The Age of Disillusionment America in the Seventies

1
The Age of Disillusionment America in the
Seventies

• History 17B
• Lecture 23

2
Dazed and Confused

• Popular media portrayals and the 1970s.

3
A Turning Point

• Social Movements from 1960s advanced.
• Backlash by Americans feeling economic insecurity
  and loss.
• Contributes to rightward turn in American
  politics.
• New Deal liberal reform movement shattered.
• Culture wars we are still fighting.

4
1960s Hangover

• National exhaustion from the reform and conflict
  of the 1960s, but still an ongoing commitment to
  social change by
• Environmentalists, feminists, gays and lesbians,
  people of color

5
Environmentalism

• Rachel Carson and DDT
• Fossil fuels and chemicals threatening global
  warming.
• Earth Day April 22, 1970
• Rights of nature

6
Three Mile Island

• Dangers to use of alternative sources of energy.
• 100,000 residents evacuated after nuclear power
  plant experiences near meltdown.
• Increase in cancer cases reported afterwards.
• We still debate the safety of nuclear power today.

7
Feminist Movement

• Outgrowth of the Civil Rights and Anti-War
  movements.
• Consciousness-raising sessions.
• National Organization for Women (NOW) issues
• equal pay
• Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
• reproductive rights
• Roe v. Wade (1973)

8
Gay Rights

• Stonewall Riot, June 27, 1969
• Gay Liberation movement demands equal protection
• American Psychiatric Association declassifies
  homosexuality as mental disorder (1974)

9
Civil Rights and Identity Politics

• Expansion of Affirmative Action
• Policies to redress historical patterns of race
  and sex discrimination in education and
  employment.
• Court-mandated busing to achieve integration.
• American Indian Movement
• 71 day protest at Wounded Knee (1971)
• The Chicano and Asian American Movements
• Bilingual Education, ethnic studies
• Cesar Chavez

10
Politics of Resentment

• Middle-Class and Blue Collar workers struggle to
  comprehend economic/cultural changes in U.S. and
  social problems.
• Economic Insecurity
• Vietnam War increases inflation (too many
  dollars chasing too few goods.)
• Higher prices and an end to increases in real
  incomes.
• Deindustrialization
• The United States lost between 32 and 38 million
  jobs in the 1970s.

11
Oil rose from 3 to 34 a barrel (1973-1979)
12
Stagflation in the 1970s

• Inflation reaches nearly 14 by 1980
• Catch 22 for Policymakers
• Increase interest rates to fight inflation will
  also slow down economy and make unemployment
  worse.
• Inflation seen as the worst evil.
• Interest rates hit 20 in 1980.
• Economy in a shambles.

13
Proposition 13

• Voters in California pass a measure to reduce
  property taxes (1978).
• Reduces government spending and requires cutbacks
  in social services.
• A conservative model to shrink government around
  the country.

14
Politics of Resentment

• White resentment of further calls for minority
  rights.
• Affirmative Action and Busing called reverse
  discrimination.
• Opposition to Feminist Movement
• Both among women and men.
• Stepford Wives

Boston Busing Protest, 1976
15
Conservative Christians

• Jerry Fallwell and the Moral Majority
• Support
• creationism in schools
• school prayer amendment
• government aid to religious schools

16
Watergate Scandal

• White House cover-up of break-in at Democratic HQ
  at Watergate Hotel.
• Tried to get FBI to shut down investigation.

• Nixon Refused to release personal audio tapes
  which detailed his orders for a cover-up.
• Saturday Night Massacre

17
Nixon Resigns

• Tapes show his involvement in cover-up and
  obstruction of justice.
• House votes articles of impeachment.
• First President to resign.
• August 8, 1974

18
President Gerald Ford

• Our long national nightmare is over.
• Ford pardons Nixon.

19
I will never lie to you.-- President Jimmy
Carter

• An ineffective president.
• Micromanaged affairs
• Played the outsider and alienated potential
  insider allies.
• Economic problems too big.

20
Loss of International Influence

• Fall of Saigon, 1975
• Crumbling relations between U.S. and Soviet Union
• Soviet Union supports revolutions in Africa and
  invades Afghanistan in 1979.

21
Iranian Hostage Crisis

• 53 Americans are taken hostage from the U.S.
  embassy in Iran in 1979.
• Failed U.S. rescue mission reinforces sense of
  helplessness.

22
Voter Revolt

• Americans seething with frustration at elected
  leaders and the political system.
• With economic troubles and international
  humiliation, Carter defeated in 1980 election.

23
Ronald Reagan

• Conservative Revolution sweeps the country.
• Promises low taxes, more defense spending, return
  to cultural values, balanced budget.
• Americans didnt believe himbut they wanted to.
• They liked his message and were willing to take a
  chance.

24
Cultural Wars

• A Paradox
• 1960s social movements gain strength in 1970s but
  fuel a politics of resentment, leading to
  conservative revolution.
• We still fight these culture wars today
• School curriculums
• Gay and Minority Rights
• Affirmative Action
• Role of Government
• Energy Policy
• Abortion and Reproductive Rights