Chsllenges To The American Dream

Question 1

What did Gerald Ford do straight after he became president ?

Answer 1

He pardoned Nixon for Watergate

Question 2

What are some evidence of corruption under Ford?

Answer 2

-it was thought he had a secret deal with Nixon
-His friends received special favours
-he was apparently racist to Earl Butz

Question 3

What happened in the 1976 election?

Answer 3

-carter won
-carter won 49.9% and Ford won47.9
-carter won because Ford was seen as weak and indecisive
-there were economic problems of inflation under Ford so people wanted Carter to change them
-people thought Ford had a secret deal with Nixon so didn’t trust him

Question 4

What percentage of people believe government officials were smart people who knew what they were doing?

Answer 4

-in 1969 it was 69% however in 1979 there was only 29%

Question 5

What are some strengths of Jimmy Carter?
-speeches and states
-laws

Answer 5

-He positioned himself as a devout Christian people trusted him
-he travelled to 37 states and delivered over 200 speeches before other candidates
-in total he passed 29 new laws
-he promised to never tell a lie and he kept his word

Question 6

What are some weaknesses of Jimmy Carter?

Answer 6

-congresses was unwilling to cooperate with him because he didn’t want to use his position to win friends in Congress
-he lacked charisma like Kennedy or Reagan
-two stories damaged Carter’s image
-The three Mile Island accident happened

Question 7

What was the 3 mile island accident?

Answer 7

Where radioactive gases were released into the atmosphere and people feared nuclear catastrophe which provoked 200,000 people to protest in New York

Question 8

What was ‘billygate’?

Answer 8

Carters brother received over £200k from the Libyan government

Question 9

Some eg of corruption under carter?

Answer 9

-carters budget manager was fired after a year when he was connected with strange banking practices in Georgia
-apparently his chief of staff was a cocaine user
-30 congressmen were accused of taking bribes from South Korean government

Question 10

What were the causes of the economic crisis during carter?

Answer 10

-there was inflation and a weakened dollar due to the Vietnam war
-OPEC increased oil prices by 300%so inflation because of American support for Isreal
-bretton woods system collapsed

Question 11

What were some domestic reactions to the energy crisis?

Answer 11

-1974 100k truck drivers demanded lower fuel prices
-schools and factories had to close in the harsh winter
-fuel Stations cut their hours to conserve supplies

Question 12

Examples of inflation and unemployment domestically?
-polls
-women working

Answer 12

-prices rose by 3.7% in 1974 alone
-1978 poll showed 63% of Americans said inflation was their greatest concern
-cost of living rose by over 8% a year
-rust belt suffered the most
-mothers had to work to keep up with prices
-52% of women worked in 1980

Question 13

What happened with women’s rights?
-salaries

Answer 13

-Women only received 73% of the salaries paid to men
-The 1972 ERA equal rights amendment was made
-phyllis Schlafly oppose the ERA which attracted 50 K members because she didn’t want women to be drafted to the military and unisex bathrooms
-Betty Ford campaign for ERA but Gerald Ford didn’t say enough
-Carter appointed two female cabinet members

Question 14

What acts were passed under Carter for women 1978?

Answer 14

The pregnancy discrimination act which made employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy illegal

Question 15

What was some opposition to abortion?

Answer 15

-in 1979 author established concerned women for America (CWA) to fight against ERA rights of abortion
-it had 500 K by 1980
-this represented conservatism

Question 16

What was the 1971 national abortion rights action league?

Answer 16

Legalised abortion

Question 17

What was some evidence of Carter not progressing progressing with rights for minority groups?

Answer 17

He refused to issue an executive order banning anti-gay discrimination in the federal government 1980

Question 18

What were some negatives in poverty development?

Answer 18

-the fastest growing section of the population was elderly so more money needed to be spent on health care
-‘white flight’ carried on so northern cities stayed poor
-number of people eligible for food stamp grew to 20 million in 1980

Question 19

What happened with the growth of homelessness?

Answer 19

-There was up to 1mill homeless in 1980s
-‘skid row’ houses were demolished so more people were homeless
-unemployment led to homeless
-declining marriage rates increased single mothers who had no support from partners
-increased crack cocaine addicts

Question 20

What were some improvements with African Americans ?
-congress
-earning

Answer 20

-18 black people in congress by 1980
-31% of black families earning over £10k increased

Question 21

What were some problems still present with African Americans?

Answer 21

-black male teenage unemployment was around 50%
-half of all back teens in NY dropped out before graduation
-a black child was 4x more likely to be murdered

Question 22

What were some social improvements in the south for black people?
-highschool

Answer 22

-by 1980 51% of people over 25 has completed 4 or more years of highschool

Question 23

What happened in the desegregation case of Boston?

Answer 23

-Boston was found guilty of having segregated schools
-it ordered busssing but the city authorities refused to
-ford disagreed with bussing
-on the first desegregated day kids were scared to go to school
-9 black kids were injured after white parents threw things at them
-knife crime became common

Question 24

What were some cultural advancements with black people?

Answer 24

-artists such as stevie wonder had a breakthrough with his music
-hip hop increased such as the sugar hill gang in 1979 became famous

Question 25

What happened with carter and affirmative action(pos discrimination)

Answer 25

-appointed more black federal judges than any other president -insisted at least one minority candidate was considered for a cabinet post

Question 26

What happened in 1976 the worst year for racial violence since 1960s?

Answer 26

-black officials blamed carter for not helping poor and unemployed -white jury let 4 white policemen go for beating a black person to death -3 days of looting and shooting occurred -16 people died and $100million damage

Question 27

Who was the first black person to be a mayor 1979?

Answer 27

Maynard Jackson

Question 28

What was the new South?

Answer 28

-there seem to be more radical change for black people in the south -for example George Wallace apologised to black people

Question 29

What were the civil rights groups in the 1970s?

Answer 29

-SNCC -SCLC -CORE -NAACP

Question 30

What does the Tuskegee syphilis experiment?

Answer 30

-Where out of 600 poorly educated black men 399 had syphilis but we’re not tall in order for them to scientifically examine the situation even though they could be treated -ended in a $10 million lawsuit

Question 31

What changes did Maynard Jackson bring?

Answer 31

-he increased the number of black employment and black people in professional positions Rose up to 42% between 1973 and 1978 -The number of black managers more than doubled

Question 32

What were some problems that still surfaced for black people?

Answer 32

-Black elected officials in the Deep South still hadn’t increased -1/3 of black people remain below the poverty line in 1980 -in 1980 black unemployment in Georgia was 12.5% which is three times the percentage for whites

Question 33

What happened with ford and Vietnam?

Answer 33

-he finally retreated but it was humiliating -1975 communist forces went into Saigon and ford ordered the evacuation of all US and SV citizens in connections to the US -he took back a cargo ship that had been taken by communists

Question 34

What was carter like with human rights?

Answer 34

-he was called a hypocrite because he didn’t push for more human rights in Soviet Union and china -Brezhnev threatened to end arms control talks over the issue -deng refused to discuss it and carter failed to halt military aid to the shah in Iran who carried out 300 public executions

Question 35

Who did Carter appoint for foreign policy?

Answer 35

-brzezinski as national security adviser -Vance as Secretary of State

Question 36

What happened with Carter in China?

Answer 36

-carter try to continue peace talks with China -The new communist leader Deng was keen to push forward economic reform in China -carter recognised China and this encourage trade and decrease tension

Question 37

What were relations like with the USSR?

Answer 37

-ford and Kissinger continued Nixons goals of detente with Soviet Union -1975 ford joined with the Soviet leader lenoid Brezhnev and other heads of European nations to sign the Helsinki accords which recognised existing boundaries of European countries after ww2 -it also included support on human rights -it was seen as superficial but beneficial for peace

Question 38

What was the Helsinki agreement 1975?

Answer 38

-The west recognised boundaries in Eastern Europe -more co operation in all ways -human rights records were opened

Question 39

Why did Americans turn against detente?

Answer 39

-it disgraced Nixon -conservatives disagreed with the Helsinki agreement because it was like appeasement -Americans thought communists had taken advantage of detente to build up nukes

Question 40

Why did Americans turn against detente?

Answer 40

-it disgraced Nixon -conservatives disagreed with the Helsinki agreement because it was like appeasement -Americans thought communists had taken advantage of detente to build up nukes

Question 41

What was SALT 1?

Answer 41

Strategic arms limitation treaty

Question 42

Why did the Soviet’s turn against detente?

Answer 42

-they didn’t like carter for criticising the soviet unions human rights records -they resented when carter excluded them from peace process in Middle East 1978 -they considered carter too friendly with china because they reestablished full diplomatic relations with china 1979 and they wanted to isolate china with American detente -Helsinki agreement led to unrest in Eastern Europe

Question 43

What happened in Middle East with oil?

Answer 43

-USA was dependant on oil from Middle East -in the Arab Israeli war USA supplied weapons to Isreal so Arab nations put in an oil embargo

Question 44

What were the camp David accords?

Answer 44

-there was a yom kipper war 1973 between Isreal who were occupying Egyptian land -1978 carter invited Israel’s prime minister Begin and Egyptians Sadat to camp David and they both teachers a historic agreement that said: -Israel would withdraw from Egypt -they would both recognise eachother and sign a peace treaty -this gained them both a Nobel peace prize 1979

Question 45

What was happening in Iran?

Answer 45

-the shah of Iran was put in place by CIA -the shah became a dictator and had a secret police -the previous leader had been in exile for 15 years but came back after the shah was forced to flee Iran -carter allowed shah to come to USA for cancer treatment -this led to the hostage crisis- 66 American hostages were taken because they wanted the shah to be returned to stand trial -carter froze Iranian money in American banks -it lasted for 444 days -operation eagle claw was meant to save hostages but 8 helicopters crashed and 8 men died -carter agreed to unblock money and promised to leave Iran alone -Reagan got all the credit for the release of hostages

Question 46

What happened in Afghanistan? -punishment

Answer 46

-in 1978 a communist party had seized power in afghanistan -the guerilla fighters ‘mujahideen’ fought back-led to civil war -they had a pro soviet govt -100k Soviet troops invaded 1979 fighting M who opposed pro soviet govt -as punishment, carter boycotted the 1980 summer Olympics -he channelled funds to M and said he would invade if Soviet’s threatened the western oil

Question 47

What was Reagan like in the carter v reagan campaign?

Answer 47

-Reagan benefitted from his celebrity and ease infront of camera -were concerns about his age-nearly 70 -R made some ill judged appearances eg stating his support for states rights in Mississippi where civil rights activists were murdered -he wanted Darwinism to be taught alongside creationism -he wanted to cut taxes and balance out fed budget -he claimed carter’s descendants from Georgia contained connections to KKK -R said carters environmental regulations were hurting the economy -R was a Washington outsider like carter -in the debate R was more relaxed and confident and taller -he won 51% of votes

Question 48

What was carter like in the carter v reagan campaign?

Answer 48

-C was portraying R as an extremist and war Monger -R was attacking his domestic records and they were detrimental -carter promised more environmental regulations -carter stood up for women’s abortion rights -he claimed the economy was in a recession even though it wasn’t and the public didn’t like it -he promised much but delivered little -he only won 41%

Question 49

What were the socially conservative voters?

Answer 49

-they rejected the more liberal social attitudes of the 1960s and wanted a return to ‘traditional family values’ -Reagan opposed feminism and the ERA like the voters -he was the model of a nuclear family -the new ‘religious right’ was one of America’s most visible and powerful political forces-around 5million more voters for Reagan -the religious right opposed things such as feminism,divorce,abortion ext..

Question 50

What were some reasons for Reagan victory? -poll about carter

Answer 50

-Carter was weakened by the challenge from Liberal Democrat Edward Kennedy during 1980 election -C was incapable of handling economic and international problems -by 1980 only 18% of people said carter was a ‘very strong leader’ -1980, 47% of people stayed at home and didn’t vote-most poor and unemployed -his personality-his previous career as film star made him an inspirational speaker -came across as warmer than carter -Good timing-Americans wanted change due to problems in society