Chapter 36 - Presidents Looking for America

George Wallace

• An American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms

• Very racist and believed in segregation and states’ rights

• Stood for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"

• 1963 - Earned national notoriety by standing in front of the entrance of the University of Alabama, blocking the path of black students

• Unsuccessful assassination attempt, but became paralyzed below the waist

The Great Recession

• 1974

• A period of economic stagnation in much of the Western world

• An end to the overall post–World War II economic expansion

• Caused by the 1973 oil crisis and the OPEC oil embargo

• Included stagflation, in which there was both high unemployment and high inflation

  • The recession lasted because the government couldn’t come up with a way to solve stagflation

Vietnam Pullout

• Evacuated all Americans from the US embassy in Saigon

• No more US money was being committed to help South Vietnam

• Included a cease-fire throughout Vietnam, the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the release of prisoners of war, and the reunification of North and South Vietnam through peaceful means

• After the last Americans left, Saigon fell to North Vietnam Communist forces

Stagflation

• 1973

• Both high inflation and high unemployment

• Caused by high budget deficits, low interest rates, oil embargos and the collapse of managed currency rates

• Confused Keynesian economists, who weren’t able to find a solution

• The rate of stagflation didn’t respond to inflationary policies nor deficit spending

• Inflationary pressures subsequently eased as oil prices and union employment fell, limiting the growth of costs and wages

Whip Inflation Now (WIN)

• 1974

• Encouraged by President Gerald Ford

• An attempt to spur a grassroots movement to combat inflation in the US, by encouraging personal savings and disciplined spending habits in combination with public measures

• Believed that government programs weren’t required and that families should reduce waste

• By the New Year, the program hadn’t produced any results, and enthusiasm quickly died out

American Indian Movement

• 1968

• Spoke out against high unemployment, slum housing, and racist treatment, fought for treaty rights and the reclamation of tribal land, and advocated on behalf of urban Indians whose situation bred illness and poverty

• The FBI and the CIA set out to crush the movement

• Drew worldwide attention to the suffering of American Indians

Saturday Night Live

• 1975

• Parodied social and political issues and humiliated both presidents and presidential candidates

• Maintained the idea that journalism and media have a strong influence on shaping Americans’ ideas and viewpoints

The Pill

• 1972

• An oral contraceptive that suppressed ovulation in women

• Provided American women with sexual independence, and sexual activity increased

Roe v. Wade

• 1973

• A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion

• Struck down many federal and state abortion laws and caused an ongoing abortion debate

• Shaped debate concerning which methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication

• The number of legalized abortions increased

The Feminine Mystique

• 1963 - Written by Betty Friedan

• Widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States

• Challenged the widely shared belief that "fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949—the housewife-mother”

• Questioned the women's magazine, women's education system, and advertisers for creating this widespread image of women

• Society cornered women into the domestic sphere, and that it led many women to lose their own identities

National Organization for Women (NOW)

• 1966

• Provided education for women while denouncing traditional female roles

• Believed that there should be an equal partnership of the sexes

• Do extensive electoral and lobbying work and bring lawsuits

• Largest feminist organization

Sally Ride

• 1983 - The first American woman in space aboard the Challenger

• The third woman in space

• Encouraged young American girls to learn more about science, a traditionally male-dominated field

Phyllis Schlafly

• An American attorney, activist, and author

• Held paleoconservative social and political views, opposed liberal feminism, gay rights and abortion, and successfully campaigned against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

• 1964 - Published A Choice Not an Echo, a book attacking Republican leader Nelson Rockefeller

  • Supported Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign

• 1972 - Founded the Eagle Forum, a conservative political interest group

• Organized a highly successful counter-conference, the Pro-Life, Pro-Family Rally, to protest the National Women's Conference

Jimmy Carter

• An American former politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981

• Ran as a “Washington outsider” and defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election

• Pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders by issuing Proclamation 4483

• Created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology

• Pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II)

• Fought for the upholding of human rights

Edward Kennedy

• An American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years

• Championed an interventionist government that emphasized economic and social justice

• Liberal, but known for working with Republicans to find compromises

• Made efforts to enact universal health care

Misery Index

• 1976

• Helps determining how the average citizen is doing economically

• Calculated by adding the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to the annual inflation rate

• Ronald Reagan helped decrease the misery index in the US, adding to his popularity as president

SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) II Treaty

• 1979

• Championed by President Jimmy Carter

• A series of talks between American and Soviet negotiators from 1972 to 1979 that sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons

• A continuation of the SALT I treaty

• However, because the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Carter pulled out of the treaty and the Senate didn’t ratify SALT II

• Later, Reagan ended US involvement in both SALT treaties

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

• 1971

• “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age”

• Made the voting age 18

• Believed that if Americans were old enough to fight (in the military), they were old enough to vote

• Despite this, the percent of young voters that ACTUALLY vote decreased

Sun Belt

• 1970s

• Southern tier of the United States, focused on Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and extending as far north as Virginia

• Many Americans left the Northeast and the Midwest and moved to the South

• The Rust Belt and manufacturing jobs in the North decreased

• However, the overall shift in population to the South boosted the Southern economy

Three Mile Island

• 1979

• A partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor in Pennsylvania

• The most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history

• Caused concerns about the possibility of radiation-induced health effects, principally cancer, in the area surrounding the plant

• Along with clean-up, the government reorganized the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and focused on plant safety to prevent another accident from happening

Camp David Accords

• 1978

• Signed by President Jimmy Carter

• Took place at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland

• Agreements between Egypt and Israel that ended hostilities between the two countries

• The first such treaty between Israel and any of its Arab neighbors

Iran Hostage Crisis

• 1979

• The Iranian Shah fled Iran and entered the US for cancer treatment

• Angry and militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line stormed the American embassy in Tehran and seized American hostages

• Held the American diplomats hostage for 444 days

• Dominated the headlines and news broadcasts and made the Carter administration look weak and ineffectual

• With the UN being unsuccessful and a failed rescue attempt, Americans were unhappy and elected Reagan in the next presidential election

BIG PICTURE

• Ford pardoned Nixon → Unpopular → Lost election of 1976 to Carter

• 1970s - Stagflation → Great Recession

• Feminist movement - Sexual discrimination + abortion + oral contraceptive

• Carter - Foreign + domestic problems

• Energy Crisis + economic issues → Migration to Sun Belt