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The Trend Toward
Conservatism: 19691980
Chapter 20
Section 2
Appointive Presidency
Nixon’s
resignation led to Vice
President Gerald Ford taking
over as his successor.
Like his predecessor, President
Ford followed policies that
were moderately conservative.
Gerald
Ford was in an unusual
situation when he took the oath of
office as the new president.
The American people had not
elected him to either the vice
presidency or the presidency.
In a televised speech to the nation,
Ford promised to restore trust in
the U.S. government.
Another
issue concerned the vice
presidency.
Now that Ford had moved into the
presidency, who was to replace him as
vice president?
A Senate committee conducted a long
and probing investigation of New York
State governor Nelson Rockefeller
before finally recommending that his
nomination be approved.
 At
last, the United States had both a
president and a vice president both
unelected who could be trusted to
carry out their constitutional duties.
Domestic Policy Issues
 Only
a month after becoming
president, Ford announced
that he was pardoning exPresident Nixon for any crime
committed in the Watergate
Affair.
 Critics wondered if the
pardon was even legal since
no court had even charged
Nixon with a crime.
 President
Ford defended his
action by saying that it was time
for the nation to put the
Watergate Affair aside and move
forward.
 Although Nixon was pardon,
other members of his White
House staff were less fortunate
and were found guilty of perjury
(lying under oath) like former
attorney general, John Mitchell,
and key white house aids.
First Oil Crisis
 Recall
that Americans first become
aware of their dependence on foreign
oil when an Arab-Israeli war broke out
in 1973.
 The Arabs used their control of oil fields
in the Middle East to punish the United
States for its support of Israel.
 Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and other
nations placed an embargo on the sale
of their oil to the United States and its
allies.
The Arab
oil embargo of 1973 added
to the woes of the American economy.
Between 1973 and 1974, the price of
oil jumped from $3 to $11.
The price increases affected not only
the price of gasoline but also the price
of almost all other manufactured
products because factory equipment
cannot operate without oil.
OPEC
 The
U.S. automobile industry was
badly hurt as American consumers
bought fewer American cars and
more of the smaller, fuel-efficient
imports from Japan and Europe.
 Oil was controlled by OPEC
(Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries)
 The embargo showed America it also
needed oil for its security.
Long lines at gas stations
Carter’s Presidency
 Honesty
in government was an
important issue in the
presidential election of 1976.
 For the first time since the
election of Zachary Taylor in
1848, the United States was to
have a president from the South.
 Jimmy Carter narrowly beat Ford
for the presidency (297 electoral
votes to Ford’s 240).
Carter’s Style of Leadership
 Carter
proved to be a hardworking,
honest, and dedicated president.
 There was some doubt, however,
about his effectiveness as a leader.
 At times he would tell Congress and
the American people that a certain
law was desperately needed.
 But then he would not follow through
and make sure that the law would
pass in Congress which was a
Democratic majority.
Domestic Policy Issues
 Amnesty
for Draft Evaders- In 1977,
President Carter provided an
amnesty (a general blanket pardon)
for Vietnam war draft evaders.
 Many of these young men had fled to
Canada rather than allow themselves
to be drafted into the army.
 The amnesty was intended to bring
an end to the disagreements that still
existed about how these young men
should be treated.
 The
decision caused a controversy,
as many families that had suffered
the loss of a loved one in the war
were opposed to the amnesty.
 Nevertheless, the amnesty provided
a solution to the issue.
Second Oil Crisis
 President
Carter had to deal
with an even worse energy
crisis than had President Ford.
 In 1979, a revolution in Iran
caused a major cutback in that
country’s production of oil.
 Oil prices soared from $11 a
barrel $40 a barrel.
The second oil
crisis reminded
Americans that
they were at
the mercy of
OPEC and
upheavals in
the Middle East.
 Carter created
the Department
of Energy which
was a new
cabinet
department.



Carter urged Department
of Energy to expand its
search for alternative
sources of energy.
As a result, Congress
approved $20 billion to
research the development
of synthetic fuels.
Environmental Concerns
 Environmental
concerns increased
greatly during the 1970s.
 The partial meltdown of a nuclear
power plant at Three Mile Island in
Pennsylvania in 1979 reminded
people that accidents at nuclear
power plants could cause dangerous
amounts of radioactive materials to
be released into the atmosphere.
At
the same time, pollutants
that caused acid rain and
radioactive toxic wastes were
also creating hazards to the
environment.
Thus, concerns for the
environment were increasing
throughout the United States.
Foreign Policy
The
United States faced a number
of foreign policy issues during the
Carter administration.
They included conflicts in the
Middle East, the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan, and a hostage crisis
in Iran.

a)
b)
c)
In dealing with conflicts in the
Middle East, U.S. policymakers
tried to balance three main
interests:
Giving support to the democratic
state of Israel
Giving support to Arab states to
ensure a steady flow of Middle
Eastern oil to the United States
and its allies.
Preventing the Soviet Union from
increasing its influence in the
region.
Middle East Mediation
 Carter
invited the leaders of Israel
(Menachim Begin) and Egypt (Anwar
Sadat) to informally discuss their
differences with him.
 The agreement they reached led to a
peace treaty in 1979.
 Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to
Egypt, in return for which Egypt
recognized Israel’s right to exist.
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
 Carter
reacted to Soviet
aggression by cutting shipments
of U.S. wheat to the Soviets.
 The U.S. also boycotted the 1980
Olympic Games in Moscow.
 The policy of détente initiated by
President Nixon was put on hold,
as cold war tensions once again
began to rise.
Iranian hostage crisis
 Carter
order a military attempt to
rescue of the hostages, which
unfortunately failed.
 It hurt Carter publically because
many around the world including
Americans viewed America as weak
and losing influence around the
world.
 He also froze Iranian financial assets
in the United States.
Injured U.S. Prestige
 Carter
also lost the election
partly because of stagflation
(inflation couple with high
unemployment).
 On the day when Carter left
office, January 20, 1981 Iran
announced the release of
hostages, 444 days after their
capture.
Relations with Panama
 Carter
negotiated two
treaties with Panama.
 The first transferred
ownership of the canal and
the Canal Zone to Panama.
 The second authorized the
U.S. to use military force if
the canal was attacked by a
hostile power.
Human Rights
 Carter’s
emphasis on human rights in
conducting foreign policy was not
always successful, as in the case of Chic
and Brazil.
 (The use of human rights issue has
seemingly been successful at times,
however, as in the case of China.)
 Many victims of human rights abuses in
places such as Haiti, Cuba, Southeast
Asia, and China have found refuge in
the United States.
 Fidel
Castro let thousands of
Cubans flee to the United States
(Florida).
 Many of the Cubans were let loose
of his prisons to come to the U.S.
some were political prisoners
others criminals.
 Many people left Haiti to escape
repressive laws and poverty.
 Carter let them all stay in this
country even thou most of them
were unskilled.