The 1970s Reading
In 1969, television viewers around the world witnessed the astonishing sight of two American astronauts walking on the moon’s surface. This event, followed by a series of other successes for the U.S. space program, represented some of the high points of the era. Offsetting these technological triumphs, however, were shocking revelations about White House participation in the Watergate crime, a stagnant economy, and the fall of South Vietnam to communism. Increased foreign economic competition, oil shortages, rising unemployment, and high inflation made Americans aware that even the world’s leading super- power would have to adjust to a fast-changing, less manageable world.
Richard Nixon’s Foreign Policy
In his January 1969 inaugural address, President Nixon promised to bring Americans together after the turmoil of the 1960s. Suspicious and secretive by nature, however, Nixon soon began to isolate himself in the White House and create what Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., called an “imperial presidency.” Nixon’s first interest was international relations, not domestic policy. Together with his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger (later to become secretary of state during Nixon’s second term), President Nixon fashioned a realistic foreign policy that generally succeeded in reducing the tensions of the Cold War.
Vietnam
When Nixon took office, more than half a million U.S. troops were in Vietnam. His principal objective was to find a way to reduce U.S. involvement in the war while at the same time avoiding the appearance of conceding defeat.
In a word, Nixon said the United States was seeking nothing less than “peace with honor.”
“Vietnamization.” Almost immediately, the new president began the process called “Vietnamization.” He announced that he would gradually with- draw U.S. troops from Vietnam and give the South Vietnamese the money, the weapons, and the training that they needed to take over the full conduct of the war. Under this policy, U.S. troops in South Vietnam went from over 540,000 in 1969 to under 30,000 in 1972. Extending the idea of disengagement to other parts of Asia, the president proclaimed the Nixon Doctrine, declaring that in the future Asian allies would receive U.S. support but without the extensive use of U.S. ground forces.
Opposition to Nixon’s war policies. Nixon’s gradual withdrawal of forces from Vietnam at first reduced the number of antiwar protests. In April 1970, however, the president expanded the war by using U.S. forces to invade Cambodia in an effort to destroy Vietnamese Communist bases in that country. A nationwide protest against this action on U.S. college campuses resulted in the killing of four youths by National Guard troops at Kent State in Ohio and two black students at Jackson State in Mississippi. In reaction to the escalation of the war, the U.S. Senate (but not the House) voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
Also in 1970, the American public was shocked to learn about a 1968 massacre of women and children by U.S. troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai. Further fueling the antiwar sentiment was the publication by The New York Times of the Pentagon Papers, a secret government history documenting the mistakes and deceptions of government policy-makers in dealing with Vietnam. The papers had been turned over, or “leaked,” to the press by Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department analyst.
Peace talks, bombing attacks, and armistice. On the diplomatic front, Nixon had Kissinger conduct secret meetings with North Vietnam’s foreign minister, Le Duc Tho. Kissinger announced in the fall of 1972 that “peace is at hand,” but this announcement proved premature. When the North Vietnamese failed to compromise, Nixon ordered massive bombing of North Vietnam (the heaviest air attacks of the long war) to force a settlement. After several weeks of B-52 bomber attacks, the North Vietnamese agreed to an armistice, in which the United States would withdraw the last of its troops and get back over 500 prisoners of war (POWs). The Paris Accords of January 1973 also promised a cease-fire and free elections. In fact, however, the armistice did not end the war between the North and the South and left tens of thousands of enemy troops in South Vietnam.
The armistice finally allowed the United States to extricate itself from a war that had claimed over 58,000 American lives. The $118 billion spent on the war began the inflationary cycle that racked the U.S. economy for years afterward.
De´tente With China and the Soviet Union
Nixon and Kissinger strengthened the U.S. position in the world by taking advantage of the rivalry between the two Communist giants, China and the Soviet Union. Their diplomacy was praised for bringing about de´tente—a deliberate reduction of Cold War tensions. Even after Watergate ended his presidency in disgrace, Nixon’s critics would admit that his conduct of foreign affairs had enhanced world peace.
Visit to China. Nixon knew that only an outspoken critic of communism like himself could take the bold step of improving relations with “Red” China (Mao Zedong’s Communist regime) without being condemned as “soft” on communism. After a series of secret negotiations with Chinese leaders, Nixon astonished the world in February 1972 by traveling to Beijing to meet with Mao. His visit initiated diplomatic exchanges that ultimately led to U.S. recognition of the Communist government in 1979.
Arms control with the U.S.S.R. Nixon used his new relationship with China to put pressure on the Soviets to agree to a treaty limiting antiballistic missiles (ABMs), a new technology that would have expanded the arms race. At the conclusion of the first round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I), U.S. diplomats secured Soviet consent to a freeze on the number of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads. While this agreement did not end the arms race, it was a significant step toward reducing Cold War tensions and bringing about de´tente.
Nixon’s Domestic Policy
Throughout the 1970s, the Democrats continued to hold majorities in both houses of Congress. The Republican president had to live with this reality and obtain some concessions from Congress through moderation and compromise. At the same time, Nixon laid the foundation for a shift in public opinion toward conservatism and for Republican gains that would challenge and overthrow the Democratic control of Congress in the 1980s and 1990s.
The New Federalism
Nixon tried to slow down the growth of Johnson’s Great Society programs by proposing the Family Assistance Plan, a reform of the welfare system. The Democratic majority in Congress easily defeated this initiative. The Republican president did succeed, however, in shifting some of the responsibility for social programs from the federal to the state and local levels. In a program known as revenue sharing, or the New Federalism, Congress approved giving local governments $30 billion in block grants over five years to address local needs as they saw fit (instead of specific uses of federal money being controlled by Washington). Republicans hoped revenue sharing would check the growth of the federal government and return responsibility to the states, where it had rested before the New Deal.
Nixon attempted to bypass Congress by impounding (not spending) funds appropriated for social programs. Democrats protested that such action was an abuse of executive powers. The courts agreed with the president’s critics, arguing that it was a president’s duty to carry out the laws of Congress, whether or not he agreed with them.
Nixon’s Economic Policies
Starting with a recession in 1970, the U.S. economy throughout the sev- enties faced the unusual combination of economic slowdown and high infla- tion—a condition referred to as stagflation (stagnation plus inflation). To slow inflation, Nixon at first tried to cut federal spending. When this policy contrib- uted to a recession and unemployment, however, he adopted Keynesian econom- ics and deficit spending in order not to alienate middle-class and blue-collar Americans. In August 1971, he surprised the nation by imposing a 90-day wage and price freeze. Next, he took the dollar off the gold standard, which helped to devalue it relative to foreign currencies. This action, combined with a 10 percent surtax on all imports, improved the U.S. balance of trade with foreign competitors.
By the election year of 1972, the recession was over. Also in that year, Congress approved automatic increases for Social Security benefits based on the annual rise in the cost of living. This measure protected seniors, the poor, and the disabled from the worst effects of inflation but also contributed to budget problems in the future.
Southern Strategy
Having received just 43 percent of the popular vote in 1968, Nixon was well aware of being a minority president. He devised a political strategy to form a Republican majority by appealing to the millions of voters who had become disaffected by antiwar protests, black militants, school busing to achieve racial balance, and the excesses of the youth counterculture. Nixon referred to these conservative Americans as the ”silent majority.” Many of them were Democrats, such as southern whites, Catholic ethnics, blue-collar workers, and recent suburbanites who were dismayed by the liberal drift of their party.
To win over the South, the president asked the federal courts in that region to delay integration plans and busing orders. He also nominated two southern conservatives (Clement Haynsworth and G. Harold Carswell) to the Supreme Court. The Senate refused to confirm them, and the courts rejected his requests for delayed integration. Nevertheless, his strategy played well with southern white voters. At the same time, Nixon authorized Vice President Spiro Agnew to make verbal assaults against both war protesters and the liberal press.
The Burger Court
Four resignations of older justices from the Supreme Court gave Nixon the opportunity to replace liberal, activist members of the Warren court with more conservative, strict constructionist justices. In 1969 he appointed Warren E. Burger of Minnesota as chief justice to succeed the retiring Earl Warren. After the two conservative nominees were rejected by Congress, the president then compromised by selecting a more moderate Harry Blackmun (who would write the proabortion ruling in Roe v. Wade, 1973). His next two appointments, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist, were both approved. Ironically, in the last days of his Watergate agony, the Court that Nixon tried to shape would fail him by denying his claims to executive privilege and ordering him to turn over the Watergate tapes (United States v. Nixon, 1974).
The Election of 1972
The success of Nixon’s southern strategy became evident in the presidential election of 1972 when the Republican ticket won majorities in every southern state. Nixon’s reelection was practically assured by (1) his foreign policy successes in China and the Soviet Union, (2) the removal of George Wallace from the race by an assassin’s bullet that paralyzed the Alabama populist, and (3) the nomination by the Democrats of a very liberal, antiwar, antiestablishment candidate, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.
McGovern’s campaign quickly went off track. After some indecision, he dropped his vice presidential candidate, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, when it was discovered that he had undergone electroschock treatment for depression. On election day, Nixon overwhelmed McGovern in a landslide victory that carried every state but Massachusetts and won 60.8 percent of the popular vote. The Democrats still managed to keep control of both houses of Congress. Nevertheless, the voting patterns for Nixon indicated the start of a major political realignment of the Sunbelt and suburban voters forming a new Republican majority. Nixon’s electoral triumph in 1972 made the Watergate revelations and scandals of 1973 all the more surprising.
Watergate
The tragedy of Watergate went well beyond the public humiliation of Richard Nixon and the conviction and jailing of 26 White House officials and aides. Watergate had a paralyzing effect on the political system in the mid-1970s, a critical time both at home and overseas, when the country needed respected, strong, and confident leadership.
White House Abuses
In June 1972, a group of men hired by Nixon’s reelection committee were caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. This break-in and attempted bugging were only part of a series of illegal activities and “dirty tricks” conducted by the Nixon administration and the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).
Earlier, Nixon had ordered wiretaps on government employees and report- ers to stop news leaks such as one that had exposed the secret bombing of Cambodia. The president’s aides created a group, called the “plumbers,” to stop leaks as well as to discredit opponents. Before Watergate, the “plumbers” had burglarized the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the person behind the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, in order to obtain information to discredit Ellsberg. The White House had also created an “enemies list” of prominent Americans who opposed Nixon, the Vietnam War, or both. People on this list were investigated by government agencies, such as the IRS. The illegal break-in at Watergate reflected the attitude in the Nixon administration that any means could be used to promote the national security—an objective that was often confused with protecting the Nixon administration from its critics.
Watergate Investigation
There was no solid proof that President Nixon ordered any of these illegal activities. After months of investigation, however, it became clear that Nixon did engage in an illegal cover-up to avoid scandal. Tough sentencing of the Watergate burglars by federal judge John Sirica led to information about the use of money and a promise of pardons by the White House staff to keep the burglars quiet. A Senate investigating committee headed by Democrat Sam Ervin of North Carolina brought the abuses to the attention of Americans through televised hearings. A highlight of these hearings was the testimony of a White House lawyer, John Dean, who linked the president to the cover-up. Nixon’s top aides, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resigned to protect him and were later indicted, as were many others, for obstructing justice.
The discovery of a taping system in the Oval Office led to a year-long struggle between Nixon, who claimed executive privilege for the tapes, and investigators, who wanted the tapes to prove the cover-up charges. The Nixon administration received another blow in the fall of 1973, when Vice President Agnew was forced to resign for having taken bribes when governor of Maryland.
Other Developments in 1973
Although the Watergate affair absorbed most of Nixon’s attention during his shortened second term, other developments at home and abroad were also important.
War Powers Act. Further discrediting Nixon was the news that he had authorized 3,500 secret bombing raids in Cambodia, a neutral county. Congress used the public uproar over this information to attempt to limit the president’s powers over the military. In November 1973, after a long struggle, Congress finally passed the War Powers Act over Nixon’s veto. This law required Nixon and any future president to report to Congress within 48 hours after taking military action. It further provided that Congress would have to approve any military action that lasted more than 60 days.
October war and oil embargo. In world politics, probably the most important event of 1973 was the outbreak of another war in the Middle East. On October 6, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the Syrians and Egyptians launched a surprise attack on Israel in an attempt to recover the lands lost in the Six-Day War of 1967. President Nixon ordered the U.S. nuclear forces on alert and airlifted almost $2 billion in arms to Israel to stem their retreat. The tide of battle quickly shifted in favor of the Israelis, and the war was soon over.
The United States was made to pay a huge price for supporting Israel. The Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed an embargo on oil sold to Israel’s supporters. The embargo caused a worldwide oil shortage and long lines at gas stations in the United States. Even worse was the impact on the U.S. economy, which now suffered from runaway inflation, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and a lower standard of living for blue-collar workers. Consumers switched from big American-made cars to smaller, more fuel-efficient Japanese cars, which cost U.S. automobile workers over 225,000 jobs. Congress responded by enacting a 55-miles-per- hour speed limit to save gasoline and approved an oil pipeline to be built in Alaska to tap American oil reserves. No government program, however, seemed to bolster the sluggish economy or stem high inflation rates, which continued to the end of the decade.
Resignation of a President
In 1974, Nixon made triumphal visits to Moscow and Cairo, but at home his reputation continued to slide. In October 1973, the president fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor assigned to the Watergate investigations, and the U.S. attorney general resigned in protest. The start of impeachment hearings in the House encouraged Nixon to reveal some transcripts of the Watergate tapes in April 1974, but it took a Supreme Court decision in July to force him to turn over the tapes to the courts and Congress. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment: (1) obstruction of justice, (2) abuse of power, and (3) contempt of Congress.
The conversations recorded on the tapes shocked friends and foes alike. The transcript of one such White House conversation clearly implicated Nixon in the cover-up only days after the Watergate break-in. Faced with certain impeachment in the House and a trial in the Senate, Richard Nixon chose to resign on August 9, 1974. His appointed vice president Gerald Ford then took the oath of office as the first unelected president in U.S. history. For some, Nixon's resignation proved that the U.S. constitutional system of checks and balances worked as it was intended. For others, the scandal under- lined the dangerous shift of power to the presidency that began with Franklin Roosevelt and expanded during the Cold War. Without doubt, Watergate contributed to a growing loss of faith in the federal government.
Gerald Ford in the White House
Before Nixon chose him to replace Vice President Agnew in 1973, Gerald Ford had served in Congress for years as a representative from Michigan and as the Republican minority leader of the House. Ford was a likeable and unpretentious man, but his ability to be president was questioned by many in the media.
Pardoning of Nixon
In his first month in office, President Ford lost the goodwill of many by granting Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crime that he might have committed. The pardon was extended even before any formal charges or indictment had been made by a court of law. Ford was accused of making a “corrupt bargain” with Nixon, but he explained that the purpose of the pardon was to end the “national nightmare,” instead of prolonging it for months, if not years. Critics were angered that the full truth of Nixon’s deeds never came out, while the former president’s aides (including Haldeman and Ehrlichman) were convicted and served prison terms.
Investigating the CIA
During Ford’s presidency (1974–1977), the Democratic Congress contin- ued to search for abuses in the executive branch, especially in the CIA. This intelligence agency was accused of engineering the assassination of foreign leaders, among them the Marxist president of Chile, Salvador Allende. Ford appointed former Texas Congressman George H. Bush to reform the agency.
Failure of U.S. Policy in Southeast Asia
President Ford was unable to get additional funds from Congress for the South Vietnamese, who in 1974 were facing strong attack from Communist forces.
Fall of Saigon. In April 1975, the U.S.-supported government in Saigon fell to the enemy, and Vietnam became one country under the rule of the Communist government in Hanoi (North Vietnam’s capital). Just before the final collapse, the United States was able to evacuate about 150,000 Vietnamese who had supported the United States and now faced certain persecution. The fall of South Vietnam marked a low point of American prestige overseas and confidence at home.
Genocide in Cambodia. Also in 1975, the U.S.-supported government in neighboring Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge, a radical Communist faction that conducted genocide against over a million of its own people. In an attempt to compensate for the failure of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia, President Ford ordered an attack on a Cambodian naval base that had captured the U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez. The action helped free the 39 crewmen, but 38 marines died in the assault.
Future of Southeast Asia. The fall of Cambodia seemed to fulfill Eisenhower’s domino theory, but in fact the rest of Southeast Asia did not fall to communism. Instead, such nations as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia emerged as the “little tigers” of the vigorously growing Asian (Pacific Rim) economy. Some argued that U.S. support of South Vietnam was not a waste, because it bought time for other nations of East Asia and Southeast Asia to develop and better resist communism.
The Economy and Domestic Policy
On domestic matters, Ford proved less accommodating and more conservative than Nixon. His chief concern was bringing inflation under control. He urged voluntary measures on the part of businesses and consumers, including the wearing of WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now). Not only did inflation continue, but the economy also sank deeper into recession, with the unemploy- ment rate reaching over 9 percent. Ford finally agreed to a Democratic package to stimulate the economy, but he vetoed 39 other Democratic bills.
Bicentennial celebration. In 1976, the United States celebrated its 200th birthday. Americans’ pride in their history helped to put Watergate and Vietnam behind them. Even the lackluster presidency of Gerald Ford served the purpose of restoring candor and humility to the White House.
The Election of 1976
Watergate still cast its gloom over the Republican party in the 1976 elections. President Ford was challenged for the party’s nomination by Ronald Reagan, a former actor and ex-governor of California, who enjoyed the support of the more conservative Republicans. Ford won the nomination in a close battle, but the conflict with Reagan hurt him in the polls.
Emergence of Jimmy Carter. A number of Democrats competed for their party’s nomination, including a little-known former governor of Georgia, James Earl (Jimmy) Carter. With Watergate still on voters’ minds, Carter had success running as an outsider against the corruption in Washington. His victo- ries in open primaries reduced the influence of more experienced Democratic politicians. After watching his huge lead in the polls evaporate in the closing days of the campaign, Carter managed to win a close election (287 electoral votes to 241 for Ford) by carrying most of the South. Democrats also won strong majorities in both houses of Congress.
Jimmy Carter’s Presidency
The informal style of Jimmy Carter signaled an effort to end the imperial presidency. On his inaugural day, he walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House instead of riding in the presidential limousine. Public images of the president carrying his own luggage may have impressed average Americans. Veteran members of Congress, however, always viewed Carter as an outsider, who depended too much on his politically inexperienced advisers from Georgia. Even Carter’s keen intelligence and dedication to duty may have been partly a liability in causing him to pay close attention to all the details of government operations. Critics observed that, when it came to distinguishing between the forest and the trees, Carter was a “leaf man.”
Foreign Policy
The hallmark of Carter’s foreign policy was human rights, which he preached with Wilsonian fervor to the world’s dictators.
Human rights diplomacy. Carter appointed Andrew Young, an African American, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Young champi- oned the cause of human rights by denouncing the oppression of the black majority in South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In Latin America, human rights violations by the military governments of Argentina and Chile caused Carter to cut off U.S. aid to those countries.
Panama Canal. The Carter administration attempted to correct inequities in the original Panama Canal Treaty of 1903 by negotiating a new treaty. In 1978, after long debate, the Senate ratified a treaty that would gradually transfer operation and control of the Panama Canal from the United States to the Panamanians, a process to be completed by the year 2000. Opponents would remember Carter’s “give away” of the canal in the 1980 election.
Camp David Accords (1978). Perhaps Carter’s single greatest achievement as president was arranging a peace settlement between Egypt and Israel. In 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took the first courageous step toward Middle East peace by visiting Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in Jerusalem. President Carter followed this bold initiative by inviting Sadat and Begin to meet again at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland. With Carter acting as an intermediary, the two leaders negotiated the Camp David Accords (September 1978), which provided a framework for a peace settlement between their countries.
Later, as a result of a peace treaty concluded in 1979, Egypt became the first Arab nation to recognize the nation of Israel. In return, Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai territory taken from Egypt in the Six-Day War of and most of the Arab world, but it proved the first step in the long road to a negotiated peace in the Middle East.
Iran and the hostage crisis. The Middle East was also the setting for Carter’s greatest frustration and defeat. In 1979, Islamic fundamentalists in Iran, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, overthrew the shah’s dictatorial government. The shah had kept the oil flowing for the West during the 1970s, but his autocratic rule and policy of westernization had alienated a large part of the Iranian population.
With the ayatollah and fundamentalists in power, Iranian oil production ground to a halt, causing the second worldwide oil shortage of the decade and another round of price increases. U.S. impotence in dealing with the crisis became more evident in November 1979 when Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran and held more than 50 members of the American staff as prisoners and hostages. The hostage crisis dragged out through the remainder of Carter’s presidency. In April 1980, Carter approved a rescue mission, but the breakdown of the helicopters over the Iranian desert forced the United States to abort the mission. For many Americans, Carter’s unsuccessful attempts to free the hostages became a symbol of a failed presidency.
Cold War. President Carter attempted to continue the Nixon-Ford policy of de´tente with China and the Soviet Union. In 1979, the United States ended its official recognition of the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan and completed the first exchange of ambassadors with the People’s Republic of China. At first, de´tente also moved ahead with the Soviet Union with the signing in 1979 of a SALT II treaty, which provided for limiting the size of each superpower’s nuclear delivery system. The Senate never ratified the treaty, however, as a result of a renewal of Cold War tensions over Afghanistan.
In December 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan—an aggressive action that ended a decade of improving U.S.-Soviet relations. The United States feared that the invasion might lead to a Soviet move to control the oil- rich Persian Gulf. Carter reacted by (1) placing an embargo on grain exports and the sale of high technology to the Soviet Union and (2) boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. After having campaigned for arms reduction, Carter now had to switch to an arms buildup.
Domestic Policy: Dealing With Inflation
At home, the biggest issue was the growing inflation rate. At first Carter tried to check inflation with measures aimed at conserving oil energy and reviving the U.S. coal industry. The compromises that came out of Congress, however, failed either to reduce the consumption of oil or to check inflation. In 1979–1980, inflation seemed completely out of control and reached the unheard of rate of 13 percent. Businesses could no longer afford the high interest rates that came with high prices. The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Paul Volcker, hoped to break the back of inflation by pushing interest rates even higher, to 20 percent in 1980. These rates especially hurt the automobile and building industries, which laid off tens of thousands of workers. Inflation also pushed middle- class taxpayers into higher tax brackets, which led to a “taxpayers’ revolt.” Government social programs that were indexed to the inflation rate helped to push the federal deficit to nearly $60 billion in 1980. Many Americans had to adjust to the harsh truth that, for the first time since World War II, their standard of living was on the decline.
Loss of Popularity
Intelligence, effort, and integrity were not enough to get Jimmy Carter through the Iranian hostage crisis and worsening economic crisis. In 1979, in what the press called Carter’s “national malaise” speech, he blamed the problems of the United States on a “moral and spiritual crisis” of the American people. By that time, however, many Americans blamed the president for weak and indecisive leadership. By the election year 1980 his approval rating had fallen to only 23 percent. In seeking a second term, the unpopular president was clearly vulnerable to political challenges from both Democrats and Republicans.
American Society in Transition
Social changes in the 1970s were of potentially even greater significance than politics. By the end of the decade, for the first time, half of all Americans lived in the fastest-growing sections of the country—the South and the West. Unlike the previous decade, which was dominated by the youth revolt, Ameri- cans were conscious in the seventies that the population was aging. The fastest growing age group was senior citizens over 65.
The country’s racial and ethnic composition was also changing noticeably in the final decades of the 20th century. By 1990, minority groups made up 25 percent of the population. The Census Bureau predicted that, by 2050, as much as half the population would be Hispanic American, African American, or Asian American. Cultural pluralism was replacing the melting pot as the model for U.S. society, as diverse ethnic and cultural groups strove not only to end discrimination and improve themselves but also to celebrate their unique values and traditions.
Growth of Immigration
Before the 1960s, most immigrants to the United States had come from Europe and Canada. By the 1980s, 47 percent of immigrants came from Latin America, 37 percent from Asia, and less than 13 percent from Europe and Canada. In part, this dramatic shift was caused by the arrival of refugees leaving Cuba and Vietnam after the Communist takeovers of these countries. Of far greater importance was the impact of the Immigration Act of 1965, which ended the ethnic quota acts of the 1920s favoring Europeans and thereby opened the United States to immigrants from all parts of the world.
Illegal immigrants. How many immigrants entered the United States illegally every year could only be estimated, but by the mid-1970s, the immigration commission concluded that as many as 12 million foreigners were in the U.S. illegally. The rise in illegal immigrants from countries of Latin America and Asia led to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which penalized employers for hiring illegal immigrants while also granting amnesty to illegal immigrants arriving by 1982. Even so, many Americans concluded that the nation had lost control of its own borders, as both legal and illegal immigrants continued to flock to the United States at an estimated million persons a year.
Demands for Minority Rights
One aspect of the protest movements of the 1960s that continued into later decades was the movement by different minorities to gain both relief from discrimination and recognition for their contributions to U.S. society.
Hispanic Americans. Most Hispanic Americans before World War II lived in the southwestern states, but in the postwar years new arrivals from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and South and Central America increasingly settled in the East and Midwest. Mexican workers, after suffering deportation during the Great Depression, were encouraged to come to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s to take low-paying agricultural jobs. They were widely exploited before the long series of boycotts led by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Organization finally gained collective bargaining rights for farm workers in 1975. Chicano (Mexican American) activists also won a federal mandate for bilingual education requiring schools to teach Hispanic children in both English and Spanish. In the 1980s, a growing number of Hispanic Americans were elected to public office, including mayors of such large cities as Miami and San Antonio. The Census Bureau reported that, in 2000, Hispanics, including Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latin Americans, had become the country’s largest minority group.
Native American movement. In the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration had made an unsuccessful attempt to encourage Native Americans to leave reservations and assimilate into urban America. Native American leaders resisted the loss of cultural identity that would have resulted from such a policy.
To achieve self-determination and revival of tribal traditions, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in 1968. Militant actions soon followed, including AIM’s takeover of the abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in 1969. AIM members also occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973, site of the infamous massacre of Native Americans by the U.S. cavalry in 1890.
The movement had a number of successes both in Congress and the courts. Congress’ passage of the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 gave reservations and tribal lands greater control over internal programs, education, and law enforcement. Native Americans also used the federal courts successfully to regain property or compensation for treaty violations. Widespread unemploy- ment and poverty on reservations was attacked by improving education, through the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978, and also by building industries and gambling casinos on reservations, under the self- determination legislation.
Native Americans also gained the support of public opinion, as the story of their historic oppression was given a sympathetic retelling in such popular films as Dances With Wolves (1990). By 1990, a growing Native American population numbered 1.5 million, with about half the people living on tribal reservations.
Asian Americans. Americans of Asian birth and descent had become the fastest growing ethnic minority by the 1980s. The largest group of Asian Americans were of Chinese ancestry, followed by Filipinos, Japanese, Indians, Koreans, and Vietnamese. A strong dedication to education resulted in Asian Americans being well represented in the best colleges and universities. In some parts of the country, however, Asian Americans suffered from discrimination, envy, and Japan-bashing, while the less educated immigrants earned well below the national average.
Gay liberation movement. In 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, sparked both a riot and the gay rights movement. Gay activists urged homosexuals to be open about their identity and to work to end discrimination and violent abuse. By the mid-1970s, homosexuality was no longer classified as a mental illness and the federal Civil Service dropped its ban on employment of homosexuals. In 1993, President Clinton attempted to end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military, but settled for the compromise “don’t-ask, don’t-tell” policy.
The Environmental Movement
The participation of 20 million citizens in the first Earth Day in 1970 reflected the nation’s growing concerns over pollution and the destruction of the natural environment. It also was a vivid example of the increased questioning of technological progress in the last decades of the 20th century. Massive oil spills around the world, such as the Exxon Valdez tanker accident in Alaska in 1989, reinforced fears about the deadly combination of human error and modern technology. Public opinion also turned against building additional nuclear power plants after an accident at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania (1979) and the deadly explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Soviet Union (1986).
Protective legislation. Conservationists demanded laws that would pro- tect against pollution and destruction of the environment. In 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act and created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and followed this legislation in 1972 with the Clean Water Act. In 1980, the Superfund was created to clean up toxic dumps, such as Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York.
The protest movements by diverse groups in American society seemed to produce more social stress and fragmentation. Combined with a slowing econ- omy and a declining standard of living, these forces left many Americans feeling angry and bitter. A conservative reaction to the liberal policies of the New Deal and the Great Society was gaining strength in the late 1970s and would prove a powerful force in the politics of the next decade.
Richard Nixon’s Foreign Policy
In his January 1969 inaugural address, President Nixon promised to bring Americans together after the turmoil of the 1960s. Suspicious and secretive by nature, however, Nixon soon began to isolate himself in the White House and create what Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., called an “imperial presidency.” Nixon’s first interest was international relations, not domestic policy. Together with his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger (later to become secretary of state during Nixon’s second term), President Nixon fashioned a realistic foreign policy that generally succeeded in reducing the tensions of the Cold War.
Vietnam
When Nixon took office, more than half a million U.S. troops were in Vietnam. His principal objective was to find a way to reduce U.S. involvement in the war while at the same time avoiding the appearance of conceding defeat.
In a word, Nixon said the United States was seeking nothing less than “peace with honor.”
“Vietnamization.” Almost immediately, the new president began the process called “Vietnamization.” He announced that he would gradually with- draw U.S. troops from Vietnam and give the South Vietnamese the money, the weapons, and the training that they needed to take over the full conduct of the war. Under this policy, U.S. troops in South Vietnam went from over 540,000 in 1969 to under 30,000 in 1972. Extending the idea of disengagement to other parts of Asia, the president proclaimed the Nixon Doctrine, declaring that in the future Asian allies would receive U.S. support but without the extensive use of U.S. ground forces.
Opposition to Nixon’s war policies. Nixon’s gradual withdrawal of forces from Vietnam at first reduced the number of antiwar protests. In April 1970, however, the president expanded the war by using U.S. forces to invade Cambodia in an effort to destroy Vietnamese Communist bases in that country. A nationwide protest against this action on U.S. college campuses resulted in the killing of four youths by National Guard troops at Kent State in Ohio and two black students at Jackson State in Mississippi. In reaction to the escalation of the war, the U.S. Senate (but not the House) voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
Also in 1970, the American public was shocked to learn about a 1968 massacre of women and children by U.S. troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai. Further fueling the antiwar sentiment was the publication by The New York Times of the Pentagon Papers, a secret government history documenting the mistakes and deceptions of government policy-makers in dealing with Vietnam. The papers had been turned over, or “leaked,” to the press by Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department analyst.
Peace talks, bombing attacks, and armistice. On the diplomatic front, Nixon had Kissinger conduct secret meetings with North Vietnam’s foreign minister, Le Duc Tho. Kissinger announced in the fall of 1972 that “peace is at hand,” but this announcement proved premature. When the North Vietnamese failed to compromise, Nixon ordered massive bombing of North Vietnam (the heaviest air attacks of the long war) to force a settlement. After several weeks of B-52 bomber attacks, the North Vietnamese agreed to an armistice, in which the United States would withdraw the last of its troops and get back over 500 prisoners of war (POWs). The Paris Accords of January 1973 also promised a cease-fire and free elections. In fact, however, the armistice did not end the war between the North and the South and left tens of thousands of enemy troops in South Vietnam.
The armistice finally allowed the United States to extricate itself from a war that had claimed over 58,000 American lives. The $118 billion spent on the war began the inflationary cycle that racked the U.S. economy for years afterward.
De´tente With China and the Soviet Union
Nixon and Kissinger strengthened the U.S. position in the world by taking advantage of the rivalry between the two Communist giants, China and the Soviet Union. Their diplomacy was praised for bringing about de´tente—a deliberate reduction of Cold War tensions. Even after Watergate ended his presidency in disgrace, Nixon’s critics would admit that his conduct of foreign affairs had enhanced world peace.
Visit to China. Nixon knew that only an outspoken critic of communism like himself could take the bold step of improving relations with “Red” China (Mao Zedong’s Communist regime) without being condemned as “soft” on communism. After a series of secret negotiations with Chinese leaders, Nixon astonished the world in February 1972 by traveling to Beijing to meet with Mao. His visit initiated diplomatic exchanges that ultimately led to U.S. recognition of the Communist government in 1979.
Arms control with the U.S.S.R. Nixon used his new relationship with China to put pressure on the Soviets to agree to a treaty limiting antiballistic missiles (ABMs), a new technology that would have expanded the arms race. At the conclusion of the first round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I), U.S. diplomats secured Soviet consent to a freeze on the number of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads. While this agreement did not end the arms race, it was a significant step toward reducing Cold War tensions and bringing about de´tente.
Nixon’s Domestic Policy
Throughout the 1970s, the Democrats continued to hold majorities in both houses of Congress. The Republican president had to live with this reality and obtain some concessions from Congress through moderation and compromise. At the same time, Nixon laid the foundation for a shift in public opinion toward conservatism and for Republican gains that would challenge and overthrow the Democratic control of Congress in the 1980s and 1990s.
The New Federalism
Nixon tried to slow down the growth of Johnson’s Great Society programs by proposing the Family Assistance Plan, a reform of the welfare system. The Democratic majority in Congress easily defeated this initiative. The Republican president did succeed, however, in shifting some of the responsibility for social programs from the federal to the state and local levels. In a program known as revenue sharing, or the New Federalism, Congress approved giving local governments $30 billion in block grants over five years to address local needs as they saw fit (instead of specific uses of federal money being controlled by Washington). Republicans hoped revenue sharing would check the growth of the federal government and return responsibility to the states, where it had rested before the New Deal.
Nixon attempted to bypass Congress by impounding (not spending) funds appropriated for social programs. Democrats protested that such action was an abuse of executive powers. The courts agreed with the president’s critics, arguing that it was a president’s duty to carry out the laws of Congress, whether or not he agreed with them.
Nixon’s Economic Policies
Starting with a recession in 1970, the U.S. economy throughout the sev- enties faced the unusual combination of economic slowdown and high infla- tion—a condition referred to as stagflation (stagnation plus inflation). To slow inflation, Nixon at first tried to cut federal spending. When this policy contrib- uted to a recession and unemployment, however, he adopted Keynesian econom- ics and deficit spending in order not to alienate middle-class and blue-collar Americans. In August 1971, he surprised the nation by imposing a 90-day wage and price freeze. Next, he took the dollar off the gold standard, which helped to devalue it relative to foreign currencies. This action, combined with a 10 percent surtax on all imports, improved the U.S. balance of trade with foreign competitors.
By the election year of 1972, the recession was over. Also in that year, Congress approved automatic increases for Social Security benefits based on the annual rise in the cost of living. This measure protected seniors, the poor, and the disabled from the worst effects of inflation but also contributed to budget problems in the future.
Southern Strategy
Having received just 43 percent of the popular vote in 1968, Nixon was well aware of being a minority president. He devised a political strategy to form a Republican majority by appealing to the millions of voters who had become disaffected by antiwar protests, black militants, school busing to achieve racial balance, and the excesses of the youth counterculture. Nixon referred to these conservative Americans as the ”silent majority.” Many of them were Democrats, such as southern whites, Catholic ethnics, blue-collar workers, and recent suburbanites who were dismayed by the liberal drift of their party.
To win over the South, the president asked the federal courts in that region to delay integration plans and busing orders. He also nominated two southern conservatives (Clement Haynsworth and G. Harold Carswell) to the Supreme Court. The Senate refused to confirm them, and the courts rejected his requests for delayed integration. Nevertheless, his strategy played well with southern white voters. At the same time, Nixon authorized Vice President Spiro Agnew to make verbal assaults against both war protesters and the liberal press.
The Burger Court
Four resignations of older justices from the Supreme Court gave Nixon the opportunity to replace liberal, activist members of the Warren court with more conservative, strict constructionist justices. In 1969 he appointed Warren E. Burger of Minnesota as chief justice to succeed the retiring Earl Warren. After the two conservative nominees were rejected by Congress, the president then compromised by selecting a more moderate Harry Blackmun (who would write the proabortion ruling in Roe v. Wade, 1973). His next two appointments, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist, were both approved. Ironically, in the last days of his Watergate agony, the Court that Nixon tried to shape would fail him by denying his claims to executive privilege and ordering him to turn over the Watergate tapes (United States v. Nixon, 1974).
The Election of 1972
The success of Nixon’s southern strategy became evident in the presidential election of 1972 when the Republican ticket won majorities in every southern state. Nixon’s reelection was practically assured by (1) his foreign policy successes in China and the Soviet Union, (2) the removal of George Wallace from the race by an assassin’s bullet that paralyzed the Alabama populist, and (3) the nomination by the Democrats of a very liberal, antiwar, antiestablishment candidate, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.
McGovern’s campaign quickly went off track. After some indecision, he dropped his vice presidential candidate, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, when it was discovered that he had undergone electroschock treatment for depression. On election day, Nixon overwhelmed McGovern in a landslide victory that carried every state but Massachusetts and won 60.8 percent of the popular vote. The Democrats still managed to keep control of both houses of Congress. Nevertheless, the voting patterns for Nixon indicated the start of a major political realignment of the Sunbelt and suburban voters forming a new Republican majority. Nixon’s electoral triumph in 1972 made the Watergate revelations and scandals of 1973 all the more surprising.
Watergate
The tragedy of Watergate went well beyond the public humiliation of Richard Nixon and the conviction and jailing of 26 White House officials and aides. Watergate had a paralyzing effect on the political system in the mid-1970s, a critical time both at home and overseas, when the country needed respected, strong, and confident leadership.
White House Abuses
In June 1972, a group of men hired by Nixon’s reelection committee were caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. This break-in and attempted bugging were only part of a series of illegal activities and “dirty tricks” conducted by the Nixon administration and the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).
Earlier, Nixon had ordered wiretaps on government employees and report- ers to stop news leaks such as one that had exposed the secret bombing of Cambodia. The president’s aides created a group, called the “plumbers,” to stop leaks as well as to discredit opponents. Before Watergate, the “plumbers” had burglarized the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the person behind the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, in order to obtain information to discredit Ellsberg. The White House had also created an “enemies list” of prominent Americans who opposed Nixon, the Vietnam War, or both. People on this list were investigated by government agencies, such as the IRS. The illegal break-in at Watergate reflected the attitude in the Nixon administration that any means could be used to promote the national security—an objective that was often confused with protecting the Nixon administration from its critics.
Watergate Investigation
There was no solid proof that President Nixon ordered any of these illegal activities. After months of investigation, however, it became clear that Nixon did engage in an illegal cover-up to avoid scandal. Tough sentencing of the Watergate burglars by federal judge John Sirica led to information about the use of money and a promise of pardons by the White House staff to keep the burglars quiet. A Senate investigating committee headed by Democrat Sam Ervin of North Carolina brought the abuses to the attention of Americans through televised hearings. A highlight of these hearings was the testimony of a White House lawyer, John Dean, who linked the president to the cover-up. Nixon’s top aides, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resigned to protect him and were later indicted, as were many others, for obstructing justice.
The discovery of a taping system in the Oval Office led to a year-long struggle between Nixon, who claimed executive privilege for the tapes, and investigators, who wanted the tapes to prove the cover-up charges. The Nixon administration received another blow in the fall of 1973, when Vice President Agnew was forced to resign for having taken bribes when governor of Maryland.
Other Developments in 1973
Although the Watergate affair absorbed most of Nixon’s attention during his shortened second term, other developments at home and abroad were also important.
War Powers Act. Further discrediting Nixon was the news that he had authorized 3,500 secret bombing raids in Cambodia, a neutral county. Congress used the public uproar over this information to attempt to limit the president’s powers over the military. In November 1973, after a long struggle, Congress finally passed the War Powers Act over Nixon’s veto. This law required Nixon and any future president to report to Congress within 48 hours after taking military action. It further provided that Congress would have to approve any military action that lasted more than 60 days.
October war and oil embargo. In world politics, probably the most important event of 1973 was the outbreak of another war in the Middle East. On October 6, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the Syrians and Egyptians launched a surprise attack on Israel in an attempt to recover the lands lost in the Six-Day War of 1967. President Nixon ordered the U.S. nuclear forces on alert and airlifted almost $2 billion in arms to Israel to stem their retreat. The tide of battle quickly shifted in favor of the Israelis, and the war was soon over.
The United States was made to pay a huge price for supporting Israel. The Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed an embargo on oil sold to Israel’s supporters. The embargo caused a worldwide oil shortage and long lines at gas stations in the United States. Even worse was the impact on the U.S. economy, which now suffered from runaway inflation, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and a lower standard of living for blue-collar workers. Consumers switched from big American-made cars to smaller, more fuel-efficient Japanese cars, which cost U.S. automobile workers over 225,000 jobs. Congress responded by enacting a 55-miles-per- hour speed limit to save gasoline and approved an oil pipeline to be built in Alaska to tap American oil reserves. No government program, however, seemed to bolster the sluggish economy or stem high inflation rates, which continued to the end of the decade.
Resignation of a President
In 1974, Nixon made triumphal visits to Moscow and Cairo, but at home his reputation continued to slide. In October 1973, the president fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor assigned to the Watergate investigations, and the U.S. attorney general resigned in protest. The start of impeachment hearings in the House encouraged Nixon to reveal some transcripts of the Watergate tapes in April 1974, but it took a Supreme Court decision in July to force him to turn over the tapes to the courts and Congress. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment: (1) obstruction of justice, (2) abuse of power, and (3) contempt of Congress.
The conversations recorded on the tapes shocked friends and foes alike. The transcript of one such White House conversation clearly implicated Nixon in the cover-up only days after the Watergate break-in. Faced with certain impeachment in the House and a trial in the Senate, Richard Nixon chose to resign on August 9, 1974. His appointed vice president Gerald Ford then took the oath of office as the first unelected president in U.S. history. For some, Nixon's resignation proved that the U.S. constitutional system of checks and balances worked as it was intended. For others, the scandal under- lined the dangerous shift of power to the presidency that began with Franklin Roosevelt and expanded during the Cold War. Without doubt, Watergate contributed to a growing loss of faith in the federal government.
Gerald Ford in the White House
Before Nixon chose him to replace Vice President Agnew in 1973, Gerald Ford had served in Congress for years as a representative from Michigan and as the Republican minority leader of the House. Ford was a likeable and unpretentious man, but his ability to be president was questioned by many in the media.
Pardoning of Nixon
In his first month in office, President Ford lost the goodwill of many by granting Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crime that he might have committed. The pardon was extended even before any formal charges or indictment had been made by a court of law. Ford was accused of making a “corrupt bargain” with Nixon, but he explained that the purpose of the pardon was to end the “national nightmare,” instead of prolonging it for months, if not years. Critics were angered that the full truth of Nixon’s deeds never came out, while the former president’s aides (including Haldeman and Ehrlichman) were convicted and served prison terms.
Investigating the CIA
During Ford’s presidency (1974–1977), the Democratic Congress contin- ued to search for abuses in the executive branch, especially in the CIA. This intelligence agency was accused of engineering the assassination of foreign leaders, among them the Marxist president of Chile, Salvador Allende. Ford appointed former Texas Congressman George H. Bush to reform the agency.
Failure of U.S. Policy in Southeast Asia
President Ford was unable to get additional funds from Congress for the South Vietnamese, who in 1974 were facing strong attack from Communist forces.
Fall of Saigon. In April 1975, the U.S.-supported government in Saigon fell to the enemy, and Vietnam became one country under the rule of the Communist government in Hanoi (North Vietnam’s capital). Just before the final collapse, the United States was able to evacuate about 150,000 Vietnamese who had supported the United States and now faced certain persecution. The fall of South Vietnam marked a low point of American prestige overseas and confidence at home.
Genocide in Cambodia. Also in 1975, the U.S.-supported government in neighboring Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge, a radical Communist faction that conducted genocide against over a million of its own people. In an attempt to compensate for the failure of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia, President Ford ordered an attack on a Cambodian naval base that had captured the U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez. The action helped free the 39 crewmen, but 38 marines died in the assault.
Future of Southeast Asia. The fall of Cambodia seemed to fulfill Eisenhower’s domino theory, but in fact the rest of Southeast Asia did not fall to communism. Instead, such nations as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia emerged as the “little tigers” of the vigorously growing Asian (Pacific Rim) economy. Some argued that U.S. support of South Vietnam was not a waste, because it bought time for other nations of East Asia and Southeast Asia to develop and better resist communism.
The Economy and Domestic Policy
On domestic matters, Ford proved less accommodating and more conservative than Nixon. His chief concern was bringing inflation under control. He urged voluntary measures on the part of businesses and consumers, including the wearing of WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now). Not only did inflation continue, but the economy also sank deeper into recession, with the unemploy- ment rate reaching over 9 percent. Ford finally agreed to a Democratic package to stimulate the economy, but he vetoed 39 other Democratic bills.
Bicentennial celebration. In 1976, the United States celebrated its 200th birthday. Americans’ pride in their history helped to put Watergate and Vietnam behind them. Even the lackluster presidency of Gerald Ford served the purpose of restoring candor and humility to the White House.
The Election of 1976
Watergate still cast its gloom over the Republican party in the 1976 elections. President Ford was challenged for the party’s nomination by Ronald Reagan, a former actor and ex-governor of California, who enjoyed the support of the more conservative Republicans. Ford won the nomination in a close battle, but the conflict with Reagan hurt him in the polls.
Emergence of Jimmy Carter. A number of Democrats competed for their party’s nomination, including a little-known former governor of Georgia, James Earl (Jimmy) Carter. With Watergate still on voters’ minds, Carter had success running as an outsider against the corruption in Washington. His victo- ries in open primaries reduced the influence of more experienced Democratic politicians. After watching his huge lead in the polls evaporate in the closing days of the campaign, Carter managed to win a close election (287 electoral votes to 241 for Ford) by carrying most of the South. Democrats also won strong majorities in both houses of Congress.
Jimmy Carter’s Presidency
The informal style of Jimmy Carter signaled an effort to end the imperial presidency. On his inaugural day, he walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House instead of riding in the presidential limousine. Public images of the president carrying his own luggage may have impressed average Americans. Veteran members of Congress, however, always viewed Carter as an outsider, who depended too much on his politically inexperienced advisers from Georgia. Even Carter’s keen intelligence and dedication to duty may have been partly a liability in causing him to pay close attention to all the details of government operations. Critics observed that, when it came to distinguishing between the forest and the trees, Carter was a “leaf man.”
Foreign Policy
The hallmark of Carter’s foreign policy was human rights, which he preached with Wilsonian fervor to the world’s dictators.
Human rights diplomacy. Carter appointed Andrew Young, an African American, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Young champi- oned the cause of human rights by denouncing the oppression of the black majority in South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In Latin America, human rights violations by the military governments of Argentina and Chile caused Carter to cut off U.S. aid to those countries.
Panama Canal. The Carter administration attempted to correct inequities in the original Panama Canal Treaty of 1903 by negotiating a new treaty. In 1978, after long debate, the Senate ratified a treaty that would gradually transfer operation and control of the Panama Canal from the United States to the Panamanians, a process to be completed by the year 2000. Opponents would remember Carter’s “give away” of the canal in the 1980 election.
Camp David Accords (1978). Perhaps Carter’s single greatest achievement as president was arranging a peace settlement between Egypt and Israel. In 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took the first courageous step toward Middle East peace by visiting Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in Jerusalem. President Carter followed this bold initiative by inviting Sadat and Begin to meet again at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland. With Carter acting as an intermediary, the two leaders negotiated the Camp David Accords (September 1978), which provided a framework for a peace settlement between their countries.
Later, as a result of a peace treaty concluded in 1979, Egypt became the first Arab nation to recognize the nation of Israel. In return, Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai territory taken from Egypt in the Six-Day War of and most of the Arab world, but it proved the first step in the long road to a negotiated peace in the Middle East.
Iran and the hostage crisis. The Middle East was also the setting for Carter’s greatest frustration and defeat. In 1979, Islamic fundamentalists in Iran, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, overthrew the shah’s dictatorial government. The shah had kept the oil flowing for the West during the 1970s, but his autocratic rule and policy of westernization had alienated a large part of the Iranian population.
With the ayatollah and fundamentalists in power, Iranian oil production ground to a halt, causing the second worldwide oil shortage of the decade and another round of price increases. U.S. impotence in dealing with the crisis became more evident in November 1979 when Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran and held more than 50 members of the American staff as prisoners and hostages. The hostage crisis dragged out through the remainder of Carter’s presidency. In April 1980, Carter approved a rescue mission, but the breakdown of the helicopters over the Iranian desert forced the United States to abort the mission. For many Americans, Carter’s unsuccessful attempts to free the hostages became a symbol of a failed presidency.
Cold War. President Carter attempted to continue the Nixon-Ford policy of de´tente with China and the Soviet Union. In 1979, the United States ended its official recognition of the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan and completed the first exchange of ambassadors with the People’s Republic of China. At first, de´tente also moved ahead with the Soviet Union with the signing in 1979 of a SALT II treaty, which provided for limiting the size of each superpower’s nuclear delivery system. The Senate never ratified the treaty, however, as a result of a renewal of Cold War tensions over Afghanistan.
In December 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan—an aggressive action that ended a decade of improving U.S.-Soviet relations. The United States feared that the invasion might lead to a Soviet move to control the oil- rich Persian Gulf. Carter reacted by (1) placing an embargo on grain exports and the sale of high technology to the Soviet Union and (2) boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. After having campaigned for arms reduction, Carter now had to switch to an arms buildup.
Domestic Policy: Dealing With Inflation
At home, the biggest issue was the growing inflation rate. At first Carter tried to check inflation with measures aimed at conserving oil energy and reviving the U.S. coal industry. The compromises that came out of Congress, however, failed either to reduce the consumption of oil or to check inflation. In 1979–1980, inflation seemed completely out of control and reached the unheard of rate of 13 percent. Businesses could no longer afford the high interest rates that came with high prices. The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Paul Volcker, hoped to break the back of inflation by pushing interest rates even higher, to 20 percent in 1980. These rates especially hurt the automobile and building industries, which laid off tens of thousands of workers. Inflation also pushed middle- class taxpayers into higher tax brackets, which led to a “taxpayers’ revolt.” Government social programs that were indexed to the inflation rate helped to push the federal deficit to nearly $60 billion in 1980. Many Americans had to adjust to the harsh truth that, for the first time since World War II, their standard of living was on the decline.
Loss of Popularity
Intelligence, effort, and integrity were not enough to get Jimmy Carter through the Iranian hostage crisis and worsening economic crisis. In 1979, in what the press called Carter’s “national malaise” speech, he blamed the problems of the United States on a “moral and spiritual crisis” of the American people. By that time, however, many Americans blamed the president for weak and indecisive leadership. By the election year 1980 his approval rating had fallen to only 23 percent. In seeking a second term, the unpopular president was clearly vulnerable to political challenges from both Democrats and Republicans.
American Society in Transition
Social changes in the 1970s were of potentially even greater significance than politics. By the end of the decade, for the first time, half of all Americans lived in the fastest-growing sections of the country—the South and the West. Unlike the previous decade, which was dominated by the youth revolt, Ameri- cans were conscious in the seventies that the population was aging. The fastest growing age group was senior citizens over 65.
The country’s racial and ethnic composition was also changing noticeably in the final decades of the 20th century. By 1990, minority groups made up 25 percent of the population. The Census Bureau predicted that, by 2050, as much as half the population would be Hispanic American, African American, or Asian American. Cultural pluralism was replacing the melting pot as the model for U.S. society, as diverse ethnic and cultural groups strove not only to end discrimination and improve themselves but also to celebrate their unique values and traditions.
Growth of Immigration
Before the 1960s, most immigrants to the United States had come from Europe and Canada. By the 1980s, 47 percent of immigrants came from Latin America, 37 percent from Asia, and less than 13 percent from Europe and Canada. In part, this dramatic shift was caused by the arrival of refugees leaving Cuba and Vietnam after the Communist takeovers of these countries. Of far greater importance was the impact of the Immigration Act of 1965, which ended the ethnic quota acts of the 1920s favoring Europeans and thereby opened the United States to immigrants from all parts of the world.
Illegal immigrants. How many immigrants entered the United States illegally every year could only be estimated, but by the mid-1970s, the immigration commission concluded that as many as 12 million foreigners were in the U.S. illegally. The rise in illegal immigrants from countries of Latin America and Asia led to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which penalized employers for hiring illegal immigrants while also granting amnesty to illegal immigrants arriving by 1982. Even so, many Americans concluded that the nation had lost control of its own borders, as both legal and illegal immigrants continued to flock to the United States at an estimated million persons a year.
Demands for Minority Rights
One aspect of the protest movements of the 1960s that continued into later decades was the movement by different minorities to gain both relief from discrimination and recognition for their contributions to U.S. society.
Hispanic Americans. Most Hispanic Americans before World War II lived in the southwestern states, but in the postwar years new arrivals from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and South and Central America increasingly settled in the East and Midwest. Mexican workers, after suffering deportation during the Great Depression, were encouraged to come to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s to take low-paying agricultural jobs. They were widely exploited before the long series of boycotts led by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Organization finally gained collective bargaining rights for farm workers in 1975. Chicano (Mexican American) activists also won a federal mandate for bilingual education requiring schools to teach Hispanic children in both English and Spanish. In the 1980s, a growing number of Hispanic Americans were elected to public office, including mayors of such large cities as Miami and San Antonio. The Census Bureau reported that, in 2000, Hispanics, including Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latin Americans, had become the country’s largest minority group.
Native American movement. In the 1950s, the Eisenhower administration had made an unsuccessful attempt to encourage Native Americans to leave reservations and assimilate into urban America. Native American leaders resisted the loss of cultural identity that would have resulted from such a policy.
To achieve self-determination and revival of tribal traditions, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in 1968. Militant actions soon followed, including AIM’s takeover of the abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in 1969. AIM members also occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973, site of the infamous massacre of Native Americans by the U.S. cavalry in 1890.
The movement had a number of successes both in Congress and the courts. Congress’ passage of the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 gave reservations and tribal lands greater control over internal programs, education, and law enforcement. Native Americans also used the federal courts successfully to regain property or compensation for treaty violations. Widespread unemploy- ment and poverty on reservations was attacked by improving education, through the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978, and also by building industries and gambling casinos on reservations, under the self- determination legislation.
Native Americans also gained the support of public opinion, as the story of their historic oppression was given a sympathetic retelling in such popular films as Dances With Wolves (1990). By 1990, a growing Native American population numbered 1.5 million, with about half the people living on tribal reservations.
Asian Americans. Americans of Asian birth and descent had become the fastest growing ethnic minority by the 1980s. The largest group of Asian Americans were of Chinese ancestry, followed by Filipinos, Japanese, Indians, Koreans, and Vietnamese. A strong dedication to education resulted in Asian Americans being well represented in the best colleges and universities. In some parts of the country, however, Asian Americans suffered from discrimination, envy, and Japan-bashing, while the less educated immigrants earned well below the national average.
Gay liberation movement. In 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, sparked both a riot and the gay rights movement. Gay activists urged homosexuals to be open about their identity and to work to end discrimination and violent abuse. By the mid-1970s, homosexuality was no longer classified as a mental illness and the federal Civil Service dropped its ban on employment of homosexuals. In 1993, President Clinton attempted to end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military, but settled for the compromise “don’t-ask, don’t-tell” policy.
The Environmental Movement
The participation of 20 million citizens in the first Earth Day in 1970 reflected the nation’s growing concerns over pollution and the destruction of the natural environment. It also was a vivid example of the increased questioning of technological progress in the last decades of the 20th century. Massive oil spills around the world, such as the Exxon Valdez tanker accident in Alaska in 1989, reinforced fears about the deadly combination of human error and modern technology. Public opinion also turned against building additional nuclear power plants after an accident at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania (1979) and the deadly explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Soviet Union (1986).
Protective legislation. Conservationists demanded laws that would pro- tect against pollution and destruction of the environment. In 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act and created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and followed this legislation in 1972 with the Clean Water Act. In 1980, the Superfund was created to clean up toxic dumps, such as Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York.
The protest movements by diverse groups in American society seemed to produce more social stress and fragmentation. Combined with a slowing econ- omy and a declining standard of living, these forces left many Americans feeling angry and bitter. A conservative reaction to the liberal policies of the New Deal and the Great Society was gaining strength in the late 1970s and would prove a powerful force in the politics of the next decade.