Transcript The 1970s - Walton High

The 1970s
Nixon, Ford, & Carter
Administrations
Can you believe we
missed this decade?!?
Détente with Nixon &
Kissinger
 Realpolitik & a “balance
of power”
 February, 1972 – Nixon’s
China Visit
 May, 1972 – Nixon’s
Moscow Visit
 SALT I
 Results of détente
 Help with the end of the
Vietnam War
 Arms race continued
Energy (“Oil”) Crisis
 1973 – Yom Kippur War
 Arab Oil Embargo
 Oil boycott until Israel withdrew from lands gained in the “Six
Day War” (1967)
 Kissinger negotiates Israeli withdraw
 OPEC
 Raised price of oil to attempt to gain U.S. recognition of the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
 Gas prices in the U.S. doubled, inflation went to 10%
 Nixon refused to ration gas despite shortages
Oil Crisis
Economic Problems
 Federal deficit from the “Great Society”
and Vietnam
 Competition from Germany & Japan
 Energy costs
 Shift to service economy
 Military and welfare spending in the 60s
without tax support
The Nixon Shock: August
1971!
Stagflation
 Unemployment
 1970 = 6%
 1975 = 9%
 Inflation
 1971 = 12%
 1974 = 11%
 Rare to have production decrease and inflation
 Continued through Ford & Carter
“Imperial Presidencies”
 From FDR through Nixon, presidents gain
power that puts them above Congress
 Nixon took to the next level
 “Impounded” federal funds, Invasion of Cambodia,
used FBI & IRS against political enemies,
Watergate
 Congress attempts to take back power
 War Powers Act (1973), Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act (1974), Federal Election
Campaign Act (1972), Privacy Act (extension of
Freedom of Information Act (1966))
Gerald Ford
Ford’s Presidency
 Never elected to the executive
branch
 Pardons Nixon
 Accepts over 140,000 Vietnamese
refugees
 Whip Inflation Now (WIN)
 Vetoes social programs (try to
lower inflation)
 Inflation goes from 12% to 5%
 Helsinki Accords (July, 1975)
 34 countries present (ended World
War II?)
 “Human Rights” promised by Soviet
Union (didn’t follow through)
 Ford continues détente, but relations
getting worse
Assassination attempts
against Ford
 Manson Family
 Lynette Fromme and Sara Jane Moore both attempt
to shoot Ford
 Ford unhurt both times
Election of 1976
Republican
Democrat
Candidates
Gerald Ford
(240)
Jimmy Carter
(297)
Issues
Inflation control
Experience
Jimmy Who?
Honesty
Washington
outsider
Jimmy
Who?
Carter’s Domestic Policy




Amnesty program
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Environment Superfund
 Cleanup chemical waste
 Three-mile Island (1979)
 Deregulation of the airline industry
 Economy
 Attempted tax cut (1978), tightened
money supply
 Interest rates hit 20% and inflation
back up to 12% by 1980
Carter’s Foreign Policy




SALT II (not ratified by the Senate)
Panama Canal Treaty
Camp David Accords (Sept, 1978)
Soviets invade Afghanistan (Dec,
1979)
 Ended détente, boycott of 1980
Olympics
 Iran Hostage Crisis
 1978 Iranian Revolution
 Shah flees Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini
establishes a conservative Islamic state
 U.S. = “the Great Satan”
 52 Americans held hostage for 444
days
 Carter freezes Iranian assets and
attempts a failed military action
 Release the day Reagan took over
Carter’s Foreign Issues
Election of 1980
Candidates
Issues
Republican
Democrat
Ronald Reagan
(489)
Jimmy Carter
(49)
Reduce the
Camp David
Government
Accords
Iran Hostages Minority Rights
Reagan the
Reagan will
“Common Man” increase Cold
War
Don’t know if this is fair, but .
..