Carter Administration and Moral Majority Questions

After Nixon’s resignation and and his being pardoned by President Ford, Americans look to Jimmy Carter for leadership. Carter projected a wholesome optimism, but after uncontrolled inflation and economic woes, his boycotting US participation in the Moscow Olympics as a human rights principle, and the capture of the US embassy in Iran, Carter’s popularity flagged. Ronald Reagan promised that the US would return to a tough, no nonsense global leadership, just as the Soviet system’s economy was failing. Germany was reunified with the coming down of the Berlin wall, and the communist satellite states of the Soviet Bloc, Warsaw Pact, in quick succession replaced their communist governments with democracies.  It appeared that Liberal Democracy had prevailed (not to be confused with Liberals in US domestic politics). With the fall of the Soviet Bloc, it seemed that freedom was blooming globally.

Respond to ONE of the following questions. Submissions should follow APA format

What was the Watergate break in? How was Nixon involved? How did Watergate result in the end of the Nixon presidency? What did President Ford seek to accomplish in the aftermath of Watergate? Looking back did Ford make the right choice?

America Moves to the Right
1969-1992
Conservatives
on the Rise
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Politicians like Ronald Reagan used
fears of rebellion and rising taxes to
connect with moderate America
Conservative movement apparent in
Sun Belt, south, and west
Defense spending and support coupled
with rejection of integration fed this
movement
The New Morality focused on school
texts and curriculum
Tax protests fed cries of government
intrusion
Nixon’s
Strategy
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Exploited fear of civil rights and youth
movements converting southern
whites to the Republican Party
Nixon supported southern integration
but stood on the sidelines in the north
as the courts enforced busing
Nixon’s court appointees tempered
Affirmative Action
Dixiecrats like Strom Thurmond and
Jesse Helms switched to the
Republican Party
Again, Nixon was a spectator on
women’s issues like Roe v. Wade and
vetoed government subsidized
childcare
▪
Election
of 1972
▪
▪
De-escalation in Vietnam, law and order, economic programs,
and conservative morality assisted Nixon’s reelection efforts
George Wallace, Shirley Chisholm, and George McGovern
were the challengers
Nixon achieved 60.7% of the popular vote even as the
Democrats retained control of Congress
▪
▪
Watergate
▪
▪
▪
Break in was discovered June 17, 1972
Investigation uncovered presidential abuses of power
including using the powers of the government to undermine
Democrat campaign efforts and the anti-war movement
Nixon plotted to conceal link to Watergate “plumbers” and
the White House
White House aid John Dean’s disclosure of the existence of
audio tapes caused investigators to clamor for their release
amid cries of executive privilege
Agnew resigns due to bribes accepted as Maryland’s
Governor
Impeachment
▪ Nixon orders Archibald Cox
to not subpoena the tapes
▪ Elliot Richardson refused to
fire Cox at Nixon’s order and
resigned
▪ Nixon’s popularity
plummeted as he insisted
he was “not a crook” while
Congress initiated
impeachment proceedings
▪ Tapes revealed the use of
the CIA to hinder the FBI
investigation
▪ Nixon resigned August 8,
1974
Gerald Ford
▪ Known for integrity, humility, and
dedication
▪ “our long nightmare is over”
▪ Thirty of Nixon’s associates were
plead or were convicted of crimes
associated with the presidency
▪ Ford established new safeguards on
the activities of the CIA and FBI
▪ Poor economy and high oil prices
hampered Ford’s election efforts as
Ronald Reagan blasted policies that
caused the loss of military supremacy
▪ Jimmy Carter’s southern charm, “born
again faith” distance from Washington
with Minnesota’s Walter Mondale
running as vice president allowed him
to beat Ford
Jimmy
Carter
▪ Promised competent and honest
government
▪ Challenged by energy shortages
and stagflation
▪ Foreign policy success with the
Mid-east, China, and the Panama
Canal
▪ Promised to help the aged and
poor, create jobs
▪ His outsider status hurt efforts to
influence Congress
Economic
Initiatives
▪ Carter pumped $14 billion into
public works while cutting taxes
by $34 billion over 3 years
▪ Unemployment dropped from 8
to 6% but inflation surged
▪ Carter cut federal spending and
tightened the money supply but
1980’s inflation rate was 13%
and unemployment rose
▪ Social Security solvency raised
the tax burden
Energy
Reform
▪ High prices and energy
shortages fueled inflation and
threatened the economy
▪ Created Department of Energy
▪ The 1979 Iranian Revolution
increased oil prices
▪ Environmentalists opposed
introduction of nuclear energy
initiatives
▪ The March 1979 Three Mile
Island incident highlighted the
dangers of reactor core
meltdown
▪ The 1986 Chernobyl incident
increased fears
Human
Rights
▪ Carter promised to stop supporting
violators of human rights abroad
▪ Carter’s application of this
initiative was selective,
acknowledging the reality of
national security needs
▪ Carter’s support of leftist
Sandinistas signaled a willingness
to put human rights ahead of
ideology
▪ Carter renegotiated the Panama
Canal treaty
▪ Assisted negotiations between
Anwar Sadat and Menachem
Begin, paving the way for Egyptian
recognition of Israel
Carter’s Cold
War
▪ Pursued new missile programs
▪ Motivated by the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan
▪ Responded with economic sanctions,
institution of a draft, and a boycott of the
1980 Moscow Olympics
▪ Announced Carter Doctrine to defend
the Persian Gulf
▪ Supported Afghanistan through
Pakistan
▪ Increased defense spending
Iran
▪ Shiite fundamentalists
overthrew CIA supported
Shah
▪ November 4,1979 a crowed
stormed the U.S. embassy
in Iran and 66 hostages
▪ The U.S. refused to turn
over the exiled Shah and
froze millions in Iranian
assets
▪ The rescue debacle at
Desert One resulted in a
more militaristic attitude in
America
Reagan
Ascendant
▪ 1980 marked the return to
conservatism in America
▪ Reagan’s victory was
echoed in the congressional
elections
▪ Promised to return the U.S.
to world respect
▪ Appealed to a broad base
including religious
conservatives, the white
working class, anticommunists, and free
market advocates
Religious Right
▪ Reaching America through television
▪ Preached family values and morality
▪ Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” brought
voters to the Reagan Camp
▪ Reagan supported free market
economics but government control of
social issues
▪ Real appeal was against communism
and too much government
▪ Americans identified with his message
that it was “morning in America”
Free
Enterprise
▪ Reagan Supported supply side
economics asserting that
prosperity would trickle down but
ended up with budget deficits
▪ Economic Recovery Tax Act
(1981)-largest tax cut in U.S.
history
▪ Did not enforce Sherman AntiTrust Act
▪ Reagan weakened labor and
fired striking air traffic controllers
▪ Deregulation of environmental
laws “we will mine more, drill
more, and cut more timber” Interior Secretary James Watt
▪ Relaxed water and air
standards
Reagonomics
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Began with Carter
$100 billion was paid to
S&L industry as a bailout
due to bad real estate
loans
Social programs like job
training and food stamps
were cut
Military spending
expanded the deficit
Federal employees grew
from 2.9 to 3.1 million
Unemployment was over
10% in 1983
Walter Mondale’s choice
of Geraldine Ferraro as
a running mate was not
enough to beat Reagan
as the economy took an
upswing in 1983
Economic
growth in 1983
▪ Yuppie consumers aspired to
Lifestyles of the Rich and
Famous
▪ Most income was acquired
through investments with a few
notable exceptions
▪ Steven Jobs and Apple
▪ Bill Gates and Microsoft
▪ Liz Claiborne and fashion
▪ Traditional industries struggled
against foreign competition as
the trade deficit soared
▪ Manufacturing was replaced by
a service industry
▪ Poverty level ($12,195) rose
from 12 to 18 percent as the
rich got richer and poor, poorer
“Reverse
Discrimination”
▪ “Color blind” assertion was
challenged by reality of
statistics
▪ Outside influences prevented
the death of “Affirmative
Action”
▪ Civil rights coalitions helped
push through the Civil Rights
Restoration Act of 1988
banning discrimination based
on race, gender, age, and
disability
Feminism
▪ Republicans opposed the ERA
and abortion rights
▪ Child Support Act helped single
Moms
▪ Retirement Equity Act of 1984
assisted older divorcees and
widows
▪ Reagan Concerned by “gender
gap” with women running to
Democratic Party
▪ Women had a higher wage gap
and unemployment rate
▪ Supreme Court supported
protections against sexual
harassment in the workplace
▪ States addressed pay equity and
enacted stiffer rape laws
LBGTQ
Rights
▪ Grew as a movement during the 1980’s
▪ Period saw rise of HIV/AIDS
▪ More people “came out” as gay politicians like Elaine
Noble of MA were elected
▪ America was generally more tolerant though there
were still extremist gay bashers
▪ States relaxed laws while the Christian Right sought
to reinforce prosecutions for anti-sodomy laws
Militarization
▪ Expanded bomber and
missile programs to
leverage the Soviets
▪ Thousands in the U.S.
and Europe protested
deployment of more
nukes in NATO countries
▪ Reagan announced his
“Strategic Defense
Initiative” or “star wars” to
Soviet protests of the
1972 ABM Treaty
Reagan’s
Middle East
▪ Reagan deployed 2000 troops to
Lebanon as part of an
international peacekeeping
mission against the PLO and
Hezbollah
▪ The Beirut embassy was
attacked killing 63 and a U.S.
Marine barracks was bombed
killing 241 prompting a U.S.
withdrawal
▪ Terrorist kidnappings, bombings,
and murder escalated globally
Anti leftist
Intervention
▪ October 1983 invaded Grenada to unseat a
Marxist regime
▪ Quietly aided Afghan rebels against the
Soviets
▪ U.S. armed Angolans against Soviet and
Cuban supported government
▪ Supported South Africa’s apartheid
government forcing Congress to override his
veto of economic sanctions
▪ Reagan supported Contras in Nicaragua
Iran-Contra
▪ Nicaraguan leader, Daniel Ortega faced
covert support of the opposition Contras
▪ Civil War destroyed Nicaragua’s economy
forcing Ortega to step down
▪ Reagan covertly supported Contras
against Congress’ wishes
▪ LTC Oliver North (NSC) and William Casey
(CIA) funneled funds from the sales of
arms to Iran to support the Contras
▪ Iran was being encouraged to negotiate
release of 7 U.S. hostages held by
Hezbollah
▪ Oliver North was convicted with 6 others
for lying to Congress
▪ President George H. W. Bush
pardoned those convicted as he and
Reagan denied any knowledge of the
conspirator’s actions
▪
▪
▪
Soviet
Relations ▪▪
▪
Mikhail Gorbachev sought to repair the Soviet economy
Gorbachev introduced greater free enterprise and
glasnost (openness)
Growing defense budgets moved both leaders to the
negotiating table
Reagan responded to mutual disarmament favorably
A new INF treaty eased tensions as Gorbachev began
withdrawing from Afghanistan and agreed to a
settlement in Angola
Both sides encouraged peace between Iran and Iraq
End of the Cold
War
▪ Fueled by collapse of
Communist
economies and
internal desire for
Freedom
▪ Symbolized by fall of
the Berlin Wall,
November 9, 1989
Conclusion
After Nixon’s resignation and and his being pardoned by
President Ford, Americans look to Jimmy Carter for leadership.
Carter projected a wholesome optimism, but after uncontrolled
inflation and economic woes, his boycotting US participation in
the Moscow Olympics as a human rights principle, and the
capture of the US embassy in Iran, Carter’s popularity flagged.
Ronald Reagan promised that the US would return to a tough, no
nonsense global leadership, just as the Soviet system’s economy
was failing. Germany was reunified with the coming down of the
Berlin wall, and the communist satellite states of the Soviet Bloc,
Warsaw Pact, in quick succession replaced their communist
governments with democracies. It appeared that Liberal
Democracy had prevailed (not to be confused with Liberals in US
domestic politics). With the fall of the Soviet Bloc, it seemed that
freedom was blooming globally.