america under nixon

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Defeat

a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights regardless of sex; it passed Congress in 1972 but failed to be ratified by enough states by the 1982 deadline

Feminist Victories in the Workforce

a major shift where the percentage of married women in the workforce rose from 38% in 1960 to over 50% by 1982, alongside increased entry into graduate schools and political offices

The Sexual Revolution

a social transformation in the 1960s-70s characterized by more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex, largely enabled by the birth control pill giving women greater control over reproduction

Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta

co-founders of the United Farm Workers (UFW) who organized Mexican American farmworkers through nonviolent strikes and nationwide boycotts to win better wages and conditions

United Farm Workers (UFW)

a labor union founded by Chavez and Huerta that led successful strikes and boycotts against California grape and lettuce growers, improving lives for migrant workers

Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-71)

a 19-month protest by Native American activists who seized the abandoned island, claiming it by "right of discovery" to highlight broken treaties and demand self-determination

Red Power Movement

a Native American civil rights movement of the 1960s-70s that used protests and direct action to demand sovereignty, improved reservation conditions, and enforcement of treaty rights

American Indian Movement (AIM)

a militant Native American organization founded in 1968 that led high-profile protests, including the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan and the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973

Stonewall Uprising (1969)

a series of spontaneous riots by LGBTQ+ patrons of the Stonewall Inn in NYC after a police raid; it marked the birth of the modern gay liberation movement

Gay Liberation Front (GLF)

a radical political organization formed after Stonewall that fought to end discrimination against homosexuals and challenged societal norms about sexuality

Nixon's "Silent Majority"

a term used by President Nixon to describe his political base of middle-class, church-going, law-abiding Americans who he believed were silent but supported his policies against protesters

George Wallace's Conservative Populism

the Alabama governor's political appeal to working-class whites by railing against anti-war activists, "welfare queens," federal integration orders, and cultural elites

All in the Family (TV Show)

a groundbreaking 1970s sitcom that humorously exposed the bigotry of its main character, Archie Bunker, and reflected the nation's burgeoning culture wars

Henry Kissinger

President Nixon's National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State; a key architect of détente and the strategy of "Vietnamization"

The Southern Strategy

Nixon's political plan to attract white Southern Democrats to the Republican Party by exploiting opposition to court-ordered busing, civil rights, and urban riots

Nixon and School Desegregation

while employing a Southern Strategy, Nixon's administration oversaw the rapid desegregation of Southern schools, integrating more than under Kennedy and Johnson combined

New Federalism

Nixon's domestic policy to shift power from the federal government to the states by giving them block grants with more discretion over how to spend the money

26th Amendment (1971)

lowered the national voting age from 21 to 18, largely in response to the argument that if 18-year-olds could be drafted to fight, they should be able to vote

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

a federal agency created by Nixon in 1970 in response to environmental disasters like the Santa Barbara oil spill, tasked with protecting human health and the environment

Stagflation

the unprecedented combination of stagnant economic growth, high unemployment, and high inflation that plagued the U.S. economy in the early 1970s

OPEC Oil Embargo (1973)

a decision by Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to embargo oil exports to the U.S. for supporting Israel, causing gas shortages and soaring prices

Vietnamization

Nixon's strategy to gradually withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam while training and equipping the South Vietnamese army to take over the fighting

"Peace with Honor"

Nixon's stated goal for ending the Vietnam War, aiming to preserve U.S. credibility and allow South Vietnam to survive as a non-communist state

Incursion into Cambodia (1970)

a controversial expansion of the Vietnam War where U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia to destroy communist sanctuaries, sparking massive U.S. protests

Kent State Shootings (1970)

the killing of four unarmed student protesters by the Ohio National Guard during an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University following the Cambodia incursion