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American Life During The Nixon Years. A short presentation of key background. Movements for change change direction. Following Kent State shootings, campus activism diminishes greatly in fall of 1970
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American Life During The Nixon Years A short presentation of key background
Movements for change change direction • Following Kent State shootings, campus activism diminishes greatly in fall of 1970 • African American civil rights movement inspired new movements in the late 60s/early 70s, including: • Women’s rights movement • Gay rights movement • Environmental movement • Native Americans, Latinos, and other groups
The environmental movement • 1st Earth Day: April 22, 1970 • 20 million Americans gathered in parks • Influence on Congress, Nixon leads to action • New ideas: recycling, vegetarianism, organic farming, solar energy, etc. take shape in the early 70s
The political climate • Nixon: Republican • Democratically-controlled House and Senate
The Nixon Economy • Unemployment goes from 3.3 to 6.2% by 1971 • Budget deficit of $25 billion; inflation rate of 5% in 1969 • Inflation exploded to 9% in 1973, 12% in 1974 • Arab oil embargo against the U.S. in 1973 for their support for Israel led to quadrupling of prices, long gas lines, etc. • Economic recession: “stagflation”
Nixon’s war on militant protesters and his “enemies” • Nixon wanted to destroy enemies so he would be unbeatable in 1972 • Created a secret task force to spy on journalists • Used the IRS to audit his opponents • FBI illegally wiretapped his opponents • Justice Dept and local police worked to destroy the Black Panthers • CIA illegally investigated thousands of Americans
Nixon’s Enemies List • “Anyone who opposes us, we’ll destroy. In fact, anyone who doesn’t support us, we’ll destroy.” -top Nixon aide • Enemies’ list: Bill Cosby, Paul Newman, Ralph Nader, John Lennon, Barbra Streisand, Ted Kennedy, Joe Namath! • Check this crazy document out: • http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/film/enemies.htm
Huston Plan • Nixon approved the Huston Plan: • CIA/FBI plan to infiltrate anti-war and civil rights groups • Break in, burglarize, plant evidence, wiretap, etc. • Denied by J. Edgar Hoover… • …So Nixon created his own secret unit called “The Plumbers.”
Last but not least…Vice President Agnew resigns • October 10, 1973 • Pleads no contest to income tax evasion and accepting $30,000 in bribes; resigns as VP, fined $10,000, given three years probation.