The Stalemated Seventies 1968–1980 Chapter 39 The Stalemated Seventies 1968–1980

Median Family Income, 1970–2001 During the long post-World War II economic boom (from about 1950 to 1970), family incomes increased dramatically, but after 1970 “real,” or inflation-adjusted, incomes stagnated. Prosperity in the late 1990s led to a slight upward trend, though adjusted median family income began to decline in the early years of the twenty-first century. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2003, and John J. McCusker, “Comparing the Purchasing Power of Money in the United States (or Colonies) from 1665 to 2003,” Economic History Services, 2004.

The Nixon Wave During Richard Nixon’s presidency, Americans experienced the first serious inflation since the immediate post-World War II years. The inflationary surge grew to tidal-wave proportions by the late 1970s, when the consumer price index rose at an annual rate of more than 10 percent. New York Daily World

President Richard M. Nixon Reversing Kennedy’s inaugural plea to “bear any burden,” Nixon told Congress in February 1970, “America cannot--and will not--conceive all the plans, design all the programs, execute all the decisions and undertake all the defense of the free nations of the world.” Constantine Manos/ Magnum Photos

Cold War? Not for Some This poignant cartoon reminds its audience that while the rhetoric of the day might have been about a "Cold War," as America pursued its anti-communist policies around the world, some Americans were paying a very real price. Portland Oregonian

The War at Home Antiwar students clash with police in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1970. Black star/ Stockphoto.com

Some Chicken, Some Egg, 1975 This cartoon pokes fun at Henry Kissinger as a global statesman. Serving first as President Nixon’s national security adviser and then as secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations, the German-born Kissinger brought with him to Washington a sophisticated--some said cynical--view of the world honed during his nearly two decades as a political science professor at Harvard. The Economist

Balancing Act Nixon treads delicately between the two communist superpowers in 1973, holding some of the wheat with which he enticed both into detente. Ranan R. Lurie/ Cartoonnews International

Presidential Election of 1972 (with electoral vote by state) Nixon buried McGovern in this election, but when his administration soon thereafter began to sink in a swamp of scandals, bumper stickers appeared in Boston proclaiming, “Don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts.” Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.

John Dean Testifies at the Watergate Hearings When Dean’s testimony was later corroborated by tape recordings of presidential conversations, President Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Behind Dean is his wife, Maureen. © Bettmann/ CORBIS

Nixon, the Law-and-Order-Man While Nixon had successfully campaigned on a platform of conservative "law and order," the American public was about to find out a very different reality. New York Newsday

How Long Will Nixon Haunt the GOP? Doubts about Ford’s pardon of Nixon clouded his brief presidency. Joseph Smith

Passing the Buck A satirical view of where responsibility for the Vietnam debacle should be laid. Copyright Jules Feiffer

The Last Days of Saigon Violence often attended the frantic American evacuation from Vietnam in 1975. © Bettmann/ CORBIS

Boat People Vietnamese refugees flee to freedom. Black Star/ Stockphoto.com

Preserving the Past A Vietnamese American boy learns classical calligraphy from his grandfather. Lawrence Migdale

Anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly (b. 1924) Schlafly traveled the country promoting her “STOP ERA” campaign. She argued that ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment would undermine the American family by violating “the right of a wife to be supported by her husband,” requiring women to serve in combat, and legalizing Joan Roth/ Archive Photos/ Getty Images

A Sad Day for Old Glory In 1976 America’s bicentennial year, anti-busing demonstrators convulsed Boston, the historic “cradle of liberty.” White disillusionment with the race-based policies that were a legacy of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs of the 1960s helped to feed the conservative, antigovernment movement that elected Ronald Reagan in 1980. Stanley Forman

Celebrating the Camp David Agreement, September 1978 Anwar Sadat of Egypt (left) and Menachem Begin of Israel (right) join U.S. president Jimmy Carter in confirming the historic accord that brought hopes of peace to the war-torn Middle East. Black Star/ Stockphoto.com

Historical Double Take Many Americans who looked back reverently to Theodore Roosevelt’s “Rough Rider” diplomacy were outraged at the Panama “giveaway.” But the Carter administration, looking to the future, argued persuasively that relinquishing control of the canal would be healthy for U.S.-Latin American relations. ©Valtman/Rothco

Two-Way SALT Talks The grim specter of nuclear holocaust haunted the SALT II talks between Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna in June 1979. Uluschak/ Edmonton Journal/Rothco

Iranians Denounce President Jimmy Carter, November 1979 Scenes like this one appeared almost nightly on American television during the 444 days of the Iranian hostage crisis, humiliating Carter and angering American citizens. Henri Bureau/ Corbis-Sygma