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Chapter 26 - The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969–1988

  1. Nixon years
    1. Sporadic conservatism of President Richard Nixon
    2. Nixon's domestic policy
      1. Liberal side
        1. New regulatory agencies
          1. Environmental Protection Agency
          2. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
          3. National Transportation Safety Board
        2. Lavish spending on social services
        3. Environmental protection legislation
          1. Endangered Species Act
          2. Clean Air Act
        4. Family Assistance Plan
        5. Promotion of affirmative action: Philadelphia Plan
      2. Conservative side
        1. New Federalism: "block grants" to states
        2. Nomination of jurists with segregationist pasts to Supreme Court
        3. Abandonment of Philadelphia Plan; courting of working-class whites
    3. Racial policy and the Burger Court
      1. Burger Court
        1. Appointment of Chief Justice Warren Burger by Nixon
        2. Burger's surprisingly moderate tenure
      2. Rulings on school desegregation measures
        1. Approval
          1. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
          2. Subsequent spread of court-ordered busing plans
          3. Local controversies; Boston crisis
        2. Limits on extent: Milliken v. Bradley
      3. Rulings on affirmative action
        1. Background on affirmative action
        2. Approval
          1. Griggs v. Duke Power Company
          2. United Steelworkers of America v. Weber
        3. Mixed: Bakke v. University of California
          1. Rejection of racial quotas, approval of consideration of race
          2. Ambiguous legacy
    4. Mainstream acceptance of sexual revolution
      1. Premarital sex
      2. Rising divorce rate
      3. Declining birth rate
    5. Expanding opportunities for women
      1. Title IX
      2. Equal Credit Opportunity Act
      3. Influx of women into workforce
        1. Professional
        2. Pink collar
    6. Strides of gay and lesbian movement
      1. Growing political presence
      2. Gay rights measures
      3. Coming out
    7. The Seventies as "me decade"
    8. Nixon's foreign policy
      1. Hard-line side
        1. Support for pro-U.S. dictatorships
        2. Chilean coup
          1. U.S. role
          2. Brutal outcome
      2. "Realist" side
        1. New approach to communist powers
          1. Break from monolithic conception
          2. Pursuit of "peaceful coexistence"; "détente"
        2. China initiative
          1. Nixon visit
          2. Broadening of diplomatic and trade relations
        3. Soviet Union initiative
          1. Nixon visit
          2. Trade agreements
          3. Arms control treaties: SALT, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
    9. Vietnam
      1. Nixon initiatives
        1. "Secret plan"
        2. "Vietnamization"
        3. Invasion of Cambodia
      2. Swelling of antiwar sentiment
        1. Indications
          1. Magnitude of campus protest
          2. Social breadth of protest
          3. Spread of alienation among troops
          4. War Powers Act
        2. Contributing factors
          1. Killings at Kent State, Jackson State
          2. Revelations of My Lai massacre
          3. Publication of Pentagon Papers
      3. Winding down of war
        1. Paris peace agreement
          1. Provisions
          2. Unresolved issues
        2. Collapse of South Vietnam
    10. Nixon's landslide reelection over George McGovern
    11. Watergate and fall of Nixon
      1. Background: Nixon's obsession with secrecy, thwarting opposition
        1. "Enemies list"
        2. Pattern of illegal actions
          1. Wiretapping, break-ins, political sabotage
          2. "Plumbers": Ellsberg break-in
      2. Watergate break-in
      3. White House cover-up
      4. Unraveling of cover-up
        1. Trial of burglars
        2. Investigative journalism
        3. Congressional hearings
        4. Special prosecutor
        5. Revelations of White House tapes
        6. Supreme Court ruling on tapes
      5. House Judiciary Committee call for impeachment
      6. Resignation of Nixon
      7. Significance and aftermath
        1. Convictions, imprisonment of top administration figures
        2. Measures to address government abuse of power
          1. Church Committee hearings
          2. Congressional restrictions on FBI, CIA
          3. Freedom of Information Act
        3. Corrosion of public faith in government, liberal outlook
  2. End of Golden Age
    1. Economic slowdown
      1. Indications
        1. Decline of manufacturing
        2. Slow growth rate
        3. Inflation
        4. Trade deficit
        5. Federal deficit
        6. Unemployment
        7. Interest rates
        8. "Stagflation"; "misery index"
      2. Causes
        1. Competition from foreign manufacture
        2. Cost of Vietnam War
        3. Surge in oil prices
          1. 1973 Middle East war
          2. Oil embargo
          3. "Oil shocks" in America
          4. Growth of western energy production
      3. Nixon economic responses
        1. United States off gold standard
        2. Wage and price controls
    2. Social impact on industrial areas
      1. New hardships
        1. Accelerated decline of manufacturing jobs; shift to lowerpaying service jobs
        2. Decline of public services
        3. Rise in poverty rate
        4. Weakening and shrinking of labor movement
      2. New opportunities
        1. Growth of Sunbelt
        2. Remaking of city centers
    3. Ford years
      1. Gerald Ford's ascension to presidency
      2. Domestic record
        1. Nixon pardon
        2. Anti-inflation campaign
        3. Economic recession; rise in unemployment
      3. Foreign policy record: Helsinki Accord
    4. Carter years
      1. Jimmy Carter
        1. Background
        2. Reputation for honesty, piety; "outsider" status
        3. Political orientation
          1. Shades of old "Progressive" approach
          2. Embrace of black aspirations
        4. Electoral victory over Ford
      2. Domestic record
        1. Conservative economic approach
          1. Elements: spending cuts, deregulation, higher interest rates
          2. Conflict with Congress over
          3. Persistence of inflation
        2. Call for expanded use of nuclear energy
          1. Argument for
          2. Impact of Three Mile Island
        3. "Crisis of confidence" speech
      3. Foreign policy record
        1. Humanitarian philosophy
          1. De-emphasis of Cold War thinking
          2. Emphasis on Third World poverty, nuclear proliferation, human rights
        2. Manifestations of humanitarian philosophy
          1. Camp David accord
          2. Panama Canal treaty
          3. Limits on support for Central American dictators (Nicaragua, El Salvador)
          4. SALT II agreement
        3. Limits of humanitarian philosophy
          1. Continuation of international arms sales
          2. Continued support for repressive allies
      4. Iran crisis
        1. Background
          1. Iran's strategic importance to United States
          2. American support for repressive Shah
        2. Iranian revolution
          1. Islamic fundamentalism; Ayatollah Khomeini
          2. Anti-American spirit
        3. Seizing of American hostages
        4. Plunging popularity of Carter
      5. Afghanistan crisis
        1. Soviet invasion
        2. Carter response
          1. Announcement of Carter Doctrine
          2. Grain embargo
          3. Olympic boycott
          4. Withdrawal of SALT II treaty
          5. Boost in military spending
          6. Aid to Afghan resistance
      6. Carter's conservative legacy
        1. Domestic policy
        2. Foreign policy
  3. Rising tide of conservatism
    1. Context
      1. Economic problems
      2. International crises
      3. Civil rights and sexual revolutions
      4. Rising crime rates
    2. Currents
      1. "Neo-conservatives"
        1. Aims
          1. Curtailment of domestic programs
          2. Renewal of Cold War foreign policy
        2. Think tanks
      2. Religious Right
        1. Popular base
        2. Aims
          1. Promotion of "Christian values"
          2. Opposition to "sexual revolution"
        3. Mobilization
          1. Modern means of spreading message
          2. Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority
    3. Crusades
      1. Against gay rights
        1. Anita Bryant
        2. Save Our Children
      2. Against Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
        1. Origins of ERA
        2. Approval by Congress
        3. Ratification battles
          1. Themes of opposition
          2. Phyllis Schlafly
        4. Outcome: final defeat of ERA
      3. Against abortion rights
        1. Targeting of Roe v. Wade
        2. "Right to life" vs. "right to choose"
        3. Points of conflict
          1. Roe v. Wade
          2. Judicial nominations
          3. Public funding of abortions
          4. Demonstrations, violence against abortion providers
        4. Outcomes
          1. Continuing legality of abortion
          2. Impact of intimidation
      4. Against taxes
        1. Background: mounting resentment of government intervention, tax burden
        2. Proposition 13 (California)
          1. Passage
          2. Material effects in California
          3. Political repercussions around nation
      5. Against federal regulation of western lands; Sagebrush Rebellion
    4. Election of 1980
      1. Backdrop: conservative tide across Western world
      2. Campaign of Ronald Reagan
        1. Breadth of conservative themes
        2. Ability to galvanize and broaden conservative base
      3. Reagan landslide victory
      4. Carter's historical reputation
        1. As president
        2. As former president
  4. Reagan revolution
    1. Background on Reagan
      1. Political evolution
      2. Political skills
    2. Impact on national agenda, discourse on "freedom"
    3. Economic program ("Reaganomics")
      1. Philosophy
        1. Theory of "supply side" ("trickle-down") economics
        2. Retreat from principle of progressive taxation
        3. Hostility to government regulation, union power
      2. Key initiatives
        1. Drastic reductions in federal taxes and top tax rates
        2. Dismantling of regulation
          1. Cutbacks on regulatory agencies
          2. Appointment of pro-business regulators
        3. Dismissal of striking air traffic controllers (PATCO)
    4. Economic trends under Reagan
      1. Harsh recession, then prolonged expansion
      2. Strengths
        1. Robust stock market
        2. Low inflation
        3. High profits
        4. Technological advances
      3. Down-sides
        1. Weakening of labor movement
        2. Ongoing decline in manufacturing
        3. "Downsizing"
        4. Rising economic inequality
        5. Middle-class stagnation, hardships for working-class minorities and poor
        6. Emphasis on corporate deal making over production
        7. Reckless financial speculation; Savings and Loan scandal
        8. Ballooning of budget deficits, national debt
    5. Revival of "Gilded Age" values
      1. Affirmation of "greed"
      2. "Yuppies"
    6. Reagan reelection victory over Walter Mondale
    7. Conservatives' ambivalence over Reagan's domestic program
      1. Areas of approval
        1. Cuts in federal antipoverty efforts
        2. Curtailment of civil rights enforcement, affirmative action
        3. Verbal support for conservative social agenda
          1. Curtailment of abortion, gender equality
          2. Prayer in schools
          3. War on drugs
      2. Areas of disappointment
        1. Unwillingness to undo core elements of welfare state
        2. Limited inclination or ability to advance conservative social agenda
    8. Reinvigoration of Cold War
      1. Philosophy
        1. "Free World" vs. "evil empire"
        2. Commitment to military strength
        3. Impatience with "Vietnam syndrome"
        4. Distinction between "totalitarian" and "authoritarian" regimes
      2. Key initiatives
        1. Arms build-up
        2. Strategic Defense Initiative
        3. Nuclear deployment in Europe
        4. Interventions abroad
          1. Grenada
          2. Libya
          3. Lebanon
        5. Military aid
          1. To pro-U.S. dictators
          2. To pro-U.S. insurgencies
    9. Iran-Contra affair
      1. Features of scandal
        1. Secret sale of arms to Iran
        2. Illegal diversion of proceeds to Nicaraguan Contras
      2. Unraveling of scandal
        1. Press leaks
        2. Congressional hearings
      3. Political fallout
    10. Reagan, Gorbachev, and easing of Cold War
      1. Mikhail Gorbachev
        1. Emergence as Soviet leader
        2. Glasnost, perestroika
      2. United States-Soviet negotiations
        1. Arms control talks, agreements
        2. Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
    11. Reagan's mixed legacy
      1. Rhetoric of conservative values
      2. Undermining of conservative values
      3. Triumph of conservative assumptions; discrediting of liberalism
    12. Election of 1988
      1. Mudslinging
      2. George H. W. Bush victory over Michael Dukakis

 

Subject: 
US History
Subject X2: 
US History

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