generalized need for confidentiality of

high-level communications, without more, can sustain an

absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege. The Court

granted that there was a limited executive privilege in areas

of military or diplomatic affairs, but gave preference to "the

fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair

administration of justice." Therefore, the president must obey

the subpoena and produce the tapes and documents. Nixon

resigned shortly after the release of the tapes.




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○ At a press conference in Nov 1973, Nixon proclaimed defiantly, “I am not a

crook.”

■ Impeachment charges were approved in the House, without the

original tapes, on July 27, 1974, and Nixon realized he would likely be

found guilty in the Senate

● Charged with obstruction of justice

● Abuse of power

● Contempt of Congress for refusing to obey a congressional

subpoena to release the tapes

■ On August 5, 1974 Nixon released the full unedited version of the

White House tapes

● One tape had a 18 ½ minute gap that was supposedly

accidentally erased by Nixon’s secretary Rose Mary Woods

● The deleted section consisted of a conversation b/w H. R.

Haldeman and Nixon

● A tape dated June 23, 1972-six days after the Watergate

break-in-verified that Nixon knew about the break-in at

Watergate and agreed to the plan to obstruct the FBI’s

investigation

■ On August 8, 1974, before the full House voted on the articles of

impeachment, Nixon told the nation he would resign as president

● August 9, 1974 Gerald Ford became president and Nelson

Rockefeller became his vice president

● It was the first time in history that both the president and

vice president were not elected by the people (appointed)

● First president to resign from office because of criminal

charges

● Congress passed laws limiting political contributions from

companies and individuals to clean up gov’t corruption

■ Eventually 25 members of the Nixon Administration were convicted

and served prison terms for crimes connected to Watergate

● The public and the media developed a general cynicism about

public officials that still exists today

● It seems the media no longer want to protect the president,

but instead attack the president




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● Ford Travels a Rough Road

○ On Sep 8, 1974, President Ford pardoned Nixon in an attempt to move the

country beyond Watergate, but offered limited forgiveness to draft dodgers

■ Ford’s popularity rating dropped from 72% to 49% overnight

■ Ford offered only partial amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders

● Had to reaffirm allegiance to the U.S. and spend two years

performing public service

■ Ford admitted, “I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln.”

○ After the massive OPEC oil-price increases in 1973, inflation moved from 6%

to over 10% by the end of 1974

■ Whip Inflation Now (WIN): the president called on Americans to cut

back on their use of oil and gas and to take energy-saving measures

● Without incentives, the plan failed

■ Tight money policy: cut gov’t spending and encouraged the Federal

Reserve Board to restrict credit through higher interest rates

● The tight money policy created the worst economic recession

in 40 years

■ Ford was fighting an uphill battle with the Democrat majority in

Congress

● Ford vetoed social-welfare bills sponsored by Democrats

● Congress returned the favor by not passing his policies

○ Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975): required all public schools

accepting federal funds to provide equal access to education and one free meal

a day for children with physical and mental disabilities

■ Disabled students should be placed in the least restrictive

environment-one that allows the maximum possible opportunity to

interact with non-impaired students

● Ford’s Foreign Policy

○ Following Henry Kissinger’s advice, Ford pushed ahead with Nixon’s policy of

negotiating with China and the S.U.

■ In Nov 1974, Ford met with Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev

● Less than a year later, Ford traveled to Helsinki, Finland,

where 35 nations, including the S.U. signed the Helsinki

Accords

● Helsinki Accords: a series of agreements that promised

greater cooperation b/w the nations of Eastern and

Western Europe

■ Congress disapproved of the S.U. restricting the freedom of Jews and

political dissidents from leaving the country

● Upon hearing Congress criticize the policy, the Soviets

canceled a proposed U.S.-Soviet trade pact

○ Congress opposed Ford’s request for a $722 million military aid package for

Cambodia and S. Vietnam

■ Without U.S. aid South Vietnam surrendered to the North in 1975

● Operation Frequent Wind (April, 1975): evacuation by

helicopter of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese

from Saigon, South Vietnam during the last days of the

Vietnam War (more than 7,000 people were evacuated)

Section 3: The Ford

(Republican) and Carter

(Democrat) Years


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■ In May 1975, the Communist Cambodian gov’t seized the U.S.

merchant ship Mayaguez in the Gulf of Siam

● Forty-one U.S. troops died trying to free the 39 crew

members (officially the last battle of the Vietnam War)

● Later, facts revealed that the crew had already been

released when the troops were sent

○ Sinai Interim Agreement (Sept 1975): diplomatic agreement signed by Egypt and

Israel that stated conflicts between the countries "shall not be resolved by

military force but by peaceful means."

■ Egypt was hoping to diplomatically re-acquire the land (Sinai

Peninsula) it lost to Israel during the Six Day War in 1967

● Carter Enters the White House (Election of 1976)

○ Ford narrowly won the Republican nomination over Ronald Reagan, and chose

Robert Dole as Ford’s vice president

○ Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination and chose Walter Mondale as

his vice president

■ One Democratic leader claimed, “We could run an aardvark this year

and win.”

○ Jimmy Carter said, “I will never tell a lie to the

American people.”

○ Carter openly noted that his religious ethics shaped

his political actions

■ Carter insisted that his wife play a crucial role in White House affairs

○ Sent Rosalyn (wife) on diplomacy missions in Latin

America

■ Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Texas gave the keynote address

at the Democratic convention

○ First African American women elected to the Texas

senate in 1966

○ Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in

1972

○ Helped draw up impeachment charges against Nixon

■ Carter won 40.8 million popular votes compared to Ford’s 39.1 million

○ Carter held Roosevelt-like “fireside chats” on radio

and TV

■ Carter failed to reach out to Congress in the same way he reached

out to Americans

○ Carter relied heavily on his team of advisors to play

the “insider” game of deal making within Congress

○ Congress often stopped many of Carter’s budget

proposal, and tax and welfare reforms

Section 3: The Ford


(Democrat) Years (con’t)


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● Carter’s Domestic Agenda

○ During his fireside chats, Carter urged Americans to cut their consumption of

oil and gas and also offered numerous (over 100) energy conservation and

development proposals to Congress

■ Oil and gas producing states resisted some of the proposals and auto

makers lobbied against gas-rationing provisions

■ Congress created several agencies to reduce oil prices and

dependence on imported oil

○ Department of Energy (1977): reduce the nation's

dependence on imported oil

○ National Energy Act (1978): placed a tax on

gas-guzzling cars, removed price controls on oil and

natural gas produced in the U.S., and extended tax

credits for the development of alternative energy

○ In January 1979, a revolution in Iran disrupted oil shipments

■ A few months after the revolution started, OPEC raised the price of

oil 50%, causing another U.S. energy crisis

○ Drivers waited over an hour to fill gas tanks

■ In March 1979 a nuclear reactor failed at Three Mile Island power

plant in Pennsylvania

○ The Movie, The China Syndrome, was released two

weeks prior to the Three Mile Island incident, which

depicted a utility company trying to cover up a

serious accident at a power plant

■ In 1979 inflation soared from 7.6% to 13.3%

○ Carter attempted to deal with the crisis, but lacked

the ability to gain the support of Congress

○ Americans were convinced that Carter had no

economic policy at all

■ By 1980 inflation reached 14%, the highest rate since 1947

○ The standard of living in the U.S. had dropped from

1st to 5th place in the world

● Many of Carter’s economic problems were the result of a long-term trend in the

economy where manufacturing jobs decreased (automation and foreign competition) while

jobs in the service sector increased (communications, transportation, and retail)

○ The higher paying jobs in the service sector required more education and

specialized skills than those jobs in the manufacturing sector

○ The booming economies of West Germany and countries in the Pacific Rim

(Japan, Taiwan, and Korea) hurt many U.S. markets

● Iron, steel, rubber, clothing, and auto had to cut production

and shut plants in the U.S.

○ 7.8% of workforce was unemployed and the unemployment rate for minorities

was at 13%

● Carter made corporate tax cuts which slightly reduced

unemployment, but caused inflation to increase to 13.3% in

1979

● Carter called for voluntary wage and price controls and cut

social service funding, which caused unemployment to

increase (1980 recession)

Section 3: The Ford




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● Carter’s administration included more African Americans and women than any before it

○ Carter appointed civil rights leaser, Andrew Young, as U.S. ambassador to the

U.N.

● Young was the first African American to hold that post

○ Carter appointed 28 African Americans, 29 women, and 14 Latinos to the

judicial branch

○ Some civil rights leaders believed that the energy crisis and the economy

occupied too much of Carter’s time, which prevented him from giving civil rights

his full attention

● Affirmative action was being analyzed and criticized

● Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

○ Facts of the Case

● Allan Bakke, a thirty-five-year-old white man, had twice

applied for admission to the University of California Medical

School at Davis. He was rejected both times. The school

reserved sixteen places in each entering class of one hundred

for "qualified" minorities, as part of the university's

affirmative action program, in an effort to redress

longstanding, unfair minority exclusions from the medical

profession. Bakke's qualifications (college GPA and test

scores) exceeded those of any of the minority students

admitted in the two years Bakke's applications were rejected.

Bakke contended, first in the California courts, then in the

Supreme Court, that he was excluded from admission solely

on the basis of race.

○ Question

● Did the University of California violate the Fourteenth

Amendment's equal protection clause, and the Civil Rights

Act of 1964, by practicing an affirmative action policy that

resulted in the repeated rejection of Bakke's application for

admission to its medical school?

○ Conclusion

● No and yes. There was no single majority opinion. Four of the

justices contended that any racial quota system supported by

government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice

Lewis F. Powell, Jr., agreed, casting the deciding vote

ordering the medical school to admit Bakke. However, in his

opinion, Powell argued that the rigid use of racial quotas as

employed at the school violated the equal protection clause

of the Fourteenth Amendment. The remaining four justices

held that the use of race as a criterion in admissions

decisions in higher education was constitutionally permissible.

Powell joined that opinion as well, contending that the use of

race was permissible as one of several admission criteria. So,

the Court managed to minimize white opposition to the goal

of equality (by finding for Bakke) while extending gains for

racial minorities through affirmative action.

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● A Human Rights Foreign Policy

○ Jimmy Carter rejected the philosophy of realpolitik-the pragmatic policy of

negotiating with powerful nations despite their behavior-and strived for a

foreign policy committed to human rights

■ Human rights: the rights of all people to freedom from unlawful

detention and torture

○ Carter cut military funds to Argentina and Brazil,

countries that had a good relationship with the U.S.

but tortured their own citizens

■ Carter’s Human Rights position to foreign affairs had its critics

○ Supporters of containment felt the president

undercut allies such as Nicaragua, a dictatorial but

anti-Communist country

○ Others believed Carter was sending mixed

messages by supporting dictators in South Korea

and the Philippines

○ Panamanians resented the fact that the U.S. built the Panama canal without

approval for the Panamanian gov’t and took complete control of the canal in

1914

■ Panama Canal treaties (1977): the U.S. and Panama agreed to two

treaties, one which turned over control of the Panama Canal to

Panama on Dec 31, 1999 (U.S. interests would be safeguarded)

○ Conservative Ronald Reagan said, “We built it, we

paid for it, it’s ours, and…we are going to keep it!”

○ In 1979, the U.S. Senate approved each treaty by a

vote of 68 to 32-one more vote than the required

2/3rds

○ A Panamanian general said they would have

resorted to “violent liberation” of the canal zone if

the treaties weren’t ratified by the U.S. Senate

○ Carter’s firm insistence on human rights led to a breakdown in relations with

the S.U.

■ Carter’s concern over the S.U.’s treatment of dissidents, or

opponents of the govt's policies, delayed a second round of SALT

negotiations

○ Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev finally met in June

of 1979 in Vienna, Austria, where they signed the

SALT II agreement: it didn’t reduce arms, but it did

provide for limits on the number of strategic

weapons and nuclear-missile launchers that each

side could produce

■ Saur Revolution: occurred in Afghanistan in 1978 and created two

factions in the government People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan

known as Khalq (Masses) vs Parcham (Flag)

○ In 1978 a treaty was signed with the Soviets that

allowed the PDPA to call on the Soviets for

military aid.

○ Some Marxist/Soviet style reforms appeared to be

in direct violation of Islam (civil war occurred)

○ In 1979 the Afghan government requested military

assistance to fight the Mujahideen (Islamic) rebels

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■ Jimmy Carter signed an executive order authorizing the CIA to

conduct covert propaganda operations against the communist regime

○ Operation Cyclone: was the codename for the CIA

program to arm, train, and finance the Afghan

Mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan

○ This process would eventually culminate and lead up

to the buildup and intervention in Afghanistan in

December 1979 to preserve, stabilize and militarily

intervene on behalf of the communist regime there

■ In Dec. 1979 Soviet troops invaded (some say invited) Afghanistan to

ensure that the pro-Soviet government remained in control of

Afghanistan (also close to major oil areas)

○ Carter cut grain sales to the S.U. and boycotted the

1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (50 nations

chose not to participate)

○ The SALT II treaty was abandoned when the

Soviets invaded the neighboring country of

Afghanistan in Dec 1979

○ Carter warned of a U.S. military response if any

Soviet action was taken in the Persian Gulf

■ A strong Muslim rebel group known as the Mujahideen was intent on

overthrowing the Afghan gov’t that was controlled by the Soviets

(fearing the rebels would win the Soviets sent in troops in 1979)

○ During the Soviet-Afghanistan War, American

intelligence operatives armed Afghan rebels and

trained them in terrorist tactics (Osama bin-laden

used his wealth and connections to help the rebels)

○ After suffering thousands of casualties, the last

Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan in Feb 1989

○ Fighting b/w rival factions continues for years, until

the Taliban controlled 90% of Afghanistan by 2000

(Osama bin-laden)

● Triumph and Crisis in the Middle East

○ Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin

met in Jerusalem for peace talks in 1977

■ When peace talks stalled, Carter invited el-Sadat and Begin to Camp

David, the presidential retreat in Maryland

■ Camp David Accords (1978): under this first signed peace agreement

with an Arab country, Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai

Peninsula, which had been seized from Egypt during the Six-Day War

in 1967

○ Egypt, in turn, formally recognized Israel’s right to

exist

○ El-Sadat and Begin shared the Nobel Peace Prize

for 1978

○ In 1979, they signed a peace treaty ending 30 years

of war b/w Egypt and Israel

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○ Both Carter and el-Sadat were criticized for their efforts

■ Supporters of Israel accused Carter of appeasing Arab oil exporting

nations such as Saudi Arabia

■ In 1981 Sadat was assassinated by an Islamic fundamentalist group

within Egyptian army that was upset over his recognition of Israel

○ Sadat ordered the arrest of over 3,000 opponents

and wanted to oust foreign journalists

○ In 1953, the U.S. helped overthrow Iran’s leader Mohammad Mosaddeq and

restore Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to power (by the mid-1970s Iran

accounted for half of U.S. arms exports)

■ In Jan 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini forced Pahlavi

to leave the country an established a religious state based on strict

obedience to the Qur’an-the sacred book of Islam

○ In Oct 1979, Carter allowed the shah to enter the

U.S. for cancer treatment, although Pahlavi already

fled Iran in Jan 1979

○ This act of kindness infuriated the revolutionaries of

Iran

■ Khomeini branded the U.S as the “great Satan” and the S.U. as the

“lesser Satan.”

○ Wanted to purge the country of Western culture

and create a pure Islamic state

■ On Nov 4, 1979 52 Americans were taken hostage from the U.S.

embassy in Tehran, Iran’s capital

○ The militants demanded that the U.S. return the

shah in exchange for the 52 hostages

■ In April 1980 a U.S. rescue mission (Operation Eagle Claw) failed

when a helicopter crashed killing 8 Americans

○ America’s inability to free the hostages

demonstrated the country’s weaknesses in the

1970s

○ The U.S. also realized it had limited natural

resources (oil)

■ The hostages were released after 444 days on Jan 20, 1981

○ In 1980 Carter had a 21% approval rating

Section 3: The Ford




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● The Roots of Environmentalism

○ In 1962, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, published a book entitled Silent

Spring

■ Carson warned against the growing use of pesticides-chemicals used

to kill insects and rodents

● She warned pesticides poison the food people eat and kill

many innocent animals

■ Many chemical companies called the book inaccurate and threatened

legal action

● JFK established an advisory committee to investigate the

situation

● Americans realized their behavior and industrial growth, had

a damaging effect on the environment

● Environmental Concerns in the 1970s

○ Earth Day (April 22, 1970): nearly every community in the nation and more than

10,000 schools and 2,000 colleges hosted some type of

environmental-awareness activity and spotlighted such problems as pollution,

the growth of toxic waste, and the earth’s dwindling resources

■ Massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara

■ First Earth Day in April 1970

● Idea created by Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson

○ Although President Nixon was not considered an environmentalist, or someone

who takes an active role in protection of the environment, he recognized the

nation’s concern over the environment

■ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-1970): the federal agency

was given the power to set and enforce pollution standards, to

conduct environmental research, and to assist state and local gov’ts in

pollution control

● The EPA fostered an agreement with the auto industry to

install catalytic converters to reduce hydrocarbon emissions

■ Clean Air Act (1970): gave the gov’t the authority to set air-quality

standards and tough emissions guidelines for car manufacturers

(amended the 1963 Clean Air Act)

■ Water Quality Improvement Act (1970): made oil companies pay for

some of the cleanup costs of oil spills and set limits on discharges of

pollutants into water

■ Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA-1970):

enforces laws protecting workers from dangerous or unhealthy

working conditions

■ Endangered Species Act (1973): provides broad protection for species

of fish, wildlife and plants that are listed as threatened or endangered

in the U.S. or elsewhere due to "the consequences of economic

growth and development untempered by adequate concern and

conservation".

Section 4: Environmental

Activism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation


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○ The reduction in oil caused an energy crisis in the U.S. during the winter of

1973-74

■ Oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1968, after explorers

had been searching all over Northern Alaska since the 1950s

■ A pipeline was considered the only viable system for transporting the

oil to the nearest ice-free port, almost 800 miles (1,300 km) away at

Valdez

● U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska

Pipeline Authorization Act into law on November 16, 1973:

authorized the construction of the pipeline (finished being

built in 1977)

■ The influx of new development raised concerns about Alaska’s wildlife,

as well as the rights of its native peoples

● Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971): turned over

millions of acres of land to the state’s native tribes for

conservation and tribal issues

● In 1978 Carter set aside an additional 56 million acres and in

1980 Congress added another 104 million acres

■ The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was originally formed

on Dec. 6, 1960 with an original size of 8.9 million acres

● In 1980 and 1983 ANWR was added which increased its

current size to 19.6 million acres comprising of three distinct

legal areas of use within its borders

● Since ANWR was established in 1960, exploration in the

region has been restricted to surface geological

investigations, aeromagnetic surveys, and two winter seismic

surveys (in 1983-84 and 1984-85)

● No exploratory drilling has been accomplished in the area

except for one well commenced in the winter of 1984-85 on

Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation and Arctic Slope Regional

Corporation lands southeast of Kaktovik on the Coastal

Plain

■ In 1978 670,00 gallons of oil was spilled near Fairbanks, Alaska

● On Oct 2001, a man fired bullets into the Trans-Alaska

pipeline causing a leak of 285,600 gallons of oil

○ During the 1970s, Americans became aware of the drawbacks to its heavy

reliance on foreign oil and looked to nuclear energy to reduce the addiction

■ In January 1972, there were 42 operational nuclear plants and 160

being built

■ On March 28, 1979 a nuclear reactor failed at the Three Mile Island

power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

● The reactors cooling system failed, and it was feared that

radiation might escape (low-level radiation did escape)

causing over 100,000 residents to evacuate their homes

● On April 9, 1979, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a

federal agency that monitors the nuclear plant industry,

announced that the immediate danger was over

■ The Movie, The China Syndrome, was released two weeks prior to

the Three Mile Island incident, which depicted a utility company trying

to cover up a serious accident at a power plant


Activism (con’t)

http://alaska

http://port


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilometre

http://alaska

http://alaska

http://nixon

http://act

http://act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973


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■ The world’s nuclear disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, at

Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, a part of the Soviet Union

● An explosion released large amounts of radiation, and it was

reported that 31 people died and hundreds were injured

● To this day radiation levels are elevated on the ground and in

the air causing higher levels of cancer and other illnesses

● A Continuing Movement

○ Opponents of the environmental movement also made their voices heard

■ When a federal dam project was halted in Tennessee b/c it

threatened a fish, local developers took out ads asking residents to

“tell the gov’t that the size of your wallet is more important than some

two-inch-long minnow.”

■ When confronted with environmental concerns, one unemployed

steelworker spoke for others when he remarked, “Why worry about

the long run, when you’re out of work right now.”


Activism (con’t)

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