Chapter 39: The Stagnant Seventies

Question 1

Vietnamization

Answer 1

Nixon’s attempt to draw America out of the war by gradually withdrawing troops so that South Vietnam could slowly take on more of the burden of war with the aid of American weapons, money, training, and advice

Question 2

Nixon Doctrine

Answer 2

Proclaimed that the US would honor its existing defense commitments, but that Asians would have to fight their own wars in the future without the support of American ground troops

Question 3

Silent Majority

Answer 3

The segment of the population who Nixon believed still supported the Vietnam war; when his policies for the gradual withdrawal from the conflict were rejected by anti-war protesters, he appealed to this group for support, launching a counteroffensive that proved deeply divisive.

Question 4

My Lai Massacre

Answer 4

1968
A massacre of innocent women and children in a Vietnamese village by US troops; the incident disgusted the American public when revealed in 1970, leading to deeper demoralization and discontent.

Question 5

Kent State University

Answer 5

1970
Site of an anti-war demonstration following the invasion of Cambodia in 1970; National Guard members responded to the protest by firing into the crown, killing four and wounding many more.

Question 6

26th Amendment

Answer 6

1971
Lowered the voting age to 18, pleasing the younger generation of Americans

Question 7

Pentagon Papers

Answer 7

1971
Top-secret Pentagon study that documented the blunders and deceptions of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, especially the provoking of the 1964 North Vietnamese attack in the Gulf of Tonkin; leaked to the New York Times by a former Pentagon official, fueling the fires of antiwar discontent.

Question 8

Détente

Answer 8

1972-1979
Era of relaxed tension with the Soviet Union, following Nixon’s visit in 1972; the US promised to sell the Soviets much-needed grain, an anti-ballistic missile treaty (ABM) was signed, and both sides agreed to a series of arms reduction negotiations (SALT).

Question 9

ABM Treaty

Answer 9

1972
An anti-ballistic missile treaty between the US and Soviet Union that limited each nation to two clusters of defensive missiles and to a series of arms-reduction negotiations known as SALT

Question 10

SALT

Answer 10

1972
Known as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, aimed at freezing the numbers of long-range nuclear missiles for five years

Question 11

MIRVs

Answer 11

Multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles designed to overcome any defense by “saturating” it with large numbers of warheads. They were first developed by the US despite the ABM Treaty, and the Soviet Union followed suit

Question 12

Miranda Warning

Answer 12

Warning that informs someone accused of a crime that they have the right to remain silent and are entitled to other protections; established by the ruling in the controversial Miranda Supreme Court case, presided over by Chief Justice Warren

Question 13

Philadelphia Plan

Answer 13

1969
Required construction and trade unions to establish “goals and timetables” for the hiring of black apprentices. Nixon may have wanted to drive a wedge between black people and trade unions to weaken the forces of liberalism. This in effect required thousands of employers to meet hiring quotas or to establish “set-asides” for minority subcontractors
This changed the meaning of affirmative action. Under LBJ, it protected individuals against discrimination. Now, it conferred privileges to certain groups

Question 14

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Answer 14

1970
Federal agency established by Nixon to protect and preserve the environment; along with the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the establishment of OSHA, this agency made notable progress in reducing automobile emissions and cleaning up waterways and toxic dump sites.

Question 15

Earth Day

Answer 15

1970
A day of celebration and awareness of global environmental issues launched by conservationists on April 22, 1970; reflected the growing concern and interest in environmentalism.

Question 16

OSHA

Answer 16

1970
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It was dedicated to improving working conditions, preventing work-related accidents and deaths, and issuing safety standards

Question 17

CPSC

Answer 17

1972
The Consumer Product Safety Commission. It held companies to account for selling dangerous products

Question 18

Southern Strategy

Answer 18

1972
Nixon’s plan to achieve a solid majority vote in 1972 (he had been elected as a minority president) by courting southern voters; his plan included appointing conservative Supreme Court justices, soft-pedaling civil rights, and opposing school busing to achieve racial balance.
It was not as significant in the election as Nixon thought it would be since Vietnam dominated it

Question 19

War Powers Act

Answer 19

1973
Legislation passed over Nixon’s veto which required the president to report to Congress within 48 hours after committing troops to a foreign conflict or substantially enlarging American combat units in a foreign country; a response to the administration’s secretive actions in Cambodia and a reflection of the “New Isolationism” that arose after America’s involvement in Vietnam.

Question 20

Yom Kippur War

Answer 20

1973
A conflict in which Syrians and Egyptians, armed by the Soviets, attacked Israel to regain the land they lost in the Six Day War. America airlifted $2 billion in supplies to the Israelis, helping them turn the tide of the war and threaten Cairo. American diplomacy brought about an uneasy cease-fire.

Question 21

Watergate

Answer 21

1972
A scandal that erupted when five men from CREEP (the Republican Committee for the Reelection of the President) were arrested after a failed attempt to “bug” the Democratic party headquarters
The Senate conducted televised hearings into the matter and Nixon was accused of obstructing justice by covering up the break-in; he refused to hand over incriminating taped conversations and fired his attorney general and other legal counsel
Eventually, the tapes were released and, facing impeachment, Nixon resigned in shame.

Question 22

Saturday Night Massacre

Answer 22

1973
When Nixon fired his special prosecutor appointed to investigate the Watergate scandal, as well as his attorney general and deputy attorney general because they opposed firing the prosecutor

Question 23

“Smoking Gun” Tape

Answer 23

1974
Tapes that had recorded Nixon giving orders to use the CIA to hold back an inquiry by the FBI into the Watergate scandal; Nixon initially refused to hand over the tapes, but was forced by subpoena to provide them to the House Judiciary Committee

Question 24

Helinski Accords

Answer 24

1974
A set of accords signed by Ford and 34 other nations that officially ended WWII by recognizing Soviet-dictated boundaries in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe
The Soviets signed a “third basket” of agreements in return, guaranteeing more liberal exchanges of people and information between the East and West and giving their citizens basic human rights
US critics charged that detente was one-sided since American trade went to the USSR while the USSR gave little back

Question 25

Title IX of the Education Amendments

Answer 25

1972
Prohibited sex discrimination in any federally-assisted educational program or activity
This created opportunities for women’s athletics at schools and colleges, creating a Title IX generation of athletes that helped professionalize women’s sports

Question 26

Equal Rights Amendment

Answer 26

A constitutional amendment that declared that equal rights under the law could not be denied or abridged on account of sex; championed by the women’s movement and approved in Congress, it was quickly ratified by 28 states, but unable to achieve the required 38. It died in 1982
Antifeminists argued that it would remove traditional protections that women had because the law would see them as equal to men. They also believed that it would threaten America’s basic family structure
Congress extended a deadline for the ratification of the amendment in 1979, but it was three states short of success

Question 27

Malaise Speech

Answer 27

1979
Carter’s speech criticizing Americans for causing the energy crisis by falling into a “moral and spiritual crisis” and being too concerned with material goods; his words stunned Americans who felt he was losing touch with the people.

Question 28

SALT II

Answer 28

1979-1982
US-Soviet treaty placing limits on strategic weapons arsenals; signed by Carter and Brezhnev in 1979, the treaty was never ratified in Congress after the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan changed the political climate. It officially died in 1982

Question 29

Iranian Hostage Crisis

Answer 29

1979
A group of anti-American Muslim militants stormed the US embassy in Tehran, taking all occupants hostage and demanding the return of the exiled Iranian shah; after economic sanctions and political pressure failed, Carter launched an ill-fated rescue mission and the crisis continued throughout his presidency.

Question 30

Henry A. Kissinger

Answer 30

Nixon’s national security advisor in 1969 who advised Nixon to use the Soviet-Chinese tensions as leverage to negotiate peace in North Vietnam. He had begun meeting secretly on Nixon’s behalf with North Vietnamese officials in Paris to negotiate an end to the Vietnam war in 1969 and was preparing Nixon’s path to Bejing and Moscow
In 1973, he was made Secretary of State. He flew to Moscow after the Syrians and Egyptians attacked Israel to restrain the Soviets, who were arming them

Question 31

Salvador Allende

Answer 31

A Marxist leader elected to be president of Chile in 1970. Americans opposed his election, and his death raised questions about CIA intervention in Chile

Question 32

Warren E. Burger

Answer 32

In 1969, Burger succeeded the liberal Earl Warren as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Nixon appointed him because he was conservative, yet the Burger Court was reluctant to dismantle the liberal rulings of the Warren Court and even produced Roe v. Wade (1973)

Question 33

Rachel Carson

Answer 33

The author of Silent Spring, (1962) an effective piece of latter-day muckraking that raised awareness about the poisonous effects of pesticides. She is called “the mother of the modern conservation movement”

Question 34

George McGovern

Answer 34

Democratic candidate in the presidential election of 1972; appealed to antiwar supporters, racial minorities, feminists, leftists, and youth, but alienated the working-class segment of the party; lost to Nixon, who won every state but Massachusetts.

Question 35

Gerald (“Jerry”) Ford

Answer 35

Ford: Became Nixon’s VP in 1973 after Agnew was discovered to have taken bribes from Maryland contractors and forced to resign. In 1974, he became President due to Nixon’s resignation after Watergate and was the first Congressionally-appointed man to become president.
He pardoned Nixon of all of his crimes seemingly out of the blue, making him very unpopular among Democrats

Question 36

John Dean II

Answer 36

A former White House lawyer who accused top officials, including the president, of obstructing justice by attempting to cover up the Watergate scandal; his testimony before Congress was later corroborated by Nixon’s taped conversations.

Question 37

Phyllis Schlafly

Answer 37

An antifeminist who argued against the ERA, saying that it would remove protections from women by making them equal to men and threaten the structure of the American family

Question 38

Allen Bakke

Answer 38

Claimed that he was refused admission at the University of Californnia Davis because he was white. The Court decided in 1978 that preference in admissions could not be given to any racial group but also said that racial factors may be taken into account in a school’s overall admissions policy

Question 39

James Earl (“Jimmy”) Carter

Answer 39

Elected president in 1976; helped negotiate the Camp David Agreement between Egypt and Israel but alienated the American public with his reaction to the energy crisis and his failure to end the Iranian hostage crisis.

Question 40

Leonid Brezhnev

Answer 40

A Soviet leader who met with Carter to sign the SALT II agreements. He broke Carter’s trust when Soviet forces arrived in Afghanistan in the wake of the Iranian hostage crisis

Question 41

Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer 41

1965
The Court struck down a state law prohibiting the use of contraceptives, even among married couples on the grounds of “a right of privacy.” This provided the basis for later decisions regarding abortion like Roe v. Wade

Question 42

Gideon v. Wainwright

Answer 42

1963
Declared that all criminal defendants were entitled to legal counsel even if they were too poor to afford it

Question 43

Escobedo (1964) and Miranda

Answer 43

1966
Ensured the right of the accused to remain silent and enjoy other protections

Question 44

Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School District of Abington Township v. Schempp

Answer 44

1963
The justices argued that the First Amendment’s separation of church and state meant that public schools could not require prayer or Bible reading. This decision enraged conservatives

Question 45

Griggs v. Duke Power Co.

Answer 45

1971
Prohibited intelligence tests or other devices that had the effect of excluding minorities or certain women from jobs.
This suggested to employers that the only way to avoid accusations of discrimination was to hire minority workers or admit minority students in proportion to their presence in the population

Question 46

Reed .v Reed (1971) and Frontiero v. Richardson

Answer 46

1973
The Court challenged sex discrimination in legislation and employment

Question 47

Roe v. Wade

Answer 47

1973
The court struck down laws prohibiting abortion, arguing that a women’s right to terminate a pregnancy was protected by the constitutional right to privacy

Question 48

Milliken v. Bradley

Answer 48

1974
Ruled that desegregation plans could not require students to move across school district lines
This exempted suburban districts from desegregating inner-city schools and reinforced the “white flight” from the city to the suburbs
It placed the issues of desegregation into the poorest districts, pitting the poorest members of the white and black communities against one another

Question 49

United States v. Wheeler

Answer 49

1978
Declared Native American tribes as having a “unique and limited sovereignty” subject to the will of Congress but not the states

Question 50

Reasons for Economic Stagnation

Answer 50

1. The influx of teenagers and women joining the workforce typically had fewer skills than males and were less likely to have a long-term job
2. Investment in new machinery declined, costs for maintaining government-imposed safety standards were high, and there was a shift in the economy from manufacturing to services, where productivity gains were more difficult to achieve
3. The Vietnam War drained tax dollars from improvements in education, deflected scientific skill to focus on the war, and touched off inflation
4. LBJ’s insistence on fighting the Vietnam War and funding the Great Society without a tax increase were the deep roots of 1970s inflation, since both military and welfare spending are inflationary (they put money into people’s hands without adding to the supply of goods and services those dollars can buy)

Question 51

Arab Oil Embargo

Answer 51

1973-1974
After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, the Arab members of OPEC refused to sell oil to European allies of the United States as punishment for their support of Israel; gas rose from $3 to $12 a barrel. The economic shock of the spike in energy prices helped trigger an economic slump in western economies in the mid-1970s.

Question 52

Shanghai Communiqué

Answer 52

1972
An agreement between the US and China where the nations agreed to “normalize” the relationship under the condition that America accept a “one-China” policy, implying a lesser commitment to the independence of Taiwan

Question 53

Nixon and Social Welfare

Answer 53

Nixon presided over many social welfare programs that conservatives typically opposed:
Food Stamps
Medicaid
Aid to Families with Dependent Children

Question 54

SSI

Answer 54

1972
Supplemental Security Income. A program implemented by Nixon that would assist the indigent, aged, blind, and disabled

Question 55

Nixon and Inflation

Answer 55

1. Nixon took the US off of the gold standard by devaluing the dollar, ending the “Bretton Woods” system of international currency stabilization
2. Nixon imposed a 90-day price freeze in 1971 despite his distaste for economic intervention

Question 56

Camp David Accords

Answer 56

1978
Carter invited President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel to a summit at Camp David, where they signed an accord that held a promise of peace.
Israel agreed to withdraw from territory conquested in the Six-Day War if Egypt respected Israel’s borders

Question 57

Carter’s Reaction to Russians in Afghanistan

Answer 57

1. Carter immediately embargoed the export of grain and high-tech machinery to the USSR and called a boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow
2. He proposed the creation of a “Rapid Deployment Force” to respond to crises in faraway places and requested that young people register for a military draft
3. He conceded that he misjudged the Soviets and the SALT II treaty died