The New Left, Nixon & Watergate1969 - 1974

The New Left

“Old Left” (Socialists & Communists) focused on economic/class issues Primarily concerned with white working class Liberal – Left alliance fell apart after WWII due to Cold War

“New Left” focused on group identities & perceived oppression Prosperity enlarged middle class, but highlighted cont. poverty Civil rights movement provided model

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) modeled on SNCC National Organization for Women (NOW) modeled on NAACP American Indian Movement’s (AIM) “Red Power” modeled on

“Black Power”

Protests & Counterculture

Vietnam War came to symbolize all that was wrong with America Showed imperialism, oppression of non-white people, lying by

gov’t officials, & use of violence to maintain capitalism ‘teach-ins” began in colleges in spring 1965 60,000 avoided draft by fleeing country 4 students killed by Nat’l Guard at Kent State in May 1968

Political participation by young adults soon fizzled out Counterculture short-lived because nihilistic 26th Amendment (1972) lowered voting age to 18, but few

took advantage of it

Civil Rights Struggles Continued

Battles shifted to de facto segregation In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

(1971) Court ruled busing acceptable to integrate schools Congress responded with 1972 & 1974 Educational

Amendments Act: No further than next-nearest school Not if students’ health or education impaired

Milliken v. Bradley (1974) – interdistrict busing unacceptable

Whites challenged “affirmative action” as reverse discrimination Court ruled in Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke (1978)

that racial quotas unacceptable in college admissions

New (Second Wave) Feminism

New feminists pushed for abolition of gender roles & discrimination

Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in 1962

National Organization for Women (NOW) founded in 1966

Ms. Magazine began publication in 1972, to counteract magazines like Good Housekeeping

Title IX of Educational Amendments Act (1972) mandated equality in athletics funding

Abortion

Roe v. Wade & Doe v. Bolton (1972) est. legality of abortion as part of a woman’s constitutional right to “privacy”

Limits: Only in 1st trimester Once baby can survive

outside the womb, state has interest in protecting life

Woman’s life and health must also be protected

The Equal Rights Amendment

Equal Rights Amendment originally proposed in 1923

Passed by Congress in 1972, but never ratified by the states

Environmental Movement

Rachel Carson warned of dangers of pesticides in Silent Spring (1962)

Federal Environmental Protection Agency created in 1970

Clean Air Act (1970) reduced air pollution by 1/3

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) reduced workplace hazards

First Earth Day celebration was in 1970

Rachel Carson

1968 Presidential Campaign

The New Federalism

Appealed to “silent majority” frustrated by growing tax burdens

Vetoed some spending bills & impounded some funds appropriated by Congress

Welfare state continued to grow, nevertheless Budget for social services exceeded defense for 1st time

since World War II Supplemental Security Income (1972) increased benefits

for elderly, blind & disabled Proposed Family Assistance Plan would’ve guaranteed

all families a minimum annual income

Stagflation

Three causes: Trying to fight War on Poverty & Vietnam War without raising

taxes Declining worker productivity & increased competition from

Europe & Asia Oil crises in Middle East

Nixon’s “New Economic Policy”: Abandoned convertibility of dollars into gold & devalued dollar

(ended Bretton Woods system) Slapped 10% surcharge on all imports Temporarily froze wages & prices

Détente in Foreign Policy

National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger controlled foreign policy

Goal of détente: play China & USSR off of each other put pressure on North Vietnam to

negotiate end to war

Nixon visited China in Feb. 1972 – began process of normalizing relations (completed in 1978)

Nixon visited Moscow in May 1972 & signed SALT agreements banning ABM systems & limiting ICBMs

Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s

Watergate

Chuck Colson set up team of “plumbers” to fix “leaks” Headed by E. Howard Hunt & G.

Gordon Liddy Performed dirty tricks for CREEP

James McCord of CREEP spilled beans to Judge Sirica

Grand jury & Senate both launched investigations

April 1973: Nixon fired Attorney General John Dean & advisors Erlichmann & Haldeman for “cover-up”

Watergate

May 1973: Archibald Cox appointed special prosecutor

Nixon fired Cox for demanding tapes, but new prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, demanded tapes, too

Feb. 1974: House committee began impeachment hearings; voted 3 articles of impeachment in July

Edited tapes turned over in May; full tapes in August after unanimous Supreme Court ruling

Aug. 8, 1974: Nixon resigned Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s