Chapter 30 - The Retreat From Political Liberalism and the End of the Vietnam Saga

Question 1

What is arguably the post important theme in post-1970 American History?

Answer 1

The decline, retreat, and redefinition of political liberalism.

Question 2

Define American Political Liberalism.

Answer 2

1) Optimism that Big Government can and Should Solve Society’s Most Vexing Problems
2) Confidence in Politicians and Political Solutions
3) Willingness to pay higher taxes to pay for social welfare programs.
4) Economic Policies That is somewhat in Favor of Redistributing Wealth From Rich to Poor to Close the Gap.

Question 3

What are the principles of the belief that has risen to oppose political liberalism?

Answer 3

1) Pessimism Regarding Bug Government’s Abilities and Virtues
2) A desire to Shrink the Government
3) A Belief That Some Social Problems May Be Too Daunting and unsolvable for the government to tackle
4) Distrust for Politicians
5) Unwillingness to Pay Higher Taxes to Fund Social Welfare Programs and a Desire for lower Taxes.

Question 4

Why is there a post-1970s retreat from political liberalism?

Answer 4

1) Vietnam - Political Leaders Deception that Forces Were not In Cambodia under Nixon.
2) Watergate - Shook the American public confidence of the American people in government.
3) The Bitter Fruit of the Great Society - Created High Expectations But Only Achieved Mediocre Results
4) Declining Economy - World War II Devastated Countries Were Now Economy Competitors and the Oil Embargo Cost a Lot of Money.

Question 5

How did Nixon term his attempt to withdraw from Vietnam?

Answer 5

Peace with Honor.

Question 6

What Strategies did Nixon Use to Attempt to Withdraw from Vietnam and Save Face?

Answer 6

1) Vietnamization - Make the Vietnamese do more of the fighting while the US gradually withdrew troops
2) The strongest aerial bombing of North Vietnam during the war to bring North Vietnam to the negotiating table.
3) Nixon Expanded the War into Laos and Cambodia to cut off NVA and Viet Cong Supply Lines that Ran Through the Country Without the Approval of Congress.
4) Nixon Rejected the Domino Theory to some extent. He was not convinced that a communist Vietnam weakened the US position.

Question 7

When did Nixon get his peace with honor?

Answer 7

1973.

Question 8

How did the US mollify the opposing government of South Vietnam?

Answer 8

By giving them enough fighter aircraft to make them the fourth largest air force in the world, tanks and other supplies.

Question 9

What is the name of the peace with honor with North Vietnam?

Answer 9

The Paris Agreement.

Question 10

Why was North Vietnam able to reinvade South Vietnam?

Answer 10

Cause the South Vietnamese Government was Corrupt and Mismanaged the Economy to Produce 90% inflation.

Question 11

When did the Vietnam War Officially End?

Answer 11

April 1975.

Question 12

Who won the military aspect of the Vietnam War?

Answer 12

1) The US bombing campaigns were incredibly successful. Over 1 million NVA/Viet Cong casualties for 50,000 U.S. Casualties
2) The Viet Song refused to surrender and fought a war of attrition (Sound Familiar?)
3) South Vietnam Started to Distrust US Soldiers and Join the Viet Cong.

Question 13

What are the four political reasons why the war in Vietnam was lost?

Answer 13

1) The South Vietnamese Government Was Ineffective and Unresponsive to the People.
2) The People turned more against the US and Saigon as the war progressed. 50% apathetic at the start of the war to heavy anti-US majority
3) The American People Withdrew Their Support From the war.
4) The NVA and Viet Cong were incredibly tenacious and willing to sacrifice all for their cause.

Question 14

Why could the Vietnam War be viewed as a success?

Answer 14

Engaging in Vietnam sent a Message to Moscow that it would engage in full scale combat to prevent Soviet Expansion. In the overall Cold War context it prevented further skirmishes until the end of the Cold War in Afghanistan.

Question 15

Why could the Cold War be viewed as a failure?

Answer 15

1) Lost South Vietnam
2) Killed the Great Society
3) Cause Economic Disruption From Trying to Pursue Guns and Butter
4) Decrease Americans trust in government.
5) A Fragmented and contentious America

Question 16

What are the nine major effects of the War in Vietnam?

Answer 16

1) Americans Trust in Government was Shattered.
2) Aided the U.S.’s retreat from American political liberalism
3) Cultural and social disunity became the norm
4) The realization that American only had limited power in world affairs took root.
5) The American way of doing things was questioned.
6) The war related economic recession would grip the nation until 1982.
7) Restricted Executive Power
8) The end of conscription
9) 18 Year olds subject to the draft got voting rights.

Question 17

List the major social protest movements in the Late 1960s and 1970s

Answer 17

1) Feminists
2) Hispanics
3) Native Americans
4) Homosexuals.
5) Hippies/Youth Counterculture
6) College Students
7) The Vietnam War Protest Movements

Question 18

What did the National Organization of Women accomplish for Feminism?

Answer 18

1) Title IX
2) Roe v. Wade
3) Equal Rights Amendment that Failed

Question 19

Were women mistreated in the 1960s?

Answer 19

1) Women, according to Kennedy, were supposed to be in the home.
2) Banks could refuse to issue credit cards to unmarried women and a husband’s cosignatory was required.
3) Women were prohibited from serving on juries
4) Women Could not Attend Ivy Leagues except the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell until 1969.
5) Womens college athletics were treated inferior to men’s. No funding or equipment
6) Women only accounted for 9% of all medical degrees, 7% of all law degrees, and 1% of all dental degrees.

Question 20

What did Hispanic protest movements center on?

Answer 20

The plight of the Hispanic Farm worker. Protests were led by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union.

Question 21

How did Native American Indians attempt to gain justice?

Answer 21

1) Sit-ins on important sites
2) Protests and Armed Takeovers
3) Lawsuits against the government

Question 22

What incident sparked the Homosexual rights movement?

Answer 22

A NYC police raid on the Stonewall Inn that flooded into the streets.

Question 23

Why were there a significant number of special interest protests?

Answer 23

1) The success of the Civil Rights Movement and an attempt to copy those efforts
2) The Great Society failed to meet high expectations so people tried to meet those through protest.

Question 24

What president brought affirmative action to life?

Answer 24

Richard Nixon.

Question 25

Who did Nixon claim supported him?

Answer 25

The Silent Majority.

Question 26

Which President created the EPA?

Answer 26

Richard Nixon

Question 27

How did Nixon treat Great Society Programs?

Answer 27

He restructured and streamlined them but did not eliminate them.

Question 28

How much did the federal registar grow from 1936-1980?

Answer 28

It went from 2,620 pages to over 80,000 pages.

Question 29

What was the Family Assistance Plan?

Answer 29

Consolidated all different social welfare programs into a single payment to families.

Question 30

What economic problem did Nixon face that defied typical economics?

Answer 30

High Unemployment and High Inflation. (Stagflation.)

Question 31

How did Nixon attempt to remedy the economic crisis?

Answer 31

Government authorized wage and price controls. Prevented the increasing of prices and decreasing of wages.

Question 32

What was the result of Nixon’s price and wage controls?

Answer 32

Inflation increased to 12% in 1974 and 13% in 1979 and 1980.

Question 33

Why was the economy weak under Nixon?

Answer 33

1) OPEC imposed an embargo on the United States for supporting Israel and quadrupled prices.
2) Western Europe, Japan and South Korea recovered from their wars and provided economic competition for the United States.
3) Imprudent guns and butter policies by Lyndon B. Johnson.

Question 34

What was the political environment around the Watergate Scandal?

Answer 34

Republicans regularly played political hijinks on the Democratic Party.

Question 35

What were some of Nixon’s political practices that didn’t become public?

Answer 35

1) Nixon ordering the IRS to conduct audits of his critics

2) Nixon forging letters that portrayed Nixon’s rivals as racists.

Question 36

What did the Nixon Administration do during the Watergate Scandal?

Answer 36

1) Destroy the Integrity of the Process by which the President is nominated and elected
2) Hide from the American people and the Justice System the identities and wrongdoing of those employees and officers involved in the incident.

Question 37

How did the Nixon Administration accomplish the cover-up and robbery?

Answer 37

1) Exacted enormous contributions from corporations by using pay to play schemes
2) Hid parts of these contributions is cash to conceal their sources and identities of the donors.
3) Financed the Burglary of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Complex
4) Deemed the Departments of the Federal Government to by political playthings rather than impartial instruments for serving the American people
5) Branded the Media who opposed Nixon and conspired to use the government to harass them for opposing Nixon
6) Borrowed CIA disguises and equipment used in other operations
7) Used campaign funds to hire saboteurs and forge and disseminate false libels surrounding them men running the Democratic Presidential Primaries
8) The perpetrators were arrested while burglarizing the offices of the DNC to obtain political intelligence

Question 38

How did the Nixon Administration Pursue the Cover-Up of Watergate?

Answer 38

1) They destroyed the records of the Nixon reelection committee antedating the bugging and burglary
2) Obtained tapes of interviews done by the FBI investigators to coach their compatriots to give false statements to the FBI.
3) Sough to Persuade the FBI to refrain from investigating the sources of campaign funds used to finance the incident
4) Lied to FBI agents, prosecutors, and jurors who investigated the incident.
5) Persuaded the DoJ to refrain from asking the hired saboteur any questions regarding the President’s personal attorney who paid the saboteur.
6) Made Cash Payments to Hush the Defendants Implicated in the Scandal
7) Instructed the DoJ to assure the media and public that no one else was involved beside the seven.
8) Inspired massive efforts to persuade the American people that members of the committee were biased and partisan.

Question 39

Who won the presidency after Nixon?

Answer 39

Gerald Ford.

Question 40

What was Ford’s priority?

Answer 40

Restoring Trust in Government through solving economic problems.

Question 41

Who the presidency after Gerald Ford?

Answer 41

Jimmy Carter.

Question 42

What was Jimmy Carter’s chief appeal?

Answer 42

1) That he was not a Washington insider.

2) religious Beliefs Resonated With America

Question 43

What guaranteed Carter would have little success as President?

Answer 43

His lack of Washington Experience.

Question 44

What did Carter create to deal with the energy crisis?

Answer 44

The Department of Energy.

Question 45

What speech is Carter most famous for?

Answer 45

The Crisis of Confidence/Malaise Speech.

Question 46

What are the Quiet Successes of the 1970s?

Answer 46

1) Black Americans entered the mainstream of American life.
2) Gender Discrimination was Made Illegal and Title IX was passed.
3) The Environmentalist Movement Became a Reality and the EPA was born
4) American Political Institutions Triumphed Even in Times of Chaos.

Question 47

What are the three compliance guidelines schools must fulfill?

Answer 47

1) Substantially Proportionate Athletic Participation Opportunities.
2) Continual Expansion of Athletic Opportunities for the Underprivileged Sex
3) The School Accommodates the Athletic Interests and Abilities of the Underrepresented Sex.