Post-Watergate: Anger, Apathy, Alienation

1. Post-Watergate: Anger, Apathy, Alienation Q. How did the 1970s set the stage for the 1980s?

2. Malaise: n. 2. A vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.

3. I. Economic Malaise • End of the “golden era”: 1947-1973

5. A) Underlying structural reasons: relative economic decline

6. “Benefits” of bombing

7. A) Underlying structural reasons: relative economic decline • B) Policy mistakes: LBJ and RMN

9. A) Underlying structural reasons: relative economic decline • B) Policy mistakes: LBJ and RMN • C) OPEC and Oil Shock: “stagflation”

11. A) Underlying structural reasons: relative economic decline • B) Policy mistakes: LBJ and RMN • C) OPEC and Oil Shock: “stagflation” • Stagnation + inflation began before, but oil shock worsened Fed + Pres errors

12. II. Political Malaise A. A Ford, Not a Lincoln

15. II. Political Malaise • “A Ford, Not a Lincoln” • Jimmy Carter: Problems without Solutions

17. "Let's talk better mileage" - Jimmy Carter "Kill the Bastards" - Ronald Reagan Campaign '80Which message will resonate with voters? Fake: From “The Onion”

18. II. Political Malaise • “A Ford, Not a Lincoln” • Jimmy Carter: Problems without Solutions • Decline in Voter Participation - all the same, why care?

20. III. Cultural Malaise: The “Me” Decade • San Francisco • A) People’s Temple: Jim Jones—Don’t Drink the KoolAid

22. Jonestown, Guyana November 18, 1978

23. III. Cultural Malaise • San Francisco • A) People’s Temple: Jim Jones—Don’t Drink the KoolAid • B) Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army

25. III. Cultural Malaise • San Francisco • A) People’s Temple: Jim Jones—Don’t Drink the KoolAid • B) Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army • C) Dan White, Harvey Milk, and the “Twinkie Defense” • Really just argued that it was a symptom of the depression, not the cause

26. Harvey Milk George Moscone Dan White

27. Disco: symptom or cause?

28. The Rise of the New Right

29. The New Right • Major shift in national politics: Democrats (esp. liberals) dominant 1932-1968 • Like the New Left: break from past • Emphasize social and cultural conservatism • Although also political and economic • Old Right: Northeast • New Right: Southeast and Southwest

30. I. Decline of the New Deal Coalition • New Deal Coalition: working class, suburban whites, minorities, Catholics, white southerners • Benefits to blacks limited by Southern Democrats • 1960s: loss of “moral compass” Republicans: common sense against liberals, bureaucrats, communists, blacks

31. II. Cracks in the New Deal Coalition A. White Southerners and Civil Rights • 1948: Strom Thurmond and Dixiecrats • 1964: Barry Goldwater • Breaks Solid South • First use of “New Right” • 1968: George Wallace, American Independent Party • Support: Deep South, blue collar NE

32. A. Backlash Against CRM • 1966: Reagan and CA Governor’s Race— Rumford Fair Housing Act (1963): no discrimination in housing; repealed in referendum 2:1 (later reinstated) • Affirmative Action: 1978 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke • “reverse discrimination” • Quotas out, race as a factor • Busing: boycotts, private schools

33. B. Backlash Against Student Movement • Reagan and Wallace vs. Pat Brown and UC Berkeley • Brown sent in cops, but poured in $ (tuition $100/yr) • Gov. Reagan: make the ungrateful brats pay and workno time for activism

34. C. Backlash against the Women’s Movement • 1972: ERA passes Congress overwhelmingly • 1973: Roe v. Wade • Phyllis Schlafly: “Stop ERA” and Eagle Forum—ERA and feminism are a “satanic assault on the home” • Stops ERA 3 states short

35. D. Backlash against the Gay Rights Movement • Most shocking to the New Right • 1975: CA repeals sodomy law by 1 vote • Anita Bryant, “Save Our Children”

36. III. Reagan’s Message and “Cultural War” 1. Not strong civil rights, but did not race bait: roll back Federal government, less “social engineering”: can’t legislate morality 2. Reclaim American respect abroad: Build up military to stand up to USSR and Iran

37. 3. Side-step uncomfortable facts of the past: “Mickey Mouse History”; we won Vietnam 4. Cut taxes: “Voodoo Economics”

38. 1992 Republican Convention in Houston: Pat Buchanan proclaims a “cultural war” for America’s soul • Helps lose Bush the election: Reagan arose at peak of conservative popularity • Bush II and resurgence (as much structural as popular; 9-11)