Give mf liberty chap 26 part 2 mc

What philosophy remained the the bedrock of conservatism for years to come?

"intense anticommunism, a critique of the welfare state for destroying 'the dignity of the individual,' and a demand for cuts in taxes and government regulations."

What event launched Ronald Reagan's (a well known movie star) political career?

His speech on October 27, 1964, in which he was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.

True or False: More than any other previous president, Reagan made freedom his watchword.

True. Reagan shaped the idea of freedom more than any other president since FDR.

What did the second half of the 60s and 1970s witness?

Pivotal developments tha treshaped American politics.

How did Richard Nixon's presidency act as a "bridge"

Despite Nixon being a Republican, he wasn't super conservative, at least not like Reagan-level conservative. Thus, Nixon's presidency bridged the eras of liberalism under JFK and LBJ and the conservatism of the Reagan era.

True or False: We have to take on a second half of the 20th century perspective in order to view the rise of conservatism.

True. The rise of conservatism was very surprising. "From the viewpoint of the early twenty-first century, it is difficult to recall how marginal conservatism seemed at the end of world War II. Associated in many minds with conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism, and preference for social hierarchy over democracy and equality, conservatism seemed a relic of a discredited past."

-One could probably place a lot of blame for this perspective on Herbert Hoover, conservative president during the Great Depression who really didn't do much to solve the Depression.

-Also remember the scandals under the Harding administration, such as the Teapot Dome scandal.

True or False: The 1950s witnessed the start of the conservative rebirth.

True. Remember how Eisenhower was trying to separate the Republican party from the party of Hoover.

True or FAlse: Although Nixon spoke the rhetoric of conservatism, in the office he expanded the welfare state and moved to improve American relations with the Soviet Union and China, both very anti-conservative things.

True.

What is perhaps one reason that Nixon was not an all-out conservative?

Because he won the election by only a narrow margin, and thus he had to operate more in the center of the voting population in order to have adequate public support. Also, Congress was under Democratic control.

True or FAlse: Just as Eisenhower had helped to institutionalize the New Deal, Nixon accepted and even expanded many elements of the Great Society.

True.

What are some of the new federal agencies that Nixon created and which showed that Nixon was not a full-on conservative but was willing to enact federal regulations.

-The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which combated water and air pollution.

-The Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected workplaces.

-The National Transportation Safety Board instructed car makers on how to make cars safer.

What are some examples of how Nixon "spent lavishly on social services and environmental initiatives"?

-Expanded the food stamp program

-Indexed Social Security benefits to inflation (so that benefits would rise with inflation)

-Endangered Species Act

-Clean Air Act, which set air quality standards for cars and factories. The Clean Air Act was extremely effective at combating air pollution.

-However, Nixon did have some conservative policies, such as his abolishment of the Office of Economic Opportunity, which had coordinated Johnson's War on Poverty.

What Nixon's "most startling initiative"?

His proposed "Family Assistance Plan," which was a proposed federal government guarantee for a minimum income for all Americans.

-The Family Assistance Plan was supposed to replace the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which was quite limited.

True or False: "Conservative politicians now attacked recipients of welfare as people who preferred to live at the expense of honest taxpayers rather than working."

Thus, Nixon's Family Assistance Plan was quite startling to conservatives.

-Also, this didn't look so good for conservative politicians, most of whom were white, because the majority of welfare (or AFDC) recipients were black.

Was Nixon's Family Assistance Plan accepted by Congress?

No. It proved to be too radical for conservatives and too little for liberals.

True or False: Nixon had a striking willingness to break the political mold.

True.

True or False: Just like some of Nixon's domestic policies were a mixed pag, Nixon's racial policies offered a similarly mixed picture.

True. For example, although Nixon nominated to the Supreme Court two conservative southern justices with records of support for segregation (these two nominations were both rejected), eh also opened the Office of Minority Business Enterprise to fund black capitalist initiatives and, for a time, pursued affirmative action.

What is affirmative action?

Policy efforts to promote greater employment opportunities for minorities.

-For instance, a federal executive order created the Philadelphia Plan, which required that construction contractors on federal projects hire specific numbers of minority workers.

Who did Nixon appointed (and was accepted) to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court after Earl Warren's retirement in 1969?

Warren Burger. Warren Burger, although he openly criticized the "judicial activism" of the Warren Court and even promoted a somewhat strict-constructionist reading of the constitution, the Burger Court, at least initially, consolidated and expanded many of the judicial innovations of the 60s.

What is busing?

The means of transporting students via buses to achieve school integration in the 1970s.

True or False: The busing issue helped to consolidate white hostility to "too powerful government," a position that would eventually benefit conservatives.

True.

True or False: In a 1973 case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution did not require equality of school funding.

True

What was Milliken v. Bradley?

1974 Supreme Court case in which teh justices overturned a lower court order that required Detroit's predominantly white suburbs to enter into a regional desegregation plan with the city's heavily minority school system.

True or FAlse: By the 1990s, public schools in the North were considerably more segregated than those in the South. If true, why?

"By absolving suburban districts (remember, suburbs were mostly in the North were all the cities were) of responsibility for assisting in integrating urban schools, the decision guaranteed that housing segregation would be mirrored in public education."

What was reverse discrimination?

Belief that affirmative action programs discriminate against white people.

True or False: This idea of reverse discrimination led to a lot of opposition to the Supreme Court's affirmative action decisions.

True. As a result, the justices proved increasingly hostile to governmental affirmative action policies.

What is one case that highlights this growing opposite among the justices to government enforced affirmative action?

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978). In this Case, the court overturned an admissions program of the University of California at Davis, a public university, which set aside 16 out of 100 places in the entering medical school class for minority students.

-This was a 5-4 decision.

-Bakke continues to be the standard by which affirmative action programs are judged today.

What was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973?

As a result of increased activism demanding equal opportunities and treatment for people with disabilities, this act prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by federal agencies of receiving federal financial assistance, and in employment practices of federal contractors.

What was this increased activism for disability rights and the subsequent passing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 representative of?

A dramatic repudiation of the "science" of eugenics, which encouraged government action to "improve" The American population and of the practice of involuntary sterilization of the "less fit."

True or FAlse: Sit-ins were not just used by civil rights organizations.

True. In 1977, for instance, disability activists organized sit-ins.

What was the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Passed in 1990, this revealed the dramatic reversal in American history of disdaining the disabled to now pushing for non-discriminatory practices against them. This act basically expanded the ban on discrimination against disabled persons.

Who replaced Earl Warren?

Warren Burger

What happened with the sexual revolution in the 1970s?

It passed from the counterculture into the social mainstream.

What was Title IX?

Part of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972 that banned gender discrimination in higher education.

How did Nixon treat the cold war?

Although he continued to enact teh policy of containment, destabilizing countries that had communist leaders, he was more interested in power than ideology and preferred international stability to relentless conflict.

-Nixon also eased tensions with China and recognized China's communist government.

What were the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks?

These were 1972 talks between President Nixon and Soviet Leader Brezhnev that resulted in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (or SALT), which limited the quantity of nuclear warheads each nation could possess, and prohibited teh development of missile defense systems.

What was the detente (cooperation)?

Period of improving relations between the United States and communist nations, particularly China and the Soviet Union, during the Nixon administration.

True or False: Nixon was the first cold war American president to visit the Soviet Union

True. This signified the detente.

Was was the situation with Nixon and Vietnam?

Nixon ran for office declaring that he had a "secret plan" to end the war, but it took several years for the war to officially end.

What was Vietnamization?

Nixon's policy of slowly pulling American troops out of Vietnam & giving control of the war to the South Vietnamese.

Was Vietnamization successful?

Not really. Protests about the war continued.

What was the Kent State University tragedy?

Four antiwar protests were killed by the police and national guard in Kent State University in Ohio.

What caused more and more college students to protest the war in 1970?

-Kent State University tragedy

-Students were no longer excluded from the draft

True or False: War morale was also quickly lower in the early 1970s.

True. More and more troops were deserting.

What was the My Lai Massacre?

Massacre of 347 Vietnamese civilians in teh village of My Lai by Lieutenant William Calley and troops under his command. U.S. army officers covered up the massacre for a year until an investigation uncovered the events. Eventually twenty-five army officers were charged with complicity in the massacre and its cover-up, but only Calley was convicted. He served little time for his crimes. The significance of the My Lai Massacre is that it further undermined public support for the war.

What were the Pentagon Papers?

Informal name for the Defense Department's secret history of the Vietnam conflict; leaded to the press by former official Daniel Ellsberg and published in the New York Times in 1971. These papers are significant because they revealed how presidents had misled the people about the war.

What was the War Powers Act?

Law passed in 1973, reflecting growing opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War; required congressional approval before the president sent troops abroad. This is significant because it was the most vigorous assertion of congressional control over foreign policy in the nation's history.

What were teh Paris Peace Accords?

Signed in early 1973, these made possible the final withdrawal of American troops.

Was Vietnam eventually reuinified?

Yes, in 1975, when North Vietnam launched a finally military offensive, causing the government of South Vietnam to collapse and Vietnam was reunifed under communist rule.

What was the only war the United States has ever lost?

The Vietnam War, which was a "military, political, and social disaster."

What was the Vietnam Syndrome?

The belief that the United States should be extremely cautious in deploying its military forces overseas that emerged after the end of the Vietnam War.

What was the flawed assumption upon which the Vietnam War was based?

"That the United States had the right to decide the fate of a faraway people about whom it knew almost nothing."

What was the result of the 1972 election?

Nixon won reelection in a landslide against Democratic candidate George McGovern, who won only one state.

What was the "enemies list"?

Prominent Americans who opposed Nixon. Nixon had this list created.

What was Watergate?

Washington office and apartment complex that lent its name to the 1972-1974 scandal of the Nixon administration; when his knowledge of the break-in at the Watergate and subsequent cover-up were revealed, Nixon resigned the presidency under threat of impeachment."

What intiated the Watergate scandal?

When five former employees of Nixon's reelection committee broke into Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex and were subsequently caught.

What was the Saturday Night Massacre?

Nixon ordered Archibald Cox, special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal, to be fired. As a result, Attorney General Elliot Richardson resigned in protest.

What did the Supreme Court do about the Watergate tapes situation?

It unanimously ordered Nixon to provide the tapes--a decision that reaffirmed the principle that the president is not above the law.

What happened to Nixon?

With his political support having evaporated and impeachment just around the corner, Nixon became the only president in history to resign.

What was the Church Committee?

Congressional Committee that found that past Cold War presidents had engaged in abuse of power.

What four things really undermined American support in their own government and helped to spark a conservative, small-government, turn?

-Watergate

-Pentagon Papers

-The Vietnam War

-The Church Committee

What happened to the economy in the 1970s?

It started to decline and economic inequality rose. Capitalism's "golden age" was coming to a close.

-Part of the reason for this was deindustrailization, which stemmed from more overseas imports. Remember, the U.S. had built up many industries in countries such as Japan and Germany, and this led to America, for the first time in the 20th century, to run a merchandise trade deficit in 1971, with more imports than exports.

What did Nixon do in 1971 in relation to economic foreign policy?

He took the United States dollar off teh gold standard, ending this component of the Bretton Woods agreement.

What was the oil embargo?

Prohibition on trade in oil declared by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which was dominated by Middle Eastern producers, in October 1973 in response to U.S. and western European support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The rise in gas prices and fuel shortages resulted in a global economic recession and profoundly affected the American economy.

What was stagflation?

A combination of stagnant economic growth and high inflation present during the 1970s. Essentially just high inflation + high unemployment.

What was teh misery index?

The sum of the unemployment and inflation rates

What was deindustrialization?

Term describing decline of manufacturing in old industrial areas in the late twentieth century as companies shifted production to low-wage centers in the South and West or to other countries. This further contributed to stagflation.

What was the Sunbelt?

The label for an arc that stretched from the Carolinas to California. During the postwar era, much of the urban population growth occurred in this area.

What happened to labor unions in the 1970s in this economic decline?

Labor unions were put on the defensive and have been in this state ver since.

What happened to real wages, which had doubled between 1953 and 1973, in 1973?

They fell fairly quickly.

Who succeeded Nixon?

Gerald Ford, who had been appointed to replace Vice President Agnew, who resigned in late 1973. Ford named Nelson Rockefeller of New York as his own vice president?

True or False: Carter pardoned Nixon almost immediately after he became president, which made him very unpopular.

True.

What were the Helsinki Accords?

1975 agreement between the USSR and the United States that recognized the post-World War II boundaries of Europe and guaranteed the basic liberties of each nation's citizens. This is the only notable policy passed under the Presidency of Gerald Ford.

What happened in the election of 1976?

Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate, narrowly defeated Ford. Carter, in this election, turned his obscurity on the national stage as an advantage, saying that as an "outsider" from politics he had no experience with political corruption. He promised the people "I'll never lie to you." And indeed, Carter was a very mundane president.

What was deregulation?

Legislation during the Reagan-Clinton era (also to some extent during the Carter era) that removed regulation on many industries, including finance and air travel.

What did Carter do to combat the economic crisis?

-He enacted some deregulation in important industries

-He enacted tax cuts for wealthier Americans in hopes that they would spend more and stimulate investment.

-He also repealed usury laws, laws that limit how much interest lenders can change.

-However, none of Carter's efforts seemed to work effectively, and the stagflation crisis continued to run rampant.

What was Three Mile Island?

Nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, site of 1979 accident that released radioactive steam into the air; public reaction ended the nuclear power industry's expansion.

What was the Crisis of Confidence speech?

A 1979 Jimmy Carter speech in which he seemed to blame the economic crisis on the American people and their "mistaken idea of freedom" as "self-indulgence and consumption." This led to even more unpopularity for Carter, and also highlighted his perceived political ineptitude.

True or False: Carter did make a commitment ot promote human rights in foreign policy.

True. For instance, he cut off aid to Argentina, where the leaders there had been waging a "dirty war" against their own citizens in the name of anticommunism. This was a marked departure from supporting even the most undemocratic, brutal of countries if they were anticommunist.

What were the Camp David Accords?

Peace agreement between the leaders of Israel and Egypt, brokered by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.

True or False: Carter overall attempted to create peace in foreign affairs and tried not to get involved in foreign affairs even with the threat of communist takeover.

True.

What was the Iranian Hostage Crisis?

-The Shah of Iran was deposed in early 1979 in the Iranian revolution.

-In Late 1979, however, Carter allowed the deposed shah, wildly unpopular even after deposition in Iran, to seek cancer treatment in the United States.

-This caused the leaders of the popular revolution in Iran to invade the American embassy in Tehran and seize 66 hostages.

-These hostages did not gain freedom until January 1981, the day Carter's term as president ended.

This incident further led Carter to be viewed as a weak, inept president.

What was the Carter Doctrine?

In response to the the Soviet Union's increased military presence in Afghanistan to support the government there, Carter declared this doctrine, which said that the United States would use military force, if necessary, to protect its interest in the Persian Gulf.

What was the result of the Afghanistan situation?

As a result of America funneling aid to fundamentalist Muslims in Afghanistan who sought to overthrow the Soviet-supported government there, the detente came to an end and teh Cold War reinvigorated.

What were the two major reasons for the rise of conservatism in the 1980s?

-The decline of liberalism (in the FDR sense), the idea that the federal government could be trusted to solve issues. Remember, things like Watergate and the Vietnam War/Pentagon Papers and the Church Committee showed many Americans that they could not trust the federal government, and caused a desire for a smaller federal government.

-The economic crisis. Conservatives supported deregulation, lower taxes, and cuts in social spending, which many Americans thought would help the nation's economy.

What were neoconservatives?

The leaders of the conservative insurgency of the early 1980s. Their brand of conservatism was personified in Ronald Reagan, who believed in less government, supply-side economics, and "family values."

Who was Phyllis Schlafly?

Worked to stop ERA because feminism would lead to the decline of the women as the homemaker and thus the disintegration of the family.

What was the ERA?

The EQual Rights Amendment was designed to prevent all discrimination based on sex. Although it was easily passed through Congress, it was not ratified by the states. The failed ratification can largely be attributed to the mobilization of conservative women against the ERA.

True or False: By 1980s, Carter's approval rating was about 20%.

True

True or False: Conservatives were big supporters of tax reductions as ways of boosting the economy.

True.

What was the stance of many Westerners on the federal government?

"Using the language of freedom from government tyranny, leaders in western states insisted that the states themselves be given decision-making power over issues like grazing rights, mining development, and whether public lands should be closed to fishing and hunting."

What was the result of the Election of 1980?

Carter won by a landslide, winning 91% of the of the electoral vote.

What did Reagan pledge?

He pledged to end stagflation and restore teh country's dominant role in the world and its confidence in itself. He proclaimed "Let's make America great again"

True or False: Reagan won the support of the Religious Right and conservative upholders of "family values".

TRue.

What was the Religious Right?

Politically active religious conservatives, especially Catholics and evangelical Christians, who became particularly vocal in the late 70s and 80s against feminism, abortion, and homosexuality and who promoted "family values."

Although Carter was a great ex-president, supporting many humanitarian efforts, his presidency is almost universally considered a failure.

True.

What was the Reagan Revolution?

The rightward turn of American politics following the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. The Reagan Revolution made individual "freedom" a rallying cry for the right.