Ford and Carter Flashcards
When and why did Gerald Ford become president?
9th August 1974, after Nixon’s resignation the day before
What three key domestic challenges did Ford face as president?
Public distrust, rising inflation and unemployment
What key issues caused tension under Ford?
Busing, Aborition and Native/Hispanic American rights
What reputation/image did Ford have when he became president?
Integrity and a ‘man of the people’
Why did Ford’s good reputation soon change?
He pardoned NIxon for the Watergate scandal
How did the media portray Ford?
They mocked him for bad decisions, saying the wrong thing and being clumsy
Jimmy Carter beat Ford in the presidential election of which year?
1976
What did Carter aim to do as president?
Regain trust and heal divisions in American society
What was Carter relucatant to do as president?
Use federal spending to gain support in Congress
How did Congress respond to Carter’s reluctance?
They were unwilling to work with him
What key event in March 1979 damaged Carter’s popularity?
The Three Mile Island Accident (a partial nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania
Althoug they were not significant, how many acts were passed under Carter?
29
What fell immediately under Ford’s presidency?
Social unrest over Vietnam
Without Congress’ support, what could Ford not do?
Push minority rights issues
Which First Lady supported Ford’s pro-women’s rights stance?
Betty Ford - she spoke on addiction and abortion
Which 1974 act outlawed credit discrimination on sex?
The 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act
What increased during Carter’s presidency?
Distrust, activism and protest
Why did Native Americans get new freedoms in 1976?
The Supreme Court ruled against property tax on reservation
What did Carter refuse to ban in the government in 1977?
Anti-gay discrimination
What changes to American law does ERA stand for?
Equal Rights Ammendments
Give two examples of ERA signed by Carter?
1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Domestic Violence laws
Who opposed minority and womens’ rights?
Right wing Christian groups
Why did some groups oppose minority and women’s rights?
They thought this wenr against the American Dream
What did Ford do with Nixon’s advisers after he became president?
Kept them in his cabinet
What did the Church Committee reveal in 1975?
The CIA involvement in assassinations and coups
Why did some question Carter’s honesty?
There were rumours of corruption and drug use in his cabinet
Which scandal damaged Congress’ reputation in 1976?
Koreagate
How did Carter’s family damage his image?
His sister was seen with a porn magazine owner and his brother had taken a $200,000 ‘loan’ from the Libyan government
What three key things damaged America’s self-confidence?
Vietnam, Communist power and dependence on OPEC oil
What did many Americans feel about their country under Ford and Carter?
That it had lost its way
What increased under Ford and Carter that damaged America’s confidence?
Divorce and juvenile crime rates
What important foreign policy did Ford and Kissinger oversee?
America’s withdrawal from Vietnam (April 1975)
How much money did America give to help secure the South Vietnamese government?
$700 million
What happened to Saigon in April 1975?
Communist forces entered the city and took control. ‘The fall of Saigon’
Why did the evacuation of Saigon lead to chaos?
Vietnamese civilians tried to escape on US helicopters from the embassy
How did Ford restore support after Saigon’s evacuation?
US Ship The Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia
What key policy did Ford and Kissinger continue with the USSR?
Detente
In 1975, which Soviet leader signed the Helsinki Accords with Ford/
Leonid Brezhnev
Give two terms of the 1975 Helsinki Accords?
America recognised USSR’s control of Eastern Europe and USSR committed to human rights
Who was Carter’s influential National Security Adviser?
Zbigniew Brzezinksi
(Breh-zin-ski)
What did Brzezinksi criticise and argue about the USSR?
Criticised detente and said the USSR were weak
What nuclear limitations policy was agreed between the USSR and America in 1979?
SALT II
What did Carter accuse the USSR of doing?
Human rights abuses and breaking Helsinki Accords
Who became the leader of China after Mao’s death in 1976?
Deng Xiaping
How did Carter respond to human rights abuses of South American nations?
He stopped military aid
How did Carter build relations with China?
Recognising the Communist regime in 1979 and agreeing trade
How did Carter cut official ties with Taiwan?
He ended the 1955 Mutual Defence Treaty
Who opposed Carter’s attempts to cut ties with Taiwan?
The Supreme Court
How did Carter ensure that trade with Taiwan continued?
He passed the Taiwan Relations Act
Give two reasons why the Middle East was important to America?
The US supported Israel and relied on Middle Eastern Oil
After the Yom Kippur War, Carter met with the leaders of which nations?
Egypt and Israel
What Middle Eastern peace treaty did Carter help to negotiate in 1978?
The Camp David Accords
Who overthrew the US backed Shah in Iran in 1979?
Islamic Fundamentalists led by Khomeini
To which ciuntry did Iran’s Shah flee, causing anger in Iran?
America
What happened at the US embassy in Iran in 1979?
66 hostages were taken
How did Carter react to the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979?
He froze Iranian bank accounts, stopped buying Iranian Oil and approved an unsuccessful attempt to free hostages
What did Carter agree to do in return for the release of the hostages?
Unfreeze Iranian accounts and promise not to interfere with Iran
Which two groups fough a Civil War in Afghanistan in 1978?
The Communist PDP and the Mujahideen
How did the USSR respond to the Afghan Civil War in December 1979?
The USSR invaded Afghanistan
What key peace agreement did Congress block as a result of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan?
SALT II
What did Carter do in response to the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan?
Set trade embargoes on the USSR< funded the Mujahideen and boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics
What form of segregation continued into the 1970s?
De Facto segregation
What strategy to integrate schools did white mobs protest against?
Busing
Integration of cities led to ‘white flight’, what is meant by this?
White people moved to suburbs to avoid integration
What key Nixon civil rights policy was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1978 and 1979?
Affirmative Action
As African Americans in film and TV increased, what type of films were successful?
Blaxsploitation Films
What are Blaxsploitation films?
Films with black heroes and actors
Which famous black musicians became popular in the 70s?
Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5
Where did life fail to improve for African Americans?
In ghettos
What percentage of Americans receiving welfare were black under Ford and Carter?
43%
Outside ghettos, which group of African Americans did life improve for?
The black middle class
Which groups of campaigners increasingly worked together?
Civil Rights and Feminist Campaigners
Who started to be elected in the South of America in the 70s?
Governors who supported desegregation
What did the South of America come to be known as during the 1970s?
The New South
Why did many Black Americans move South in the 70s?
De Facto segreation was less of a problem and there were more job opportunities
What was revealed to be built in black neighbourhoods in the south in the70s?
Toxic waste facilities
Give two pieces of evidence that shows black Americans were still not equal in America in the 70s?
They were underrepresented in politics and elections
They were more likely to be in poverty
What happened to the US populaiton between 1970 and 1980?
Increased by 11%
Whathappened to the US GDP between 1970 and 1980?
Increasedd by 23%
Why was America in a strong position in Europe by 1980?
Peace in Europe, NATO relations
Why was America in a strong position globally by 1980?
Improved relations with the USSR and China, USSR power was fading
Which group that opposed civil rights and feminism grew in the 1970s?
The religious right
What two key issues did the Religious Right oppose?
The ‘sexual revolution’ and a ‘moral decline’
By 1980, what fraction of African Americans still lived in poverty?
one third
Although gender inequality was challenged in the 70s, what problems did women face with pay?
Their pay averaged 67% of men’s
Although America was the wealthiest nation by 1980, what ended under Nixon, Ford and Carter?
Prosperity
What two things happened to America for the first time in the 70s?
They depended on foreign oil and the standard of living fell
Which two groups supported Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election?
The Religious Right and working class Democrats
How many seats did the Republicans gain in the House and Senate in the 1980 election?
53 in the House and 12 in the Senate
What two promises did Reagan make?
he would balance the federal budget and support states’ rights
Why was the ERA ‘movement’ divisive amongst women?
Many wanted to have a more equal society, but many women also opposed it, for example the fear of being drafted
Name two examples of women-led organisations that opposed the ERA?
Phyllis Schafly created the ‘Stop ERA’ organisation in 1972, 50,000 members
In 1979, Beverly LaHaye established Concerned Women for America to oppose ERA and abortion. 500,000 members by mid-80s
What Supreme Court ruling was passed in 1973?
Roe v Wade which legalised abortion
Give one example of a group that opposed abortion in the 70s?
The National Right to Life Committee
What did Ford and Carter do about abortion issues?
They both said nothing
How was the situation with poverty not improving in the 1970s?
the number of people below the poverty line was growing, especially during recessions
‘White flight’ exacerbated inner city poverty
The number of homeless grew - estimated one million in 1980?
Why didn’t Carter to more to help poverty?
Federal expenditure on Social Security and healthcare for the growing number of elderly was rocketing and Carter wanted to restrain spending to balance the federal budget
How many black families were in the middle class in the 1970s?
35-45%
What proportion of New York City’s black teenagers did not graduate high school?
Half
What percentage of schools were segregated by 1974?
8 per cent
What was Boston found guilty of in 1974 and what were the consequences?
Unconstitutional segregation of schools and ordered housing. Violence followed which only decreased when white students moved to private schools
What did Allan Bakke campaign against and what did the Supreme Court rule in 1979?
He claimed that his medical school let in minority students with lower grades than his. The Supreme Court’s Bakke v Regents of the University of California upheld affirmative action
How did black Americans consider Carter?
unsupportive on social welfare programmes and busing
When did black Americans suffer disproportionately and what did this lead to?
During recessions, led to racial violence eg in Liberty City, Miami in 1980, 16 died
What was the voter turnout for the 1976 election?
54%
What proportion of Americans thought that Ford and Carter lacked presidential quality?
Over 75%
What percentage of Americans were confident that their government would ‘do what is right most of the time’ in 1977?
29% (56% in 1969(
How did the protest movment tie into the lack of national self confidence in the 70s?
It had mad criticism of American society commonplace
Why did the economy seem to be in crisis in the 1970s?
- federal govt deficit rose from $1.6bn in 1965 to 525.3bn in 1968
- American industries were in declines relative to those of Japan and West Germany
- Rising oil prices
- Rust Belt states hit hard by unemployment
What shows that the economy was considered a serious problem to many Americans?
In 1978, 63 per cent of Americans considered unprecedented inflation their greatest concern
How did Congress respond to voter sentiment in terms of Vietnam?
They cut aid to South Vietnam in 1973 by 50% and then again in 1974
Why did Americans turn against detente in the 70s?
- Associated with Nixon
- Idea of ‘appeasing the Soviets’ and that the Communists had taken advantage of America through detente
- Soviets had reached nuclear parity on multiple warheads
How did Carter improve relations with China?
He established full diplomatic relation with 1979
What was the name of the attempted military operation to rescure the Iranian hostages and when was it?
Operation Eagle Claw in April 1980
How long were the Iranian hostages kept as hostages?
444 days
How had the education of black Americans significantly increased in the 70s?
By 1980, over half of black Americans aged 25 had completed at least 4 years of school and the percentage who had completed 4 years of college was double what it was in 1970
What was the name of the 1971 Supreme Court ruling that said it was time for the full immplementation of school desegregation and specified busing as a way to achieve it?
Swann v Charlotte-Mecklennburg
How many black Senators were there in America and what were their names?
One - Edward William Brooke from Massachussets
Who was Maynard Jackson?
Atlanta’s first black mayor from 1973
Why did black Americans move to the South between 1975 and 1980?
- The Great Migration to the North had proved disappointing to many who had found themselves in crime ridden ghettos
- Many black Americans felt an affinity with the culture of the South
Give one example of there still being conitinuity even in the New South
One third of black Atlantans lived below povety line, compared to 7% for white Atlantans
What statistic shows that the American population felt vulnerable in foreign policy?
-62% felt America was becoming weaker
- 81 per cent considered America in serious trouble
How many people were unemployed in 1980?
8.2million
What example of the US car industry declining was there?
Chrysler needed a controversial $1.5bn government bailout in 1980
How was America still in a good place economically by 1980>
Still reamined easily the world’s wealthiest nation with a GNP much higher than nearest rival
Summarise the main differences between American society in 1980 compared to post war?
Post war, America seemed cohesive where segregation was instituionalised and two-thids lived in affluence.
By 1980, de jure segregation had ended but de facto segregation continued, poverty was still serious and womens rights had improved but still not proportionate. The general affluence had declined and America was a bit more divided than post war
Why did Reagan win in 1980?
- Only 18 per cent rated Carter as a very strong leader. Many thought Reagan could handle economic problems better
- Reagan was the ‘great communicator’ and appeared more optimistic when debating. He also struck a chord when asking voters whether they were better off after 4 years of Carter
- 47% of voters stayed at home, who were mostly poor/ unemployed which would likely have added to Democrat votes
How did Reagan appeal to social conservative?
- He expressed disgust with drug taking, protests, abortion, the ERA etc
- he was outwardly religious and an estimated 5 million evangelical Christians who never voted before voted for Reagan
