CHALLENGES TO THE POSTWAR ORDER Chapter 38 New

CHALLENGES TO THE POSTWAR ORDER Chapter 38 (New)

OVERVIEW… • America struggled through a crisis of confidence in their leaders and institutions • “Stagflation” emerged, a mixture between stagnation and inflation • Conflicts intensified over gender, religion, and America’s role in the world • Political polarization, a weakened federal government, and rising inequality

WATERGATE AND THE UNMAKING OF A PRESIDENT

THE WATERGATE SCANDAL • June 17, 1972 • 5 men arrested in Watergate apartment complex in Washington • They had tried to plant electric “bugs” in the Democratic party’s headquarters • Worked for the Republican Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) • It was one in a series of Nixon administration “dirty tricks”

NIXON’S “DIRTY TRICKS” • Forged documents to discredit the Democrats • Used the International Revenue Service to harass innocent citizens named of a White House “enemies list” • Burglarized the office of the psychiatrist who treated the person who leaked the Pentagon Papers • Perverted the FBI and CIA to cover the tricksters’ tracks

VICE PRESIDENT SPIRO AGNEW • Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign • • He took bribes from Maryland contractors while governor and as vice president Gerald (“Jerry”) Ford, a twelve-term congressman from Michigan, was Agnew’s successor

THE INVESTIGATION… • A Senate committee conducted televised hearings about the Watergate affair • Nixon denied prior knowledge of the break-in • He denied involvement in the legal proceedings against the burglars • A former White House aid revealed a recording of Nixon’s oval Office conversations

CAUGHT IN A LIE • Nixon agreed to the publication of “relevant” portions of the tapes • The Court ruled that “executive privilege” gave him no right to withhold the evidence • “Smoking gun” tape revealed the president ordering the CIA to hold back an inquiry by the FBI • • This was six days after the Watergate break-in The House Judiciary Committee proceeded to draw up articles of impeachment

NIXON’S RESIGNATION • The public’s wrath was overwhelming • Republican leaders in Congress suggested that he resign • He appeared on TV on August 8, 1974 • He admitted to making some “judgments” that “were wrong”

RESULTS… • The nation now knew that the impeachment could serve its purpose • • No person is above the law, including the President The economy began to fall into a slump

SOURCES OF STAGNATION

THE ECONOMIC SITUATION • Productivity gains slowed to the vanishing point • It would take 500 years to bring another doubling of the average worker’s standard of living • The median income of the average American family stagnated • The “can-do” American spirit gave way to an unaccustomed sense of limits

WHAT CAUSED THE SLUMP? • Increasing presence of women and teenagers in the work force • Declining investment in new machinery • Cost of compliance with government-imposed safety and health regulations • The shift of the American economy from manufacturing to services • Economists continue to wrestle inconclusively over the causes

ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE VIETNAM WAR • Drained tax dollars from improvements in education • Deflected scientific skill and manufacturing capacity from civilians • Touched off a spiral of inflation

INFLATION • Roots of inflation came from deficit spending in the 1960 s • Great Society funding and Vietnam funding without an increase in tax • Military and welfare spending are inherently inflationary • Prices increased in 1970 s • Cost of living tripled in the 12 years after Nixon’s inauguration

GLOBAL ECONOMIC COMPETITION • American businesses had not been focusing on efficient production methods • German and Japanese built new factories with up-to-date technology • Japanese began to dominate industries • Automobiles, steel, and consumer electronics

ECONOMIC FRUSTRATION • The sickly economic performance of the 1970 s frustrated policymakers and citizens • Stalemated, unpopular war and stagnant, unresponsive economy ended the liberal dream • The liberal dream that an affluent society could spend its way to social justice

THE FIRST UNELECTED PRESIDENT

GERALD RUDOLPH FORD • First man to be made president solely by a vote of Congress • Thought of as a dim-witted former college football player • Selected (not elected) vice president following Spiro Agnew’s resignation • Granted a complete pardon to Nixon for his crimes as president • Democrats were outraged

DÉTENTE AND FORD • Sought to enhance the détente with the Soviet Union • July 1975 joined 34 other nations in Helsinki, Finland to sign historical accords • Soviets signed a “third basket” of agreements • Guaranteed more liberal exchanges of people and info between East and West • U. S. thought détente was beginning to be a one-way street, where American grain and technology flowed to USSR • Ford clung stubbornly to détente, but the public’s fury grew

DEFEAT IN VIETNAM

THE NORTH VIETNAMESE ATTACK • 1975 the North Vietnamese drove southward • The South Vietnamese quickly collapsed • Remaining Americans had to be evacuated by helicopter • Ford admitted 150, 000 South Vietnamese refugees into U. S. • The U. S. had not lost the war, its client nation had • America had given $118 billion, 56, 000 lives, and 300, 000 casualties

BUT, AMERICA HAD LOST… • Face in the eyes of foreigners • Its own self-esteem • Confidence in its political leadership • Confidence in its military prowess • Much of the economic muscle that made it dominant after WW 2 • America’s power and pride were wounded in Vietnam

FEMINIST VICTORIES AND DEFEATS

GENDER REVOLUTION • Women’s Stride for Equality on the fifteenth anniversary of woman suffrage (1970) • Title IX of the Education Amendments prohibited sex discrimination education supported by government • Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) declared equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by any State because of sex • Reed v. Reed and Frontiero v. Richardson – the Court challenged sexual discrimination in legislation and employment • Roe v. Wade – the Court struck down laws prohibiting abortion

BACKLASH TOWARDS FEMINIST MOVEMENTS • 1972 Nixon vetoed proposal to set up a nationwide public day care • Claimed it would weaken the American family • Tripled divorce rate between 1960 and 1976 • Catholic Church organized movements to oppose the legalization of abortion • Death of the ERA Antifeminist Phyllis Schlafly argued it would remove protections women enjoyed by forcing the law to see them as equals • ERA would threaten the basic family structure of American society •

A TRANSFORMATIVE FORCE • Major professions (medicine, law, and higher education) opened their doors to women • Feminist enterprises proliferated • Discussions of female sexuality abounded • Change in structure of American families (divorced, single-parent households)

THE SEVENTIES IN BLACK AND WHITE

ISSUES OF RACE • Race remained an important issue in the 1970 s • Milliken v. Bradley – desegregation plans could not require students to move across school-district lines • • Affirmative action programs were highly controversial • • Helped stop “white flight” from cities to suburbs Whites cried “reverse discrimination” Allan Bakke – claimed his application to medical school was turned down because admissions favored minority applicants • The Court ordered University of California to admit Bakke

NATIVE AMERICANS AND CIVIL RIGHTS • Native Americans gained remarkable power • Used the courts and also demonstrated well-planned acts of civil disobedience • Asserted their status as a separate semi-sovereign peoples • United States v. Wheeler – Court declared that Indian tribes possessed a “unique and limited” sovereignty

THE BICENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN

REPUBLICAN NOMINATION IN 1976 • President Gerald Ford sought Republican nomination in 1976 • Narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan, who drove the conservative movement known as the “New Right” Supported mainly by veterans of Goldwater’s failed campaign • Hot-button cultural issues and nationalist foreign-policy outlook • • Ford’s moderate governing prompted conservatives to seek an alternative nominee

DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION IN 1976 • James Earl (“Jimmy”) Carter, Jr. • A peanut farmer and former Georgia governor • Born-again Baptist • Touched many people with his sincerity • His most effective campaign pitch was “I’ll never lie to you” • Outsider who would clean the house of “big government”

CARTER AS VICTOR • Squeezed out a narrow victory of 51% of the popular vote • Electoral count stood at 279 to 240 • He obtained 97% of the African American vote • Ford actually beat Carter among white southerners (53% to 46%)

CARTER AS PRESIDENT • Carter enjoyed Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress • Created a new cabinet-level Department of Energy • Cut taxes • High popularity • But, he was an outsider to the Washington “establishment” He rubbed Congressional fur the wrong way • Isolated himself with fellow Georgians •

CARTER’S HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY

FOREIGN POLICY • President Carter displayed a concern for “human rights” as the guiding principle of his foreign policy • • Championed the oppressed black majority Invited Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel to the summit conference at Camp David • Persuaded the two visitors to sign an accord holding a promise of peace • Resumed full diplomatic relations with China in 1979 • Turned over the Panama Canal to Panamanians • Protested by conservatives and Ronald Reagan

CARTER AND RUSSIA • The reheating of the Cold War with the Soviet Union overshadowed all international issues • Détente fell into repute – Cuba deployed troops in Africa to support revolutionary factions • Arms control negotiations in Moscow stalled

ECONOMIC AND ENERGY WOES

INFLATION • Recession in Ford’s presidency brought the inflation rate to 6% • When Carter took over, the rate drove up to 13% • The bill for imported oil plunged America’s balance of payments into the red (by $40 billion) • “Oil shocks” taught Americans that they could never again consider isolationist policy

DEFICITS AND EFFECTS OF INFLATION • Deficits in the federal budget ($60 billion in 1980) aggravated inflation • Elderly suffered from the shrinking dollar • “Prime rate” vaulted to 20% in 1980 • Diagnosed America’s economic disease as stemming from the dependence on foreign oil

OIL CRISIS SPARKED BY IRAN • Mohammed Reza Pahlevi (shah of Iran) ruled over his oil rich land with a will of steel • Repressive regime overthrown in January 1979 • Muslim fundamentalists resented his campaign to westernize and secularize his country • U. S. denounced as the “Great Satan” that helped the shah • Iranian oil stopped flowing into the stream of world commerce

“POPULAR” DISCONTENT • Carter sensed the popular discontent • Retreated to Camp David for 10 days, asking 100+ leaders from all walks of life about their views • Malaise speech chided citizens for being too concerned with “material goods” • He then fired 4 cabinet secretaries, reorganized and expanded the power of his personal staff • Losing touch with the popular mood of the country

THE TURN TOWARD THE MARKET

CONSERVATISM AND THE FREE MARKET • “Neoconservatives” spearheaded conservative revival • Championed free-market capitalism liberated from government restraints • Restoration of traditional values at home • Anti-Soviet positions in foreign policy • Milton Friedman co-wrote (with his wife Rose) Free to Choose – a case for the superiority of free markets • Social problems and protecting individual liberty

CONSERVATIVE ACTION • Conservative thinking complemented conservative action • Killed two labor law reform bills during Carter’s presidency • Pinned the blame for stagflation on onerous government regulations • Carter supported deregulation and liberation of market forces • • Attracted bipartisan support in America and elsewhere Tax revolts in states snowballed into tax-cutting agenda for the conservative movement nationwide

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE IRANIAN IMBROGLIO

U. S. RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND IRAN • Carter met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to sign the SALT II agreements Limited levels of lethal strategic weapons in the Soviet and American arsenals • Shredded by conservative critics • • A mob of anti-American Muslim militants stormed the U. S. embassy in Iran • Demanded that the U. S. ship back the exiled shah, who arrived in the U. S. two weeks earlier for medical treatment

RUSSIA POISED FOR IRAN • The Soviet army poised itself to thrust at Iran • Carter slapped an embargo on the export of grain and hightechnology machinery to the USSR • Proposed the creation of a “Rapid Deployment Force” to respond to crises in far away places • Wanted to protect the Persian Gulf against Soviet incursions • SALT II treaty became a dead letter in the Senate • Resistance in Afghanistan for Russia became known as “Russia’s Vietnam”

AMERICA’S BED OF NAILS • Iranian hostage crisis was America’s bed of nails • Political turmoil in Iran rumbled endlessly • Carter ordered a rescue mission by a commando team Failed because of timing • Proved anguishing for Americans • • The stalemate with Iran dragged on for the rest of Carter’s term

As the 1980 presidential race approached, the American public looked to close the book on a frustrating decade filled with economic hardship and government paralysis.