Transcript for:
America Under Stress: 1967-1980

making america chapter 27 america under stress 1967 to 1980 individual choices to laura suerta seeing the poverty of farmworker children dolores huerta a school teacher in stockton california decided that it was not good enough to be a good teacher and chosen 1955 to work for the community service organization cso and activist organization working to help the corps there she met cesar chavez and in 1962 they formed the national farm workers association as a union organizer huerta and her family experienced what farm worker families go through every day of their lives poverty over the next 45 years she organized workers led strikes stood in picket lines oversaw a very famous break boycott and negotiated contracts with growers in the process she and others awaken the public and legislators to the many problems facing the farm workers as illustrated in the individual voices feature at the end of this chapter in the process huerta was arrested 22 times was placed under fbi surveillance because of suspected communist ties this is still the cold war after all and suffered a severe beating by a san francisco police officer that ruptured her spleen but there were victories through negotiations with growers she improved wages and working conditions including portable toilets health coverage and the restriction of pesticides especially ddt which was completely banned in 1974. shout out to rachel carson and silent spring for that accomplishment muarto was instrumental in getting the california agricultural labor relations act 1975 passed which gave farmworkers the right to organize and to collectively bargain with employers she remains involved in the cause that discussed later in this chapter working for the rights of latinos workers and women still supporting farm workers in july 2006 she organized a march in lamont california to gain just wages in 2012 she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by president obama when johnson entered the presidency in 1964 he told the american public that he had no intention of sending americans to fight in vietnam at the same time however his foreign policy advise advisors informed him that american air and ground forces were needed to prevent a communist victory there we don't want vietnam to go the way that korea did to go the way that china did focusing on his election and domestic agenda johnson chose a policy of gradual escalation of american forces in south vietnam the goal was to convince north vietnam that the cost of the war was too high and that strategy failed not only did north vietnam meet escalation with escalation but it was the united states that grew war weary for many then the election of 1968 would be a referendum on the war but to others it would be a general critique of liberal policies in a socially and culturally fragmented society in 1968 just to say it right now lbj does not seek re-election and the republicans win with nixon by the mid-1960s latinos and american indians were among the new voices calling for political economic and social change brown power and red power had joined black power in running against humphrey um hubert humphrey in 1968 nixon promised to restore national unity and global prestige by asserting conservative policies and respect for authority he won votes from americans who were tired of war domestic unrest and social reform as president nixon implemented pragmatic policies including a southern strategy to attract largely white middle-class americans who accepted some governmental activism by 1972 he could point to several successes american troops were being withdrawn from vietnam and he improved relations with the soviet union and the people's republic of china domestically his choices showed flexibility expanding some grey society programs and following keynesian guidelines to improve the economy nixon is not a super hard-line conservative president he's a republican but he's a lot more moderate in some ways nixon won re-election easily he lost all but one state massachusetts or to me he won all but one state massachusetts but behind the scenes nixon worked to ruin his political enemies leading to the watergate break-in and a bitter harvest not only the unprecedented resignation of a president but also a nationwide wave of disillusionment with politics and government the unelected president gerald ford who succeeded nixon nixon's vice president spyro agna had been kicked out um due to corruption charges um gerald ford's the only unelected president then tried to heal the nation but faced an uphill battle against a floundering economy and a politically cynical public although he reaped few political victories he gained his party's nomination for the 1976 presidential election but he was defeated by jimmy carter the peanut farmer in office carter appeared confused if not inept unable to work effectively with congress or reverse the slowing economy his foreign policy appeared incapable of projecting american power or protecting the nation's interests by 1980 carter's popularity had nearly disappeared and as the election approached republicans promised to provide strong and effective leadership to meet the country's needs and who do they nominate but ronald reagan himself johnson and the war considering the two questions how did johnson modify kennedy's policies toward latin america and southeast asia and what considerations led johnson to expand america's role in vietnam and how did the north vietnamese respond to the changes lyndon johnson inherited two foreign policy problems from kennedy you've got latin america and you got vietnam while not experienced in foreign affairs johnson was sure of one thing he was not going to allow further erosion of american power especially in latin america and southeast asia he wants to assert american authority abroad in the western hemisphere castro remained the problem johnson continued kennedy's economic boycott of cuba and the cia's efforts to destabilize the calstr regime but he refocused kennedy's alliance for progress from reform to political stability this new approach labeled the manned doctrine increased american military equipment and advisers in latin america to help various regimes suppress destructive elements that they labeled communists it also led to direct military intervention in the dominican republic in 1965. their supporters of deposed democratically elected president juan bosh rebelled against a repressive pro-american regime deciding that the pro-bosh coalition was dominated by communists johnson sent in 22 000 american troops to protect the dominican people from an international conspiracy they restored order monetary elections that put a pro-american president joaquin balaguere in power and they left the island in mid-1966 johnson claimed to have saved the dominicans from communism but to many but many latin americans saw the american intervention as only another example of yankee interventionism americanization of the vietnam war when johnson assumed the presidency in 1963 his advisers told him that the south vietnamese government remained unstable and its army ineffective and that the viet cong the vc supported by north vietnam appeared to be winning the conflict there would be no improvement they said without a large and direct american involvement johnson felt trapped i don't think it's worth fighting for he told an advisor and i don't think we can get out i am not going to be the president who saw southeast asia go the way china went he asserted in formulating policy johnson concluded that a gradual escalation of american force against north vietnam and the viet cong would be the most effective force it would pressure the north vietnamese to halt their support of the viet cong while limiting domestic opposition he also wanted to wait until a communist action justified us retaliation before asking congress for permission to use whatever force was necessary to defend south vietnam the chance came off the coast of north vietnam on august 2nd 1964 north vietnamese torpedo boats skirmished with the american destroyer maddox and the gulf of tonkin c-map 27.1 on august 4th experiencing rough season poor visibility radar operators on the maddox and another destroyer the sea turner joy concluded that the patrol boats were making another attack confusion followed both ships fired at targets that were only visible on their radar screens johnson immediately ordered retaliatory airstrikes on north vietnam and prepared a resolution for congress although within hours he learned that the second incident probably had not occurred johnson told the public and congress that communist attacks against peaceful villages in south vietnam had been joined by open aggression on the high seas against the united states of america on august 7th congress approved the gulf of tonkin resolution allowing the united states to take all necessary measures to repel attacks against american forces in vietnam and to prevent further aggression it was in johnson's terms like grandma's nightgown it covered everything public opinion polls showed strong support for the president and there you have a really you know curious example of sometimes it's convenient to be the first person to get punched it allows for an escalation you're not the person who's initiating conflict then you're simply defending you're simply responding and that's a little bit more defensible ultimately the resolution gave johnson freedom of action but he wanted to wait until the presidential election was over and another communist incident had occurred before escalating the war in march 1965 following a vietcong attack on an american base and plea coup he gave the order to begin an air offensive against north vietnam operation rolling thunder by july american planes were flying more than 900 missions a week and a hundred thousand american ground forces had reached south vietnam johnson's strategies soon showed flaws instead of reducing its support with the viet cong as the administration had hoped north vietnam committed units of the north vietnamese army to nva to the fight the u.s commanding general in vietnam william westmoreland asked for more american soldiers to carry out offensive missions reluctantly johnson gave the green light vietnam had become an american war and that's why this section is titled americanization of the vietnam war westmoreland intended to use overwhelming numbers and firepower to destroy the enemy and he planned a large-scale sweep of the ayadrang valley in november of 1965. ten miles from cambodia the iadring valley contained no villages and was a long time sanctuary for communist forces airlifted into the valley air cavalry units soon clashed with the north vietnamese troops there was very vicious fighting the north vietnamese commander remembered soldiers fought valiantly they had no choice you were dead if not both sides claimed victory and drew different lessons from the engagement examining the losses 305 americans versus 3561 vietnamese american officials embraced the strategy of search and destroy to grind down the enemy search and destroy by the way is a military strategy in which the u.s ground forces attacked the enemy in their territory with the goal of destroying as many as possible the term body count was used to explain the outcome of the operation hanoi concluded that its peasant army could withstand america's firepower and that over time they the north vietnamese would wear down the americans the worst intensity grew in 1966 and 67 both sides committed more troops the american aircraft reigned more bombs on north vietnam and on supply routes especially the ho chi minh trail the ho chi minh trail was the main route by which north vietnamese soldiers and supplies reached south vietnam it's interesting because that runs through laos and cambodia and that presents an interesting international strategic problems that presidents have to solve because now if you're going to attack the ho chi minh trail that does mean widening the war and going into other nations besides for just vietnam and there's going to be some problems with that despite the huge losses they suffered and the destruction caused by the bombing of north vietnam the enemy continued to struggle some in washington began to speculate that victory would be a matter of will and fear that growing opposition to the war in the us might be a deciding factor the anti-war movement listen carefully folks throughout 1964 support at home for an american role in vietnam was widespread as the war escalated in 1965 a largely college-based opposition arose with students for a democratic society sds from last chapter the prime instigators the university of michigan held the first vietnam teach-in to mobilize opposition to american policy on march 24 1965. in april sds organized a protest march of nearly 20 000 past the white house and by october its membership had increased 400 percent by mid 1966 sds was only one of the many groups and individuals supported excuse exceeding demonstrating against the expanding war those opposing the war fell into two major groups pacifists and some on the political left oppose the war for moral and ideological reasons others had more pragmatic reasons the draft the loss of lives and money and the inability of the us to either defeat the enemy or to create a stable democratic south vietnam a university of michigan student complained that if you were drafted and spent two years in the army he would lose more than sixteen thousand dollars in income i know i sound selfish he explained but i paid ten thousand dollars to get this education yet college students were not the most likely to be drafted or to go to vietnam far more often minorities in the poor served in vietnam especially in combat roles african americans constituted about 12 percent of the population but in vietnam they made up nearly 50 percent of frontline units and accounted for about 25 percent of combat deaths stokely carmichael and snick had opposed the war as early as 1965 but it was martin luther king jr's denunciation of the war in 1967 that made headlines the war was immoral king said and it was wrong to send young blacks to defend democracy in vietnam when they were denied it in georgia that sounds very double v campaign very world war two-esque others said the war was too expensive in lives and dollars and showed according to senator j william fulbright and arrogance of power that in reality weaken the united states at home and abroad johnson dismissed the critic calling fulbright half bright and king a crackpot but as the anti-war movement grew and public opinion polls registered increasing disapproval of the war effort the administration implemented cointelpro and operation chaos to influence infiltrate discredit and disrupt anti-war groups cointelpro by the way is counterintelligence program it's an acronym for an fbi program from 1956 to 71 that sought to expose disrupt and discredit groups considered to be radical political organizations and it targeted various anti-war groups during the vietnam war operation chaos is a cia operation within the country from 1965 to 73 that collected information on and disrupted anti-vietnam war elements although it is illegal for the cia to operate within the united states it did collect files on over 7 000 americans nevertheless opposition to the war swelled during stop the draft week in october of 1967 more than 200 000 people staged a massive protest march in washington against lyndon's war like the country by late 1967 the administration was experiencing increasing disagreement about the course of the war warhawks supported general westmoreland's assertions that the war was being won but the more troops were necessary to complete the job others including secretary of defense robert mcnamara were taking a different view recommending a reduction in the war effort including ending the bombing of north vietnam the result was the beginning of an exit strategy johnson agreed to initially commit more troops intensify the bombing and put more pressure on the south vietnamese to make military and domestic reforms and later he would scale back the american rule and force the south vietnamese to vietnamese to take a larger one the clock is ticking johnson said a deeper understanding of history opposing the war in vietnam public opinion who and when public opinion polls survey a segment of the population understand how the larger population thinks about specific issues they provide a snapshot of use held at a specific time while a series of polls asking the same or similar questions can be an effective way to describe change taking place over a period of time the number of people pulled the means of asking the questions and the questions asked often vary and sometimes polls provide incorrect and misleading information people are not always honest when you ask them a question yet despite the possibility of errors and biases public opinion polls are an important source of information for historians during the war in vietnam many polls were taken asking people what they thought about the war political leadership and other related questions the grafton here depicts the results of opinion polls taken by gallup considered one of the best polling agencies during the vietnam war these polls asked respondents one of two questions in the view of the development since we entered the fighting in vietnam do you think the u.s made a mistake in sending troops to fight in vietnam and do you support or oppose the war in vietnam the graph there on page 748 provides a summary of those who showed support for the american military effort in south vietnam beginning in july of 1965 when the first american troops arrived in the combat role to 1971 when large numbers of american forces were coming home from vietnam it provides some very useful information when american troops were first deployed to vietnam in 1965 almost every group supported the decision in 1965 those over age 49 were the least supportive of the war and those of college age were the most supportive of the decision as the fighting continued though support for the war effort generally declined while the polls in the graph indicate the respondents views about the vietnam war they did not explain why their responses were given to better understand the reasons for them historians need to consider other information for instance casualty rates the number of troops being deployed the role of the draft and what military action was occurring when the polls were taken with information from other sources historians can look at public opinion and provide more complete explanations for example there appears to be a correlation between the ted offensive in early 1968 and a decline in support for the war equally important the information gained from public opinion polls can raise new questions and prompt evaluations of existing understandings why for example to those in the over 49 age group appear to respond more positively to the question in 1971 than any other group what other evidence can uh confirm or explain what so many people and historians believe was a generation gap in support for the war answering such questions requires more research and analysis which will produce new explanations and no doubt more questions set in the 1968 presidential campaign considering the questions what were the political social and military outcomes of the ted offensive and what key issues shaped the 1968 campaign what strategy did richard nixon use to win johnson was correct the clock was ticking not only for the us but also for the north vietnamese as westmoreland reported success north vietnamese leaders plan an immense campaign to capture south vietnamese cities during tet vietnamese lunar new year holiday the ted offensive catching american intelligence agencies and forces off guard in january of 1968 the viet cong struck 41 cities throughout south vietnam including the capital saigon in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war american and south vietnamese forces recaptured the lost cities and villages but it took 24 days to oust the viet cong from the old imperial city of hue and the battle left the city in ruins and cost more than 10 000 civilians 5 000 communists 384 south vietnamese and 216 american lives the ted offensive was a military defeat for north vietnam and the viet cong it provoked no popular uprising in the south the communists held no cities or provincial capitals and they suffered staggering losses however tet was a victory for the north vietnamese because it seriously weakened american support for the war amid official pronouncements of victory just around the corner the tet offensive destroyed the johnson administration's credibility and strengthened a growing anti-war movement the highly respected cbs news anchor walter cronkite had supported the war but after tet he announced there would be no victory in vietnam and the us should make peace if i have lost walter cronkite then it's over i have lost mr average citizen johnson lamented the very fact that the north vietnamese the viet cong could stage the tech uprising in the first place demonstrated that we didn't have them on the run as much as we were being told by our government and the media and this will highlight a growing credibility gap between what's actually happening in vietnam on the ground and what we're being told is happening by march of 1968 johnson and most of his advisers realized that the war was not going to be won in the words of the new secretary of defense clark clifford four years of enormous casualties and massive destruction from our bombing had not weakened the will of the enemy and an exit strategy should be started westmoreland received fewer troops than requested johnson chose to begin negotiations with north vietnam and the south vietnamese were told to assume a larger military responsibility the start of vietnamization of the vietnam war where it's not americanization where american forces are taking charge but it's vietnamese forces vietnamization vietnamese forces are taking charge changing of the guard the first presidential primary in new hampshire came two months after ted their democratic minnesota senator eugene mccarthy campaigned primarily on the contact of the war at the heart of his new hampshire effort were hundreds of student volunteers who deciding to go clean for gene cut their long hair and shaved their beards they knocked on doors and distributed bales of flyers and pamphlets touting their canada and condemning the war as mccarthy's anti-war candidacy strengthened johnson's advisors organized a write-in campaign for the president who would not enter the primary johnson won by nearly eight percent of the votes but political commentators named mccarthy the real winner the results in new hampshire prompted new york senator robert kennedy jfk's brother to announce his candidacy in mid-march on march 31 1968 a haggard-looking president lbj delivered a major televised speech announcing changes in the vietnam policy the u.s would seek a political settlement through negotiations in paris with the viet cong and north vietnamese the escalation of the ground war was over and the south vietnamese would take a larger role in the war the bombing of north vietnam would end um and the complete halt of the air war would follow at the start of negotiations at the end of his speech johnson calmly announced i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as president listeners were shocked and nearly everybody agreed that the vietnam war had ended johnson's political career and undermined his great society if not for vietnam the election of 1968 there are now three democratic candidates mccarthy campaigned against the war and the imperial presidency robert kennedy rfk opposed the war but not executive and federal power and he called on the government to better meet the needs of the poor and minorities vice president hubert h humphrey running in the shadow of johnson stood behind the president's foreign and domestic programs by june kennedy was the front runner but his assassination on june 5th by cyron sirhan or jordanian immigrant stunned the nation led to humphrey's eventual nomination mccarthy continued his campaign but generated little support among party regulars when the national convention met in chicago in august humphrey had enough pledged votes to guarantee his nomination nevertheless the convention was dramatic and that is an understatement inside and outside the convention center anti-war and anti-establishment groups demonstrated for mccarthy peace in vietnam and social justice google abby hoffman and pegasus not pegasus but pegasus if you want to see some examples of what happens there on the second day the convention clashes between the police and protesters started protesters threw eggs bottles rocks and balloons filled with water ink and urine at the police who responded with tear gas and night sticks after four days of clashes the police attacked protesters and bystanders alike as television cameras recorded the scene the violence in chicago's streets overshadowed humphrey's nomination the trial of the chicago seven would follow by the way the 1968 presidential campaign soon became a three-party race drawing on growing dissatisfaction with liberal social policies with the democratic ranks governor george wallace of alabama left the democratic party and ran for president as the american independent party's candidate he aimed his campaign at southern white's blue-collar workers and low-income white americans wallace called for victory in vietnam and gleefully attacked the counter-culture and the rich kid war protesters who avoided serving in vietnam while the sons of working-class americans died there he also opposed federal civil rights and welfare legislation two months before the election wallace commanded 21 of the vote according to national opinion polls on november 5th he confidently predicted they're going to find out there are a lot of rednecks in this country richard nixon easily won the republican nomination he focused his campaign on the need for effective international leadership law order and the restoration of values he denounced the four ps meaning he criticized these things pot horn pornography protesters and permissiveness on the critical issue of vietnam he offered no specifics but promised to end the war and win the peace he says that he's got like a secret plan for peace nixon won with a comfortable margin in the electoral college although he received only 43 percent of the popular vote together nixon and wallace attracted almost 56 percent of the popular vote while conservatives are which conservatives interpreted as wide public support for an end deliberate programs are returned to traditional values and a major political realignment that emphasized the suburbs and the sun belt think of that political pendulum that swung back towards the conservative side during the 1920s that same thing starts to happen here defining the american dream considering the questions how do latinos and native americans seek to address the problems they face in american society and how do the federal government respond to their efforts by 1968 there seemed little agreement on the nature of the american dream and the role of government in helping to achieve that end it appeared that african-americans women and gays and lesbians as well as a very visible counterculture were demanding significant alterations in the traditional american dream they were not alone like blacks latinos and american indians remained near society's lowest levels of income and education as the 1960s progressed they too organized grassroots movements and confronted the status quo demanding change the emergence of lacaza initially enthusiastic about john kennedy many latino leaders were disappointed in his presidential actions he appointed only a few hispanics to government positions and his administration did not show much interest in latino issues meanwhile local and state governments frequently resisted latino activism a mexican-american leader commented that despite being the largest minority in the western states mexican-americans were an invisible minority especially those working in the fields mexican-american farm workers were at the bottom of this occupational ladder not covered by social security or minimum wage and labor laws and working long hours for low wages usually under deplorable conditions in 1962 cesar chavez and dolores huerta organized farm workers in central california creating the national farm workers association the nfwa the union gained national recognition three years later when it struck against the grape growers the union demanded a wage of 1.40 an hour and asked the public to buy only union-picked grapes after five years the strike in the nationwide boycott forced most of the major growers to accept unionization and to improve wages and working conditions eventually california and other states passed legislation recognizing farm workers as unions and improving the wages and conditions of work for field workers still agricultural workers especially migrants remained among the lowest paid workers in the nation chavez was central in promoting lacazette which is spanish fourth the cause but he was not alone similar grassroot movements focused on jobs wages and education were forming throughout the west and southwest latino leaders like rodolfo corki gonzalez argued that discrimination and segregation barred their children from a decent education and that school districts needed to offer programs to meet the special needs of hispanic students including bilingual education in los angeles raul ruiz told mexican-american students if you're a student you should be angry you should demand you should protest you should organize for a better education he called for students to walk out of their classes if schools did not meet their demands in 1968 walkouts spread from california across the west and southwest in the small south texas school district of ed couch elsa mexican-american students walked out of the high school in november of 1968. they demanded dignity respect and an end to blatant discrimination including corporal punishment or paddling for speaking spanish the school board suspended more than a hundred and fifty students but as in other school districts the protests brought results the ed couch elsa school district implemented mexican-american studies and bilingual programs hired mexican-american teachers and created programs for migrant farm worker children who moved from one school to another during picking season prominent in the growing grassroots militancy among mexican americans were young adults who called themselves chicanos they stressed pride in their heritage and latino culture and called for resistance to the dictates of anglo-society we're not in the melting pot chicanos don't melt that's a direct quote it was not only in the west that latinos were becoming more visible in the urban northeast the puerto rican population had increased to about a million but economic opportunities had declined as manufacturing jobs especially in the garment industry relocated to the sun belt or overseas the puerto rican forum attempted to coordinate federal grants and to find jobs while the more militant young lords organized younger puerto ricans in chicago and new york with an emphasis on their island culture and the hispanic heritage brown power had joined black power soon to be joined by red power native american activism native americans responding to poverty federal and state termination policies and efforts by state governments to seize land for development organized and asserted their rights with new vigor in the 1960s in 1961 indian leaders met in chicago and produced the declaration of indian purpose it called for the end of the termination policies and for improved educational economic and health opportunities presidents kennedy and johnson responded positively ensuring that indians benefited from new frontier and great society programs johnson in 1968 declared that native americans should have the same standard of living as the rest of the nation and signed the indian civil rights act it officially ended the termination programs and gave more power to tribal organizations kennedy's and johnson's support was a good beginning but many activists wanted to redress all wrongs the national indian youth council called for red power for indians to use all means possible to resist further loss of their lands rights and traditions they began fissions in 1964 when the washington state government in violation of treaty rights barred indians from fishing in certain areas protests arrest and violence continued until 1975 when the state complied with a federal court decision usb washington upholding treaty rights native american leaders also demanded the protection and restoration of their water and timber rights and ancient burial grounds museums were asked to return for proper burial the remains and grave goods of indians on display but for most the crucial issue is self-determination which would allow indians control over their lands and our federal programs serve the reservations in 1969 a group of san francisco indian activists led by russell means gained national attention by seizing alcatraz island and holding it until 1971 when without bloodshed federal authorities regained control two years later in a more violent confrontation american indian movement aim leaders means and dennis banks led an armed occupation of wounded knee south dakota the site of the 1890 massacre of the lakotas by the army aim controlled the town for 71 days before surrendering to federal authorities two indians were killed and over 230 activists were arrested in what they called the second battle of wounded knee president nixon opposed aim's actions at wounded knee but agreed that tribal and individual lives needed to be improved he doubled funding for the bureau of indian affairs promoted tribal economic economies and signed bills that returned 40 million acres of alaskan land to eskimos and other native peoples in 1974 congress passed the indian self-determination and education assistance act giving tribes control and operation of many federal programs on their reservations tribal and pan indian movements sparked cultural pride and awareness indian languages were revived and on many reservations disease and mortality rates declined leading to population growth we're a giant that's been asleep stated a navajo leader but now that's ending and no one knows what we're capable of economic growth however has been less than hoped even with the 1988 indian gaming regulatory act which allowed reservations to open gaming casinos by 2011 nearly half of the 562 federally recognized tribes operated casinos earning nearly 23 billion dollars a year yeah that's billion with a b those near urban areas like mohegan sun in connecticut and cushingo and california do well but many in rural areas often struggle to break even consequently the economic benefits from casinos vary greatly and overall it needs to remain the nation's most impoverished peoples with an average yearly income of about thirty three thousand dollars uh excuse me thirty three thousand three hundred dollars nixon in the world considering the two questions how did richard nixon plan to achieve an honorable peace in vietnam and how did nixon's cold war policies differ from those favored by earlier administrations in 1969 nixon achieved the presidency that was denied to him in 1960 remember that when he lost to jfk determined to be the center of decision making he relied primarily on a few close advisors for domestic affairs he looked to john mitchell his attorney general and longtime associates h.r bob haldeman and john ehrlichman in foreign affairs he tapped harvard professor henry kissinger as his national security advisor and later made him secretary of state in both domestic and foreign affairs nixon wanted to institute policies that would consolidate his presidency and strengthen the republican party vietnamization vietnam was the foremost issue it influenced nearly all others the budget public and congressional opinion foreign policy and domestic stability nixon needed a solution before he could move ahead on other fronts the central question was how best to withdraw american troops while ensuring america's international credibility and the viability of win van tu's government the outcome was vietnamization better trained and better equipped south vietnamese units would assume the bulk of the fighting as american troops left changing the quote color of bodies and bringing american soldiers home nixon believed would rebuild public support and undermine the anti-war protesters in the spring of 1969 nixon announced that 25 000 american soldiers were coming home and called on the nation to rally behind vietnamization to discredit protesters nixon declared north vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate us only americans can do that in july he unveiled the nixon doctrine which promised that countries fighting communism would receive american political and economic support but only limited military support by the end of the 1969 uh by the end of the 1969 american forces in vietnam had declined by over 110 000 public opinion polls indicated support for nixon's policy and it appeared that the anti-war movement was losing momentum while nixon's vietnam policy gained support he and kissinger quietly worked to improve relations with the soviets in chinese and to encourage the north vietnamese to resume negotiations in paris to accomplish the latter nixon resumed the air war against north vietnam and began secret air raids operation menu on enemy bases inside of cambodia and laos nixon wanted hanoi the you know north vietnamese capital to believe i might do anything to stop the war we'll just slip the word he said that for god's sake you know nixon we can't restrain him when he's angry and he has his hand on the nuclear button when north vietnam failed to satisfactorily respond in april of 1970 nixon ordered american troops to cross the border into cambodia to destroy communist spaces and supply areas the mission destroyed enemy bases and large amounts of supplies but it also created a firestorm of protest in the united states in over 350 universities and colleges demonstrations against the war broke out at kent state ohio and jackson state mississippi clashes with troops and police resulted in six student debts nixon tried to rally support but the sentiment favoring the war even with vietnamization only declined in january of 1971 the senate repealed the gulf of tonkin resolution which had provided the legislative foundation for the war and forbade the further use of american troops in laos or cambodia three months later half a million people marched in washington dc calling for an end of the war while the new york times began to print classified documents the pentagon papers showing that american officials from truman nixon had misled the public about vietnam in november of 1973 trying to prevent a future vietnam like war congress passed the war powers act to limit the president's war-making abilities it requires the president to inform congress of the overseas deployment of troops within 48 hours unless congress authorizes the deployment to withdraw those forces in 60 days another factor contributing to extending opposition to the war was the concern about the effect it was having on american soldiers in late 1969 came the shocking news that americans were involved in the massacre of over 500 men women and children in and around the village of new lion march of 1968. for two years the nation witnessed the court-martials of lieutenant william calley and others accused of the killings while only cali was found guilty of murder the trial combined of stories of widespread drug use and fragging confirmed to many that the war was corrupting the moral values of american soldiers this is not what the american soldier does explained a helicopter pilot who had rescued some of the milai villagers that helicopter pilot um was warrant officer hugh thompson huge hero look him up aware of the declining support for the war in the united states and the weakness of south vietnamese forces north vietnam in march of 1972 launched its easter offensive pushing aside south vietnamese arvind troops communist forces advanced towards saigon nixon ordered massive bombing raids against north vietnam and communist forces in south vietnam that blunted the advance and enabled arvind forces to drive the north vietnamese back the easter offensive failure also renewed the peace talks in paris and in october kissinger announced that peace is at hand south vietnamese president tu however rejected the plan reluctantly nixon supported two and ordered the christmas bombing of hanoi and north vietnam after 11 days the bombing stopped when the paris talks resumed washington advised you to accept the next peace settlement or fund for himself on january 27 1973 he accepted a peace settlement that did not differ significantly from the one offered in october nixon proclaimed peace with honor the peace settlement imposed a ceasefire remove the 24 000 remaining american troops and promised the return of american prisoners of war the peace permitted the u.s to end its role in the war but because the settlement left north vietnamese troops in south vietnam it did little to ensure the existence of two's government or nation when asked how long the south vietnamese government could last kissinger replied if they're lucky they can hold out for a year and a half in march 1975 north vietnam renewed the war and a month later north vietnamese troops entered saigon the vietnam war ended as it had started with vietnamese fighting vietnamese the war had killed an estimated 2 million vietnamese and over 58 000 americans with about 40 percent of those being hispanics and african americans it had also eroded respect for the military and the government and undermined support for the us cold war as a global policeman modifying the cold war ending the vietnam war was part of nixon's larger plan to reshape the culture by pursuing daetant daytaunt by the way is a relaxing of tensions between the superpowers in the early 70s which led to increased diplomatic commercial and cultural contact an era of confrontation must give way to an era of negotiation nixon announced china was the key to the strategy the us had not recognized the beijing government since the end of the chinese civil war in 1949 when communists led by mao zedong had defeated nationalists led by chiang kai-shek um they they uh fled to taiwan where they you know kind of remained to this day and assert that they're the rightful government of china reopening relations with communist china and nixon's and kissinger's view would provide several positive results it would create new trade opportunities encourage the north vietnamese to negotiate in paris and pressure the soviets to improve their relations with the united states the soviets and chinese had engaged in several bloody clashes along their border and the chinese hope that better relations with the us would help to charge soviet aggression they also wanted access to american technology sending a signal to china nixon lowered restrictions on trade the chinese responded by inviting an american ping pong team to tour china in april of 1971. that is ping pong diplomacy really interesting topic there google it if you're curious three months later kissinger secretly met with premier zhuang lai in beijing on kissinger's return nixon stunned the world when he announced he would meet with communist party chairman mao zedong and joe in beijing in february of 1972 the first step in moving toward daetant was in place the second step occurred in may when nixon had a successful meeting with soviet president leonard brezhnev that produced the strategic arms limitation agreement or salt 1. the product of prolonged negotiations salt 1 restricted anti-missile sites and established a maximum number of intercontinental ballistic missiles icbms and submarine launched ballistic missiles slbms for each side the cold war was not over but dayton reduced big power tensions although nixon procedure taught with china and the soviet union in latin america the administration continued its efforts to isolate cuba and prevent the spread of socialist governments of special concern was chile with the democratically elected socialist marxist government of salvador allende kissinger believed chile represented another cuba and that the administration should not let a country go marxist just because its people are irresponsible and from 1970 to 1973 the u.s worked both openly and covertly to bring down the allende government in september 1973 when a military coup in which ayano was killed toppled his government the nixon administration denied any role in the coup but quickly recognized their oppressive dictatorship of general augusto pinochet other latin american american dictators and their oppressive governments of iran and south africa also received economic and military aid nixon and the domestic agenda considering the two questions how did nixon's policies dealing with the economy welfare in the environment reflect his pragmatic pragmatic approach and what did he do to increase the base of the republican party and what actions led to the watergate investigation and nixon's resignation nixon had no plan for domestic affairs that equaled his grand scheme for changing foreign policy nixon was the first president since 1858 to take office without his own party controlling either house of congress the democrats have both of those which clearly complicated implementing traditional republican agendas consequently nixon adopted a complex and pragmatic approach that balanced his desire to expand the republican party with an unexpectedly progressive social agenda he's not a super hard-line conservative he's able to work across lines and he sort of has to nixon is pragmatist shocking many conservatives between 1969 and 71 nixon's administration adopted a surprisingly liberal agenda it expanded the federal government's regulatory functions by creating the occupational safety and health administration or osha the environmental protection agency the epa and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration or noaa nixon's principal economic advisor noted that no administration had passed so much regulatory legislation since the new deal and this guy's a republican nixon was not an environmentalist but he understood that the environmental movement had momentum and was becoming a political issue rachel carson had alerted the nation to the dangers of ddt in her book silent spring 1962 which touched off a wave of environmental concerns by 1969 it was impossible to ignore the health problems caused by air pollution the ecological death of lake erie and growing mountains of garbage everywhere a national response came in april of 1970 when communities and thousands of schools and colleges hosted earth day activities it was the largest single day demonstration in american history and reflected deep public concern about a worsening environment not entirely topical but i am going to skip up before this page is over and read in the wider world the sino-soviet split since the communist revolution in 1917 the soviet union assumed the dominant role as the leader of the global communist movement by the 1960s or but by the 1960s a rift was growing between the leaders of communist china and soviet union their disagreements ranged from ideological differences to differences over social cultural economic and foreign policies in 1961 the chinese officially denounced the ideology practiced by the soviet union as reactionary and accused moscow of being too friendly to the west by the mid-1960s the soviets supported india in a sino-indian war and the widening split forced other communist nations to choose sides most remain loyal to the soviet union in 1969 an increasingly volatile border conflict along the usuri river resulted in a major military engagement between the two powers and raised worldwide concern about a sino-soviet nuclear war cyna by the way is shorthand for china the tensions declined but the widening sino-soviet split chinese soviet split encouraged the chinese to improve relations with the united states correctly gauging the public's attitude in july of 1970 nixon asked congress to create a central executive branch agency the epa to set monitor and implement national pollution standards the epa was formed in december and there followed a wide variety of environmental legislation including restrictions on the use of pesticides and automobile emissions a clean air act a safe drinking water act and an endangered species act it matters today banning dbt in 1972 the u.s family uses the pesticide ddt widely used in agriculture to protect crops from insects that entered the food chain creating medical problems in animals and humans momentum for the ban began with rachel carson's publication of silent spring 1962 which examined the effects of the chemical on nature and questioned society's blind faith and technological progress since 1972 many other nations have stopped the use of ddt and in 2008 the united nations announced its goal to halt its worldwide use by 2020. carson's used in the banning of ddt war and continued to be strongly criticized some have claimed that following her logic would mean returning to the dark ages when insects and diseases would again inherit the earth and that she's responsible for more deaths than hitler and you've got these two questions you can consider if you want should develop nations be able to dictate the ban of chemicals like ddt to countries that might benefit economically from using such toxic chemicals to fight diseases like malaria the reference to carson's killing of millions of people refers to deaths from malaria a disease linked to mosquitoes because ddt has been banned if you want you can research the spread of malaria and the use of ddt since 1972 to determine if this accusation is valid nixon's social programs also surprised many he expanded job corps in the food stamp programs and increased benefits for those receiving social security medicare and medicaid he also accepted congress's extension of the voting rights act to give those between ages 18 and 21 the right to vote in federal local and state elections although he did question the provision's constitutionality but it was his effort to develop an affirmative action program and to alter the welfare system that dismayed most conservatives nixon's plans for affirmative action the philadelphia plan required companies receiving federal contracts to hire minority and women workers and unions to open membership to more women and minorities to fix the quote welfare mess nixon wanted to replace millions on welfare roles with millions on payrolls by enacting the family assistance plan it was designed to eliminate most existing welfare agencies by providing to low-income families a direct monetary payment one thousand six hundred dollars from the government as long as recipients worked or enrolled in job training programs the plan was defeated in 1969 by a coalition of conservatives and liberals and again in 1971. nixon blamed the first to feed on congress conservatives and damn social workers by 1971 the wiley nixon told haldeman that the bill was too expensive and that for political purses he wanted it killed by democrats nixon's ideological flexibility also showed in his actions on the economy when he took office the country faced a budget deficit of nearly 25 billion dollars in a climbing rate of inflation in keeping with the fiscally conservative policy nixon cut spending increased interest rates and balanced the budget in 1969 but economic recovery failed to fall and inflation rose's economic growth slowed giving rise to a new phenomenon stagflation stagnation by the way is persistent inflation combined with stagnant consumer demand and relatively high unemployment by 1971 the economy was in its first serious recession since 1958 unemployment and bankruptcies increased and still inflation climbed fearing that stagflation would cost votes in the next presidential election in 1972 nixon shifted his approach and asked for increased federal spending to boost recovery and for a wage in price phrase to stall inflation shocked conservatives complained bitterly at the betrayal of their economic values but the economy responded positively as inflation and unemployment declined through the 1972 elections nonetheless dixon's battle with inflation was a losing one wages and prices climbed on the president lifted the wage and price freeze and they soared in 1973 when the organization of petroleum exporting countries opec definitely know opec folks raised oil prices and limited oil sales to the u.s because of washington's support for israel and the yom kippur war the yom kippur war by the way was in october of 1973 it's when egypt and syria suddenly invaded israel after initial losses the israeli military defeated the arab armies and peace terms were finally agreed to in october on october 22nd um you know shortly after the war had begun but our support for israel really makes opec mad and so they limit oil sales to the u.s um because of that and that's really going to cause the price of oil to skyrocket here nixon reinstituted wage and price controls with declining results and by 1974 inflation was over 12 percent and the nation's economy slumped into a recession pop buchanan nixon speechwriter concluded that the president was not a true conservative building the silent majority conservatives might have disliked nixon's social and economic policies but they applauded his effort to expand and strengthen the republican party to do this he looked at two regions the sun belt and the south he adopted a quote southern strategy to shatter the ones that saw the democratic south by bringing white southerners into the republican fold in the sun belt he hoped that his new federalism which returned more revenue power and responsibilities to state and local governments would attract more voters to the republican party by opposing forced integration and supporting neighborhood schools nixon hoped to attract not only white southerners but also many blue-collar workers in the north he candidly told haldeman to go for the poles italians irish but not quote jews or blacks responding to a 1969 effort by mississippi to postpone court-ordered integration of its school system attorney general john mitchell petitioned the supreme court for a delay the supreme court ignored the request and in october of 1969 they unanimously decreed in alexander v homes that it was the obligation of every school district to terminate dual school systems at once the white house suffered another loss in 1971 when the burger court reaffirmed the use of busing to achieve integration in the north carolina case swan v charlotte mecklenburg the administration criticized the decisions but agreed to carry out the law toward a more perfect union the 26th amendment to the constitution the 26th amendment was adopted on july 1 1971 it contains two short sentences section one the right of citizens of the u.s who are 18 years of age or older to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the u.s or by any state on account of age and section 2 the congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation the need for the constitutional amendment followed a supreme court decision oregon v mitchell december 1970 that invalidated those parts of the 1970 renewal of the voting rights act of 1965 that permitted those ages 18 and over to vote in federal state and local elections the court ruled that congress had no power to legislate criteria for voting in state and local elections the senate passed the proposed amendment 94-0 on march 10 1971 followed by the house 401 to 19 on march 23rd it took only four months for the requisite three-fourths of the states to ratify it the shortest ratification time for any amendment and so now with the 26th amendment you can vote if you're 18 years of age or older the court's decision by 1973 had completed the legal process of integrating public schools in the south but across the country protests demonstrations and lawsuits sought to reverse court-ordered busing in many cities from los angeles to south boston angry parents took direct action to halt forced busing and the loss of neighborhood schools in pontiac michigan anti-bussing forces used dynamite to destroy 10 school buses pontiac is the new south lamented one state legislator aspect of nixon's political strategy was to stress his administration's support for law and order and to appoint more conservative judges and justices who would be tougher on criminals and more narrowly interpret the constitution in 1969 chief justice earl warren retired and to replace him nixon nominated warren burger a respected conservative federal judge who was easily confirmed by the senate within months another resignation gave nixon a second opportunity to alter the court merging his desire for a conservative judge with his southern strategy nixon first chose south carolinian clement haynesworth and then g harold carsol of florida for the position the senate rejected both nominations or nominees excuse me because of their lack of support for integration on the third try nixon abandoned his southern strategy and chose harry blackman a conservative from minnesota blackmon was confirmed easily in 1971 nixon appointed two more justices lewis powell of virginia and william rehnquist of arizona creating a much more conservative supreme court an embattled president by the end of nixon's first term nearly 60 percent of respondents in national opinion polls approved of the president's record the south was no longer solidly democratic and some belt and blue collar worker worker voters seemed to be supporting republican issues and candidates the economy while still a worry seemed under control diplomatically nixon had scored major successes with china and the soviets and a peace agreement in paris seemed possible nixon projected an easy re-election in 1972 meanwhile democrats were in disarray their most enthusiastic members appeared to be migrating to either the liberal senator george mcgovern or the conservative george wallace the newest category of voters those ages 18 to 21 who were voting for the first time as a result of the 26th amendment seemed to be in mcgovern's camp when senator mcgovern won the nomination george wallace confined to a wheelchair following an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed again bolted the party to run as a third party candidate on the american independent ticket despite almost certain victory nixon obsessed about enemies surrounding him repeatedly as president he spoke about screwing his domestic enemies before they got him another press hated him he warned his cabinet and staff that the press would run lies about you and the cartoonists will depict you as ogres to combat his foes nixon kept an enemies list used illegal wiretaps and infiltration to spy on anti-administration organizations and people and instructed the fbi the internal revenue service the irs and other governmental organizations to intimidate and punish his opponents as the 1972 campaign began nixon and the committee to re-elect the president the acronym for that is creep how perfect is that directed by john mitchell wanted to humiliate and crush the democrats and were willing to step outside the bounds of normal election behavior to do so a special investigations unit known informally as the plumbers conducted dirty tricks to disrupt democratic activities creep also approved a burglary at the democratic national committee headquarters in the watergate building in washington dc to copy documents and to put wiretaps on phones on june 17th 1972 a watergate security guard detected the burglars and notified the police five men were arrested carrying bugging equipment and two others were apprehended across the street the burglars were soon linked to crete which along with the white house denied any connection to the burglary while nixon told mitchell to stonewall it and cover it up the furor soon passed in november nixon buried mcgovern in an avalanche of electoral votes winning every state except massachusetts despite democrats still holding majorities in congress nixon has overjoyed but his optimism faded as the watergate cover-up unraveled in january the burglars were convicted and two washington post reporters bob woodward and carl bernstein helped by a secret former insider inside the fbi called deep throat had uncovered a trail of hush money leading to creep and the white house three separate investigations of the watergate affair followed the most public was by a special committee of the senate cheered by democrat senator sam irving jr of north carolina but the federal grand jury investigation led by judge john circa in a justice department investigation conducted by archibald cox would result in criminal prosecutions throughout the spring and summer testimony linked the break-in and cover-up to creep and the executive branch trying to limit the damage nixon accepted the resignations of haldeman erlichmann and others on his staff while denying his own role his denials became less and less credible as the testimony unfolded though when it was finally revealed that nixon had secretly recorded meetings in the oval office cox cerica and irvin each demanded to examine the tapes they're all investigating him nixon refused claiming executive privilege and when cox persisted nixon had him fired a firestorm of protests erupted nixon's popularity dropped under 30 and the house judiciary committee started to gather evidence for impeachment proceedings adding to nixon's woes in october vice president spyro agne was forced to resign for accepting bribes while governor of maryland in keeping with the 25th amendment nixon selected representative gerald r ford of michigan to replace agnew in march 1974 the cerrica grand jury indicted mitchell haldeman and erlichmann and named nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator in the watergate break-in and cover-up nixon under tremendous pressure released transcripts of selected tapes and the outcome was devastating the transcripts contradicted some official testimony and nixon's apparent callousness lack of decency and profane language shocked the nation in july the supreme court rejected nixon's executive privilege position and ordered him to hand over all of the tapes having ample evidence the house judiciary committee charged nixon with three impeachable crimes obstructing justice abuse of power and defying subpoenas nixon's choices were to either resign or to be impeached and probably removed from office he resigned on august 9 1974. eventually 29 people connected to the white house to the white house were convicted of crimes related to watergate and the 1972 campaign an interim president gerald ford assumed the presidency with nixon's resignation and faced a resurgent democratic controlled congress a slumping economy and growing concerns about nixon's foreign policies though mostly ford is well-intentioned able administrator to many he was just an interim president what could willie had if democrats and much of the public quickly eroded after he pardoned nixon for any crimes he might have committed as president nor did his domestic and foreign policies provide a picture of effective leadership when he assumed office the nation was experiencing a deepening recession along with spiraling inflation that led to nine percent unemployment and inflation above ten percent his ineffective response was to trim spending and name inflation public enemy number one to fend off democratic sponsored legislation to increase spending and expand government services ford raises uh resorted to the veto using it over 50 times his foreign policy was seen as a weaker version of nixon's he relied heavily on kissinger as the secretary of state but he was criticized by many within his own party for not better supporting south vietnamese when north vietnam resumed the war in 1970 in 1975. conservative republicans also criticized the results of his summit meetings with soviet leader brezhnev which they believed yielded approval of the soviet domination of eastern europe one of the most outspoken critics was presidential hopeful ronald reagan who attacked ford's lack of toughness in foreign policy and his ineffectiveness in dealing with domestic issues one thing that ford will try to do is whip inflation now when that'll be one of his slogans um spoiler he does not in fact whip inflation now inflation rather maybe it could be said whips him the carter presidency considering the two questions what problems did carter face in implementing his domestic policies and what new directions in foreign policy did carter take especially in central america and the middle east as the nation celebrated the 200th anniversary of its independence many republicans moved to support reagan for the presidential nomination in a series of hardcore primary battles ford gained the nomination embracing a conservative agenda calling for smaller government and tougher policies toward communism doing well in southern and midwestern primaries an ex-georgia governor james earl carter jr who preferred to be called jimmy defeated several rivals and easily won the democratic nomination with little political experience carter stressed that being an outsider to the washington political system was a positive attribute and he promised honesty hard work and a more moral approach to tackling the nation's problems and after the credibility gap that emerged during the vietnam war when are being told one thing but maybe you know shown another by the truth on the ground and especially after watergate and all the corruption and spyro agnew there's a reason why the nation wants the peanut farmer in the oval office the 1976 political campaign took place amid a lingering recession that contributed to a deepening sense of cynicism frustration and uncertainty for the first time since the depression many parents worried that their children would not enjoy a higher standard of living than their own nor did the two candidates do much to change the outlook their campaigns were lackluster both carter and ford voiced good intentions but were vague on specifics their televised debates were dull and in an election where only 54.4 percent of eligible voters cast ballots carter won by 56 electoral votes explaining why he had decided not to vote a californian simply said he did not want to force a second-class decision on my neighbors jimmy carter arrived in the nation's capital in january of 1977 brimming with enthusiasm with majorities in congress he and the democratic congressional leaders were eager to lead the nation quickly a problem of leadership arose carter and his staff showed little intention of playing politics as usual and frequently ignored congress in turn congressional democrats announced the white house had no understanding of how politics worked and they had no intention of rolling over and playing dead the results were repeated conflicts between congress and the president especially over domestic issues throughout his presidency carter like ford struggled with an economy characterized by high unemployment and inflation and increasing energy costs his solutions included deregulating transportation systems raising interest rates cutting taxes and trimming federal spending including budgets for social programs while many democrats believed carter's support for liberal programs is too limited and disagreed with the statement that liberalism had its limits and the government could not eliminate poverty or provide a bountiful economy republicans continued to call for further budget and tax cuts at the top of carter's domestic agenda was dealing with the energy crisis which he described as the moral equivalent of war although democrats and republicans agreed on the reality of the crisis there was little agreement on how to solve the problem and the president's program met with opposition from within both parties his stress on using less energy and developing nuclear and other alternative fuels rather than on producing more american-based oil and gas was met with widespread criticism proponents so fans of oil and gas production argued that alternative fuels were too expensive and could not meet the nation's demands his police reduced energy consumption by wearing sweaters slowing thermostats in winter and using public transportation generated more laughs than action americans don't want to be told to put on a sweater if they're cold they want to be told here's extra you know energy free for you to use his program made it through the democratic-controlled house of representatives but it was picked apart in the senate the final product in 1978 fell victim to bipartisan opposition lack of public support and gas oil and automobile interests even carter's advocacy of nuclear energy declined following the march 1979 nuclear accident at three mile island in pennsylvania when a meltdown nearly occurred and a cloud of radioactive gas was released into the air nobody was injured but the accident made nuclear power much less attractive it seems really dangerous and more than 30 companies canceled their nuclear energy projects still carter's efforts on energy and the environment did produce some positive results the creation of a cabinet-level department of energy passage of the energy policy and conservation act which provided some funding to develop alternative sources of energy and the formation of a super fund to clean up toxic chemical wastes those victories however paled in 1979 when opec and the iranian revolution sparked higher oil prices making it clear that the us had no effective energy strategy as gas prices rose so too did unemployment and inflation which hovered at 14 the highest rate since 1947. faced with a staggering economy and foreign policy controversies carter's popularity fell to a low of 19 as the 1980 presidential campaign began new directions in foreign policy carter hoped to reshape american foreign policy which he believed focused too much on europe and an inordinate fear of communism he wanted the us to recognize the economic and social needs of the world's non-european and non-communist nations and to foster human rights which he considered the soul of our foreign policy carter's new town and foreign policy became evident in his effort to complete a new treaty with panama and to promote peace between israel and its arab neighbors overcoming public and bipartisan opposition in 1978 carter shepherded two controversial tradies regarding the panama canal through the senate one of these treaties returned the panama canal to a panamanian sovereignty on december 31 1999. the other gave the us the right to defend the panama canal if freedom of transit was threatened in september of 1978 carter brought egyptian president anwar sadat and israeli prime minister menachem begin together at the presidential retreat at camp david and maryland and convince them both to accept a set of carefully crafted agreements here we are talking about peace in the middle east hopefully folks at the heart of this peaceful agreement egypt recognized israel's right to exist and israel returned the israeli sinai peninsula to egypt after several more months the agreement was finalized as the camp david accords and on march 26 1979 carter watched as begin and sadat signed the first peace treaty between an arab state and israel in promoting human rights carter received mixed reviews he was generally applauded when he denounced applied sanctions against and reduced aid to repressive governments in el salvador guatemala chile nicaragua uganda the soviet union and the minority white governments in southern africa some people however questioned this humans rights emphasis when after american aid to nicaragua ended forces of the marxist san diego liberation front overthrew the government of anastosia samosa in 1979. other critics pointed out that carter refused to denounce human rights violations by the governments of the philippines and iran and by the people's republic of china with which he restored full diplomatic relations in 1979. although carter wasn't even in his response to brutal governments he nonetheless strengthened the role of human rights as a central part of american foreign policy carter's focus on human rights violations in eastern europe and the soviet union resulted in a noticeable cooling of relations with moscow even so carter and brezhnev in june 1979 saul signed the second strategic arms limitation treaty assault ii which placed limits on the number of long-range bombers missiles and nuclear warheads that each nation could deploy the treaty faced strong bipartisan opposition in the senate and when carter withdrew it from consideration when the soviets invaded afghanistan in december harvard announced the invasion as the greatest threat to peace since 1945 and approved aid to the mujahideen afghan rebels who were fighting the soviets supported by congress and the public carter also imposed economic sanctions on the soviets and announced that the us would boycott the 1980 moscow olympic games fearful that the soviets might use afghanistan as a stepping stone to middle eastern oil in his 1980 state of the union address carter proclaimed the carter doctrine the carter doctrine says the us would repel by any means necessary including the use of force any outside attempt to take control of the persian gulf region the soviet intervention in afghanistan and the carter doctrine were responses to more than just events in afghanistan both the americans and the soviets were reacting to the revolution in iran which had toppled the pro-american ruler mohammad reza shah pahlavi in early 1979. the shah restored a power by the us back in 1953 had been america's staunchest ally in the persian gulf region but his authoritarian rule had generated a revolution that brought to power iran's religious leaders led by the ayatollah khamenei who established an is islamic fundamental estate and denounced the us as the main source of evil in the world the ayatollah is definitely anti-american the shah was pro-american tensions between iran and the us reached a crisis point after the exiled shah entered a new york hospital for cancer treatment he comes here for cancer treatment we take him in and that's going to make iran and the ayatollah very angry on november 4th an angry mob stormed the american embassy in tehran and took 66 americans hostage as the world watched televised pictures of the hostages carter first used negotiations and covert operations to free some of the hostage hostages but with further negotiations failing and his popularity falling carter ordered an april 1980 military rescue mission this rescue mission failed and three helicopters were lost in a violent dust storm in iran finally in late 1980 canadian and algerian diplomatic efforts obtained the release of the remaining hostages who were set free on january 20th 1981 which was the day that carter left the presidency and reagan assumed office ending 444 days of captivity with the carter administration seemingly unable to deal with the economy or iran republicans eagerly look forward to the 1980 presidential election promising new leadership that would move the nation forward again and that's when we're going to get ronald reagan who promises to make america great individual voices dolores huerta on winning rights for farmworkers union organizer dolores huerta spoke in 1978 to an audience at the university of california los angeles explaining the problems faced by farmworkers and how the farmworkers union see she and cesar chavez created managed to gain benefits for the workers in this document she presents an insider's view of the nature of the effort and why was successful but readers and historians need to be aware of how the university audience might have shaped the content and tone of the speech and her requests basically how does who she's talking to impact what she says or how she says it there was a time when farmworkers couldn't get any kind of welfare if they were out of work back in 1963 we did a big campaign and we got farm workers covered under welfare so that if farmworkers were out of work they could at least get welfare we have come a long way in the changes that have been made the minimum wage for farm workers and the places that we don't have the union are two dollars and fifty cents an hour and when we have union contracts farmworkers wages are three dollars and fifty five cents an hour how are these changes made the changes were made by people that were like the poorest of all people that didn't know how to read or write people have no resources and when we think about the changes that we were able to make it's really kind of a mind blower about this time 10 years ago cesar chavez started his first fast we had been on strike for about three years and we still didn't have any contract he didn't eat for 25 days and of course a lot of people thought he was crazy we sort of picked up on caesar's fast and then we thought why couldn't the whole country do a little fast let's ask everyone not to eat grapes that's kind of a simple thing right it doesn't take a lot just don't eat grapes and so we asked the whole country in the whole world not to eat grapes mainly table grapes and they didn't and as a result of people not eating grapes we had our first big national great boycott and we got our first contract that was really simple thing but it had tremendous impact because we were going to the heart of the growers and that is their pocketbook they respond to only one thing and that is economic power so somehow you have to hit them in that pocketbook where they may have their heart and their nerves and then they feel the pain this is why the montgomery bus boycott was effective because it hit them in the pocketbook too this country needs a lot of changes and we have them and we have to make them in spanish in our union we have a saying we always say si se puede it can be done right si se puede means it can be done summary adopting kennedy's policies president johnson worked to oppose communism around the world in south vietnam we implemented a series of planned escalations that americanized the war north vietnam kept pace and showed no slackening of resolver resources within the us however as the american commitment grew a significant anti-war movement developed the combination of the tet offensive in 1968 and presidential politics divided the democratic party and compounded the divisions in american society by 1968 the country seemed to flame with urban riots and protests hispanics and native americans joined their voices with other groups demanding more recognition of their needs and calling on the federal government for support those who advocated social change however faced a resurgence of conservatism that helped to elect nixon seeking a strategy for withdrawing from vietnam nixon implemented a policy of vietnamization tree structured the cold war he worked in populations with the soviet union and china at home nixon charted a pragmatic force switching between government activism and more traditional republican policies hoping to re uh cement the sun belt and the south to the republican party despite nixon's domestic and foreign policy successes his desire to crush his enemies led to the watergate scandal and his resignation president ford tried to restore confidence in government but faced too many obstacles as the 1976 bicentennial election approached the nation seemed mired in the slowing economy and public cynicism toward government and politics although carter's election brought a different approach to domestic and foreign problems neither he nor congress was effective in dealing with a declining economy or complex foreign policy problems stag affliction the iranian hostage crisis things like that opec oil embargoes all that good stuff by the 1980 election carter's low popularity ratings and a broader questioning of liberal policies raised republican hopes of regaining the presidency and reshaping the nation's agenda which is exactly what they do with ronald reagan