The Stalemated Seventies

Nixon’s New Conservatism• Nixon was determined to turn the US into a more

conservative direction with a sense of order

• The US was intensely divided over Nam

• Nixon felt LBJ’s Great Society programs gave the federal gov. too much respons.

• Nixon’s plan was New Federalism which was to distribute a portion of federal power to state and local government

• Under the Revenue Sharing Plan state and local gov. could spend Fed. $ how they saw fit

Nixon’s Southern Strategy• Nixon tried to get support from white southern

democrats who were unhappy with federal desegregation policies and a liberal supreme court

• Nixon favored slow desegregation, in 1969 he ordered the Dept. of Health, Ed, and Welfare to delay segregation in Miss. and SC ( Overturned by the Supreme Court)

• Desegregation though school busing became a civil rights issue ( Whites in Detroit and Boston opposed it) Nixon was opposed to it

Two Sides to New Federalism• The Nixon administration increased Social

Security, Medicare, Medicare and made food stamps more accessible

• Yet Nixon tried to eliminate the Job Corps, and in 1970 he denied funding for (HUD)

• By 1973 Nixon had impounded more than $15 billion in funds for housing, health, and education (Courts overturned the impounding)

• Nixon abolished the Office of Economic Opportunity

The Supreme Court

• Nixon wants to place more conservative on the bench

• Earl Warren retires

• Warren E Burger takes over

• Nixon has total of 4 appointed supreme court judges

• But judges to push conservative agenda, in some cases more liberal (Roe vs. Wade)

EPA

• Environmental Protection Agency created in 1970

• Influence by Silent Spring- Rachel Carson 1962- exposes poisonous effects of pesticides

• 4-22 1970 first celebration of earth day

• 1970 Clean Air Act• 1973- Endangered Species

Act

Law and Order Politics• Nixon pledged to end the war in Vietnam

• He pledged to mend American divisions

• He played to the “silent majority”

• Nixon used the FBI and CIA to investigate American dissidents and political enemies

• The IRS was used to audit anti-war and civil rights activists returns

• Nixon had a “enemies list” of who to harass

• VP Agnew attacked liberals, the media, and anti-war protestors ( Pit-bull)

The Imperial Presidency• Nixon expanded the power of the Presidency with

little thought of Constitutional Checks

• Impoundment of funds for fed. programs

• Invading Cambodia without the approval of Congress

• Nixon felt the office of the Presidency was above the law

Watergate and Nixon Scandals • On June 17, 1972, five men

working for the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) were caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel (Democratic headqtrs) and planting some bugs in the room.

• Dirty tricks- forge documents to discredit democrats, use the IRS to harass people on White House “enemy list”, burglarizing office of Pentagon Paper leaker, use FBI and CIA to cover tracks

The Fall of Nixon• In March 1974 a Grand Jury indicted seven

presidential aids on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury

• Nixon released 1,254 pages of edited transcripts

• In July 1974 The Supreme Court ordered Nixon to give up the unedited tapes “I am not a crook!”

• In Aug. Nixon released the tapes with an 18.5 min. gap (Rose Mary Woods accidentally erased the most crucial part)

Watergate and Nixon Scandals

• Articles of impeachment are drawn up- obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential powers, contempt of congress

• Reps see “writing on the wall”- tell Nixon no way he can survive impeachment

Vietnam and its legacy

• Cost- 118 Billion• 56,000 dead• 300,000 wounded• US lost world wide

respect• US self confidence is

hurt

Roots of stagnation

• US businesses STRONG during post WWII, no incentive to modernize plans

• German and Japan, rebuild with modern technology- not beginning to dominate cars, steel, and electronic industries

Roots of stagnation • Combination of factors

– 1.Teens and Womens working- less likely to take full time jobs, thus not developing job skills

– 2.Adjusting to new safety and environmental regulations

– 3.Shifting to service economy from a manufacturing one

– 4. Rise in oil prices

– 5. Vietnam

– 6. Biggest cause- LBJ’s deficit spending- Fighting V war and Great Society- never raised taxes

• Cost of living tripled in 12 years after Nixon’s inauguration

Economy of the 1970’s• 70’s have no economic

boom like 50’s and 60’s.• Children could have a

standard of living less than their parents—American Dream in question

• Period of Stagflation- economy is experiencing a recession and inflation at the same time

OPEC and War • During the 1960’s the Organization of Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised the price of oil

• The Six Days War in 1967 impacted prices

• The 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt and Syria rose prices

• The US sent massive military aid to Israel, Arab OPEC nations cut oil sales to the US (Oil Embargo) By 1974 price increased 4x

• Major gas lines and shortages in the US early, mid 1970’s

Oil Embargo and NRG Crisis • Yom Kippur War- Egypt

and Syria try to regain lands lost in Six Day War

• US supports and saves Israel

• OPEC announces oil Embargo on US for support of Israel, then cut oil production

• Gas embargo causes US recession, then spreads to UK and France

Oil Embargo and NRG Crisis

• Congress reaction– 1. Oil pipeline in Alaska

– 2. National speed limit of 55

• 5 moths of the “blackmail” embargo demonstrates the end of cheap NRG

• OPEC lifts embargo, and quadrupled crude oil prices

1st un-elected President • 1st man to be president without being elected• Illegitimacy hung over head• LBJ- Jerry lacks brainpower, can’t walk and

chew gum at the same time.• Ford pardon’s Nixon, Democrats are pissed

(Buddy Deal) • Ford continues with Détente

– Helsinki Accords which recognized Soviet boundaries, guaranteed human rights, and eased the U.S.—Soviet situation.

• West Germans love it• Critics- détente was making the U.S. lose

grain and technology while gaining nothing from the Soviets.

Defeat in Vietnam

• North Vietnam crushes the South, after congress wouldn’t allow more aid to the South

• Fall of Saigon happens fast, remaining Americans have to flee fast

Feminist Victories and Defeats • During the 1970s, the feminist

movement became energized and took a decidedly aggressive tone.

• 1972- Title IX prohibited sex discrimination in any federally funded education program (big in female sports)

• Supreme Court aids feminism movement

• Roe v. Wade case legalized abortion, arguing that ending a pregnancy was protected under a right to privacy.

Feminist Victories and Defeats• Even more ambitious was the ERA

(Equal Rights Amendment) to the Constitution.

• 1972- Nixon vetoed proposal to set up nationwide day care, because it would weaken the family

• Anti feminists blame divorce rate on feminists, churches start movements to oppose abortion

• Conservative ultra anti feminists- Phyllis Schlafly- said ERA would deprive a woman’s right to be a wife and It would require women to serve in combat.

• 1982- ERA dies, 3 states short of success

70’s Black and White • 1974 Milliken v. Bradley

case, the Supreme Court ruled that desegregation plans could not require students to move across school-district lines.

• This reinforced the “white flight” to the suburbs that pitted the poorest whites and blacks against each other, often with explosively violent results.

70’s Black and White• Affirmative Action- whites still screaming

reverse discrimination • In the Bakke case of 1978, the Supreme Court

ruled 5 to 4 that Allan Bakke (a white applicant claiming reverse discrimination) should be admitted to U.C.—Davis med school. The decision was ambiguous saying (1) admission preference based on any race was not allowed, but conversely that (2) race could be factored into the admission policy.

• The Supreme Court’s only black justice, Thurgood Marshall, warned that the denial of racial preferences might sweep away the progress gained by the civil rights movement.

Native Americans in the 70’s• Get inspiration from civil

rights movement• Focus- assert status of

separate semi-sovereign peoples

• Capture Alcatraz in 1970, Wounded Knee in 1972

• US v. Wheeler- Native tribes possessed a “unique and limited” sovereignty, subject to will of Congress, but not individual states

Election of 1976

• Bicentennial • Reps- Gerald Ford• Demos- Jimmy Carter• JC almost running against

memory of Watergate, rather than Ford –

• JC- “I’ll never lie to you” • 97% of African Americans

vote for JC

Election of 1976

• Carter wins• Democratic majority in

both houses• Creates new cabinet- Dept.

of NRG • Pardons ten thousand

Vietnam draft dodgers• Popularity was high early

on, but campaigned as an outside, usually rubbed congress the wrong way

Carter the Humanitarian

• “Human Rights” dominated Carter’s foreign policy- Rhodesia and South Africa

• Camp David Accords- Biggest Success- Anwar Sadat (Egypt) and Menachem Begin(Israel)

• Israel agreed to withdraw from territory gained in the 1967 war, while Egypt would respect Israel’s territories.

Carter the Humanitarian• Resumes diplomatic

relations with China at 3 year interruption

• Pushes through treaties that give Panama Canal back to Panamanians

• Despite these successes cold war still hangs over US head

• Cubans, supported by USSR, appeared in Angola, Ethiopia, and other areas in Africa

JC and the Economy• Inherits Ford’s recession,

inflation rate at 13% in1980• Americans would learn that they

could no longer hide behind their ocean moats and live happily insulated from foreign affairs

• Carter diagnosed America’s problems as stemming primarily from the nation’s costly dependence on foreign oil

The US and Iran

• CIA placed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi gets overthrown in 1979

• Muslim fundamentalists resent Reza’s attempt to Westernize Iran

• Iran’s oil production is stalled during rebellion, OPEC hike up crude oil prices – another gas crisis

Malaise Speech

• Chides US citizens for falling into a “moral and spiritual crisis” and being too concerned with “material goods”

• Then, a few days later, he fired four cabinet secretaries and tightened the circle around his Georgian advisors even more tightly.

Carter and foreign affairs • 1979- Leonid Brezhnev

and Carter meet to discuss SALT II

• Senate won’t ratify the treaty

• Nov 4, 79- Iranian militants take over US embassy in Iran, takes all as hostages

• Rebels want the US to ship back the former Shah for trial

• Dec 1979- Soviets invade Afghanistan(next to Iran)

• Carter embargos USSR, called for boycott of Olympic games in Moscow

• Carter says US will us any means necessary, including force to protect Persian Gulf

• Carter admits to being fooled by the Soviets and SALT II

• Soviets busy in “Russia’s Vietnam”

Carter and foreign affairs

Iranian Hostage Crisis • Kills US moral- nightly

news broadcasts show anti-American mobs in Iran

• Economic sanctions applied, US is waiting for a stable government

• US plans rescue mission, fails mainly due to weather, two helicopters crash into each other

• US now looks helpless and incompetent

• 444 days