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Chapter 39

Chapter 39. The Stalemated Seventies, 1968–1980. I. Sources of Stagnation. Causes of the slump in productivity: The increase of women and teenagers in the work force The declining investment in new machinery The heavy costs of compliance with government-imposed safety and heath regulations

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Chapter 39

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  1. Chapter 39 The Stalemated Seventies, 1968–1980

  2. I. Sources of Stagnation • Causes of the slump in productivity: • The increase of women and teenagers in the work force • The declining investment in new machinery • The heavy costs of compliance with government-imposed safety and heath regulations • The general shift of the American economy from manufacturing to services • The Vietnam War precipitated painful economy distortions • It drained tax dollars from needed improvements in education; deflected scientific skill and manufacturing capacity from the civilian sector

  3. I. Sources of Stagnation(cont.) • Inflation causes: • Rising oil prices in the 1970s • Deepest roots lay in deficit spending in the 1960s • Especially Lyndon Johnson’s insistence on simultaneously fighting the war in Vietnam, funding of the Great Society programs at home • Military spending and welfare spending are inherently inflationary: • Because they put money into people’s hands without adding to the supply of goods that those dollars can buy.

  4. I. Sources of Stagnation(cont.) • Inflation effects: • Prices increased astonishingly throughout the 1970s • The cost of living tripled in the decades after Nixon’s inauguration—in the longest and steepest inflationary cycle in American history • The nation’s economy was laid bare by the abrupt reversal of America’s financial fortunes • Companies had small incentives to modernize plants and seek more efficient methods of production • Now a stalemated, unpopular war and a stagnant unresponsive economy heralded the end of the self-confident postwar era

  5. Figure 39-1 p916

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  7. II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War • Inaugurated on January 20, 1969, Richard Nixon was: • An unlikely conciliator of the clashing forces ripping apart American society • Solitary and suspicious by nature, he could be brittle and testy in the face of opposition • Harbored bitter resentments against the “liberal establishment” • Yet, he brought one huge valuable asset to the White House: • His broad knowledge and thoughtful expertise in foreign affairs • Applied himself to put America’s foreign-policy in order.

  8. II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War(cont.) • Vietnamization policy: • Was to withdraw the 540,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam over an extended period • The South Vietnamese—with American money, weapons, training, and advice—could then gradually take over the burden of fighting their own war • Nixon Doctrine thus evolved: • Proclaimed that the United States would honor its existing defense commitments

  9. II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War(cont.) • But in the future, Asians and others would have to fight their own wars without the support of large bodies of American ground troops • He sought not to end the war, but to win it by other means • Without the spilling of American blood • Antiwar protesters staged a massive national Vietnam moratorium in October 1969 • Nixon launched a counteroffensive by appealing to the silent majority who presumably supported the war • His appeal was in fact deeply divisive • Became clear when Agnew attacked the “nattering nabobs of negativism” who demanded a quick end to the war

  10. II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War(cont.) • Nixon himself in 1970 sneered at the student antiwar demonstrators as “bums” • By January 1970 the Vietnam conflict: • Had become the longest in American history • With 40,000 killed and over 250,000 wounded • The third most costly foreign war in the nation’s experience • Became grotesquely unpopular, even among the troops in the field • The armed forces in Vietnam were largely composed of the least privileged young Americans

  11. II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War(cont.) • African Americans were disproportionately represented in the army and accounted for the highest share of combat fatalities • The soldiers: • Black and white fought the Vietnamese • But also the booby-trapped swamps and steaming jungles • Drug abuse, mutiny, and sabotage dulled the army’s fighting edge • Morale plummeted, with rumors that soldiers were “fragging” their own officers—murdering them with fragmentation grenades.

  12. II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War(cont.) • My Lai Massacre: • American troops had murdered innocent women and children in the village of My Lai • Caused domestic disgust with the war • Call for a quick end to the demoralizing conflict • Nixon widened the war in 1970 by ordering an attack on Vietnam’s neighbor, Cambodia.

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  14. III. Cambodianizing the Vietnam War • On April 29, 1970 Nixon, without consulting Congress, ordered • American troops to join with the South Vietnamese • To clean out the enemy sanctuaries in officially neutral Cambodia • There were a lot of campus riots over this move • At Kent State University in Ohio, jumpy National Guard fired into a noisy crowd, killing four and wounding many more • At historically black Jackson State College, Mississippi, the highway patrol discharged volleys, killing 2 students

  15. III. Cambodianizing the Vietnam War (cont.) • The nation fell prey to turmoil as rioters and arsonists convulsed the land. • Nixon withdrew the American troops from Cam-bodia on June 29, 1970, after only two months • Results of the Cambodian invasion: • Deepened the bitterness between “hawks” and “doves” • Disillusionment with “whitey’s war” increased among African Americans in the armed forces • The Senate (but not the House) overwhelmingly repealed the Gulf of Tonkin blank check that Congress gave to Johnson in 1964

  16. III. Cambodianizing the Vietnam(cont.) • American youth were only slightly mollified when the government reduced the draft calls • And shortened the period of draftability, on a lottery basis, from eight years to one year • They were pleased, though not pacified, when the Twenty-sixth Amendment in 1971 lowered the voting age to eighteen (see the Appendix) • New combustibles fueled the fires of antiwar discontent in June, 1971: • When a former Pentagon official leaked to the New York Times the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study that documented the blunders and deceptions of the war, especially the provoking of the 1964 North Vietnamese attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.

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  19. IV. Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow • Nixon—the road out of Vietnam ran through Beijing and Moscow: • The two great Communist powers, the Soviet Union and China, were clashing with each other over their rival interpretation of Marxism • Nixon perceived that the Chinese-Soviet tension afforded the United States an opportunity to play off one antagonist against the other • And to enlist the aid of both in pressuring North Vietnam into peace • Henry Kissinger had been meeting secretly with the North Vietnamese officials in Paris to negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam

  20. IV. Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow (cont.) • He was meanwhile preparing the president’s path to Beijing and Moscow • In July 1971 Nixon announced to the nation that he had accepted an invitation to visit Communist China the following year • He made his historic journey in February 1972 • He capped his visit with the Shanghai Communiqué: • In which the two nations agreed to “normalize” their relationship • Important part of the accord was America’s acceptance of a “one-China” policy • Implying a lessened American commitment to the independence of Taiwan.

  21. IV. Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow (cont.) • Nixon next traveled to Moscow in May 1972: • To play his “China card” in a game of high-stakes diplomacy in the Kremlin • The Soviets were ready to deal with the United States. • Nixon’s visit ushered in an era of détente: • Relaxed tension—with the two communist powers • And produced several significant agreements in 1972 • Including a three year arrangement with the United States to sell the Soviets at least $750 million worth of wheat, corn, and other cereals • Most important, the United States and the USSR agreed to an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty • Which limited each nation to two clusters of defensive missiles

  22. IV. Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow (cont.) • And to a series of arms-reduction negotiations known as SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) • Aimed at freezing the numbers of long-range missiles for five years. • The ABM and SALT accords were a first step toward slowing down the arms race • The United States forged ahead with the development of “MIRVs” (multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles) • Designed to overcome any defense by “saturating” it with large numbers of warheads. • The Soviets proceeded to “MIRV” their missiles • And the arms race sped up to a perilous plateau, with over 16,000 nuclear warheads deployed.

  23. IV. Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow (cont.) • Nixon’s détente diplomacy did, to some extent, deice the Cold War: • Nixon continued to remain staunchly anticom- munist • He opposed the election of the outspoken Marxist Salvador Allende to the presidency of Chile in 1970 • Allende died from an army attack on his headquarters in 1973 • Washington warmly embraced Allende’s successor, military dictator General Augusto Pinochet • Nixon’s actions set the stage for the United States exit from Vietnam.

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  25. V. A New Team on the Supreme Bench • Nixon and the Supreme Court • Nixon lashed out against the “permissiveness” and “judicial activism” of the Warren Court • The court’s decisions reflected its deep concern for the individual, no matter how lowly • In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) the Court struck down a state law that prohibited the use of contraceptives, even among married couples • In 1963 the Court held (Gideon v. Wainwright) that all criminal defendants were entitled to legal counsel, even if they were too poor to afford it

  26. V. A New Term on the Supreme Bench (cont.) • Escobedo (1964) and Miranda (1966) ensured the right of the accused to remain silent and enjoy protections • Miranda warning –police officers must read to suspects • These rulings sought to prevent abusive police tactics, but seemed to conservatives to coddle criminals and subvert law and order.

  27. V. A New Term on the SupremeBench (cont.) • Conservatives objected to the Court’s views on religion: • Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School District of Abingdon Township v. Schempp (1963) • Justices argued that the First Amendment’s separation of church and state meant that public schools could not require prayer or Bible reading • Social conservatives raised anew the battle cry “Impeach Earl Warren” (see p. 868) • From 1954 the Court came under relentless criticism, the bitterest since New Deal days.

  28. V. A New Term on the Supreme Bench (cont.) • Fulfilling campaign promises, Nixon under- took to change the Court’s philosophical complexion: • He sought appointees who would strictly interpret the Constitution: • Cease “meddling” in social and political questions • Not coddle radicals or criminals • He appointed Warren E. Burger to succeed Earl Warren on his retirement • Before the end of 1971, Nixon had appointed four conservatives out of the nine members.

  29. V. A New Term on the Supreme Bench (cont.) • Nixon’s lesson to be learned: • Once seated on the high bench, • The justices are fully free to think and decide according to their own beliefs, not according to the president’s expectations • The Burger Court: • Proved reluctant to dismantle the “liberal” rulings of the Warren Court • It produced the most controversial judicial opinion, the momentous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 • Which legalized abortion (see. 932)

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  31. VI. Nixon on the Home Front • Nixon presided over significant expansion of the welfare programs that conservative Republicans routinely denounced: • He approved increased appropriations for entitlements like Food Stamps, Medicaid, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) • Adding a new program: Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to assist the indigent, aged, blind, and disabled • He signed legislation in 1972 for automatic Social Security cost-of-living increases. • In 1969 he implemented his so-called Philadelphia Plan: • Requiring trade unions to establish “goals and time- tables” for hiring of black apprentices.

  32. VI. Nixon on the Home Front(cont.) • The Philadelphia Plan: • Required thousands of employers to meet hiring quotas or to establish “set-asides” for minority subcontractors • Dramatically altered the meaning of “affirmative action” to protect individuals against discrimination • Nixon now transformed and escalated affirmative action into a program that conferred privileges on certain groups • The Supreme Court went along with Nixon’s approach • In Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) the Court prohibited intelligence tests or other devices that had the effect of excluding minorities or women from certain jobs.

  33. VI. Nixon on the Home Front(cont.) • The only sure protection against charges of discrim-ination was to hire minority workers • Or admit minority students—in proportion to their presence in the population • Critics saw this as “reverse discrimination.” • Nixon’s legacies: • The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): concern for the environment • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962); piece of muck- raking that exposed the poisonous effects of pesticides

  34. VI. Nixon on the Home Front(cont.) • On April 22, 1970, millions of environmentalists around the world celebrated the first Earth Day: • To raise awareness and to encourage leaders to act • The Congress passed the Clean Air Act (1970) • The Endangered Species Act (1973) • EPA on the frontline of the battle for ecological sanity • And made notable progress in reducing automobile emissions and cleaning up befouled waterways and toxic waste sites. • The federal government expanded its regulatory reach on behalf of workers and consumers • 1970 Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) into law

  35. VI. Nixon on the Home Front(cont.) • Creating an agency dedicated • To improving working conditions • Preventing work-related accidents and death • Issuing safety standards • The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): • Holding companies accountable for selling dangerous products • In 1971 Nixon imposed a ninety-day wage and price • He took the United States off the gold standard and devalued the dollar • These two rules ended the “Bretton Woods” system of international currency stabilization that had functioned for a quarter of a century after World War II (see p. 841).

  36. VI. Nixon on the Home Front(cont.) • Elected as a minority president: • With only 43% of the vote in 1968 • He devised a clever but cynical plan—called the southern strategy— • To achieve a solid majority in 1972 • Appointing conservative Supreme Court justices • Soft-pedaling civil rights • Opposing school busing to achieve racial balance.

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  38. VII. The Nixon Landslide of 1972 • Election of 1972: • Foreign policy dominated the presidential campaign • Vietnam continued to be the burning issue • Nixon promised to end the war and “win” the peace • When the North Vietnamese burst through the demilitarized zone separating the two Vietnams, Nixon reacted promptly by launching massive bombing attacks • He also ordered the dropping of contact mines to blockade the principal harbors of North Vietnam • The continuing Vietnam conflict spurred the rise of South Dakota senator George McGovern to the 1972 Democratic nomination.

  39. VII. The Nixon Landslide of 1972(cont.) • George McGovern: • Promised to pull the remaining American troops out of Vietnam in ninety days: • Earned him the backing of a large antiwar element in the party • His appeal to racial minorities , feminists, leftists, and youth alienated the traditional working-class of his party • Richard Nixon: • Emphasized that he had wound down the “Democratic war” in Vietnam from 540,000 to about 30,000.

  40. VII. The Nixon Landslide of 1972(cont.) • His candidacy received an added boost 12 days before the election from Henry Kissinger announcing that “peace is at hand” in Vietnam and that an agreement would be reached in a few days • Nixon won the election in a landslide: • Won all states except Massachusetts and the nonstate District of Columbia (see Appendix) • He received 520 electoral votes to 17 for McGovern • Popular majority of 47,169,911 to 29,170,383 votes. • McGovern counted on the young people’s vote, but less than half the 18-20 age group even bothered to register to vote.

  41. VII. The Nixon Landslide of 1972 (cont.) • The dove of peace, “at hand” in Vietnam just before the balloting, took flight after the election • Fighting escalated in Vietnam • Nixon launched a furious two-week bombing • North Vietnamese negotiators agreed to a cease-fire in the Treaty of Paris on January 23, 1973, nearly three months after peace was prematurely proclaimed. • Nixon hailed it as “peace with honor” • The United States was to withdraw its remaining 27,000 troops, and reclaim 560 American prisoners of war.

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  43. VIII. The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act • Continual warfare in Cambodia: • In July 1973 it was learned that the U.S. Air Force had secretly conducted 3,500 bombings • While these forays were going on, American officials, including the president, had sworn that Cambodian neutrality was being respected • Defiance followed secretiveness: • In January 1973 Nixon brazenly continued large-scale bombing • He repeated vetoed congressional efforts to stop him.

  44. VIII. The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers • The years of bombing inflicted grisly wounds on Cambodia • Blasting its people • Shredding its economy • Revolutionizing its politics. • The long-suffering Cambodians groaned under the sadistic heel of Pol Pot: • 2 million of his people were dispatched to their graves • He was eventually forced from office.

  45. VIII. The Secret Bombings of Cambodia and the War Powers • War Powers Act in November 1973: • Passed over Nixon’s veto • It required the president to report to Congress within forty-eight hours after committing troops to a foreign conflict or “substantially” enlarging combat units • Such a limited authorization would have to end within sixty days unless extended by Congress for 30 days • The War Powers Act was one manifestation of what came to be called “New Isolationism,” a mood of caution and restraint • The draft ended in January 1973 • Future members of armed forces were volunteers

  46. IX. The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis • Yom Kippur War: • The Middle East erupted in October 1973 • Syria and Egypt attacked Israel to regain land lost during the Six-Day War, 1967 • Kissinger flew to Moscow in an effort to restrain the Soviets, who were arming the attackers • Nixon placed America’s nuclear forces on alert and ordered a gigantic airlift of $2 billion in war materials to the Israelis • The Israelis aggressively turned the tide and threat-ened Cairo itself.

  47. IX. The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis (cont.) • America’s policy of backing Israel against its oil-rich neighbors exacted a heavy penalty: • In October 1973, OPEC nations announced an embargo of the United States and several European allies supporting Israel, especially the Netherlands • The oil-rich Arab states cut their oil production • The shortage triggered a major economic recession, not only in the United States, but France and Britain • The “energy crisis” energized long-deferred projects: • Congress approved a costly Alaska pipeline • National speed limit of 55 miles per hour to cut costs

  48. IX. The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis (cont.) • Agitation movement of heavier use of coal and nuclear power • The 5 months of the Arab “blackmail” embargo in 1974 signaled the end of an era • The era of cheap and abundant energy • Since 1948 the United States had been a net importer • American oil production peaked in 1970, than declined • Americans had tripled their usage since World War II • Automobiles increased 250% between 1949-1972 • By 1974 America was oil-addicted and extremely vulnerable to any interruption in supplies.

  49. XI. The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis (cont.) • OPEC quadrupled its price for crude oil after lifting the embargo in 1974 • Results: • Huge new oil bills disrupted the U.S. balance of inter- national trade • Added further fuel to the raging fire of inflation • U.S. took the lead to form the International Energy Agency in 1974: • Counterweight to OPEC • And various sectors of the economy • Dawning age of energy dependency

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