Modern America 1960-2000

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Modern America1960-2000
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1960

• The election of 1960 was between Eisenhowers
  Vice President, the communist hunter, Richard M.
  Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy from
  Massachusetts
• In the first ever televised presidential debate
  the young and fresh-looking Kennedy appealed to
  the new television generation
• Kennedy was only the second Roman Catholic to be
  nominated for president and he had an
  Irish-American background
• But at 43 Kennedy became the youngest president

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Camelot

• Kennedys tenure was nicknamed the Camelot years
  
• The First Lady was the fashionable socialite
  Jackie Kennedy who did as much to promote the
  country as her husband
• With television the public could see the
  president playing with his children and on
  vacation and they relate to him as a family man
• Kennedy called his agenda the New Frontier and
  he wanted to extend the New Deal
• However even the Democratic Congress refused to
  co-operate

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• One of the presidents goals was to put the first
  man on the moon
• In 1961 Alan Shepard, Jr., became the first
  American in space
• In 1962 astronaut John Glenn, Jr., became the
  first American to orbit the Earth
• Congress rejected Medicare a social security
  program for the elderly
• Equally, Kennedys strong support for the Civil
  Right movement cost him the support of many
  whites
• November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in
  Dallas
• While Oswald was being moved from Dallas jail to
  another he was assassinated by Jack Ruby

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• The Warren Commission determined the assassin Lee
  Harvey Oswald had acted alone and there was no
  conspiracy
• Kennedy was succeeded by his Vice President
  Lyndon Baines Johnson from Texas
• Johnson was a skilled politician and he was able
  to push much of Kennedys legislation through
  Congress
• Johnsons plan was to create the Great Society
• With Kennedy seeming to be a martyr, Congress was
  more receptive to passing Johnsons agenda
• Medicare passed in 1965, as did Medicaid (paid
  for medical needs of the poor)
• Johnson urged the nation to wage unconditional
  war on poverty in America

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War on Poverty

• In response to Johnsons request Congress created
  the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Job
  Corps, and VISTA
• In the 1964 election Johnson faced the Republican
  Barry Goldwater of Arizona who was ultra
  conservative and against big government and civil
  rights
• Johnson won because the Democrats portrayed
  Goldwater as an extremist
• In the early 1960s the economy was strong and
  could support the Vietnam War and social programs
  but gradually the cost of the war forced a
  reduction in social spending

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1968

• The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon again
• Nixon called for a return of law and order and
  appealed to Middle America which was a good
  move after the liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson
• Nixon won and with his Vice President Spiro Agnew
  he set out to promote New Federalism
• His main goal was revenue sharing allowing the
  states some flexibility in spending federal money
• His money made more money available but also
  created inflation

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Stagflation

• Years of spending on the war and social programs
  started to drain the economy and led to
  stagflation
• Stagflation is a stagnant economy with inflation
• To avoid a disaster Nixon used Keynesian
  economics and abandoned any idea of balancing the
  budget
• The economy improved, the debt increased

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• In 1970 the Twenty-Sixth Amendment was passed and
  lowered the voting age from 21 to 18
• In the Korean War and Vietnam there had been no
  declaration of war and the president had sent
  troops Congress demanded more power
• In 1973 Congress passed the War Powers Resolution
  (over Nixons veto). The Resolution limited the
  presidents use of troops to 90 days without
  congressional approval

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Watergate

• In June 1972 5 burglars at the Watergate Hotel in
  Washington D.C. had been arrested
• When they talked it became clear they were part
  of a scheme to bug the Democratic national
  headquarters
• Nixon insisted he was not involved, but as the
  investigation progressed it became clear to all
  who was involved
• Nixon agreed to appoint an independent
  prosecutor, Archibald Cox, in an effort to clear
  his name

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• Cox ordered Nixon to cooperate in response Nixon
  ordered Cox be fired
• In what became known as the Saturday Night
  Massacre Two government officials resigned
  rather than fire Cox. A third official obliged
• In May, 1974 the House set up a special committee
  to consider impeachment
• While all this was going on Agnew was forced to
  resign because of bribery charges. Nixon
  appointed Gerald Ford the new Vice President
• The Supreme Court ruled Nixon could not hide
  behind executive privilege
• When it was clear Nixon was involved he resigned

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Gerald Ford

• Nixon resigned and was replaced by Ford
• Soon after taking office Ford pardoned Nixon
• In the wake of Watergate the activities of the
  FBI and CIA were investigated Kennedy had hired
  a mobster to assassinate Castro and Nixon had the
  president of Chile overthrown
• Because a weak economy and distrust after
  Watergate the Democrats won the White House in
  1976

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Jimmy Carter

• Carter was a liberal from Georgia who succeeded
  by claiming to be a Washington outsider
• Carter faced the same economic problems that had
  confronted Nixon and Ford
• He got into trouble with his own party when he
  tried to cut pork-barrel spending
• Carter made human rights his main agenda
• He was able to bring Israel and Egypt together
  for talks at Camp David in 1978 leading to a
  treaty the following year

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Central America

• Carter was interested in promoting social and
  political change in Latin America to stop
  communism
• In 1977 two treaties about the Panama Canal
  reached Congressa) Panama would run the
  waterwaybefore taking over control in 1999b)
  Guaranteed the neutrality of the waterway, but
  allowed for the US to use force to defend the
  canal
• The Senate ratified the treaties by one vote

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• Hard-line Republicans such as Ronald Reagan
  wanted to keep control of the canal
• In 1989 when the US was tired of the antics of
  Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega the launched
  a military raid to kidnap the dictator
• Noriega was put on trial in Miami and convicted
  of drug trafficking

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Nicaragua

• In 1979 Leftist forces ousted the US-backed
  dictator of Nicaragua
• The rebels called themselves Sandinistas
• The Sandinistas tried to organize a rebellion in
  neighboring El Salvador before the US stepped in
• The United States helped secretly organize
  counterrevolutionaries Contras
• President Reagan wanted to keep everything secret
  in case the people thought this was another
  Vietnam
• When the policies became public Congress withdrew
  aid for the Contras

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• Reagan persuaded friendly governments to help
  finance the rebellion
• Administration officials even used a secret fund
  of money that had been collected by selling arms
  to the Iranians
• Investigations into the Iran-Contras affair
  lasted months, but no evidence was found to
  attach blame to Reagan

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The End of the Cold War

• President Reagan was a hard-line anticommunist
  who increased military spending
• In 1983 he launched his costly and controversial
  Star Wars Initiative (SDI) to defend the United
  States from attack by using satellites
• The program was abandoned in the 1990s as
  ineffective and too costly
• In the 1980s the control of the Soviet Union was
  being challenged by a union group in Poland,
  known as Solidarity

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• In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the head of the
  Communist party and started to reform the Soviet
  Union
• He cut military spending and restarted détente
  with the United States and western Europe
• In 1987 at the Washington summit the two leaders
  signed the INF Treaty to limit nuclear missiles
• In 1988 George Bush, who had been Reagans Vice
  President became president
• In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down ending the Cold
  War
• In 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved and the
  Commonwealth of Independent States appeared

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The First Gulf War

• In 1990 Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded
  neighboring Kuwait
• The UN approved military action to liberate
  Kuwait
• In January 1991 the US-led Operation Desert Storm
  started and lasted until February 28 1991 when
  Kuwait was liberated

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The 1992 Election

• Despite the success of Operation Desert Storm the
  economy was faltering badly
• Bush did little to help and in the months
  following the war he watched his approval rating
  plummet
• By the time of the election people were looking
  for a change
• The Democrats nominated the youthful governor of
  Arkansas, Bill Clinton
• The Republicans re-nominated George Bush

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• The election changed when billionaire businessman
  Ross Perot ran as an independent
• Perot appealed to conservatives who wanted fiscal
  responsibility
• In July Perot announced he was not going to
  finish the race, but then in October he
  re-entered the contest
• In the election Perot took 19 of the popular
  vote mostly dissatisfied Republicans
• Clinton won the election and promoted himself as
  a new Democrat
• But in the 1994 off-year elections the
  Republicans captured both Houses of Congress

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• With control of Congress the Republicans
  attempted to stop the president
• By the time of the 1996 election the economy was
  riding the dot com boom and Clinton easily
  defeated Bob Dole
• However the Clintons were already being
  investigated for illegal investments in Arkansas,
  known as the Whitewater case
• The president was also charged with having an
  affair with a 22-year old intern, Monica
  Lewinsky, and lying under oath
• In December 1999 the House voted to impeach the
  president

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• The verdict was not guilty of perjury and
  obstruction of justice, so the president was
  allowed to remain in office
• Nevertheless his integrity was badly damaged and
  in the election of 2000 the president was of
  little help to his Vice President Al Gore
• In one of the most controversial elections in
  history George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and
  son of the former president defeated Al Gore by 5
  electoral votes
• The main issue was the counting of votes in
  Florida (25 electoral votes). The Supreme Court
  stopped the recounting which gave the votes to
  Bush