Chapter 29
Fourth Great Awakening
1950s = 3rd Great Awakening = Rev. Billy Graham had risen to fame in late 1940s with a radio show/tent revivals = in 1957, led a sixteen-week crusade in NYC = laid the groundwork for the 4th Great Awakening
Primary reason for dramatic increase of women in workforce in 1970s
1965 - 1985 = divorce rate doubled many Americans still believed in "family wage" = but increasingly, families required 2 incomes the # of single women raising children doubled between 1965 - 1990 = more women were working to make-up for declining earning power of men or absence of men in American households Women's real income grew = reflected opening of professional/skilled jobs to educated women (beneficiaries of feminism)
Bakke v. University of California
1978 Supreme Court ruling that limited affirmative action by rejecting a quota system.
STOP ERA/Phyllis Schlafly
A conservative female political activist. She stopped the ERA from being passed, saying that it would hinder women more than it would help them. Phyllis Schlafly (lawyer/conservative activist) = argued that ERA would create an unnatural "unisex society" ratified by 34 states (needed 38 ) = ERA never adopted
Proposition 13
A measure passed overwhelmingly by Californians to roll back property taxes, cap future increases for present owners, and require that all tax measures have a two-thirds majority in the legislature. outcomes of Proposition 13 = less spending on public schools + benefitted wealthy + middle class (+ businesses) much more than poor = started tax revolts across the country + made promise of low taxes a hallmark of conservative politicians
Tax revolt
A movement to lower or eliminate taxes. California's Proposition 13 resulted from this, inspiring similar movements across the country.
Three Mile Island
A nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the reactor core came close to a meltdown in March 1979.
Energy crisis
A period of fuel shortages in the United States after the Arab states in the OPEC declared an oil embargo in October 1973. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) = cartel to control oil prices = to protest U.S. aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur War, OPEC declared an oil embargo to the U.S. (October 1973) Gas prices skyrocketed + demand outpaced supply = to conserve oil, Congress imposed a national speed limit of 55 mph + Americans began buying smaller foreign cars = hurt American car industry, which had ripple effect across the economy
Environmentalism
Activist movement begun in the 1960s that was concerned with protecting the environment through activities such as conservation, pollution control measures, and public awareness campaigns.
Earth Day
An annual event honoring the environment that was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, when 20 million citizens gathered in communities across the country to express their support for a cleaner, healthier planet.
Stagflation
An economic term coined in the 1970s to describe the condition in which inflation and unemployment rise at the same time.
Silent Spring/Rachel Carson
Book published in 1962 by biologist Rachel Carson. Its analysis of the pesticide DDT's toxic impact on the human and natural food chain galvanized environmental activists./American conservationist whose 1962 book "Silent Spring" galvanized the modern environmental movement that gained significant traction in the 1970s.
Equal Rights Amendment
Constitutional Amendment passed by Congress in 1972 that would require equal treatment of men and women under federal and state law.
National Environmental Policy Act
Created the EPA, required developers to file environmental impact statements assessing the effect of their projects on ecosystems
Women's liberationists/antirape movement
Early 1970s = saw rise of women's centers, women-run child care centers, + a feminist art/poetry movement women challenged the admission policies of all-male colleges (Yale and Columbia) colleges began to offer women's history classes + women's studies programs Our Bodies, Ourselves = inspired a growing women's health movement (reform anti-abortion laws) founded anti-rape movement
Spiro Agnew
Nixon's vice-president resigned and pleaded "no contest" to charges of tax evasion on payments made to him when he was governor of Maryland. He was replaced by Gerald R. Ford.
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries/ A cartel formed in 1960 by the Persian Gulf states and other oil-rich developing countries that allowed its members to exert greater control over the price of oil.
Affirmative action
Policies established in the 1960s and 1970s by governments, businesses, universities, and other institutions to overcome the effects of past discrimination against specific groups such as racial and ethnic minorities and women.
Jimmy Carter/response to energy crisis
President of the United States who was a peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia, he defeated Gerald Ford in 1976. As President, he arranged the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978 but saw his foreign policy legacy tarnished by the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis in 1979. Domestically, he tried to rally the American spirit in the face of economic decline, but was unable to stop the rapid increase in inflation. After leaving the presidency, he achieved widespread respect as an elder statesman and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. energy crisis grew worse w/Iranian revolution = "Crisis of Confidence" speech = poorly received by American public
President Ford/reasons for pardoning Nixon/impact on Ford's presidency
President of the United States who was appointed Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned in the fall of 1973. He succeeded to the presidency upon Nixon's resignation in August 1974 and focused his brief administration on containing inflation and reviving public faith in the presidency. He was defeated narrowly by Jimmy Carter in 1976. Ford's pardon of Nixon made him very unpopular
Oil embargo + effects
Started in October 1973, when the members of OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974. OPEC declared it would limit or stop oil shipments to the United States and other countries if they supported Israel in the conflict.
Watergate (who was responsible for break-in/Nixon's involvement)
Term referring to the 1972 break-in at Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington D.C., by men working for President Nixon's reelection campaign, along with Nixon's efforts to cover it up. The Watergate scandal led to President Nixon's resignation masterminds of the break-in = G. Gordon Liddy + E. Howard Hunt (former FBI + CIA agents working for CREEP) unclear if Nixon ordered break-in = involved in cover-up (obstruction of justice) White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had ordered a taping system installed in White House to record all conversations = Nixon refused access to the tapes (executive privilege) = July 1974 Supreme Court ruled against president
Deindustrialization (reasons + outcomes)
The dismantling on manufacturing--especially in the automobile, steel, and consumer-goods industries--in the decades after World War II, representing a reversal of the process of industrialization that had dominated the American economy from the 1870s through the 1940s. industrial sector = began to dismantle (ex. steel industry = challenged when West Germany + Japan began to rebuild their steel industries = flood of steel forced many American companies to falter), threw many blue-collar workers out of well-paid union jobs
Harvey Milk
The first openly gay man to be elected to public office. Was elected to serve in the SF Board of Supervisors. Assassinated in 1978, he will be remembered as someone who pushed the envelope and strove to reach positions openly gay people did not get. He was an advocate for gay rights, though his political career did not begin like that.
Deregulation
The limiting of regulation by federal agencies of prices in the trucking, airline, and railroad industries. Began under President Carter in the late 1970s, and Reagan expanded it to include cutting back on government protections of consumers, workers, and the environment.
Rust Belt
The once heavily industrialized regions of the Northeast and Midwest that went into decline after deindustrialization. Rust Belt = Northeast + Midwest = strewn w/abandoned plants + distressed communities
Evangelicalism
The trend in Protestant Christianity that stresses salvation through conversion, repentance of sin, and adherence to scripture; it also stresses the importance of preaching over ritual.
Reasons for growth of federal deficit in the 1960s
Vietnam War and the great society
Environmental Protection Agency
an independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment
Roe v. Wade
andmark decision (1973) = nullified Texas law that prohibited abortion under any circumstances = abortions in 1st trimester were protected by the right of privacy
America's dependence on foreign oil from Persian Gulf
dependent on inexpensive imported oil from Persian Gulf
Bankruptcy/NYC
economic downturn + "white flight" = nearly every major American city struggled to pay its bills
Reasons for inflation in 1970s
vietnam war, great society, energy crisis/oil embargo
War Powers Act/Freedom of Information Act/Ethics in Government Act/Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
war powers: A law that limited the president's ability to deploy U.S. forces without congressional approval. freedom: Passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the 1974 act gave citizens access to federal records. Passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the 1978 act forced political candidates to disclose financial contributions and limited the lobbying activities of former elected officials. Ethics in Government Act + the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act = prohibited wiretapping without a warrant
