The Stalemated Seventies

Sources of Stagnation(Carlson)

• increase in women  & teen workers (less skilled=less productive)
• decline in new machinery
• shift from manufactoring to services
• Vietnam drained money from educatin and sent inflation soaring
• inflation rose because of oil $ and welfare/miliary spending

Nixon "Vietnamizes" the War (Laura)

• Nixon's policy was to withdraw 540,000 US troops from Vietnam over an extended period
• Nixon Doctrine - US honors existing defense commitments but won't supply troops in future
  •  Nixon didn't work to end war, but to withdraw US troops
• Anti-war protest held Vietnam moratorium in Oct. 1969
  • 100,000 people filled in Boston Common 
• Jan 1970 - war became longest in American history w/ 40,000 killed

Camodianizing the Vietnam War

-for several years North Vietnam used Cambodia for supplies, troops, and weapons.

-April 29, 1970, Nixon ordered U.S. forces to join South Vietnam in cleaning out Cambodia.

-Several protests arrose in U.S.

-Nixon withdrew troops in Cambodia in June 29, 1970 even though there was still a lot of fighting.

-1971 26th Ammendment was passed, which lowered the voting age to 18.

-Spring of 1971 severe protests strengthened against the war.

Nixon's Detente with Beijing and Moscow(Jordan)

• In 1969 Herny Hissinger had a meeting with Norht Vietnamese on how to end the war in Vietnam.
• In July of 1971 Nixon visited Communist China  Later in May1972 he visited Communist Russia.
• Nixon and the Shanghai Communque decided to normalize there relationship.
• The United States and the Soviet Union agreed on an anti ballistic missile(ABM) treaty, which limited the number of missiles the two countries could have.
• This detente made it possible to exit from Vietnam.

A New Team on the Supreme Bench

•  Warren Court created a series of decisions that shaped many different aspects of life.
• Griswold vs. Connecticut- provided a basis for decisions protecting woman's abortion rights.
• Gideon vs. Wainwright- criminals entitled to legal counsel
• Escabado and Miranda- right remain silent when prosecuted of a crime
• New York Times vs Sullivan-public figures sue only for libel
• Engel vs Vitale-required the seperation of church and state 
• Reynolds vs Sims-upper and lower houses would have to be reapportioned according to human pop.
• After Warren retired Nixon appointed Burger. Burger reversed some of the decisions while creating one of the most controversial Roe vs Wade- which legalized abortion.

Nixon on the Home Front (Chad)

• Nixon expanded the Great Society programs by increasing funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).  He also created the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), giving benefits to the poor aged, blind, and disabled.

• Nixon's Philadelphia Plan of 1969 required construction-trade unions working on the federal pay roll to establish "goals and timetables" for black employees.  This plan changed the definition of "affirmative action" to include preferable treatment on groups, not individuals; the Supreme Court's ruling on Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) upheld this.  Whites protested to this decision, saying it was "reverse discrimination."
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) were created.
• In 1962, Rachel Carson increased the environmental movement with her book Silent Spring, which exposed the disastrous effects of pesticides.  By 1950, Los Angeles had an Air Pollution Control Office.
• The Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 both aimed at protecting and preserving the environment.
• Worried about inflation, Nixon imposed a 90-day wage freeze and then took the nation off the gold standard, thus ending the "Bretton Woods" system of international currency stabilization, which had functioned for more than a quarter of a century after WWII.

The Nixon Landslide of 1972 (Dan)

• Four years had passed since Nixon, during his campaign in the '68 election, had proclaimed that he would end the war and win the peace.
• As a result of the agonizing Vietnam War,  S.D. senator George McGovern sprung about and accepted the Democratic nomination.
• McGovern promised to get the U.S. out of the war which gave him support but was against racial minorities and feminists.
• During Nixon's campaign, he said he would lower the number of troops from 540,000 to about 30,000 which helped him recieve more support.
• Nixon dominated the election and won the electoral vote 520 to just 17 for McGovern.

The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act (Brittany)

• In July 1973 America was shocked to find out that about 3,500 bombing raids against North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia had been secretly done by the U.S. Air Force.
• The most disturbing feature of this was that during the bombing raids American officials had sworn that Cambodian neutraility was being respeced.
• After the Vietnam cease-fire in January 1973, Nixon continued large-scale bombing of communist forces in order to help the rightest Cambodian governemnt.
• Congressional oppostition to the expansion of presidential war-making powers by Johnson and Nixon led to the War Powers Act in November 1973.
• The War Powers Act required the president to report to Congress within 48 hours after committing troops to a foreign conflict of "substantially" enlarging American combat units in a foreign country.

The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis (Chad)

• Following U.S. support of Israel during Israel's war against Syria and Egypt to regain territory lost during the Six-Day War, the Arab nations imposed an oil embargo, strictly limiting oil in the United States.

• A speed limit of 55 MPH was imposed, the oil pipeline in Alaska was approved in 1974 despite many complaints from environmentalists, and other forms of energy were researched.
• OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) lifted the embargo in 1974, yet it then quadrupled the price of oil.

   

Watergate and the Unmaking of a President(Jordan)

• Undid his 1972 presidential victory.
• 5 people arrested after an attepmt to plant bug in the democratic parties headquarters.
• The break in was one of the series of Nixon's dirty tricks such as forging documents to discredit democrats and having the FBI and CIA cover the tracks of the Pentagon Papers.
• On October 20, 1973 he had ordered the Saturday Night Massacre, fireing his own special prosecutor that was appointed to investigate the Watergate scandal, as well as his attorney general and deputy attorney general for not going along with fireing the prosecutor.

President Nixon's Farewell Address

Part 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mEb14MQxU

Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hy0n0Pp9jE

The First Unelected President(Bryce)

-Gerald Ford became the first unelected president after being the vice pres. of the Nixon Administration.

-His respect by the citizens fell when he issued the full pardon of Nixon.

-July 1975, Ford signed the Helsinki accords, which recognized Soviet boundaries and helped to east the tensions between the U.S. and S.U.

Feminist Victories and Defeats(Hill)

won legislation and judicial victories

-Women's Stride for Equality in 1970

-Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments

---prohibited sex discrimination in federally assisted educational program and activity

---big impact was to create opportunities for girls' and womens' athletics at schools and colleges

-ERA (equal rights amendment) won Congressional approval in 1972 and 28 states quickly ratified it.

Supreme Court cases on feminists side too---abortion permitted and sex discrimination outlawed

BUT public day care denied by Nixon claiming it would weaken American family

Feminists blaimed for rising divorce rate

anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly promoting her Stop ERA campaign

ERA died in 1982 with three states short of success

The Seventies in Black and White(Hill)

-civil rights movements BUT race remained an explosive issue in the 70s

-Milliken v. Bradley ruled desegregation plans could not require students to move across school district lines

-schools for the most part were still segragated-blacks in poor communties and whites in suburbs

-affirmative action programs-white workers and students were refused advancement because minorities("reverse discrimination")

----example---Bakke who was turned down because of the program favored minorities

-Indians also gained rights and were granted land

The Bicentennial Campaign and the Carter Victory

Carter's Humanitarian Diplomacy

Economic and Energy Woes

Foreign Affairs and teh Iranian Imbroglio