AP U.S. History “The Cold war at home and abroad”

AP U.S. History“The Cold war at home and abroad” Unit 11

Unit 11: Focus on while reading • Issues related to the reconversion of the economy from a war-based economy to a consumer-oriented economy. • The impact of the Baby Boom, Suburbanization, and massive consumerism. • The challenges faced by Civil Rights leaders as they sought political, economic, and social freedom. • The impact of Presidential Administrations on the size and scope of the Federal Government. • The continued development of Liberalism in American Government. • Issues that led to the public’s disillusionment with the government.

Unit 11: Introduction to domestic issues during the Cold War • During the late 1940s Europe was in chaos, the war had ravaged economies, placed traditional political structures in jeopardy, and created social upheaval. • Japan was occupied by the U.S., China was on the brink of Civil War, and Korea was being divided between Communist and Anti-Communist forces. • Although the U.S. suffered 1 million casualties (300,000 deaths) and spent $300 Billion to wage World War II, the U.S. was virtually untouched by the war and emerged a political and economic powerhouse. • The biggest challenge the U.S. faced at the end of the war was how the demobilization and reconversion of the economy would effect unemployment and inflation. • The deterioration of relations with the Soviet Union and subsequent “Cold War” would deeply affect quality of life in America and create new threats to American security.

Unit 11.1: Post-War Issues and how the Government responded. • What issues faced the United States in relation to demobilization and reconverting the economy in Post-War America? • How did the “Baby Boom” impact the United States politically, socially, and economically during the 1940s and 1950s? Is it having an impact today? • In what ways did Suburbanization affect the culture of the United States in the 1950s? What were some characteristics of 1950s “pop culture”?

Unit 11.1: Post-War Issues and how the Government responded. • What issues faced the United States in relation to demobilization and reconverting the economy in Post-War America? • #1 challenge: over 7 million men and women had been returned to civilian status less than one year after the victory over Japan. • #2 challenge: once the war was over and the price controls imposed by the Office of Price Administration were lifted many feared that inflation would set in and drive us into another recession. • Massive consumer demand and increased defense spending related to Cold War tensions helped to offset worries about inflation and prevented rampant unemployment. • The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill) provided money for college along with other benefits for returning veterans and kept many out of the workforce also helping to offset some of these concerns.

Unit 11.1: Post-War Issues and how the Government responded. • How did the “Baby Boom” impact the United States politically, socially, and economically during the 1940s and 1950s? Is it having an impact today? • Greater disposable income, more leisure time, and a general expectation of prosperity leads to population increases. • Between 1945 and 1960 the population increased by 40 million people. These people would grow up in and live the bulk of their lives amidst Cold War tensions. • The “Baby Boom” created distinct demographic changes: • Demand for housing sparked the growth of the suburbs • People moved to the warmer climates of the “Sunbelt” from the Carolinas to Florida and across Texas, Arizona, and California. • By the 1970s the majority of Americans lived in Suburban neighborhoods. • Advocates of suburbanization viewed it as the culmination of the American Dream. • Critics called it “White Flight” and charged that it contributed to pollution, segregation , and conformity.

Unit 11.1: Post-War Issues and how the Government responded. • In what ways did Suburbanization affect the culture of the United States in the 1950s? What were some characteristics of 1950s “pop culture”? • William J. Levitt pioneered the mass production of suburban housing making the “Levittowns” affordable to Americans returning from war and the college-educated middle class. • The suburbs were made possible by: • Automobiles • Highway systems • Desires to live outside the congestion of the cities • Low interest mortgages that were protected by the government and tax deductible • From these “cookie cut” suburbs, especially combined with fears related to the Cold War, led to an atmosphere of conformity. • Anyone who stood out was considered a threat (possibly a communist or some kind of criminal). • During the Cold War their was comfort in “fitting in”, it gave people of sense of identity and security. • It is one of the reasons that the “Baby Boomers” in charge of school systems today are pushing dress codes so hard. • The reaction to the conformity and consumerism of the 1950s came in the form of the Beatnik Movement, a counterculture that originated in the West.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were the origins of the Civil Rights Movement in America? • What role did changing demographics and changing attitudes in the Post-War/Cold War time period affect the Civil Rights Movement? • What were some of the important “turning points” in the Civil Rights Movement and what role did important leaders play in this struggle? • What role did the Federal Government play in passing Civil Rights legislation and handing down important Court Rulings that affected Civil Rights in America?

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were the origins of the Civil Rights Movement in America? • 1947: Jackie Robinson is hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers and becomes the first African American to integrate major professional sports in America, remember that Baseball is central to the lives of many Americans. • 1948: President Truman desegregates the U.S. Military during the Korean War. • Despite these advances African Americans still faced segregation, lynching, and voter disenfranchisement going into the 1950s. • The Civil Rights Movement would be driven by the Mass Movement of African Americans, not just to the North, but to Southern cities like Montgomery, Memphis, and Atlanta.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What role did changing demographics and changing attitudes in the Post-War/Cold War time period affect the Civil Rights Movement? • On the line in the Cold War was the American portrayal of itself as the epicenter of freedom and democracy in the world, as opposed to the oppression and dictatorship of the Soviet Union. • Racial segregation and discrimination were becoming obstacles to the image we, as a nation, wanted to present to the world. • The advent of the Television Age in the 1950s meant that images of racial violence and the brutal resistance to civil disobedience could be witnessed worldwide.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were some of the important “turning points” in the Civil Rights Movement and what role did important leaders play in this struggle? • Desegregation of Public Schools • May 1954: the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that public schools should be desegregated “with all deliberate speed” • Attorney Thurgood Marshall argued that “segregation of black children in the public schools was unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection under the law”. • Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled that “Separate facilities are inherently unequal” and unconstitutional. • States across the South fought the Court’s decision. • Governor OrvalFaubus used the Arkansas National Guard to deny enrollment of nine African American students (The Little Rock Nine) into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. • President Dwight D. Eisenhower used Federal Troops to escort and protect these students as they enrolled and attended school. • He, thus, became the first President since Reconstruction to use Federal Troops to enforce Civil Rights legislation.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were some of the important “turning points” in the Civil Rights Movement and what role did important leaders play in this struggle? • Montgomery Bus Boycott and Creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • 1955: Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to leave her seat and move further to the back of the bus to accommodate white passengers. • Her arrest sparked a boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama city busses. • From this successful boycott emerged the inspirational leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Dr. King was inspired by the philosophies of Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau and pushed an agenda of non-violet civil disobedience. • To move his agenda forward Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to organize marches and other forms of protest across the South.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were some of the important “turning points” in the Civil Rights Movement and what role did important leaders play in this struggle? • The Sit-in Movement and the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) • February 1960: College students in Greensboro, NC organized sit-ins at the segregated Woolworth’s Lunch Counter. • Students deliberately invited arrest so that television cameras could witness police brutality against peaceful demonstrators. • Sit-ins and peaceful marches quickly became the major tools of the Civil Rights Movement • The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was formed to organize he student movement. • Still, many African Americans lacked the vote.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were some of the important “turning points” in the Civil Rights Movement and what role did important leaders play in this struggle? • Pushing for suffrage: • March 1963: Dr. King highlights a massive “March on Washington” with his famous “I Have A Dream” speech and organizers called on President Kennedy and Congress to pass and sign into Law a Civil Rights Act protecting voting rights and desegregating public facilities. • The Summer of 1964 became known as the Mississippi Summer Project (Freedom Summer). Civil Rights workers went into Mississippi to organize and register African American voters. • One of the great tragedies of Freedom Summer was the murder of three Civil Rights workers in Mississippi. The trial highlighted the injustice and oppression faced by African Americans in the South. • The March on Washington, Freedom Summer, and the Assassination of President Kennedy led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What were some of the important “turning points” in the Civil Rights Movement and what role did important leaders play in this struggle? • A more militant approach • Not everyone believed that Dr. King’s non-violent, civil disobedience-based approach was effective. • In the Northern cities racial violence generally related to job competition led to more militant alternatives for Northern, urban African Americans. • Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, and the Black Power Movement preached a message of response to violence with violence, African American control of African American communities, and a revival of Marcus Garvey’s Black Pride Campaign. • Malcolm X converted to Islam in prison and supported racial separation and black nationalism. Malcolm X began to modify his message moving closer to Dr. King’s message after a pilgrimage to Mecca but was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam, which saw him as a betrayer of their cause. • The Black Panthers patrolled African American communities advocating a violent response to police harassment , inequality, and systematic racial subordination. By 1973 the group redirected its focus from armed violence to community development programs and their leader, Bobby Scale, ran for mayor of Oakland, California. • These movements drew considerably more support after the assassinations of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • What role did the Federal Government play in passing Civil Rights legislation and handing down important Court Rulings that affected Civil Rights in America?

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • Other Civil Rights efforts: • The Women’s Rights Movement: • 1972: Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments: banned sex discrimination in any federally assisted educational program or activity. The most noticeable came in women’s athletics. • 1972: The Equal Rights Amendment was approved by Congress and ratified by 28 States, but ultimately failed to be added to the Constitution. • Outspoken Conservative opponent Phyllis Schlafly charged that the ERA was an “attempt by bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems”. She alleged that the ERA would lead to a “Parade of Evils” like women in combat, same-sex marriage, and broken homes. • The ERA ultimately died in 1982, three states short of ratification. • 1973: The Supreme Court struck down prohibitions on abortion in Roe v. Wade ruling that a woman’s right to an abortion was covered under constitutional right to privacy. • Key activists included: • Betty Friedan: Published The Feminine Mystique urging women to seek higher education and employment outside the home. • Gloria Steinem: Published Ms. Magazine and encouraged women to become more involved in politics.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • Other Civil Rights efforts: • Latin Americans: • By 2003, 39 million Latinos living mostly in the American Southwest represented a significant minority in the United States. • Mexican Americans flexed their political muscles by electing Mayors in Miami, Denver, and San Antonio. • The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, led by Cesar Chavez succeeded in improving wages and working conditions for “stoop laborers” who followed a cycle of planting and harvesting across the American west. • Chavez, like Dr. King, used non-violence and civil disobedience to achieve his aims. • Native Americans: • Although 2.4 Million Native Americans lived in the United States, many had left the reservations and traditional Native life was under threat of extinction. • Native Americans began organizing to preserve their culture and expose the horrible standard of living facing many Native Americans in the United States. • The American Indian Movement (AIM), led by Russell Means, seized government property and held rallies to call attention to the problems facing Native Americans.

Unit 11.2: The Civil Rights Movement • Other Civil Rights efforts: • The Environmental Movement: • The Environmentalist Movement was inspired by Rachel Carson’s publication of Silent Springin 1962. • The book was a dire warning about the use of insecticides (such as DDT) on plant and animal life. She argued that the attempt to kill pests could result in the destruction of entire ecosystems. • Major environmental concerns included: • The Oil spill in Alaska caused by the accident with the oil tanker Exxon Valdez . • The nuclear power plant disaster at Three Mile Island • The contamination of an entire community that had been built on top of a toxic waste dump (Love Canal, New York). • Numerous cases of companies cutting cost by irresponsibly dumping toxic waste into our rivers and streams. • In 1970 the federal government created the Environmental Protection Agency to set and enforce pollution standards and then passed the Clean Water Act in 1972.

Unit 11.3: The Conservative Presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower • How did President Harry S. Truman continue the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt? • What were some key pieces of legislation passed during Truman’s administration? • What were some key pieces of legislation passed during the Eisenhower Administration?

Unit 11.3: The Conservative Presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower • How did President Harry S. Truman continue the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt? • President Harry Truman promoted what he called a “Fair Deal” for America. • A lot of Truman’s Fair Deal would be blocked by Congressional Republicans who took over both houses of Congress during the 1946 midterm elections. • National Health Care • A sweeping Civil Rights program • Aid to education • The pro-business Republican Congress was harsh in regards to the rights of Labor Unions, once protected by FDR • Congress passed legislation that banned boycotts, Sympathy Strikes, the closed shop, and enforced a 60-day “cooling off” period before workers could strike. Union leaders also had to swear that they were not communists.

Unit 11.3: The Conservative Presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower • What were some key pieces of legislation passed during Truman’s administration? • Successes of Truman included: • Housing Act of 1949: slum clearance and low-rent housing • Minimum Wage Act of 1949: increased the minimum wage • Social Security Act of 1950: extended coverage to the self-employed and retirees were given increased benefits. • Civil Rights: Truman’s support for Civil Rights caused the formation of the States’ Rights Party led by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond. • Truman created the Committee on Civil Rights and proposed cutting funding to any government agency that participated in discrimination. • Segregation in interstate transportation was prohibited • Lynching would become a federal offense • Appointed African American Federal Judges • Desegregation of the United States Military • Most of this failed to pass in Congress

Unit 11.3: The Conservative Presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower • What were some key pieces of legislation passed during Truman’s administration? • Civil Rights: Truman’s support for Civil Rights caused the formation of the States’ Rights Party led by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond. • Truman created the Committee on Civil Rights and proposed cutting funding to any government agency that participated in discrimination. • Segregation in interstate transportation was prohibited • Lynching would become a federal offense • Appointed African American Federal Judges • Desegregation of the United States Military • Most of this failed to pass in Congress

Unit 11.3: The Conservative Presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower • What were some key pieces of legislation passed during the Eisenhower Administration? • Dwight D. Eisenhower won the Presidency in 1952 aided by his status as a war hero and his campaign slogan “time for a change” (the public had tired of twenty years of Democratic Presidents). • Key legislation during Eisenhower’s administration included: • The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was created as a Cabinet position. • The Social Security Act was amended to include state and local government employees and provided retirees with “cost of living” increases. • The National Defense Education Act pushed the Public Education system to emphasize math and science in effort to produce future engineers that could compete with the Soviets. • The National Defense Highway Act led to the construction of massive Interstate Highway systems (I-95 and I-40 amongst them). • Most of his presidency would be occupied with Civil Rights issues (many are detailed in previous slides)

Unit 11.3: The Conservative Presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower • What were some key pieces of legislation passed during the Eisenhower Administration? • Eisenhower’s record on Civil Rights: • Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and directed the States to integrate public schools with “all deliberate speed”. • “Ike” sent the U.S. Army to enroll and protect the “Little Rock Nine” in Arkansas. When the Little Rock School Board went to court to challenge Eisenhower’s use of federal troops, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the Brown decision in Cooper v. Aaron. • Rosa Parks’s arrest spawned the Montgomery Bus Boycott and launched a Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in municipal buses was unconstitutional. • The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed in an effort to strengthen African American voting rights. Any efforts to deny 15th Amendment Rights was now a Federal Crime. • In response to frequent church bombings (most notably in Birmingham, Alabama) Congress passed a law making the transportation of explosives across state lines illegal.

Unit 11.4: The Liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson • What were the key components of John F. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” agenda? • What circumstances surrounded the assassination of President Kennedy? • What important legislation was part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, what event caused its failure?

Unit 11.4: The Liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson • What were the key components of John F. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” agenda? • John F. Kennedy won a very close 1960 Presidential election against Republican candidate Richard Nixon, which featured the nation’s first televised Presidential Debate. • John F. Kennedy sought to continue FDR’s New Deal and expand on Truman’s Fair Deal programs. • JFK enlisted the aid of experts (“The Best and the Brightest”) much like FDR’s “Brain Trust”. • JFK’s agenda was called the “New Frontier” • JFK supported formation of the Peace Corps to assist those suffering in underdeveloped nations around the world. • JFK began funding NASA with a mission to put a man on the moon and defeat the Soviets in the Space Race. • The Housing Act of 1961 continued the effort toward “slum clearance”. • The Minimum Wage Act of 1961 raised the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour. • Amendments to the Social Security Act extended coverage to children of unemployed parents and created a penalty for retirement before 65. • Congress approved a Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Unit 11.4: The Liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson • What were the key components of John F. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” agenda? • Kennedy and the Civil Rights Movement: • JFK authorized his brother Robert Kennedy (U.S. Attorney General) to sue in Federal Court to protect African American voting rights. • JFK dispatched Federal Marshals in 1961 to protect the “Freedom Riders” who were being brutalized as they attempted to desegregate interstate busses. • JFK supported the Voter Education Project, designed to increase voter registration in the South. • JFK sent Federal Marshals to ensure the registration of Korean War veteran James Meredith to the University of Mississippi. Riots ensued that resulted in two deaths. That same year, Medgar Evers (Head of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP) was gunned down in front of his home by a white racist. • In 1963 JFK engaged in a famous showdown with Alabama Governor George Wallace during which JFK nationalized the Alabama National Guard and ordered the integration of the University of Alabama. • JFK gave much needed support to the activities of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and pushed Congress toward a greater Civil Rights program. • Unfortunately, JFK was assassinated in November 1963 before much of his agenda could be realized.

Unit 11.4: The Liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson • What circumstances surrounded the assassination of President Kennedy? • November 22, 1963: President Kennedy is shot by a concealed assassin while driving through Downtown Dallas, Texas in an open-topped limousine. The assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald. • Days later, Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered on national television by Jack Ruby, Kennedy’s self-appointed avenger. • The Warren Commission conducts an in-depth investigation and declares that Oswald had acted alone in the assassination, but conspiracy theories have lingered ever since. • Cut down after only 1000 days in office, President Kennedy’s vigor, charisma, and idealism made him the hero of an entire generation during the 1960s (including future President Bill Clinton). • JFK had asked Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”, he supported foreign and domestic aid organizations like the Peace Corps, and he donated his entire Presidential salary to charity. • In more recent times, allegations about womanizing and links to members of organized crime have tarnished, but not destroyed, JFK’s image and further stimulated the conspiracy theorists obsessed with his premature death.

Unit 11.4: The Liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson • What important legislation was part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, what event caused its failure? • Lyndon B. Johnson’s domestic agenda was focused on a war on poverty, disease, inadequate education, racial injustice, and desires to improve the lives of millions experiencing hardship in America. • LBJ’s “Great Society” included: • The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964: Created Job Corps to provide vocational training and educational opportunities for underprivileged youth. • The Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965: provided $1 Billion in aid to poverty-stricken regions in the Appalachian Mountains. • Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965: provided aid to public and parochial schools. • Medicare Act of 1965: Extended Social Security to cover nursing and hospital care for the elderly. Later Medicaid would extend the same type of coverage to underprivileged families. • LBJ created the Department of Transportation to oversee and coordinate national transportation policies. • The Twenty-Fifth Amendment established that the Vice President would take over duties as President in the event the President died in office or could no longer perform his duties as President. • The Downfall of the Great Society resulted mainly from a lack of funding and deteriorating faith in LBJ as the War in Vietnam droned on and on and on. LBJ shocked the nation when he declared he would not seek reelection in 1968, he had been destroyed (politically) by Vietnam.

Unit 11.4: The Liberalism of Kennedy and Johnson • What important legislation was part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, what event caused its failure? • LBJ and the Civil Rights Movement: • LBJ appointed Robert Weaver as the first African American Cabinet official (head of the newly formed Department of Housing and Urban Development – HUD). • The Twenty-Fourth Amendment eliminated the poll tax as a qualifier for voter registration. • The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Desegregated all public facilities and denied federal funding to any state that failed to comply with anti-segregation laws. • The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Eliminated the Literacy Test as a qualifier for voter registration and gave the Executive Branch jurisdiction over enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment.

Unit 11.5: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Administrations create disillusionment • What were the major events related to the Nixon Presidency? • How did Gerald Ford’s handling of the Nixon scandal and issues related to inflation cause the nation to look to a “Washington outsider” in 1976? • Why did the issues related to Iran and the economy overshadow diplomatic victories and cost Jimmy Carter re-election?

Unit 11.5: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Administrations create disillusionment • What were the major events related to the Nixon Presidency? • Richard M. Nixon was elected in 1968 with only 43.3% of the popular vote on the backs of what he called the “silent majority” (White, Middle Class Americans who opposed demonstrations [anti-war or civil rights related], opposed “big government”, and rejected the nation’s social and cultural direction). • Nixon’s election was driven by his promise to end the Vietnam War honorably and his vow to return “law and order” to the nation. His most pressing domestic problem was rising inflation caused by the Vietnam War and LBJ’s Great Society programs. • Nixon tried to deal with inflation by cutting taxes and reducing government spending, but that only worsened the economic situation. • The conservative Nixon then turned to the Keynesian Model and began a policy of deficit spending. • In 1971 Nixon took the U.S. Dollar officially off the “Gold Standard” to make U.S. products more affordable in foreign markets and the economy improved. • Domestic achievements associated with the Nixon Presidency: • The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18 in response the cry of “old enough to fight, too young to vote”. • The United States won the “Space Race” when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, the culmination of the Apollo 11 mission. • Nixon ended the war in Vietnam, but not after controversy related to the invasion of neutrals Laos and Cambodia. • OPEC embargoed U.S. Oil supplies in response to our support of Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

Unit 11.5: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Administrations create disillusionment • What were the major events related to the Nixon Presidency? • The Watergate Scandal consumes Nixon’s Presidency • Ironically enough, Nixon’s re-election Committee’s acronym was CREEP and his advisors were willing to do anything to get President Nixon re-elected. • The Nixon administration authorized burglars (known as the Plumbers) to break into the Democratic National Headquarters looking for information they could use against opponents in the 1972 election. • Although the White House denied connection to the Plumbers, two Washington Post reporters (Woodward and Bernstein) uncovered massive wrong-doing associated with Nixon and his advisors. Using an anonymous source (later revealed to be the head of the FBI) they cited that the White House had: • Obviously the break-in and subsequent cover-up • The use of independent government agencies to carry out their “dirty work” (FBI and IRS specifically) • The creation of an “enemies list” that would then face harassment by the White House. • When it was discovered that Nixon habitually tape-recorded Oval Office Meetings, the Justice Department and the Senate demanded that the tapes be turned over for review. • Nixon cited “Executive Privilege” and initially refused to turn over the tapes. • He then relented and turned over extensively edited copies of the tapes. • The Justice Department sued and in the case of United States v. Nixon the Supreme Court ordered the unedited tapes turned over the Senate. • The tapes exposed the crimes and cover=ups. • Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned and was replaced by Gerald Ford • Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, the first President to resign the office. • The public’s perception of the Presidency was deeply shaken.

Unit 11.5: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Administrations create disillusionment • What were the major events related to the Nixon Presidency? • Nixon’s record on Civil Rights: • Nixon, realizing that much of his support had come from Southern Whites, did everything he could do to slow down integration. • Nixon nominated to pro-business, conservative Justices for the Supreme Court but both failed confirmation in the Senate. • Nixon took steps to “reform” welfare programs, but again was denied by Congress. • Any many ways Richard Nixon’s Presidency is reminiscent of that of Warren G. Harding with its promise of a “Return to Normalcy” and rampant corruption.

Unit 11.5: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Administrations create disillusionment • How did Gerald Ford’s handling of the Nixon scandal and issues related to inflation cause the nation to look to a “Washington outsider” in 1976? • In order to maintain tranquility in the government, Gerald Ford maintained many of Nixon’s policies and retained most of his Cabinet. • One month into his Presidency, Ford outraged the public by pardoning Nixon for his crimes related to Watergate. • Ford’s presidency was plagued by rising inflation and, consequently, rising unemployment. • His economic policies were centered around cutting government spending on welfare and education, high taxes on imported oil, and tax cuts to stimulate consumer demand. • To ramp up support for his economic agenda he issued WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons to business leaders and the American public. • Inflation rose steadily, Unemployment rose steadily, and the National Deficit rose steadily. • Ford would be narrowly defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Unit 11.5: The Nixon, Ford, and Carter Administrations create disillusionment • Why did the issues related to Iran and the economy overshadow diplomatic victories and cost Jimmy Carter re-election? • Jimmy Carter benefited from his status as a “Washington Outsider” with no connections to the scandals of the Nixon and Ford Administrations. • Carter immediately became controversial by pardoning the “Draft Dodgers” from the Vietnam War. • Key legislation associated with Carter included: • The minimum wage was once again increased • The Social Security Payroll tax was increased • The Department of Energy was developed to search for alternatives to Middle Eastern Oil. • The Department of Education was created. • The most important success of the Carter Administration was the mediation of a temporary peace settlement between Egypt and Israel (The Camp David Accords). • An OPEC Oil Embargo, the botched handling of the Iran Hostage Crisis, and an economic recession ultimately caused Jimmy Carter to lose his re-election campaign by landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan.

Unit 11.6: The Reagan Revolution • What issues resonated with the American Public leading to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980? • How did the Reagan Administration use tax cuts and deep government spending cuts to shape the nation’s economy in the 1980s? • What were the long-term ramifications of “Reaganomics” for the nation? How would these effects make Reagan’s successor George H.W. Bush like Jimmy Carter?

Unit 11.6: The Reagan Revolution • What issues resonated with the American Public leading to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980? • Ronald Reagan was an unabashed Conservative, openly criticizing the New Deal and the Great Society (keystones of Liberalism in the twentieth century). • Reagan leaned on the Religious Right (the Moral Majority) for his voter base. His commitment to traditional family values, opposition to abortion and affirmative action, and his tough views on the Soviet Union and Cold War appealed to many Americans. • Reagan started by redefining the Supreme Court through the appointment of Conservative Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Sandra Day O’Conner (first woman to serve on the Court). The new Conservative Court swiftly placed limits on abortion rights and Affirmative Action programs.

Unit 11.6: The Reagan Revolution • How did the Reagan Administration use tax cuts and deep government spending cuts to shape the nation’s economy in the 1980s? • Reagan immediately froze the number of workers on the Federal payroll. • Congress passed tax cuts for individuals and corporations. • Government funding for social programs like student loans and mass transportation were severely cut, Welfare-related programs like Food Stamps were cut, and although Medicare was not touched the age for receiving Social Security benefits was raised. • Reagan attempted to end the Departments of Education and Energy. • Reagan tried to ease the cost of doing business and increase capital investment by: • Removing restrictions on takeovers and mergers • Removing environmental standards that drove up the cost of doing business • Removing restrictions on the Savings-and-Loan industry, meanwhile the government increased the federal government’s depositors’ insurance from $20,000 to $100,000. Bad loans, speculation, and scams precipitated a $200 Billion bailout of the Savings and Loan Industry that would have to be paid for by the taxpayers.

Unit 11.6: The Reagan Revolution • What were the long-term ramifications of “Reaganomics” for the nation? How would these effects make Reagan’s successor George H.W. Bush like Jimmy Carter? • The biggest economic problem that Ronald Reagan had to confront was the ever-growing deficit (created on his part by his tax cuts and increased defense spending). • His answer was Supply-Side Economics (called “Reaganomics” by his supporters and “Trickle-Down Economics” by his critics). • The basis of Supply-Side Economics was tax cuts for Corporations would lead to increased capital investment, which would then lead to increased economic opportunities for the Middle Class and improvements for those at the lower levels of the economy (a revival of the Mellon Tax Plan). In essence, when the wealthy make more money, their wealth trickles down to everyone else. • The problem, not for Reagan but his successor George H.W. Bush, was that the Middle Class’s real wages did not increase during the 1980s and Reagan’s cuts to domestic programs were offset by rampant spending on defense aimed at crushing the Soviet Union. • Much like Andrew Jackson, Reagan’s problems would be blamed on his successor, while he would go off into history as the ultimate Cold Warrior who had broken our greatest enemy and restored American patriotism.

Practice Question #1 • President Reagan’s nomination of Justices Scalia, O’Conner, and Kennedy to the Supreme Court: • Was warmly supported by Democrats in Congress • Failed to win the approval of the Senate • Revealed his attempt to make the Supreme Court more conservative • Indicated to many Americans his moderate stance on constitutional issues • Ultimately backfired, as the three justices were far more liberal than Reagan had anticipated

Practice Question #2 • A stimulus to post-war prosperity was: • The spending habits of Americans as more consumer goods became available • The significant cuts in the military budget made by Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy • The purchasing power of millions of women who entered the work force at war’s end • The elimination of the income tax • The elimination of foreign competition in most industries

Practice Question #3 • Which U.S. President is associated with the Fair Deal? • Franklin Roosevelt • Harry Truman • Dwight D. Eisenhower • John F. Kennedy • Lyndon B. Johnson

Practice Question #4 • The Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade dealt with: • Voting rights • Environmental protection laws • Reproductive rights • Social Security Benefits • Federal funding for welfare programs

Practice Question #5 • In the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas: • The Court reaffirmed the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 • The Court affirmed voting rights of all citizens in accordance with the Fifteenth Amendment • African American’s were outraged by the Court’s support for segregation • Segregation was ruled unconstitutional • The Court ruled that the Federal Government was not responsible for integrating facilities and institutions

Practice Question #6 • The National Defense Education Act: • Was passed during the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson • Was designed in response to Soviet advances in aeronautics • Significantly increased the federal aid to military research programs • Gave the president the power to declare war without Congress’s approval when the nation is being threatened with attack • Appropriated billions of dollars for developing peaceful uses for nuclear energy

Practice Question #7 • The Taft-Hartley Act: • Helped fund the construction of schools and hospitals in economically depressed areas. • Provided billions in federal aid to communities faced with serious environmental problems • Helped to fund the Medicare Program • Was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that the federal government could withhold funds from states that refused to integrate • Placed serious restrictions on the rights and powers of labor unions

Practice Question #8 • In which of the following events did the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. play a significant role? • The integration of the University of Alabama • The integration of the University of Mississippi • The Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott • Ending segregation in the military • The formation of the Black Panthers

Practice Question #9 • Which post-war President is most associated with business deregulation? • Harry Truman • Dwight Eisenhower • Gerald Ford • Jimmy Carter • Ronald Reagan

AP U.S. History “The Cold war at home and abroad”