1970’s The Stagnant Seventies

Presidency of Richard Nixon

1968 a very violent year

• MLK and RFK assassinated

1968 Election• George Wallace leaves Democratic

Party and creates a 3rd party• LBJ announces that will not re-run• Nixon wins the Presidency

– Appeal to the “silent majority”

Escalation of Vietnam

Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War• Vietnamization:

– Gradually withdrawing US troops from Vietnam– Transitioning the military burden to the South Vietnamese

• “Using weapons, training, and advice”

• Nixon Doctrine:– US would honor current commitments, but in the future, Asian countries

would defend themselves without American troops• Doves:

– Those that favor peace• “Silent Majority”:

– Nixon’s belief that most Americans supported the war, but were not vocal• My Lai Massacre 1968:

– Killing of Vietnamese women and children

Cambodianizing the Vietnam War• April 29, 1970:

– Nixon ordered the US begin attacking Cambodia, a neighboring, neutral country

– The Cambodia bombings led directly to……• Kent State Protests:

– Student protests– 4 students died, many more injured

• The Cambodia Bombings made many Americans question the government

• Senate repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• Pentagon Papers:

– Revealed mistakes and deception of JFK and LBJ regarding Vietnam

The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act

• March 1969 – May 1970:– US secretly bombed Cambodia 3,500 times– During that time, US pledged it was respecting Cambodia’s

neutrality– Americans question the government

• War Powers Act:– Essentially, it reversed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution– Drastically reduced the war-time powers of the president

• President must report to Congress within 48 hours of sending troops to a conflict

• Must limit combat to 60 days unless Congress extended it to 90

Scandals around Vietnam

•Pentagon Papers, 1971•Dept of Defense document on US political-military involvement in Vietnam 45-67,• released by Daniel Ellsberg to public •published in the NY Times•Demonstrated that the Johnson Administration "systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress”.

Led to the War Powers Act, 1973

•Passed over President Nixon's veto •increases congressional control over the executive branch in foreign policy matters•military actions short of formally declared war •prohibited the President from engaging in military actions ≥ 60 days, unless Congress voted approval

Legacy of Vietnam at home

Soldiers get a poor welcome home

Loss of confidence

25th Amendment (18 yr olds can now vote)

War Powers Act

Legacy of Vietnam

Counter-Culture/Hippie Movement• Generation Gap

many hippies indulged in behavior intended to shock older Americans (nudity, profanity, etc.)many engaged in promiscuous sexual behavior and drugs

• Woodstock Festival 1969Gathering in NY state of 400,000 youth Flower childrenFolk and rock music iconic event of counter-culture movementPivotal moment in pop culture history

Video link to song: Bob Dylan's The Times They are a Chaingin'

Boomers/hippies•Grew up in times of prosperity•Embraced activism•Distrust for Tradition and Authority•Listened to Rock n Roll•OK with premarital sex

Parents of Boomers/hippies•Lived frugally•Lived through hard economic times•Valued loyalty and authority, respect for their elders•Listened to same music •Against premarital sex

New Left

• Coalition of younger members of the Democratic party and radical student groups. Believed in – participatory democracy– free speech– civil rights– racial brotherhood– opposed the war in Vietnam.

Kent State Tragedy, 1970• Student protest over President Nixon's

bombing of Cambodia in 1970 • ended in tragedy when several were killed by

National Guardsmen trying to break up their protests.

Rebirth• Charles Reich, The Greening of America, 1970

-predicted a coming revolution with no violence. -offers an interpretation of how the U.S. went wrong-predicts a rebirth of human values through a "new" generation.

Nixon and the Imperial Presidency

Nixon's Domestic Policies• Notable Legislation or Presidential Action

o Increased spending on certain Great society Programs: Food Stamps Medicaid Aid to Families of with Dependent Children (AFDC) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Automatic Social Security cost of living increases

• New definition of affirmative action:•Privileges for certain groups (minorities)

o Nixon and the Environmental o Protection Agency (EPA), 1970o Clean Air Act, 1970 (inspired by The Silent Spring)o Endangered Species Act, 1973

Federal vs. State Powers under Nixon

o “New Federalism”o Nixon's policy of giving the states greater responsibility

for controlling welfare and other government programso 5 yr plan - $30 billion to states

o "Revenue Sharing"1972 - A Nixon program that returned federal funds to the states to use as they saw fit.

The Economy under Nixon• Stagflation

A term used to describe the economy during Nixon's presidency because business was not growing and inflation was rising out of control

Possible explanations for inflation:• Rise of women & youth in workforce (less skilled)• Cost of compliance (new environmental & health safety standards)• Lack of investment in new technology• Shift from manufacturing to service oriented economy

• Nixon’s reaction to inflation : 90 day wage and price freeze• The Dollar & the Gold Standard

• Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard and devalued the dollar (to improve trade balance)

The Arab Embargo and the Energy Crisis

• American support of the Israelis in the 6 Day and Yom Kippur Wars (1967 & 1973) brought a huge cost

•Syria and Egypt attacked Israel•US provided $2 billion in aid to Israel

o Arab nations responded with an oil embargo (1973-1974)

Oil shortages Nixon Responses

• Alaskan pipeline• National speed limit

Highlighted American dependence (weakness) on foreign oil• Oil and gas prices increase

Sources of Stagnation• Reasons for economic downturn:

• High cost of Vietnam War• Rising oil prices• Inflation• High funding for Great Society

The Nixon Landslide of 1972:

• Spring of 1972:– North Vietnam crossed the DMZ– US responded with bombings on North Vietnamese cities

• Election of 1972:– George McGovern (D) promised to end war in 90 days– Nixon wins in a landslide

• Cease-fire in Vietnam on January 23, 1973– Nixon claimed he achieved “Peace with Honor”

Nixon’s Legacy –Détente with Beijing and Moscow

• Most known for improving relations with China and the USSR

• February 21, 1972:– Nixon visits China– Improvement in relations between China and US

• Détente: – Easing of Cold War tensions

• Anti-ballistic missile treaty • Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT):

– Limited the number of long-range nuclear weapons

Watergate and the Unmaking of a President

• June 17, 1972:– 5 men broke into Democratic headquarters in Watergate

• CREEP – Committee to Re-Elect the President• VP Agnew:

– Resigned over taking bribes • Led to the appointment of Gerald Ford

• Nixon secretly recorded most Oval Office Conversations• “Saturday Night Massacre”

– Nixon fired a special prosecutor, Attorney General, and deputy Attorney General

• Nixon claimed right of “Executive Privilege”– Supreme Court stated he could not withhold evidence and tapes

• House drew up impeachment charges, Nixon resigned

• Watergate Investigations revealed•Nixon assisted in the cover up•Ordered CIA to aid in cover up •Lied about any knowledge of break-in•“Hush money” paid to those who were caught•Refusal to cooperate with the judicial branch to provide White House Tapes

• Nixon forced to resign

Disgraced Presidency

The First Unelected President• Pardon of Nixon:

– Many Americans were upset, some believed there was a “deal”– Hurt Ford’s re-election chances in 1976

• Helsinki Accords:– Improved relations between Western nations and Communist

nations– Example of détente

Defeat in Vietnam• US withdrew troops in 1973• $118 billion cost• 56,000 deaths, 300,000 wounded

Aftermath of Watergate

• Nation had survived a constitutional crisis• proved that impeachment machinery forged by Founding

Fathers could work when public opinion overwhelmingly demanded that it be implemented

• Executive power held in check by system of checks and balances (executive/legislative/judicial branches)

Ford Presidency 1974-1977

• No public mandate• Ford became VP under Nixon after

VP Spiro Agnew resigned (bribery)• Not elected Vice President or

President by the Electoral College (25th Amendment, 1967)

• Pardoned Nixon after his resignation• Growing inflation and recession

under his tenure

The Bicentennial Campaign and the Carter Victory

• Jimmy Carter:– Campaigned as a Washington “outsider”– Pardoned draft dodgers from the Vietnam War

Carter’s Humanitarian Diplomacy• Camp David Accords:

– September, 1978– Peace agreement between Israel (Begin) and Egypt (Sadat)

• Panama Canal:– US promised to return the canal to Panama by 2000

Economic and Energy Woes• Inflation increased rapidly• Problems in Iran:

– US backed Shah Pahlevi (CIA helped install him in 1953)– Shah was overthrown in 1979, has cancer; US provides treatment

Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Imbroglio• Iranian Revolution

o Overthrown Iranian leader was allowed into the US Iran cut off all oil to the US

• Great Satan

• Iranian Hostage Crisis (November, 1979)o Iranian students stormed the American embassy

and took hostages (held for 444 days) Attempted rescue failed, killed 8 soldiers

• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan– December 27, 1979:– US boycotted Olympic games in Moscow– The war is seen as the Soviet’s Vietnam

Trouble and More Trouble for Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

• Economic Problems• Double digit inflation (uncontrollable spiral)

• Stagflation = Stagnant Business activity + continued unemployment + Inflation

• Tried to combat unemployment and economic weakness with government spending

• Wage and price guidelines – little success• Deregulation of industry (continued post-

Carter)

Reading Assignments• Unfinished Nation, Chapter 32: Crisis of

Authority pp. 842-859/866-875• Youth Culture• Mobilization of Minorities• Environmentalism• Nixon: Politics & Economics• Election 1972 – Troubled Economy• Watergate

• Link to Chapter 40 on wikispace