Ford, Carter & The Rest of the 1970s

PART 1Directions: You will complete a brief analysis of Gerald Ford & Jimmy Carter. Complete the chart below.

President, Years Served & Party Major Events Strengths WeaknessesGerald Ford

Years:___________Party:___________

Jimmy CarterYears:___________Party:___________

PART 2Directions: Look through the following documents showing issues of the 1970s. Discuss the context of each document and afterwards explain what were the major issues/themes of the 1970s based on the documents.

Doc 1: Richard Nixon, Special message to Congress Outlining the 1972 Environmental ProgramThis is the environmental awakening. It marks a new sensitivity of the American spirit and a new maturity of American public life. It is working a revolution in values, as commitment to responsible partnership with nature replaces cavalier assumptions that we can play God with our surroundings and survive. It is leading to broad reforms in action, as individuals, corporations, government, and civic groups mobilize to conserve resources, to control pollution, to anticipate and prevent emerging environmental problems, to manage the land more wisely, and to preserve wildness.

Doc 2:1973

 Doc 3:

Doc 4: August 26, 1970

Doc 5:Jimmy Carter, A Crisis of Confidence, 1979 I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy.I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. And I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might.The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation.The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.…In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.…These changes did not happen overnight. They’ve come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.

Doc 6:

Doc 7:

Doc 8:Movement from the Rustbelt to the Sunbelt 1970-1980

1. What were the major issues of the 1970s?

2. How did the liberalism of the 1960s/1970s lead to a new conservatism?