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diff --git a/smith/20_seventies b/smith/20_seventies new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7af5b64 --- /dev/null +++ b/smith/20_seventies @@ -0,0 +1,212 @@ +The Seventies: An Era of Malaise + +- Nixon resigned in disgrace +- American troops resigned from Vietnam + - The Vietnamese gov't collapsed +- ME nations put a complete embargo on the US + - "Energy shortage" + - Unending gas lines, spiking gas prices +- Americans were accustomed to hegemony. It appeared to have come to a + halt + - "Sense of limits" +- Pres candidates sought to develop a sense of purpose + - Indecision at the ballot box; voters oscillated wildly + - Democrats got the greatest majority in postwar era, Republicans do + the same 6 years later. + - Huge swathes of voters didn't vote. +- New Right and the "Me" Era (instant gratification) developed + - Microcosm of the new vs. old (do values even count?) issue. + +Questions +- Why do historians consider the 70s a period of political malaise? +- Why did Jimmy Carter experience such limited success as president? +- How did the Iran hostage crisis shape the Carter presidency? + +- America's leadership in the world relied on sustained economic growth + and global hegemony + - Economic decline + - Diplomatic reversals challenged Americans' sense of leadership + +President Gerald Ford +- Nation relieved Watergate had come to an end +- Most of Nixon's political aides were serving jail sentences, and Ford + pardoned Nixon of "all wrongdoings." + - Nation was stunned. +- Ford vetoed 39 measures designed to give consumers more money to + spend. + - Deepened the economic recession that was beginning +- Historians eventually viewed Ford's pardon as "statesmanlike," but + voters next time around preferred a Democrat senate/house. Carter, a + born again Christian, was reelected. Carter told small-town audiences + that they deserved a government as "good, honorable, and filled with + love as Americans." + +- Personality, commitment to values created a sense of new hope. + Sounded like an old-time populist, pledging to help the little man + against large corporations, against racial-economic discrimination. + - Lost 33 points in the polls before election, and won narrowly. + - Both Ford and Carter had ~80% of Americans believing negatively of + him + - Economic issues were the major concern of most Americans. Carter + won 3/4 of votes about jobs. + +The Oil Shocks + - OPEC was a cartel designed by oil-owning states + - Took 1973 Arab-Israeli (Yom Kippur) War as an opportunity to raise + global oil prices. + - To pressure US, Israel's chief ally, Arab oil producers + reduced prodcution by 10%. Then, after military aid, put the + embargo on (lifted in 1974) but continued to rise from + $2/barrel to over $10/barrel by end of 1974. + - Triggered '74-'75 recession, most serious since Great + Depression. Unemployment rate reached 9% + - Stagflation coined to describe the stalled economic growth + and rising inflation. + - Competition from Eurasia was hurting American businesses + - American workers' productivity significantly slowed. +Americans believed "The Land of Plenty is becoming the Land of Want" + +The "Me" Decade and "The Culture of Narcissism" +- Personal rather than political awareness +- Norman Mailer, called, in 1979, the 70s an emphasis on "the skin, the + surface rather than on the root of things." + - Developing sense of entitlement + - The economic and social issues were blamed on it. + +The Culture Wars and the Christian Right + - Religious conservatism, once deemed so outside the mainstream + Christian conservatives didn't believe it had a place in politics. + - Business conservatives argued for low tax rates and deregulation. + - Religious right joined them in a Republican party against the + "liberal state" + - Backlash against growing feminist movements + - Originally were mostly reacting to + - Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority + - Phyllis Schlafly and the Battle over the ERA + - Anita Bryant wanted to repeal municipal gay rights ordinances + - Eventually coalesced into a party that wanted action. + - Historically separated by denominational differences, like + abortion being regarded as "Catholic issues." + - Nearly 80% of Sunday school teachers used to support abortion + access + - The evangelical right reframed Christianity as one issue and + had Christian conservatives rally around the "right to life." + - Supreme Court ruled that unmarried women had the right to + contraception and that women had the right to abortion in Roe v. + Wade. (Opinion had changed significantly in late 60s and early + 70s) + - Jane Roe is an anonym. + - In the coming years and decades after Roe v. Wade, the + anti-feminist and conservative ("pro-family") movement grew based + on this, called the Moral Majority. + - Led by Rev. Jerry Falwell. + - Attack on feminism, abortion, and equal rights movement was + supported by Phyllis Schlafly. + - Feminist activists wanted broader protections against + discrimination in the workplace. Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) + was a constitutional amendment that "Equality of rights under + the law should not be abridged by the US or any state on the + basis of sex, and Congress could enforce it." + - Congressional politicians widely supported it. + - Ratification slowed and stalled as "Stop ERA" made the + argument that the ERA would reduce rather than expand + women's rights. + - Schlafly described herself as "just a housewife looking to + protect mothers and housemakers, and a woman's right to + alimony, child support, and their bias of getting children + in divorce. Also "what about a woman who doesn't want to + be treated like a man?" + - Marginalized supporters of ERA as radicals who hated + men and women. + - Evangelicals believed that traditional gender roles + had been divinely determined and that women had a duty + to serve and submit to their husbands. + - Conservative women wanted to maintain what privileges + they had. + - Culture Wars + - The nuclear family was a large symbol + - Persecution of gay men + - Health professionals treated homosexuality as a mental + illness. + - Outed gay people were investigated by FBI as subversives, + states criminalized homosexuality, couldn't get jobs. + - Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village raided by "Vice Police" and + the attendants retaliated, causing the "Greenwich Riots." + - APA removed homosexuality from mental illness list + - Gay and Lesbian Studies at colleges + - Anita Bryant was a spokesperson for the Florida Citrus + industry, raised by pious Baptist grandparents. + - Wanted to repeal a Dade County gay rights ordinance + - Primary concern was about gay teachers in schools + - Equated child molesters with homosexuality + - Said she did not hate homosexuals but needed to + "protect her children" + - She succeeded in the repeal + - Bryant believed it required the same dedication as a military + war. + +Carter passed a minor relief bill for the worst-hit industries +- Anti-inflationary spending cuts +- The industrial decay was partly because of a growing service industry + (70% of jobs created in the private sector). + - Worse-paying and much less reliable than manufacturing jobs +- Promise of nuclear power to replace oil was dashed when, on Mar 28 + 1979, 3-Mile Island plant melted down and released radioactive gas + into the air. Governor ordered an evacuation, and confusion caused + panic. + - Coincidentally happened at the same time as a movie about a + nuclear accident. + - Another energy embargo occurred, from the Iranian Shah (1979). +- Drivers were burning through 150KB/day just trying to get gas. +Jul 15, Carter gave a speech about Americans' psychological roots to +overconsumption. +- "Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by one owns" +- Speech fell flat because Americans wanted a solution to the issue + - Conservatives dismissed the speech as the "Malaise Speech" +- Chrysler, the "Sick Man of Detroit," looked like it was going to fall. + - Dodge, St. Regis were hugely underselling + - Big recalls on car designs + - Started to close up auto manufacturing plants + - 10th largest firm in the nation, major pillar of American economy + - Chrysler CEO goes in front of Congress and blames regulations as + the reason for its failure. Business community asserted that the + company should be forced to fend for itself. There was a big + bailout and "Such help...penalizes success," said the NYT. + - Unions lost their once strong position + - The Federal Gov lacked a plan for revitalizing the economy. +The Challenger on the Right: Ronald Reagan + - Developing media presence of the right. + - Reagan used radio to express his arguments and develop a + constituency. + - Refuted claims that people living under Communism actually + liked the system + - Middle East became a focal point of his criticisms + - Carter focused his time and energy on "finding peace in the Middle + East." + - Situation spiraled out of control + - Carter allowed the Shah (believed to be an illegitimate + leader by Iranian public) to get medical procedure in NY + because he had terminal cancer. + - Mob of Iranians overran US embassy and took 66 American + hostages. + - Iranians wanted the US to apologize for allowing the Shah + to get medical surgery. + - Carter refused and, at first, America rallied around the + pres, but the media became consumed by the drama of the + Iran Crisis; public believed America was powerless. + - Reagan pointed to the Iran Crisis as a marker of Carter's failures + in foreign affairs, believing the Dem administration had + vacillating weakness, "dillying and dallying for months, trying + various diplomatic maneuvers with nothing to show for it." + - Reagan was embraced by the religious right + - Reagan's acceptance speech had dramatic speeches about the + need to lighten the tax burden and a call for silent prayer at + the end + - Promised he would work to "get the government off the + backs of the people." Proved very popular with the + electorate, making inroads with white working voters. The + old New Deal coalition includes the "Reagan Democrats." + - 489-49 in EC but barely cleared 50% of the popular + vote in the lowest voter turnout election in 30yrs. + - On first day of election, hostages released after + 444 days. |