Chapter 31 Review

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Chapter 31 Review 								Joe Puccio

Key Terms

Fair Campaign Practices Act
Meltdown
Roe v. Wade
Mayaguez
Deterrence

People To Identify 

Ayatollah Khomeini
Nelson A. Rockefeller
Betty Friedan
Phyllis Schlafly
Menachem Begin

Places To Locate
A
B
E
C
D

Reviewing the Facts
President Ford worked to restore America’s confidence in the Presidency and their country.  Ford pardoned ex-President Nixon and issued an amnesty plan for draft dodgers from the Vietnam era, in an attempt to end domestic division.  In the aftermath of Watergate, Congress passed laws to clean up elections.  For example, the Fair Campaign Practices Act limited the amount of money individuals and corporations could contribute to political conditions.  According to a 1975 survey, more than two-thirds of all Americans agreed that “over the last ten years, this country’s leaders have consistently lied to the people”.
President Ford tried to continue Nixon’s pursuit of détente but was criticized by opponents on both the left and the right.  With both inflation and a steady rise in the price of goods and materials, and unemployment, increasing economic problems grew worse during Gerald R. Ford’s presidency.  The Democrats called for a federal jobs program to bring down unemployment, but Ford rejected the plan because he believed that pumping more money into the economy would only increase inflation.  Ford also came up with sensible plans and suggestions that every American could do, such as not using credit cards, cleaning their plates at meals, guard their health, and other similar things.  Unfortunately, these reasonable suggestions were for the most part ridiculed and ignored.  Inflation did drop when the Federal Reserve System tightened the money supply, however.
Vast economic and social changes were caused when women entered the labor force in large numbers during the 1870s.  Economic need, changes in birth rates and life expectancy, and changes in the job market all drew women into the labor force.  During those years, inflation rose steeply.  This affected both poor and middle-class women.  Many poor and working-class women had to take jobs just to make ends meet.  Middle-class women also began to feel the economic punch, as it became difficult for a family to live on just one salary.
The demand for equal treatment in all areas of life led to the expansion of the women’s movement.  The women’s movement scored a major victory in 1973 with the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to legalize abortion.  The Equal Rights Amendment, also controversial, failed to get the necessary votes for ratification.
The Equal Rights Amendment was a Constitutional amendment first proposed in 1923 that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.  Efforts to ratify this amendment have continued to this day.  Yet staying at home was all that many women saw in their future, and it upset them.  Many women took jobs outside the home in search of a deeper sense of self-worth and a chance to learn new skills,.  Changes in the labor market created more jobs for them to fill. Employers began seeking women employees to fill new jobs as the American economy turned away from manufacturing and toward service and sales.
The key factor in Carter’s successful campaign was his skill at winning the trust of the American voters.  He did so by promising, over and over, to tell the truth.  “If I ever tell a lie, I want you to come and take me out of the White House,” was what he said in almost every speech.  Americans craved an honest President in the years after Vietnam and Watergate, and Carter was brilliant at appealing to that need.  As a former governor of Georgia, Carter presented himself as an outsider, uncorrupted by the world of Washington politics.  It was just in the 1976 election where “not knowing” about politics was a badge of honor, a sign of integrity.
A host of economic problems damaged Jimmy Carter’s presidency.  Carter had no clean plan for governing and greatly lacked the experience in working with Congress, considering he was elected as an “outsider” to Washington.  Carter was unable to deal with double-digit inflation, high unemployment, and economic stagnation. Carter called on the country to conserve fuel, attempting to cut energy consumption.  Both the economy and Carter’s popularity were harmed when oil prices jumped again.
The Panama Canal Treaty was the treaty between the United States and Panama, ratified in 1978, calling for the gradual turnover of the Panama Canal to Panama.  By treating smaller nations with respect, Carter hoped to improve relations with them.  The treaty became very controversial and met great opposition among many conservatives.  Ronald Reagan, for example, insisted that the treaty was a “giveaway” of legally purchased territory.  Opponents also argued that because the Panama Canal was so important to American security, the United States needed to keep direct control.  Many Americans were persuaded by these arguments and polls indicated that a majority opposed the treaty.
Carter’s foreign policy successes were overshadowed by a hostage crisis in Iran.  Carter was committed to making human rights the basis of American foreign policy.  Carter continued détente with the Soviet Union, but in 1979, he changed his policies in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  Also, if the Soviet Union even posed an attack on the United States, Americans would be able to strike back.  This ability to strike back lay at the heart of deterrence, the prevention of nuclear war through the threat of retaliation.
In October of 1979, President Carter allowed the Shah to come to New York for the treatment of cancer.  Armed Islamic revolutionaries stormed the United States embassy and took 66 American hostages on November 4, 1979. Ayatollah Khomeini insisted that the hostages would not be released until Carter returned the Shah and all of his health.  Under unbearable pressure to do something, Carter ordered a military rescue mission in April 1980.  However, the mission was ill conceived and poorly executed.  The mission was aborted after several rescue helicopters broke down and eight servicemen died.  On Inauguration Day, January 20, 1981, the final arrangements for the hostage release were completed.  The news of the airplane leaving Tehran with the hostages had not come when it came time for Carter to leave the Oval Office and meet his successor, Ronald Reagan.  The hostages departed Iran Several minutes after Reagan was sworn in as President.



Critical Thinking Skills

In favor of pardon: It would help the public get over Watergate, it would allow Ford to work on other things/policies, dwelling on the Watergate Scandal wasn’t helping the situation. 
    Against pardon: Nixon would hold absolutely no accountability for his actions, set a bad precedent, there was no knowing exactly what Nixon did, he hadn't gone to trial yet. 

Ford and Carter both urged individual conservation practices and considered raising gas prices. If I had been president I would have proposed laws that put a minimum miles per gallon requirement on cars, or incentivized or subsidized efficient cars. 
The Shah was a popular person in the US. However in Iran he was the exact opposite. This shows how different the nations were in their perceptions.