The 1970s

Legacy of Vietnam

• The rift between the public and the government
• Increase in distrust in government
• Increase in generational gaps
• Agent Orange
• Effects on both US veterans and Vietnamese natives
• Veterans Issues –
• animosity
• PTSD
• adjustment to homelife
• stereotypes of returning soldiers as drug addicts, homeless,
• (the majority adjusted and led productive lives despite stereotypes)
• The Draft – inequality in service, forcing conscription, draft-dodgers
• The US had limits to what it could accomplish.
• Because the war in Vietnam was viewed as a failure, especially after the fall of Saigon, US policies regarding military force needed to be re-examined.

War Powers Act 1973

allowed the President to send troops for a maximum of 60 days

beyond that would require Congressional approval.

Challenges to War Powers Act

Ronald Reagan - 1981 - Sent Troops to El Salvador without Congressional approval/consultation

Bill Clinton - 1999 - Continued bombings on Kosovo after 60 day time period lapsed without consulting Congressional approval

Barack Obama - 2011 - 72 day campaign bombing of Libya without Congressional approval/consultation

Regarding Afghanistan

In response to September 11th, Congress passed a resolution deeming:

“That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”

Regarding Iraq

Regarding Iraq, Congress passed a resolution in 2002 authorizing involvement:

“The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to--

(1) defend the national security of the United States

against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and

(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council

resolutions regarding Iraq.”

For Consideration......

Do you see parallels between the Congressional Act in response to "Terror" and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

Do you see parallels between the Congressional Act regarding Iraq and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

Can you foresee the same type of issues in both instances of Congressional approval for military involvement ?

Should a Declaration of War have been issued in any of these cases?

Is military involvement justified in Vietnam? in Afghanistan? in Iraq?

Pop Culture Reflections

M*A*S*H*

All in the Family

Happy Days

American Graffiti

Nostalgia for the 1950s..... why???

Patty Hearst

Terror on the Airlines

Airport security.. Non existent compared to what we have today

Skyjacking epidemics

Usually a single hijacker diverting plane to new location

No major tragedy or high death tolls to passengers

Hijackers to specific locations

Cuba

Middle East

Between 1968 and 1972, more than 130 American airplanes were hijacked.

Between May 1961 and the end of 1972, there were 159 hijackings in American airspace

Peak time - average one per week

Metal detectors and carry on luggage checks began in 1973

The 1972 Olympics

1972 - Munich Massacres

Protest?

Terror?

What was the legacy of the Munich Massacres?

"Red China" and Ping Pong Diplomacy

• In April 1971,
• United States ping-pong team invited to China as part of a world tour.
• February 1972 Nixon spent a week in Beijing and meets with Chinese head of state Mao Tse-tung
• Begins working relationship between the US and China.
• The US had refused to recognize People's Republic of China after the Chinese Civil War (only recognized Nationalist China relocated to Taiwan
• The most significant result was the Shanghai Communique,
• Document that stated that the US and China would agree to disagree but would work on normalizing relations between the two countries.

Becomes known as "Ping Pong Diplomacy"

Opens door for normalized relations

President Jimmy Carter recongizes People's Republic of China 1979

Pop Culture References

Detente = "THAWING"

Ping Pong Diplomacy leads to Detente

Circumstances Leading to Detente:

• Nuclear Arms Race and Military (Vietnam) ARE Expensive -
• Looked to Alleviate Budget Issues
• Sino-Soviet Split
• Deterioration of political relations between Red China and the Soviet Union
• Different interpretations of Marxist doctrine.
• Mao's Cultural Revolution severed all contact between not only the two countries but between China and most of the rest of the world.
• By 1970, Mao could not simultaneously confront the Soviet Union, United States and suppress internal disorder.
• Mao decided that because of their geographical proximity the Soviets were a greater threat
• China decides to open a dialogue with America
• Leads to better relations with the Soviet Union (competition for American diplomacy)

1968 Election

Law and Order Candidate Richard Nixon Wins....

1968 Election Results

Candidate Party Electoral Votes Popular Votes

✓ Richard M. Nixon Republican 301 31,710,470

Hubert H. Humphrey Democratic 191 30,898,055

George C. Wallace Independent 46 9,906,473

1972 Election...

1972 Election Results

Candidate Party Electoral Votes Popular Votes

✓ Richard M. Nixon (I) Republican 520 46,740,323

George McGovern Democratic 17 28,901,598

The Beginning of the End

• Paranoid Richard Nixon lost a close Presidential election to Democrat JFK 1960
• Good chance Nixon would have lost to RFK in the 1968
• Nixon feared the downturn in public opinion after Cambodia and Kent State
• AND the Vietnam War in general
• He had not ended as promised in his 1968 campaign platform
• August 1971 Harris poll showed Democratic hopeful Ed Muskie would have won over incumbent Nixon if the election had been held that day

Watergate

• June 17, 1972 - Burglary at Democratic National Convention HQ in Watergate Hotel
• The culprits were arrested and found to be connected to Richard Nixon's reelection campaign
• They were caught wiretapping and stealing documents at the DNC HQ
• Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crime
• August 1974 - Nixon's role in the conspiracy was revealed largely due to efforts by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post (All the President's Men)
• Leads to Nixon's Resignation

The Scandal Explained

The Consequences

• Nixon resigns amidst scandal on August 9, 1974
• MAJOR consequence of Nixon’s resignation was the loss of authority of the presidency itself
• After Vietnam, much of the American public lost faith in its government.
• After Watergate, those feelings were cemented.

ALSO CONSIDER

• Nixon’s VP Spiro Agnew, resigns on October 10, 1973, less than a year before Nixon’s resignation
• Agnew was charged with and pleaded no contest to income tax evasion,
• Agnew’s reputation only further cemented the public’s vision of their leadership of political corruption and illegal activities.
• Government CANNOT be trusted

Gerald Ford and the Pardon

• August 9, 1974 - Gerald Ford become President
• The only President who was not elected to the position of president or vice president
• Ford was appointed VP (under 25th Amendment) after Spiro Agnew's resignation
• Ford becomes president after Richard Nixon's resignation
• September 8, 1974 - Ford pardons Nixon as necessary to begin to heal the nation,
• but Ford was highly criticized for dismissing the illegal activities of his predecessor.

The Ford Pardon and the Legacy

Gerald Ford

August 9, 1974 - January 20, 1977

• Ford had only become VP after Spiro Agnew's resignation less than a year earlier
• Ford was the only man to become president without being elected to either the Presidency or the Vice Presidency

Inaugural Speech

“Our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not men.”

The Oil Crisis

Basic Philosophy - Fiscally Conservative (Republican)

Major Issues:

Energy Crisis - A Result of OPEC

Increased Inflation

High Unemployment

The 1976 Election

Gerald Ford (Republican) - 240 Electoral Votes - 39,147,770 popular votes

Jimmy Carter (Democrat) - 297 Electoral Votes - 40,825,839 popular votes

Ford hurt by slow economy AND Nixon pardon

Carter - Washington outsider

First president elected from the Deep South since Zachary Taylor 1848 (Pre Civil War)

Carter - Blue

Ford - Red

Who Was Jimmy Carter?

• Carter was considered an “outsider”
• Not experienced in politics
• WHY WOULD AMERICA ELECT AN OUTSIDER?
• WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THE TRUST IN POLITICIANS ?
• WHAT MIGHT THIS BE A RESULT OF ?
• Carter's inexperience proved to be a problem
• He failed to solve important domestic issues
• inflation,
• economic problems
• energy issues.

On Energy

February 1977 Speech Appeal to Public to Save Energy

Result of OPEC embargo on oil

Realization of dependence on oil and foreign countries to supply that oil

WHY MIGHT CARTER USE THE STYLE OF A "FIRESIDE CHAT?"

WHAT ABOUT CARTER'S CASUAL DRESS? DO YOU THINK THIS IS IMPORTANT?

Foreign Policy

• Foreign policies focused mostly on human rights,
• Strong religious convictions drive his foreign policy.
• Carter was much more successful in foreign policies than in domestic
• He forged a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel
• Predecessors failed to do this
• Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met with Carter at Camp David to negotiate a “framework” for peace,
• Results: a peace treaty that ended the “state of war” on March 26, 1977.
• Camp David Accords,
• Carter also returned the Panama Canal to Panama, making strides in relations with Latin America.

BUT.... Detente Falls Apart

• December 1979, Soviets invade Afghanistan
• Détente officially ends
• Carter responded by calling a US boycott of the 1980 Moscow summer Olympics
• AND installing a grain boycott to the Soviet Union
• neither were significant
• grain boycott hurt the US more than the Soviets
• no other country honored the Olympic boycott.

IS THE OLYMPIC BOYCOTT CONSIDERED A PROTEST?

IS IT APPROPRIATE TO USE THE OLYMPICS TO STAGE A PROTEST?

IF NOT, DOES IT CHANGE THINGS IF THAT PROTEST IS A BOYCOTT?

AND... The Middle East

• Operation Ajax comes back to haunt Carter
• In Iran, Shah Reza Pahlavi, (installed by Eisenhower) enjoyed US support,
• Overthrown by Islamic fundamentalists led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
• Iranian Revolution 1979
• Shah fled in exile and looked for respite in U.S.
• New Iranian government under Khomeini became an Islamic state
• Khomeini makes statement that the US was the enemy of the Iranian people because of its continued support for the Shah’s “repressive” government

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

• Shah seeks asylum in US and requests treatment for cancer
• Carter allows Shah respite in US - October 22, 1979
• Iranian Students Storm Embassy taking 90 hostages (including 66 Americans) November 4, 1979
• Carter freezes Iranian assets and cuts diplomatic ties with Iran
• Shah dies of cancer - July 27, 1980
• Iraq invades Iran - September 22, 1980
• Iran negotiates for release of hostages in exchange for an "unfreeze" of the assets - need money to fight Iraq AND Shah is no longer an issues (since he's dead)
• January 20, 1981 - HOSTAGES RELEASED after 444 Days in captivity

Timeline

https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/15/world/meast/iran-hostage-crisis-fast-facts/index.html