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Chapter 29 Disorder and Discontent, 1969-1980. The American People , 6 th ed. The Decline of Liberalism. The Republican Agenda. Nixon was willing to use economic tools to maintain fiscal stability Although parts of his monetary plan worked, inflation plagued the economy
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Chapter 29Disorder and Discontent, 1969-1980 The American People, 6th ed.
The Republican Agenda • Nixon was willing to use economic tools to maintain fiscal stability • Although parts of his monetary plan worked, inflation plagued the economy • Nixon worked to control the communications industry as best he could, denounced “disruptive elements” of the population, and was able to appoint four Supreme Court justices
Civil Rights • Nixon was less sympathetic to the cause of civil rights than his Democratic predecessors • Nixon felt that any effort to woo the black electorate in the South was a waste of his time • Nixon denounced busing of Black students into white school districts, effectively prolonging segregation in the South
Vietnamization • This was Nixon’s plan to bring American soldiers home from the Vietnam war by gradually replacing American forces with Vietnamese troops • With this reduction of troop number, Nixon ramped up the bombing of North Vietnam and (illegally) extended the destruction to Cambodia and Laos
The End of the War • The conflict in Vietnam lingered past Nixon’s reelection in 1972 until the spring of 1975 • The Communist-aided North finally broke through weakened South Vietnamese lines and took Saigon • 58,000 men and women had died in the war
Watergate • Early in 1972, Nixon’s aides proposed an elaborate scheme to wiretap various leaders of the Democratic Party and use gained information to disrupt their nomination process in the upcoming election • The wiretappers were arrested and every member of the Nixon administration was suspected • The lengthy unraveling of the facts took several years and led to the eventual resignation of Nixon
Ford and Carter • Gerald Ford became president upon the resignation of Richard Nixon and handily lost to former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election • Carter stood for honesty, home-spun virtue and a reduction of presidential powers • Severe problems with the economy and American hostages in revolutionary Iran spelled his political downfall after one term
Attacking the Feminine Mystique • National Organization for Women (NOW): a pressure group concerned with the promotion of equal opportunity for women • The combined women’s movement pushed for adoption of an Equal Rights Amendment, but the required 38 states for ratification could not be achieved
Protests • This era saw fledgling protest movements in the Latino communities of America and a resurgence of “nationalism” within the various Native American tribes who were eager to use the legal system to try to win back their original lands stolen by the U.S. • Gays, Lesbians, Environmentalists and Consumer advocates used the era to promote their causes and encourage national change