America Theme 3 Flashcards
the impact of the first world war on women
The war gave them a chance to work, although their wages were often less than a man.
Once the war ended, most women were fired, to open jobs to returning men.
One gain from the war was that Congress passed the 19th Amendment giving women the vote under the same state rules as men. Passed in 1919 and ratified 1920.
info on the roaring twenties
economic boom meant that many people were better off than ever before.
Mass production made consumer goods cheaper and hire purchase made them easier to buy.
Road building meant cars could travel further, faster
post war people assumed that women would return to old roles as housewives etc…
A Women’s Bureau of Labour was set up in 1920, to aid improve women’s working conditions and campaign for the wider employment of women. In 1920, 8.2 million women had work outside the home, by 1930 this had risen to 10.4 million.
margret sanger
birth control activist
1916 opened first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, which led to her arrest for distributing info on contraception.
convicted and sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse but went on a hunger strike
her trial generated controversy and subsequent support. she wanted to prevent back-alley abortions.
she imported diaphragms from Europe, as they were illegal at the time.
flappers
Some young women, nicknamed ‘flappers’, made the most of their independence.
They worked. They cut their hair short, and wore short dresses and silk stockings. Some smoked and drank in public and drove their own cars
In short, they behaved like young men, even going to male-dominated sporting events without a male escort
Flappers shifted public perceptions of women
the impact of the great depression
affected people across class rather than gender
A 1932 Women’s Bureau of Labor report on women workers in slaughtering and meat packing found that about 97% of them were working as the only wage earner in the family, or to boost the husband’s wage, not because they wanted to work.
From 1930 to 1940, the number of employed women in the United States rose 24% from 10.5 million to 13 million. The main reason for women’s higher employment rates was the fact that the jobs available to women— “women’s work”— were in industries that were less impacted by the stock market
A 22% decline in marriage rates between 1929 and 1939 also meant more single women had to support themselves.
By 1940, 90 percent of all women’s jobs could be catalogued into 10 categories like nursing, teaching and civil service for white women, while black and Hispanic women were largely constrained to domestic work
the impact of the new deal
understood that many families were under immense pressure in the 1930s and that the burden of feeding them fell mostly on the women in the family
The New Deal’s Aid For Families with Dependent Children 1935 under the Social Security Act provided some benefits for the poorest families, but, as a rule, men came first in New Deal policies on unemployment and working conditions.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-42) found work for young men aged 17-23. about 2.5 million young men were employed.
On 30 April 1934, Eleanor Roosevelt held the White House Conference for unemployed women; after this, women’s work camps were federally funded. by 1936, there were 36 camps, taking about 5,000 women a year.
negative impact on black americans from the new deal in terms of work
Black Americans benefited less from the New Deal than whites.
Black women were edged out of even the worst jobs by desperate white Americans.
Even when she had a job, a black woman earned less.
For every dollar a white man earned, a white woman earned 61 cents and a black woman earned 23 cents, on average
impact of the great depression on Mexican American women
400,000 Mexican-Americans moved out of the United States to Mexico in the 1930s, many against their will.
“The attitude was ‘they’re taking our jobs,’”
Mexican-American women who could find work often participated in the informal economy, working as street vendors or renting out rooms to lodgers as people downsized their homes.
black women and the great depression
For black women, meanwhile, the entry of more white women in the workforce meant jobs and decent wages became even harder to find.
In every place where there could be discrimination, black women were doubly disadvantaged.
One-fifth of all Americans receiving federal relief during the Great Depression were black, most in the rural South
Yet farm workers and domestic workers—the two main places you found black women— had no pension or safety net, they were excluded from the 1935 Social Security Act.
women position pre American involvement in WW2
Only 16% of married women worked in 1940, because of childcare problems.
Under the 1941 Lanham Act’s childcare provision was extended: by 1944, there were 130,000 children in day care
The percentage of married women in the workforce rose from 15 to 23%.
The Women’s Land Army of America re-formed to provide farm workers countrywide.
impact of world war two on women
1945- 6 million new women entered the workforce to take on men’s jobs and 25% of all married women were employed.
WW2 Opened up new, and in cases unprecedented opportunities for women in America
women enlisted in the official US military for the first time with the establishment of the women’s army auxiliary corps, which became the women’s army corps
WAAC women: drive cars, aided the intelligence service
post world war 2 changes / effect on women
Once the war was over, many women were not re-employed by factories that changed from making war goods (e.g. munitions) to other goods (e.g. electrical appliances.
After a dip immediately after the war, the female employment rate rose again, particularly for married women 45-54 years old.
Black and non-white women who had been trained often continued to work after the war and so they moved into a wider range of work than domestic and farm work, which had been their predominant employment pre-war.
In 1936, 82% of people thought married women should not work; in 1938, it was 78%; in 1942, it was only 13%.
changes in suburban living 1941-60
Suburbs sprang up in a post-war economic and building boom that made homes more affordable. Suburbs were in commuting distance of the cities.
they were usually socially segregated.
Black Americans lived very similar lives to white women in white suburbs, only in black suburbs, although some low-cost black suburbs grew up within reach of very expensive white suburbs - to provide a convenient pool of maids, cooks, nannies, gardeners and other staff
mixed subburbs were rare, but not unknonw
In the 1950s, suburbs grew rapidly: in 1960, 19 million more people lived in suburbs than in 1950.
Usually, the wage-earning husband went out to work while his wife stayed at home, looking after the house and children.
levittown
levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the USA by william j levitt
new york 47-51
pennsylvania 52-58
planned community for returning WW2 veterans
the first truly mass produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for post war suburbs throughout the country
clause 25 of the standard lease agreeement signed by the first residents meant that the levittowns were also a symbol of racial segregation.
the growth of suburbs effect on the inner cities
As people left the inner cities for the suburbs, those who remained were, largely, those who couldn’t afford to move out.
The long-term effect of this was that inner cities became locked into a downward spiral that was almost impossible to prevent.
Non-white ghettos grew - caused by, and fostering, racism.
kitchen appliances and their years
1908: Hoover first upright vacuum cleaner
1915: First fridges
1926: The Toastmaster, the first automatic timed toaster for home use.
1930: General Electric introduced the electric kettle with an automatic cut-out
1930s: 3 companies started selling electric stoves
1940s: The first commercial freezers for home use were designed in the 1940s.
1947: The creation of the microwave oven
political developments for women in work in the 1960’s
President Kennedy set up a Commission of Enquiry on the Status of Women.
In 1963, it published its results, praising the Equal Pay Act
the Commission also found that the Equal Pay Act was badly needed and needed enforcing.
Women accounted for one in three workers, but were discriminated against in access to training, work and promotion.
Their wages were uniformly lower and minimum wage regulations did not apply to the low-paid work that many women did, for example, hotel work or domestic work
The 1963 report noted that, from infancy, girls were not encouraged to think about careers
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act included sexual equality, as well as racial equality, in its provisions.
betty freidan
1963, The Feminine Mystique about the constraints of suburban life and the problems of white, educated, married women.
the book got many women thinking about womens rights.
The controversy the book provoked ensured it was widely read and argued about, including on television.
This spurred some womento organise themselves and work more actively for women’s rights.
The first and biggest national movement was the National Organization for Women (NOW), set up on 30 June 1966. Friedan was one of its founder members.
President John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10925, Equal Employment Commission
1961
government contractors had to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, colour, or national origin.
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246
1965
prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, colour, religion, and national origin by those organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Executive Order 11375
1967
banned discrimination on the basis of sex in hiring and employment in both the United States federal workforce and on the part of government contractors
young radicals in the womens movement
Its members were predominantly under 30, white, middle-class and college educated.
they worked with black civil rights groups such as the SNCC. Some had tried to raise the issue of women’s equality within these groups, but, despite their radical ideas, the men who dominated these movements were often sexist
They wanted immediate change and many drew direct parallels between their situation and the situation of black Americans.
The national magazine that spread news from all groups, started in March 1968, was called Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Run by volunteers, it began by selling about 200 copies. The next year it was selling 2,000, but collapsed under the workload.
a strike of women
26th august 1970, the 50th anniverssary of womens suffrage.
Some women just didn’t go to work.
Many more took part in countrywide marches and demonstrations, with slogans like ‘Don’t Iron While the Strike Is Hot’.
They all presented the same three demands:
·equal opportunity in jobs and education;
· free childcare that was community controlled;
· free abortion on demand.
The strike got a lot of publicity for the movement and membership of NOW rose by over 50%o
opposition to the womens liberation movement
received lots of opposition, especially among men, even radicals. some radical womens groups declared that all men were the enemies.
Conservatives of all kinds rejected the movement, stressing even more strongly the ‘un-Americanness’ of its demands and the abandonment of traditional roles.
As the swing away from 1960s liberalism kicked in, demands for women’s liberation lost support, along with many other liberal demands
sucessess of womens advancement 1970’s
In 1967, President Johnson extended his executive order calling for affirmative action to improve employment conditions for those discriminated against on the grounds of race, creed or colour to cover sexual discrimination as well.
from 1970, a few states allowed for abortions in very tightly specified circumstances
Abortion was federally legalised on 22 January 1973, by a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Roe v Wade, although there were rules about the timing and the health of the mother.
the equal rights act
On 22 March 1972, the Equal Rights Act was finally passed as an amendment to the Constitution by Congress.
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
All it needed was ratification by 38 of the 50 states; Congress set a deadline of 1982, ten years, for the ratification. Fifteen states were still refusing to ratify ERA in 1982.
There still isn’t an Equal Rights Act
limitations to womens advancement by 1970’s
The USA did not sign up to the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
the womens movement disintegrated, partly because of the conservative opposition it faced and the growing conservatism of the country, but also because it fragmented.
MS magazine.
The first issue of Ms. magazine was published in December 1971 by New York magazine.
The cover, depicted a pregnant version of the Hindu goddess Kali using eight arms to hold a clock, skillet, typewriter, rake, mirror, telephone, steering wheel, and an iron
300,000 test copies of the magazine sold out in 8 days, and generated 26,000 subscription orders within the next few weeks
ms magazine would become a landmark institution in both womens rights and american journalism that it is today.
Ms. was the first U.S. magazine to feature prominent American women demanding the repeal of laws that criminalized abortion, the first to explain and advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment, to rate presidential candidates on women’s issues, to put domestic violence and sexual harassment on its cover etc…
STOP ERA 1972
In 1972 Phyllis Schlafly established ‘Stop ERA’ organisation, attracting 50,000 members. Phyllis Schlafly’s campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment, was founded after Congress passed the proposed amendment in 1972.
played a significant role in the fight to prevent ERA from being ratified
The name of STOP ERA is based on an acronym for “Stop Taking Our Privileges.” The campaign argued that women were already protected under the laws of the time and making ERA gender-neutral would somehow deprive women of their special protections and privileges.
schlafly believed the ERA would lead to a reversal in gender roles, same sex marriages, women in combat, which would weaken the militarys combat strength. most importantly, it would hurt families and eliminate social security benefits.
How far did earlier immigration affect reactions to immigrants in the 1920s?
Before the First World War, the USA had operated an ‘open door’ policy to immigration.
The numbers of immigrants rose sharply (in 1882, just under 650.000 immigrants arrived in the USA; in 1907, it was 1.2 million). ‘new immigrants’ came increasingly from southern and eastern Europe rather than northern Europe where ‘old immigration’ was comprised of migrants from Britain, Ireland and Germany.
In 1907- 81% of immigrants were from southern and eastern Europe
new immigrants lived and worked in cities. cities grew rapidly due to industrialisation, immigrants joined black americans moving north.
the dillingham commission 1911.
investigated the impact of immigration on the USA from 1907 and made its report in 1911
The report said immigration was beginning to pose a serious threat to American society and culture.
The Commission’s findings made no concession for the shorter span of time the new immigrants had had to adapt.
Despite this, the findings were used to justify Immigration Acts in the 1920s, including the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which set limits on the number of immigrants.
what caused immigration legislation of the 1920’s
post-war isolationism
dillingham report
red scare
spike in unemployment
bombings by anarchists
what was the effect of immigration in the 1920’s
eaqch new wave brought a wave of hostility frrom many more established communities. especially in expanding urban areas.
The newcomers would create competition for everything - jobs, housing, facilities of all kinds
name some key immigration legislation
1917 imigration act
1921 emergency quota act
1924 johnson-reed immigration act
1924 indian citizens act
1940 alien registration act
1954 operation wetback
1965 hart-cellar act
1917 immigration act
Listed ‘undesirable’ immigrants to be excluded, including homosexuals, ‘insane persons’ and criminals. Restricted immigration from Asia by creating an “Asiatic Barred Zone” and introduced a literacy test for all immigrants over sixteen years of age
1921 emergency quota act
Limited the number of immigrants a year from any country to 3% of those already in the US from that country as per the 1910 census.
1924 johnson reed act
Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry to 2% of those already in the United States as of the 1890 census. After 1927, total annual immigration was capped at 150,000.
It completely excluded immigrants from Asia. Created the United States Border Patrol.
1924 indian citizens act
Granted citizenship to Native Americans in the United States
1934 Tydings–McDuffie Act
Granted independence to the Philippines territory. Recognized all Filipinos as foreigners. Established a quota of 50 Filipino immigrants annually
1940 alien registration act
Required non-citizens to register with the government, but was normalized after the war as the Green Card system – A Green Card enabled a non citizen to work and live in the USA indefinitely.
1948 displaced persons act
Granted permanent residence to displaced persons from Europe.
1954 operation wetback
Deportation of illegal immigrants who were mostly Mexican
1965 hart-cellar act
Abolished quota system, set a limit of 170,000 a year and allowed for more Asian immigration.
immigrants impact on urban life
industry was expanding and demand for workers was growing. immigrants were a significant factor in their growth
immigrants that didnt speak english tended to end up in towns with people from their homeland that were already there.
many immigrants worked for Ford.
who were classed as enemy aliens and when
once USA entered the second world war, americans of italian, german and japanese nationality were classed as enemy aliens. japanese treated most harshly due to pearl harbour.
the removal of the quota system following the second world war
After the Second World War, the government passed the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which still used quotas.
one problem of quota system, which many thought useless, was that it didnt allow for refugees.
As the Cold War set in, and the USA wanted to help refugees from communism, it had to pass a new refugee law each time
following Castro seizure of power, 200k cubans fled to USA.
JFK was very pro immigrant and was in the process of working on an immigration law when he was assassinated.
LBJ brought the bill forward and became law in 1965 (Hart-Cellar)
asian immigrants
In the first five years after the 1965 Act, immigration from Asia quadrupled.
vietnam war responsible for most.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the USA took in 130,000 Vietnamese refugees.
as communism spread, USA passed additional refugee legislation to take more refugees. 1985, 700k.
immigrants from central and southern america
mmigration laws didn’t apply to people from the western hemisphere, especially Mexico, although in 1954 the Immigration and Naturalisation Service began to try to control immigration by deporting illegal immigrants from Southern and Western states in what became known as ‘Operation Wetback’
1953-58– the Government drive to find illegal Mexican immigrants and return them to Mexico.
the number of hispanics working in agriculture became a serious matter of concern for the government.
intro of a 20k limit on entry into the USA in 1976 put measures into place to slow immigration.
illegal immigrants
no exact record of the number.
largest number of illegals came from mexico, averaging over 60k a year.
most went to cali and texas.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) along the border did its best to stop illegal immigration, but the border measures 3,169 km and, even with guards and electrified fences, it was impossible to stop smugglers sneaking illegals into the USA
1980, about 1m illegal aliens found, arrested and deported.
The INS in the mid-1970s estimated there were about seven million illegal immigrants in the USA; they were finding and deporting about 600,000 a year
shifting attitudes towards immigrants from 1941-80
attitudes shifted towards the republican attitude.
when things went bad, immigrants were to blame. for example, economy went bad in the 70’s black americans and immigrants got the blame.
By 1980, attitudes had shifted towards a desire to control immigration, both legal and illegal. It was a swing back towards what some analysts called ‘nativism’: a form of the isolationism of the 1920s.
The Carter administration handled things badly. Officials could not keep the refugees out; they kept those whom they rounded up in awful conditions in refugee camps and prisons.
impact of movies on americans culture and society
By 1917, they were the biggest entertainment media in the USA. (silent until 1920)
In 1927, the first ‘talkie’ was The Jazz Singer. hook up the movie industry because there were many stars who looked good but just didn’t sound right.
After the war, movies boomed, especially during the 1920s. movie theatres gave public an evening out.
By 1941, there were nearly 10,500,000 movie theatre seats, one seat for every 12.5 people. In 1925, 49million Americans went to teh cinema. By 1930 this had reached 80 million Americans.
clara bow
Clara Bow rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to “talkies” in 1929.
Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.
Her presence in a motion picture was said to have ensured investors, by odds of almost two-to-one, a “safe return”. At the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month (January 1929)
clark gable - the king of hollywood
The King of Hollywood starred in more than 60 movies during his 37 year career.#
He was actively involved with the Hollywood Blacklist, often testifying under oath against alleged Communists before the House of Un-American Activities (HUAC)
the influence of the movie stars
In 1925, her debut year, Clara Bow made 15 movies. Clarke Gable made two movies in 1924 and became a success.
Stars were expected to behave in a way that their screen image, even down to “handsome bachelors’ not marrying, in case it put their female fans off.
Big stars could earn a fortune. Shirley Temple was earning $5,000 a week in the 1930s, when the average wage was under $2,000 a year However, ordinary actors earned closer to, or even less than, the average wage.19
1930’s the golden age of cinema
great depression and wall street crash turned hollywood into a powerhouse. once great depression dtarted, many americans turned to movies as their form of escapism
movie tickets were often far cheaper than tickets to theatre shows and concerts.
Up to 80 million Americans went to the movies each week during the Depression.
many advancements included coloured films.
regulation of the movies
While the movies made a big impact on society, not everyone saw that impact as positive.
many complaints about the industry towards the end of 1920’s
Its opponents said many female stars were too scantily dressed and they drank and smoked all the time, while the gangster genre of film made both crime and violence look attractive.
They produced the Motion Picture Production Code (the Hays Code) in 1929-30. introduced to prevent scandals of actors.
hays code 1929-30
Crimes (e.g. safe cracking dynamiting trains, murder) should not be shown in enough detail to be copied.
-Drug trafficking or methods of smuggling should never be shown
-The white slave trade should never be shown
-Family life should be shown as a positive. Adultery, if needed for the plot, should be shown as a negative.
-Lustful kissing should be kept to a minimum, perversion, seduction and rape should be avoided. Childbirth should not be shown. Sex between couples of different races should never be suggested
-No swearing, not even “damn”
-no nudity, no undressing, no dancing that suggested sex
popular music 1917-50
end of WW1 to great depression known as the jazz age with musicians such as duke ellington and louis armstrong.
thanks to record players and radio, the jazz sound spread to all parts of the USA
many jazz and swing (a form of jazz played by bigger bands) players were black, which gave some people racist reasons for disliking it
Pop music originated during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It evolved from jazz, swing, blues, and country. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were the biggest selling artists of the 1940s.
The 1950s gave way to Rock & Roll dominated by Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.
country also popular with artists such as Johnny cash and hank williams.
stats on popular music - pre radio
By 1929, almost 50% of homes had a gramophone and the industry that made the records to play on them was booming; $75 million-worth of records was sold in that year
However, by 1935, salrades had dropped alarmingly
radio 1917-50 - the development, so new stations
In the 1920s and 1930s, radio ownership grew rapidly.
The first commercial radio station, KDKA, began broadcasting on 2 November 1920. It was presidential Election Day and radio broadcast the results before the newspapers could print them, a powerful advertisement for radio.
needed funding so turned to selling ads. The first radio advertisement aired in August 1922, in New York City.
In 1926, the first national radio station, NBC, opened with an American football game.
radio 1917-50 stats
By 1924, there were 600 commercial stations
the Radio Act of 1927 to set up federal licensing of radio stations and share out the airwaves. Radio stations increased from 5 in 1921 to 765 in 1940
Father Coughlin was a priest who broadcast a series of sermons criticising the Ku Klux Klan; by 1930, he had about 40 million listeners. During the Depression, he criticised bankers and supported Roosevelt, saying the New Deal was ‘Christ’s deal’.
its popularity grew rapidly in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and by 1934, 60% of the nation’s households had radios.One and a half million cars were also equipped with them.
The 1930s were the Golden Age of radio. It was so popular that theatres dared not open until after the extremely popular “Amos ‘n Andy” show was over.
tv development
At the 1939 World’s Fair, RCA demonstrated the first commercial television.
roosevelt became the first president on tv.
After the Second World War, the government gave media businesses tax breaks to develop and sell television sets
The Federal Communications Commission regulated television, as well as radio. It deliberately allowed unlicensed development in the years 1948-50
TV was sponsored just like radio. Advertising was a big part of television, right from the start.
tv and political parties
Advertising was a big part of television, right from the start.. eisenhower used it in his 1952 campaign for the presidency and kennedy consciously exploited it as a politician.
It worked less well for Nixon, who was uncomfortable on air and showed it.
suddenly it became important that the president was good on camera and TV.
1960 election debates
1960 presidential debates
John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were the first televised general-election presidential debates and brought new criteria to the presidential candidates campaigning.
first one 65m viewers resulting in major impact in the elections outcome and outreach.
One of the most discussed issues with the 1960 debates was the notion that people who listened to the radio were more likely to vote for Nixon while people who watched the debates on television were more likely to vote for Kennedy.
many factors now had influence that nixon was unfortunate with. for example, bad choice of suit colour on tv, lack of makeup, sweaty, looking at clock which audience could not see.e
the expansion of TV.
Television developed very rapidly
Broadcasts aired for longer each day and there were more channels and more shows.
In 1950 only 9% of American households had te
levisions; by 1959 that figure had increased to 85.9%
The hugely popular western series Gunsmoke (CBS, 1955–75) proved to be, for the remainder of the century at least, the longest-running fictional series on American prime-time television.
In 1953, 80% of television was recorded live; by 1960, it was 36%. By the 1970s, news and sport were almost the only programmes shown live. (allowed editing)
stat showing decline in radio and increase in TV.
In 1960, average daily household radio usage had dropped to less than two hours; TV viewing, on the other hand, had climbed to more than five hours per day and would continue to increase annually.
Between 1960 and 1965, the average number of daily viewing hours went up 23 minutes per TV household, the biggest jump in any five-year period since 1950.
non commercial TV
The 1967 Public Broadcasting Act set up the government funded Corporation For Public Broadcasting (CPB), which set up the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1969.
PBS channels were free from the influence of sponsors, but had their own messages.
PBS had a liberal agenda, with a brief to educate and entertain, and to ‘restore standards
The biggest success in children’s education was the PBS programme Sesame Street.
It was one of the first shows to have a racially balanced cast
radio news impact
broadcast news was a quicker, and therefore better, way of getting news to people than newspapers.
Radio news played an important part during the Depression. Reports of the stockmarket crisis fuelled fears about the falling share prices. this caused poepole to sell their shares, making the crisis worse
Roosevelt’s radio talks helped him to restore confidence and trust in the banks
Radio played an important part in reporting the Second World War more thoroughly and quickly than movie newsreels.
TV NEWS
While radio still covered the news, many people preferred television news, because of the advantage of pictures.
Even politicians who were part of the negotiations over the Cuban Missile Crisis were glued to their screens as ships from the USSR came closer to the ‘line’ they could not cross without being attacked by the US Navy.
News programmes got more prime-time broadcasting and lasted for longer. They also did more in-depth analysis, not just reporting what was happening.
Walter Cronkite’s 1968 critical documentary on Vietnam, aired after the 1968 Tet Offensive, was shocking to many people because someone they trusted was criticising a government they were uncertain about.t
the media and jimmy carter
At first, the media the early months or his presidency he had high levels of support presented Carter in a positive light and Carter responded well 60-70% support at the start.
However, once it became clear that his administration was managing both policy-making and Congress badly, the media began to withdraw support. Eventually. the media decided that Carter was incompetent and seized upon events that underlined this.
In October 1979, Carter was shown collapsing in a marathon, which he later admitted probably contributed to his losing re-election. (peoplem didnt want a visibly weak president)
