A Crisis in Confidence 1968-1981A Crisis in Confidence 1968-1981Chapter 31Chapter 31

What caused Americans to suffer a crisis of confidence

during the 1970s?

Standards

• SSUSH25 • The student will describe changes in national politics since 1968.• Element: SSUSH25.a • Describe President Richard M. Nixon's opening of China, his

resignation due to the Watergate scandal, changing attitudes toward government, and the Presidency of Gerald Ford.

• Element: SSUSH25.b • Explain the impact of Supreme Court decisions on ideas about

civil liberties and civil rights including such decisions as Roe v. Wade (1973 and the Bakke decision on affirmative action).

• Element: SSUSH25.c • Explain the Carter administrations efforts in the Middle East

including the Camp David Accords, his response to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and Iranian hostage crisis.

Nixon and the Watergate ScandalNixon and the Watergate ScandalSection 1

• What events led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as President in 1974?

• Vocabulary:

-silent majority affirmative action

-stagflation Watergate

-OPEC southern strategy

-executive privilege

-Twenty-fifth Amendment

Nixon and the Watergate Scandal

Nixon’s Policies Target Middle America Main Idea: Richard Nixon believed in giving most power to the states, but did establish some strong federal agencies while in office.

Nixon Follows a Southern Strategy

Main Idea: Nixon tried to win support of conservative southerners to expand his popularity.

The Watergate Scandal Brings Nixon Down

Main Idea: When Nixon was linked to the break-in of Democratic Party headquarters and subsequent cover-up, the investigation and scandal forced him to resign.

Continued…

19681968

• Antiwar sentiment increases: Tet Offensive, surprise attack against South Vietnam; North defeated, but Americans felt victory was impossible

• Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis by James Earl Ray

• Robert Kennedy assassinated on June 6, 1968 in Los Angeles

• Violence at the Democratic Convention, August, 1968

• Election of 1968: Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey

Tet OffensiveTet Offensive

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

1968 Democratic Convention

The Nixon AdministrationThe Nixon Administration

• Grew up in a low-income family in CA

• Experienced in politics; vice president under Eisenhower

• Reserved and uncomfortable with people

• Wanted to increase the power of the President

• Staff: H. R. Haldeman, chief of staff

John Ehrlichman, chief domestic advisor

John Mitchell, Attorney General

Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State

Domestic PolicyDomestic Policy

• Inflation: had doubled before he took office due to theVietnam War

• High unemployment

• Used deficit spending to stimulate the economy

• Froze wages, prices, and rents for 90 days

• Oil crisis: OPEC imposed an oil embargo on the U.S. due to war between Israel and the Arab nations of Egypt and Syria, causing a recession

• Kent State University: four students killed by National Guard

Kent StateKent State

First Moon LandingFirst Moon Landing

• Apollo 11 astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, July 20, 1969

• “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

• Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. and Michael Collins were part of the accomplishment

• Collected rock and soil samples and set up instruments to monitor conditions on the moon

• Quarantined for 18 days

The First Moon LandingThe First Moon Landing

Nixon Targets Middle America

• “New Federalism” – lessen power in Washington in favor of more power for states; included revenue sharing with states

• Silent majority – Middle Americans • Expands government’s role

-Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

-Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

-Clean Air Act• Economy struggles –

-stagflation: stagnating economy and inflation

-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Inflation and Unemployment Rates, 1970-1980CHART

Southern StrategySouthern Strategy

• Controversy rages over busing

-Nixon nominated conservative southerners as federal judges

-1971, federal courts ordered students bused to achieve racial balance

-Nixon criticized court ordered busing

-Won the support of those who opposed busing• Philadelphia Plan – required labor unions and

contractors to submit goals and timetables for hiring minorities; form of affirmative action

Reading Skill: Identify Main IdeasNOTE TAKING

Presidential Election of 1972GRAPH

Nixon’s Foreign PolicyNixon’s Foreign Policy

• Henry Kissinger; fled Nazi Germany for U.S.; realpolitik – practical politics; 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for ending Viet Nam War

• Détente: relaxing tensions with Soviet Union and China

• 1972, Nixon visited China and met with Mao Zedong

• Visited Soviet Union and met with Premier Leonid Brezhnev;

• SALT I: held number in ICBMs and submarine-launched missiles at 1972 levels for five years

Watergate ScandalWatergate Scandal

• Enemies List

• Wiretaps

• The Plumbers: special White House unit to stop government leaks

• Election “dirty tricks”

• Watergate break-in: E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy headed break-in of Democratic headquarters in June 1972; five men arrested; Nixon tried to stop the FBI investigation – coverup; tried to bribe the defendants

Watergate BurglarsWatergate Burglars

Watergate TrialWatergate Trial

• Nixon elected in Nov. 1972

• All five burglars found guilty

• Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigated; informer gave them information – W. Mark Felt, second at the FBI

• Special prosecutor Archibald Cox asked for tapes; Nixon fired him – “Saturday Night Massacre”

• Leon Jaworski appointed and asked for tapes

• Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned over income taxes and taking bribes; Gerald Ford is chosen.

Reading Skill: Identify Causes and EffectsNOTE TAKING

Political Cartoons: The Watergate ScandalTRANSPARENCY

Impeachment?Impeachment?

• House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach the President

• To avoid impeachment by the House, Nixon resigns on August 5, 1974; “I am not a crook.”

• Only President to ever resign

• Gerald Ford becomes President with Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President (neither were elected by the American people)

• Watergate is the low point in American political history

Post-Watergate Government ReformsCHART

PM TRANSPARENCY

Progress Monitoring Transparency

The Ford and Carter YearsThe Ford and Carter YearsSection 2Section 2

• What accounted for the changes in American attitudes during the 1970s?

• Vocabulary:

-Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter

-pardon amnesty

-televangelist

-Christian fundamentalist

The Ford and Carter Years

Ford Faces Political and Economic Woes

Main Idea: When Gerald Ford became President he was criticized for pardoning Nixon and failing to solve inflation and other economic troubles.

A Washington “Outsider” Becomes President

Main Idea: Jimmy Carter portrayed himself as a “common” President, but his inexperience hurt him when he had to deal with inflation and an energy crisis.

Changing Values Stir Unease

Main Idea: Cultural and demographical changes in the 1970s had long-lasting effects on politics and society in the United States.

Continued. . .

President FordPresident Ford

• Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 as Vice President

• Richard Nixon resigned in 1975; Ford chose Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President; neither were elected

• Ford pardoned Nixon; country was against the pardon

• Economy in recession with high inflation and unemployment; stagflation

• War Powers Act: (1) notify Congress within 48 hours if send troops (2) troops stay overseas 60 days without Congressional approval (3) Congress can bring troops home by passing a concurrent resolution

Ford’s PoliciesFord’s Policies

• Helsinki Accords – nations of Europe on record in favor of human rights

• SALTII – pledged to limit nuclear arms • Trouble in Southeast Asia

-U.S. did not intervene in Laos genocide

-South Vietnam fell to communists in 1975

-boat people – largest mass migration by sea

Foreign PolicyForeign Policy

• North Vietnam took over South Vietnam

• American airlift rescued thousands of Americans and Vietnamese

• Helsinki Accords, U.S., Canada, Soviet Union, and 30 European nations pledge to cooperate

Rising Fuel PricesTRANSPARENCY

Carter AdministrationCarter Administration

• Jimmy Carter wins the election of 1976• No national experience; former governor of Georgia• No experience in dealing with Congress• Amnesty, or political pardons for draft evaders• Human rights diplomacy• Camp David Accords; Menachem Begin of Israel and

Anwar El-Sadat of Egypt; Israel returned Sinai peninsula and Egypt recognized Israel

• Panama Canal – return to Panama by 2000• Recognition of People’s Republic of China• SALT II limited nuclear warheads and missiles

Carter’s Domestic IssuesCarter’s Domestic Issues

• Inflation was 10 percent

• Created the Department of Energy to help save fuel

• Three Mile Island – partial meltdown of the core occurred, releasing some radiation

• Nuclear industry suffered

• Amnesty granted to those who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War

• Civil Rights

• Affirmative action

Carter’s Foreign Policies

• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan• Friction with the Soviet Union – SALT II treaty

withdrawn from Senate• Sanctions – boycott of 1980 Summer Olympic

games held in Moscow• Mariel boatlift – Cubans allowed to come to U.S.,

some were criminals• Returned the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999 • Iran seizes American Hostages – Ayatollah

Khomeini

Iran Hostage CrisisIran Hostage Crisis

• Soviets invaded Afghanistan

• United Nations called for a Soviet withdrawal

• Carter withheld grain shipments to the Soviets

• SALT II treaty not sent to Senate

• Carter boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow

• U.S. had supported the Shah of Iran, who was corrupt

• Pahlavi, the Shah, was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini, a fundamentalist Islamic leader

• 1979, 66 Americans taken hostage for 444 days

Hostages Freed 1981Hostages Freed 1981

• Carter authorized a commando rescue mission that ended with 8 American deaths before reaching the hostages

• Hostages released the day Ronald Reagan became president

Reading Skill: Identify Main IdeasNOTE TAKING

Immigration to the United States, 1971-1980CHART

Moving to the SunbeltTRANSPARENCY

PM TRANSPARENCY

Progress Monitoring Transparency

Foreign Policy TroublesForeign Policy TroublesSection 3

• What were the goals of American foreign policy during the Ford and Carter years, and how successful were Ford’s and Carter’s policies?

• Vocabulary:

-Helsinki Accords sanctions

-human rights developing world

-SALTII Camp David Accords

-boat people Ayatollah Khomeini

Foreign Policy Troubles

Ford Continues Nixon’s Foreign Policies  Main Idea: Gerald Ford followed Nixon’s foreign policy ideas and pursued détente with the Soviet Union and China.

Carter Changes Course

Main Idea: Carter believed that human rights should be a guideline for foreign policy, affecting relationships with the Soviet Union and Latin America.

Success and Setback in the Middle East

Main Idea: Carter helped Egypt and Israel negotiate a peace treaty, but also faced setbacks in the Middle East when Iran radicals held Americans hostage.

Reading Skill: Identify Supporting DetailsNOTE TAKING

Camp David AccordsTRANSPARENCY

PM TRANSPARENCY

Progress Monitoring Transparency