Chapter 30—The Crisis of Authority

I.The Youth Culture—What patterns were most alarming to conservatives in the 1960s and 1970s? What were the two impulses that fueled the unrest of the era?

  1. The New Left—How did the maturation of the Baby Boom generation affect society?
  2. Sources of the New Left—Who largely made up the membership of “The New Left”?
  3. SDS—Who was SDS, who made up their membership, and what was the Port Huron statement?
  4. Free Speech Movement—What was the Free Speech Movement and where did it start? What did the Free Speech Movement signal for other college campuses across the country?
  5. People’s Park—Who were the “Weathermen”? How did students organize and oppose the Vietnam War? How did they oppose the draft?
  6. The Counterculture
  7. “Hippies”—What did hippies stand for (or against), and how would you identify a hippie? What kind of lifestyles did they lead?
  8. Haight-Ashbury—What did the counterculture challenge? What was Haight-Ashbury?
  9. Growing Influence of Rock N’ Roll—Who were the Beatles? How did rock n’ roll change by the late 1960s? What was Woodstock?

II.The Mobilization of Minorities

  1. Seed of Indian Militancy
  2. Native American Grievances—What problems did Native Americans face? What was “termination”?
  3. Failure of “Termination”—What was the effect of “termination”? What happened to the program, and how did it help invigorate Indian resistance?
  4. The Indian Civil Rights Movement
  5. AIM—What was the Declaration of Indian Purpose? What was AIM? What did the Indian Civil Rights Act do? How did Indian protests spill over into Washington, D.C.?
  6. Occupation of Wounded Knee—What happened at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973? What did United States v. Wheeler determine?
  7. Latino Activism—What different groups were within the Latino community? What was the largest group? What was Operation Wetback?
  8. Surging Latino Immigration—How much did Latino population in the U.S. grow from 1960 to 2009? How did newly arriving Mexican Americans differ from other Latinos? What jobs did many Mexican Americans fill?
  9. “Chicano” Activism—How quickly did Mexican Americans develop political influence? Who were “Chicanos”?
  10. Cesar Chavez—Who was Cesar Chavez? Who did he successfully organize, and how did he do it?
  11. Gay Liberation
  12. “Stonewall Riot”—What happened to start the Stonewall Riot? How did Stonewall change society?
  13. Impact of the Gay Liberation Movement—What did it mean to “come out”? By the 1990s, what evidence was there that gays had attained more equality? What backlash did gays face?

III.The New Feminism

  1. The Rebirth
  2. The Feminine Mystique—Who was Betty Friedan and what was The Feminine Mystique about? How did President Kennedy (and later President Johnson) help women’s rights?
  3. NOW Founded—What was NOW? What activities did NOW undertake?
  4. Women’s Liberation
  5. New Directions in the Women’s Movement—How did the women’s movement change in the 1970s?
  6. Expanding Achievements—What legal achievement did women arrive at in 1971? How did colleges change?
  7. Political and Economic Success—How had the workforce changed by 2010? What major female political figures were there by the early 2000s?
  8. Failure of ERA—What was the ERA? What happened to it, and why?
  9. The Abortion Controversy
  10. Roe v. Wade—What did Roe v. Wade decide, and on what right was it based?

IV.Environmentalism in a Turbulent Society—What contributed to the rise of new environmentalists?

  1. The New Science of Ecology—How did old environmentalists differ from the new generation?
  2. Idea of an Interrelated World—How did ecology change environmental perspectives? Who was Rachel Carson? What book did she write and what topic did it investigate?
  3. Environmental Advocacy—What groups organized to promote environmental concerns?
  4. Environmental Degradation
  5. Water and Air Pollution—What was the greatest force behind environmentalism?
  6. Earth Day and Beyond
  7. The First “Earth Day”—What was Earth Day, and when was the first one?
  8. EPA Established—What was the EPA? What laws were passed to protect the environment?

V.Nixon, Kissinger, and the War—Why did Nixon fear leaving Vietnam?

  1. Vietnamization
  2. Henry Kissinger—Who was Henry Kissinger? Why did Nixon choose to use Kissinger rather than other officials in his government?
  3. Consequences of “Vietnamization”—What was Vietnamization? How did the policy affect U.S. troop levels?
  4. Escalation—What strategy did Nixon and Kissinger settle on, and who knew about the strategy?
  5. Kent State—When Nixon announced his strategy, what happened to the anti-war movement? What happened at Kent State and at Jackson State in 1970? How did Congress react to Nixon’s announcement? What were the Pentagon Papers, what did they reveal, and how did the affect support for the war?
  6. My Lai Massacre—What happened at My Lai? By 1971, how did most Americans feel about the war?
  7. “Peace with Honor”—In October of 1972, what did Henry Kissinger announce (and why do you think he announced it then)?
  8. “Christmas Bombing”—Why did the Americans start bombing North Vietnam? What were the terms of the Paris Accords?
  9. Defeat in Indochina
  10. Fall of Saigon—When did communist forces enter Saigon? What new name was Saigon given? What happened in Cambodia? Who was Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and what did they do in Cambodia? What were the economic and human costs of the Vietnam War?

VI.Nixon, Kissinger, and the World

  1. China and the Soviet Union—How had the U.S. treated China since 1949? How did Nixon change that, and why?
  2. Nixon’s China Visit—How did the United Nations change its treatment of China? What revolutionary act did Nixon take with China?
  3. SALT I—What was SALT I, and who was the agreement made with?
  4. The Problems with Multipolarity
  5. Nixon Doctrine
  6. “Six-Day War”—What occurred during the Six Day War, and what refugee problem was a result of this war? What occurred during the Yom Kippur War?
  7. Arab Oil Embargo—How did Arab countries strike back at America in 1973?

VII.Politics and Economics Under Nixon

  1. Domestic Initiatives
  2. From the Warren Court to the Nixon Court—What liberal decisions were reached in each of these Supreme Court cases: Engle v. Vitale, Gideon v. Wainwright, and Miranda v. Arizona? How did middle class Americans react to these decisions?
  3. Baker v. Carr—What was the decision in this case, and how did that decision affect political power in America? How did Nixon try to change the Supreme Court? How successful was he? What decisions were reached in the Supreme Court cases Furman v. Georgia and Roe v. Wade?
  4. Bakke v. Board of Regents of California—What decision was reached in this case?
  5. The Election of 1972
  6. George McGovern—Why was George McGovern so unpopular?
  7. Nixon’s Landslide
  8. The Troubled Economy—Why had the American economy been so successful in the 1950s and 1960s?
  9. Inflation—What contributed to high inflation in America at that time?
  10. OPEC—What was OPEC? How did they begin to use the control of oil? What happened to America’s manufacturing base during this time?
  11. Deindustrialization—What was deindustrialization? What was the effect on workers?
  12. Inequality—How did patterns of economic wealth begin to change in 1973?
  13. The Nixon Response
  14. “Stagflation”—What was “stagflation” and what did Nixon do to try to combat it?

VIII.The Watergate Crisis

  1. The Scandals
  2. The Changing Presidency—How did Richard Nixon change the U.S. presidency?
  3. The Watergate Break-in—What happened at the Watergate Hotel?
  4. “Cover-up”—Was Watergate an isolated incident of illegal activity in the Nixon administration? How did the Nixon administration react to Watergate? What pieces of evidence became central to the case against Nixon?
  5. The Fall of Richard Nixon—What happened to Spiro Agnew? Who became vice-president?
  6. U.S. v. Richard M. Nixon—What did the Supreme Court decide in this case? What did the House Judiciary Committee begin preparing? What did the secret tapes show that Nixon had done?
  7. Nixon Resigns—How did the resignation of Richard Nixon change Americans’ view of politics in this country?