The 1970s

The 1970s and 1980s — Presidents

•Richard Nixon (1969- 1974) •Gerald Ford (1974-1977) •Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) •Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) •George Bush (1989-1993)

President Richard M. Nixon

• Nixon took over the presidency after the election of 1968 against Hubert Humphrey.

• In 1972 he beat Democratic Senator George S. McGovern for reelection.

Nixon Trials & Accomplishments

• July 20, 1969: First man on the moon.

• New Federalism: a program designed to end what Nixon said was the Democratic habit of "throwing money at problems." Congress passed part of the plan. He wanted to give more power back to local and state governments.

• Nixon brought America toward the all volunteer Army that we have today by ending the draft.

Nixon Trials & Accomplishments

• Endangered Species Act (1973): Requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to list species of plants and animals that are threated with extinction.

• The FWS then must take steps to protect and preserve them.

Nixon’s Visit to China

• In February 1972, Nixon went to China and met with Mao Zedong.

Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were key in planning this visit.

• This helped create a normalization of relations with China

Nixon’s Visit to China

• Nixon’s visit to China improved relations between the two countries and helped reestablish trade that had ceased two decades earlier.

• Tensions still existed between our nations, but Nixon’s efforts lessened them greatly.

Nixon’s Cold War Policy: Détente

• Nixon, along with his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger pioneered a new diplomacy called “détente.” • Détente was a permanent relaxation of tensions between the superpowers that focused on recognition of each other’s interests and a “give and take” style of negotiation. • Détente was a big change in attitude toward Communist nations.

The Watergate Scandal

The attempted burglary and wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972, at the Watergate complex had been traced to men hired by some of the president's closest advisers. Newspaper reporters took the slender thread found at the Watergate burglary and followed it to the White House.

Watergate – What happened?

During the election campaign of 1972, Nixon’s aides secretly burglarized and wiretapped the Democratic National Committee Headquarters based in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.

Watergate – What happened?

On June 17, 1972, five men dressed in suits and ties were surprised in the act of rifling the office of the Democratic National Committee. The Watergate “Five” (Bob Haldeman, John Mardian, Kenneth Parkinson, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell), Dec. 30, 1974.

Watergate – What happened?

They worked under the direction of G. Gordon Liddy, the finance counsel at Nixon's Committee for the Re-election of the President (C.R.E.E.P.)

Watergate – What happened?

Trying to cover up the true extent of the crimes, Nixon fired several close advisors and took the resignations of others. Many then went before a Senate committee that had been formed to investigate the break in. One of them revealed that Nixon taped everything that happened in his office.

Watergate – What happened?

Archibald Cox and later Leon Jawarski, the special prosecutors of the Watergate investigation, demanded that the tapes be turned over to the committee. Leon Jaworski

Watergate – What happened?

In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that the tapes were public evidence and forced Nixon to turn them over. The public faith was lessened even more when it was discovered that a critical 18 minute segment of the tape had been erased.

“I am not a crook.” – Nixon, Nov. 1973

Watergate – What happened?

One of the tapes had recorded his order to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to halt its investigation of the Watergate break-in. That tape was conclusive evidence —the "smoking gun" —of Nixon's primary role in a cover-up.

"I don't give a **** what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover-up or anything else.“

~Richard Nixon on tape

Watergate – What happened?

Despite his denials, the tape recordings indicated that Nixon had, in fact, tried to divert, or cover up, the investigation. As a result of unrelated scandals in Maryland, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973. Nixon nominated, and Congress approved, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the new Vice President. Spiro T. Agnew

Watergate – Nixon’s decision

The Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment to the full House of Representatives.

Nixon Resigns

Faced with what seemed almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974, that he would resign the next day to begin "that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."

Nixon Resigns

The first U.S. president to resign, Nixon sowed seeds of his own destruction a week after the break-in when he ordered a cover-up of the burglary. His secret taping system, installed to help him write his memoirs, preserved evidence that destroyed him. Because of these events, many Americans became cynical and distrusting of government.

Nixon waving goodbye to America after resigning.

From Nixon to Ford

• Richard Nixon resigned in 1974.

• His newly appointed vice president, Gerald Ford, took over the presidency.

President Gerald R. Ford

• Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. but he changed his name in the 1930s.

• He played center for the University of Michigan and became the only future U.S. president to have tackled a future Heisman trophy winner.

• He was very athletic, but tripping while coming off an airplane earned him the reputation of being clumsy.

President Gerald R. Ford

• Ford had a reputation for honesty and was respected by members of both parties. • He was the only man in US history ever to become president without having been elected either president or vice president .

Gerald Ford Pardons Nixon

Almost immediately, Gerald R. Ford stirred the political waters by issuing a blanket pardon to Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974. It was highly controversial, but a Presidential pardon is the end of the matter – nothing can change the decision, and it is not subject to any review .

Ford Trials & Accomplishments

• He hoped that the decision to pardon Nixon would help the country heal and move on.

• During his presidency he also acted to stop the trend toward Government intervention and spending as a means of solving the problems of American society and the economy.

ERA

Equal Rights Amendment

• Designed to provide both men and women with equal rights under the law • Passed by Congress in 1972 • Needed to be ratified by 38 states in order to become part of the Constitution • Not enough states ratified it

ERA

Equal Rights Amendment

Israel

• As a result of WWII and the Holocaust, the UN ordered that Palestine be partitioned and a Jewish state be created---Israel • The United States among others were key members of the UN.

• This took land away from Palestinians to create a Jewish homeland (Zionism).

US support of Israel

• Israel’s sovereignty has been challenged by Arab countries in the region.

– Example the Yom Kippur War- US helps Israel in attacks from Syria and Egypt • The United States is loyal to Israel because of the responsibility they had in its creation (UN, Zionism).

OPEC

• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was created in 1960 by Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

– Since its beginning other countries have joined.

– Not the USA • Their goal is to coordinate petroleum policies and prices between member countries.

• How does this affect countries who are not members?

The Oil Embargo

• In 1973, OPEC nations placed an embargo on oil to the United States, as a form of punishment, for helping Israel.

• There were major shortages of gasoline and the price skyrocketed. From less that 25 cents a gallon, it rose to 75 cents in just a few months. Stations began to limit their sales to regular customers or to limit the amount that one could buy.

• The crisis ended through negotiation and higher prices, but our dependence on foreign oil has not ended.

GATT

• General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade created post WWII • The goal is to regulate international trade by reducing tariffs and trade barriers.

• 1973-1979 102 countries saved $300 billion in tariff concessions and reductions • Eventually becomes the World Trade Organization (WTO)

President Jimmy Carter

• Ford ran for president in 1976, but lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

• President Carter was a peanut farmer from Georgia. • He was the first president we’ve had who was born in a hospital.

• He was a member of FFA during high school.

President Jimmy Carter

• As president, he formed the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

• He extended Ford’s conditional amnesty for draft evaders by pardoning all Vietnam War draft evaders.

• He was also a supporter of human rights and improving the environment.

Carter Trials & Accomplishments

• He expanded the national park system, which included protection of 103 million acres of Alaskan lands.

• He believed that “there should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.”

Carter Trials & Accomplishments

• Carter signed the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA), which was passed to discourage redlining and required banks to lend money in low-income neighborhoods.

• Redlining is where a line is drawn on a map, showing the area in which a bank would not invest. Services such as banking or insurance were denied to residents in those areas, or the costs of those services were increased.

• Some claimed that the decision of where to draw the line was based on race, so the CRA was trying to limit discrimination.

Carter Trials & Accomplishments

• At the end of Carter’s presidency Mount St. Helens erupted.

• This is a volcano in Washington State.

Soviet War in Afghanistan

• In 1979 the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Afghanistan had a pro-Soviet government that was in danger of falling, so they went in to prop it up.

• For the USSR, this fight lasted 10 years and ended up much like Vietnam did for the USA.

• Because of this invasion, Carter reinstituted the draft registration, imposed a grain embargo on the USSR, and the USA withdrew from the 1980s Olympics in Moscow.

Camp David Accords

• Carter is credited with the Camp David Accords of 1978.

• This is a treaty between Israel and Egypt. Israel returned captured lands to Egypt in exchange for a permanent treaty that recognized Israel.

Sadat (Egyptian leader) and Begin (Israeli leader) shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Iran Hostage Crisis

• Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was the Shah, or leader of Iran, and he had U.S. support. • In the 1970s there was a movement in Iran to overthrow him. Some Iranians thought that he was too modern and secular.

• Things got so bad that in January 1979, the Shah went into exile, but he was very sick at the time.

The Iran Hostage Crisis

• The leader of this Iranian revolution to overthrow the Shah was Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini was a Grand Ayatollah, which is a high rank in Shi’a Islam.

• Khomeini wanted to establish a religious government.

• After kicking out the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini took power and made Iran into an Islamic Republic.

The Iran Hostage Crisis

• In the meantime, the Shah was going from country to country seeking help. He asked the US to give him medical treatment, so Carter let him come and he received surgery in New York.

• The Iranians under Ayatollah Khomeini were very upset by this and wanted the Shah returned to them. But the Shah went to Egypt instead (where he died).

The Iran Hostage Crisis

• Iran was upset by America’s long history of interference, so Khomeini allowed his followers to seize the American Embassy in Teheran.

• They held the embassy staff and others hostage for 444 days.

The Hostage Crisis Hurt Carter

Believing that negotiations could solve the crisis, Carter was unable to secure their release. The one military attempt to rescue the hostages was a failure. In the end, the American people held him responsible for the crisis at the polls. Together with the difficult state of the economy and ever rising inflation, Carter had little chance of earning a second term. The hostages were released on the day the new president was inaugurated.

Changing Population Patterns

• The US saw the population shift from the “Rust Belt” to the “Sun Belt” • What are some reasons this would take place?

Supreme Court Cases of the 1970s

•

Roe v. Wade

(1973) – Single and pregnant woman “Jane Roe” (really Norma McCorvey) sued Dallas district attorney Henry Wade to be allowed to have an abortion.

– Court ruled that women do have the right to choose an abortion during the first 6 months of pregnancy (that number has since been lowered).

– States can only completely prohibit abortions during the last 3 months of pregnancy.

Roe v. Wade

(1973) • In an interview on 8/10/95 in Dallas, McCorvey announced, "I'm pro-life. I think I've always been pro-life, I just didn't know it" (Reaves, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/11/95). • McCorvey, claimed before Roe that she had been raped, was 21 and pregnant when approached by attorney Sarah Weddington about suing for the right to have an abortion. McCorvey never had an abortion because the decision came too late. She carried the baby to term and gave her up for adoption. McCorvey later admitted that she had not been raped.

• "I think abortion is wrong. I think what I did with

Roe v. Wade

was wrong, and I just have to take a pro-life position on [abortion]" ("World News Tonight," 8/10/95).

Supreme Court Cases of the 1970s

• • •

Wisconsin v. Yoder

(1972) – Amish children are not required to go to school past 8 th grade because it violates freedom of religion.

White v. Regester

(1973) – The lines for some voting districts in Texas were discriminatory toward certain racial groups, so that was declared unconstitutional.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

(1978) – Court ruled that racial quotas were unconstitutional, but that schools could still consider race as a factor in admissions.

– Decision made it difficult for organizations to establish effective affirmative action policies .

Summary

• Who were the 3 presidents of the 1970s?

• What were some major events or pieces of legislation from each administration?

Enduring Understandings

• How does our Constitutional system ensure that no one is above the law? Evaluate this statement using Watergate and /or the Iran-contra Affair. • How is the Civil Rights Movement expanded to include other groups in the 1970s? • To what extent have the changing patterns of migration and immigration impacted the U.S.?