The Bottom Falls Out -- 1964-1980

Vietnam to 1960

• France in Vietnam

• Ho Chi Minh

• 1950: Aid to France

• Dien Bien Phu (1954)

• Geneva Conference

• SEATO (1954)

• Ngo Dinh Diem’s Government

Kennedy and Vietnam

• National Liberation Front (NLF) / Vietcong

• Kennedy

• Fall of Diem (Nov. 2, 1963)

Johnson and Vietnam

• The Gulf of Tonkin Crisis• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• Rolling Thunder (1965)• Escalation• Search and Destroy• Air Power • 1969: 543,000 troops• Hearts and Minds

Vietnam and Student Protests

• First Anti-Vietnam March

• Realist Critics

• Student Movements

• Mass Expansion

Radicalization of Protest

• War with Administrations

• Terrorists

• Nonviolent Resistance

• Democratic Opposition to the War

Youth Culture of the Sixties and Seventies

• Counterculture

• Folk --> Rock

• Drugs and More Drugs

• Communes and Sexuality

• Gay Rights

• Fade to Self-Indulgence

The Women’s Movement (I)

• Depression Era

• WWII

• Post-War

• President’s Commission on the Status of Women (1961)

• 1964 Civil Rights Act

The Women’s Movement (II)

• Literature– Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1953)– Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)

• Women’s Political Organizations– Women’s Equity Action League (1963)– National Organization for Women (1965)

• Radical Feminism

The Urban Crisis

• Perceptions

• Strangulation by Suburbs

• The Ghetto

• High Taxes

Race Relations (Black)

• Urban Race Riots

• The Black Panther Party

• Black Power Politics

Race Relations (Hispanic)

• Counterculture

• La Raza Unida (1972)

• Cesar Chavez

• Bilingualism

Race Relations (Indians)

• Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

• National Congress of American Indians (WWII)

• Government Support

• AIM (1968)

• Wounded Knee II (1973)

Suburban Triumph

• Prosperity and Growth

• Community College

• Baker vs. Carr (1962)

• School Busing

1968: Chaos in America--The Tet Offensive (I)

• January 29, 1968-February, 1968• 50,000 US and SVA vs 85,000 NVA and

Vietcong• 45,000 NVA and Vietcong killed, 6000

capture• US and SVA lose 4,324 killed, 16,063

wounded, and 598 missing.• Vietcong largely ceases to exist

1968: Chaos in America--The Tet Offensive (II)

• Aftermath:– A blow to morale– TV coverage– The Logic of War

• My Lai (1968)

• Vietnamization

1968: Chaos in America--Eugene McCarthy’s Revolt

• March 21--Close results in New Hampshire

• March 24--RFK comes in

• March 31--LBJ goes out

• April 4--Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated. Riots in 60 cities

• June 4--Sirhan Sirhan kills RFK

• Hubert Humphrey nominated

1968: Chaos in America-- The Election of 1968

• Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy

• George Wallace’s Hate / “Law and Order” Strategy

• Nixon and Agnew: 31.78 million votes, 301 electoral (Nixon took 8 Southern States out of 15)

• Humphrey and Muskie: 31.27 million votes, 191 electoral (Only 1 Southern State. Johnson had taken 10 in 1964.)

• Wallace and LeMay: 9.9 million votes, 46 electoral (6 Southern States)

1968 Election

Nixon and Foreign Policy

• House of Cronies

• Nixon Doctrine

• SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) I

• Latin America

• Middle East

• Nixon Goes to China

• Detente

Nixon and Vietnam (I)

• Goals– Avoid Appearance of Defeat– Build up South Vietnam: “Vietnamization”

• Invasion of Cambodia (1970)– Khmer Rouge

• December 1970--Gulf of Tonkin repealled

• Prisoners of War?

Nixon and Vietnam (II)

• December 1971: 100,000 out, 133,000 remain

• April 1, 1972: New NV offensive

• Negotiations

• January 23, 1973: Peace settlement

• 1975: Fall of Saigon

The Nixon Era: Domestic Programs

• Apollo 11: July 20, 1969

• The Problems of the Cities--Ignored

• “New Federalism”

• Welfare Reform

The Nixon Era: Economic Weakness

• “Demand-Pull Inflation”

• Off the Gold Standard

• Cost-Push Inflation

• Conservation and Energy Efficiency

• Stagflation

The Nixon Era: Domestic Arena II

• Supreme Court--2 appointments

• Supreme Court--Burger Court

• Regulation– The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)– Wage and Price Freeze (August 15, 1971)

1972 Election

• Nixon Runs Left

• George McGovern’s Coalition

• Watergate Breakin

• The Results– Nixon/Agnew: 47.168 million (520 electoral)– McGovern/Shriver: 29.1 million (17

Electoral votes)

The Criminal Presidency I

• A Culture of Criminality

• The Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP)

• Watergate

• The Trial

• The Accusation: March 1973

• John Dean Confesses

The Criminal Presidency II

• Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox• The Tapes vs Executive Privilege• VP Spiro Agnew Resigns• The Saturday Night Massacre• “I am Not a Crook”--November 17, 1973• The Tapes Censored• The IRS• The Watergate Tapes

The Criminal Presidency III

• Impeachment

• Supreme Court -- July 24, 1974

• The Smoking Gun--June 23, 1972 Tape

• August 8, 1974--Nixon Resigns

Gerald Ford, 1974-7: A Mediocre Presidency

• August 9, 1974

• Less Imperial

• Fall of Vietnam

• Cambodia and Pol Pot

• Refugees to the US

Economic Woes

• Stagflation– Unemployment: 5.8-11%, Inflation: 6 to 13%.

• The Energy Crisis– Prelude– Kissinger and the 1973 War

• Oil Embargos– Gas from $3 to $12 a barrel

Jimmy Carter, 1977-81

The Carter Years, Unsuccessful Idealism, 1977-81

• Jimmy Carter vs. Ford– Carter: 40.8 million (297 EV)– Ford: 39.1 million (240 EV)

• Simplicity

• Economic Troubles:– Inflation hit 13%, the Fed tightened Credit,

Interest Rates hit 15% by 1979.

Carter’s Struggle

• Energy Plan• Industrial City Meltdown• Corporatization of Agriculture• Human Rights• Deregulation

– Airlines: 1978– Trucking and Rail: 1980– Banking Industry

Carter Abroad: Success

• Salt II (1979)

• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

• Sadat and Begin – Camp David Peace Accords (1978)

The Bottom Falls Out

• The Iran Crisis (1979-81)– Khomeni– Hostage Crisis– Failed Rescue– Release

• Oil Crisis: 16$ a barrel to 36$ a barrel in 1981

• The Bottom Falls Out