Chapter 27 Reconsidering National Priorities,

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1 Chapter 27 Reconsidering National Priorities, Learning Objectives: After reading Chapter 27, you should be able to: 1. Detail the reasons behind President Nixon s friendly relations with China. 2. Explain how Nixon and Kissinger divide China and the Soviet Union. 3. Understand how and why the United States overthrew the elected Chilean government. 4. Discuss the causes and results of the Watergate scandal. 5. Analyze the significance of President Nixon being driven from office. 6. Explain the reasons that led to stagnation and inflation hitting the U.S. economy. 7. Detail the shift of production facilities by large corporations outside the United States. 8. Discuss how the oil embargo revealed American dependence on foreign energy. 9. Explain how the growth of the environmental movement challenged traditional assumptions. 10. Comprehend the importance of congressional power being reasserted in 1970s. 11. Understand the appeal of Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election in the wake of Watergate. 12. Discuss how the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island changed the view of nuclear power. 13. Analyze how various Americans reacted to the challenges presented by feminism. 14. Discuss the increasing opportunities for young women in 1970s America. 15. Explain how family life changed as a result of increased female employment. 16. Discuss the male backlash against feminism and changes in gender relations. Time Line 1972 Nixon became first President to go to China Richard Nixon re-elected President over Democrat George McGovern 1973 Salvador Allende s elected government in Chile was overthrown by CIA-backed coup American standard of living began to decline OPEC nations embargoed oil sales to the United States 1974 President Nixon resigned due to Watergate scandal Freedom of Information Act passed 164

2 1975 NLF and North Vietnamese forces captured South Vietnam 1976 Congress cut off U.S. aid to anticommunist forces in Angola Jimmy Carter elected President over Republican Gerald Ford Hyde Amendment forbade Medicare to pay for abortions 1977 U.S. returned Panama Canal to Panama 1978 In Bakke case, Supreme Court ruled strict racial quotas are unconstitutional 1979 Revolution in Iran Partial melt down at Three Mile Island I. Twin Shocks: Detente and Watergate A. Triangular Diplomacy Richard Nixon, always a leading American anticommunist and red-baiter, proved to be more opportunistic than ideological as President. He and his adviser, Henry Kissinger, saw the chance to use Chinese-Soviet tensions to split the Communist bloc and play China against the USSR. In February 1972, Nixon stunned the world by announcing his trip to China. As expected, this alarmed the Soviets who asked that the U.S. include them in the new international balance of power. As Nixon and Kissinger made deals with China and the USSR, the two men sought to crush any social movements in Third World nations. When Chile democratically elected Salvador Allende president of their country in 1970, it was only a matter of time before the CIA funded a rightwing military coup. In the 1973, the coup took place, President Allende died in the fighting, and the new dictatorship brutally suppressed civil liberties and murdered thousands. Where repressive regimes were already in place, like racist South Africa and Iran, the U.S. did everything in their power to support them with arms and money. 165

3 B. Scandal in the White House In June 1972, Washington police caught agents of Nixon s reelection campaign breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. These agents had wanted to plant listening devices and the White House rushed to cover up its connections to the criminals. Since the break-in had taken place at the Watergate Hotel, the ensuing scandal is known as Watergate. The break-in was only one part of a wider Nixon campaign of illegal dirty tricks against his political opponents. An insecure and unhappy loner, Nixon was racked with paranoid suspicion of even his own staff and proceeded, with Kissinger, to set up illegal wiretaps on reporters and administration officials. FBI and CIA officials were told to harass antiwar activists while the IRS was ordered to investigate prominent Democrats. After the bungled Watergate break-in, Nixon oversaw a massive cover-up while lying to the nation about it. For almost a year, Nixon was successful in covering up his crimes but by early 1973, the administration began to crack. The President s men started to look for ways to save themselves and refused to take the blame for Nixon s actions. By the spring of 1974, the House of Representatives had passed bills of impeachment and Nixon looked certain to be found guilty in the Senate. So, Nixon resigned on August 9, C. A President Laid Low Although Nixon was the first president forced from office, the scandal deeply discredited American political institutions. Fewer and fewer citizens went to the polls as voter turnout began to drop severely. Replacing Nixon was Republican Gerald Ford who, although widely liked, lost much popularity by giving Nixon a full pardon in spite of overwhelming public opinion that Nixon should be tried for his crimes. In addition to the continued fallout from Watergate, Ford had to watch as the U.S. client state in South Vietnam fell to the combined assault of the NLF and North Vietnamese. II. Discovering the Limits of the U.S. Economy A. The End of the Long Boom Stagnation, when prices and wages stay the same or drop, and inflation, when prices rise and jobs grow, normally can t happen at the same time. In the 1970s, employment and wages stagnated but prices went upward as the cost of the Vietnam War had forced the government to print more money. Average real wages dropped by 2 percent yearly from 1973 into the 1990s. Unemployment increased and only the flow of women into the economy kept many families afloat. The number of families in poverty began to grow again. The gap between rich and poor kept (and keeps) growing larger. 166

4 This economic decline was partially caused by economic competition from Japan and West Germany. In response, American corporations moved production facilities to places with low wages and few taxes. Within the U.S., companies moved to the South and the Southwest while many simply left the country altogether. High unemployment and shrinking real wages helped fuel the growth of anti-immigrant feelings among some. Latinos suffered violence as right-wing officials and citizens made little distinction between native-born Americans of Latino heritage and undocumented immigrants. This backlash extended to African Americans who saw further assaults on their hard-won civil rights. While the courts had ordered school integration, the fact was that most schools remained segregated. B. The Oil Embargo The increased American economic weakness was illustrated by the boycott by the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC). Outraged at what they saw as unfair and often anti-arab policies by the U.S., OPEC initiated an embargo on selling oil to the United States. Oil supplies dwindled and the prices Americans paid at the pump went to four times previous prices. Even after the end of the embargo, OPEC reduced production to keep prices high. Given the central role the automobile played in American culture, higher gas prices were sure to fuel inflation. C. The Environmental Movement In the 1970s, environmental consciousness spread rapidly as people worried about the impact of industrial growth on their quality of life. Groups like the National Wildlife Federation saw their membership soar while, for the first time, the media began reporting on ecological problems. Environmentalism had a more radical implication than even women s liberation, since before this everyone from right-wing capitalists to Communists had agreed that industrial growth was a good thing. Environmentalists pointed out that unlimited consumption of natural resources was fundamentally unsound and ultimately unsustainable. The issue of toxic waste was brought home by the crisis at Love Canal in New York, where tons of poisonous waste had been buried in a dry canal. The town that had developed around this now hidden danger began to suffer high rates of cancer and other aliments. The ground around Love Canal sometimes caught on fire for no apparent reason. There was soon a backlash to the cost of environmental clean ups as some Americans resented the idea of limits to growth. Yet, others began to adopt healthier lifestyles such as more exercise and eating organic foods. 167

5 III. Reshuffling Politics A. Congressional Power Reasserted The shock of Watergate and defeat in Vietnam caused Congress to reassert itself rather than merely deferring to the president in foreign affairs. In 1973, for instance, Congress passed the War Powers Act to limit the president s ability to fight undeclared wars. Congress also investigated the covert operations that characterized, particularly, American foreign policy and revealed numerous abuses of power by the CIA and the FBI. B. I Will Never Lie to You President Ford was crippled in his election bid in 1976 by attacks from Ronald Reagan and the right-wing of the Republican Party and lingering resentment of his pardon of Nixon. Still, Democrat Jimmy Carter only narrowly defeated Ford. Carter promised openness and honesty with more than a little of the Sunday School teacher s emphasis on morality. The first President from the deep South in a century, Carter entered the White House at a time when both the press and the public were extremely skeptical and Congress unusually suspicious of the presidency. Carter had few ties to establishment types in either party and his moralistic stands were taken by many as another sign of his inexperience and isolation. Failing to cultivate relations with powerful Congressional Democrats, Carter was looked on with suspicion and contempt even by members of his own party. C. Rise of a Peacemaker Carter had far more success in refashioning U.S. foreign policy. He began his term with granting a full pardon to those who had evaded military service during the Vietnam War and placed human rights at the center of his view of international relations. Carter fired CIA director George H.W. Bush and reined in the agency s covert operations. In 1977, Carter signed treaties to return sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama. Another great foreign policy victory was the Camp David accord whereby Egypt s president Anwar Sadat and Israel s prime minister Menachem Begin officially recognized each other and the framework for peace was established. D. The War on Waste Carter created a Department of Energy and granted tax incentives to promote the development of alternative fuels like solar power. Nuclear power, however, grew at the same time. 11 percent of nation s electricity was generated by nuclear power in 1979 but 22 percent by In 1979, a revolution in Iran cut off the United States from the world s second largest oil producer. While Carter understood the problem of excessive energy consumption, he failed to come up with a popular solution. 168

6 IV. Diffusing the Women s Movement A. The Meaning of Women s Liberation Feminists called for equality between the sexes as the women s movement pushed for justice in both the private sphere of personal relations and public sphere of work and law. The millions of women whose lives were changing did not all have the same focus. Women of color balanced awareness of gender discrimination with the always-present problem of racism. Working-class women often stressed issues of importance to all workers regardless of gender. Even when many women were uncomfortable with the label feminist, they tended to believe in equal pay for equal work, abortion rights, and more equal sharing of household duties. B. New Opportunities in Education, the Workplace, and Family Life In the 1970s, educated women began to develop careers in increasing numbers. In the decade following 1970, female students in law school shot up from 5 to 40 percent. More and more women worked outside the home while the biggest gains went to professional women, although even these only averaged 73 percent of male pay. Family life changed, not always for the better as the stress of working outside the home and still having primary responsibility for the home brought new marital stresses and divorce rates climbed. C. Equality Under the Law Much like the black civil rights movement, feminists pressured government to eliminate legal gender discrimination. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 required schools to spend as much money on women s sports programs as those for men. The Equal Rights Amendment won an overwhelming victory in the Congress although it later failed to be ratified by enough states to become law. The Roe v. Wade decision handed down by the Supreme Court in 1973 protected a woman s right to abortion. All of these legal rights raised the question of military service which women had previously been exempt from. Although the Selective Service act of 1980 only required men to register for the draft, women would increasingly serve in the armed forces as volunteers. D. Backlash While most Americans accepted the basic ideals of feminism, some desperately sought to defend existing gender roles. With the media often painting feminists as angry man-haters, the fundamental issues affecting most women were often overlooked. Many men wondered what equality for women meant for them. Must they now do half the housework and avoid commenting on a female s physical appearance? Some men, feeling defensive, resisted the changes. 169

7 Although it is not surprising that men would be threatened, some women also found their identity as homemakers and mothers under attack. They attacked feminists as self-centered and charged that the new gender roles would destroy the family. Opponents of women s liberation were able to pass the Hyde Amendment in 1976 preventing federal money from being used for abortions. In addition, the ERA Amendment was stopped when only 35 (out of the required 38) states ratified it by the deadline. Despite these defeats, feminism grew in influence within the United States. Women became religious leaders and in 1981, Sandra Day O Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice. Identification Explain the significance of each of the following: 1. Karen Silkwood: 2. SALT I: 3. CREEP: 4. Mayaguez: 5. Stagflation : 6. OPEC: 7. Earth First!: 8. Love Canal: 9. Clark Amendment: 10. COINTELPRO: 170

8 11. Church Committee: 12. Watergate: 13. Camp David accords: 14. Three Mile Island: 15. MS magazine: 16. ERA: 17. Hyde Amendment: 18. Roe v. Wade: 19. Sandra Day O Connor: 20. Title IX: Multiple Choice Questions: 1. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover A. hated Communism. B. kept secret files on important politicians. C. thought the women s movement was part of the enemy. D. cross-dressed in private. E. all of the above. 171

9 2. Nixon and Kissinger s realpolitik approach to foreign policy resulted in A. sending more U.S. troops to Vietnam. B. a diplomatic opening to the People s Republic of China. C. the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. D. the collapse of the Soviet Union. E. all of the above. 3. Socialist Salvador Allende was democratically elected President of Chile, so Nixon A. had the CIA overthrow his government with great loss of life. B. asked him to help improve relations with Cuba. C. respected the wishes of the people of Chile. D. invited Chile to join NATO. 4. After the bungled Watergate break-in, President Nixon A. admitted he was at fault and asked the public for forgiveness. B. resigned from office, leaving Spiro Agnew to become president. C. won a massive re-election victory in D. directed the cover-up from the beginning, then lied about it to the public. 5. When the Watergate tapes became public, they revealed Nixon as A. a victim of circumstances. B. a man of deep pacifist beliefs. C. crude, vindictive, and full of ethnic and racial prejudice. D. innocent of all but the most minor infractions of the law. E. all of the above. 6. Stagnation and inflation hit the U.S. economy in the 1970s largely because of A. increased welfare fraud. B. massive government spending on the Vietnam War without raising taxes enough. C. higher taxes that choked private enterprise. D. all of the above. 7. The OPEC Oil Embargo revealed that the United States was A. overly dependant on foreign oil. B. under attack by world communism. C. too friendly with Arab nations. D. all of the above. 172

10 8. Environmentalists argue that unlimited consumption of natural resources is A. part of the chain of life. B. fundamentally irresponsible to future human generations. C. okay as long as the resources are organic. D. fair to non-human species. E. all of the above. 9. The Clark Amendment in 1976 cut off U.S. aid to A. the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). B. whites in South Africa. C. Cuba. D. anticommunist forces in Angola. E. the Soviet Union. 10. The Church Committee of the U.S. found out that the U.S. had A. hired criminal underworld types to try and assassinate Fidel Castro. B. attempted to assassinate leaders in the Congo and the Dominican Republic. C. been involved in the assassination of the leader of South Vietnam. D. subverted the elected government of Chile. E. all of the above. 11. In the Presidential election of 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter A. was the landslide winner over Republican Ronald Reagan. B. won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college. C. narrowly defeated Republican Gerald R. Ford. D. lost to conservative Ronald Reagan. 12. Upon taking office, Jimmy Carter A. hired George Bush, Sr., as director of the CIA. B. was immediately involved in a sex scandal. C. repealed President Ford s Panama Canal treaty. D. all of the above. 13. The Three Mile Island reactor hit the news in March 1979 because it A. was the first nuclear reactor to go online in the U.S. B. suffered a partial meltdown. C. was the setting for the popular movie The China Syndrome. D. all of the above. 173

11 14. Of some 500 feminist publications to appear, one of the most important was A. MS. B. The National Review. C. MRS. D. Playboy. E. The New Republic. 15. The Equal Right Amendment stated that A. women must serve in the armed forces. B. affirmative action in all federal hiring for lesbians was necessary. C. equality of rights shall not be denied on account of sex. D. all of the above. MAP QUESTION: After looking at Map 27.3, evaluate the policy of building nuclear power plants. Do you think the risks to nearby population centers is outweighed by the need for energy? Explain. CONNECTING HISTORY Discuss how and why the United States became and remains so dependent on fossil fuels. Do you predict any change? Why or why not? INTERPRETING HISTORY After reading the excerpt from the Church Committee, do you think the United States should be in the business of secretly assassinating foreign leaders? Explain your reasons for your answer. 174

12 Answers to Multiple Choice Questions 1. E 2. B 3. A 4. D 5. C 6. B 7. A 8. B 9. D 10. E 11. C 12. E 13. B 14. A 15. C 175

Domestic Crises

Domestic Crises 1968-1980 In 1968 conservative Richard Nixon became President. One of Nixon s greatest accomplishments was his 1972 visit to communist China. Visit opened China to American markets and