Domestic Issues Of 1970's

The 1970s is known as the era of colorful and funky music that was well known as disco and newly improved technology that would lead to the greater America. Despite being known as the era of disco and technology, America during the 1970s had ongoing issues from the 60s by cause of foreign conflicts and domestic affairs. Conflict arose especially as a result of war and racial inequality. With Johnson, the 36th president, announcing his last day as president it was believed that there would be new hope for the upcoming era. However, it was only the beginning and the continuation from the 60s in which it impacted Americans politically and culturally. The 1970’s was considered to be one of the best times but due to domestic and foreign policies

Un-abating domestic political issues from the 1960s extended into the 1970s, hence, ongoing political issues was unsolved. As stated by Laird in A Strong Start in a Difficult Decade: Defense Policy in the Nixon-Ford Years, “the United States was a victim of political paralysis” (Laird, pg. 5). The term political paralysis essentially means that the United States made no progress throughout the years. This was a result of racial inequality and class causing division among Americans especially within the lower class and the middle class or also referred to as the “silent majorities”. The silent majority were groups of middle-class people that supported the American institution and the ongoing war in Vietnam. They were conservative people that did not support the anti-war protest and the anti-conservative views. However, in 1968 Richard Nixon was elected as president. The “silent majority” were juxtaposed to the liberal civil right activist who were students during Nixon’s postulation for the presidency. During Nixon’s speech, he mentioned the silent majorities and promised them policies that would benefit them only. Nixon wanted to establish a Family Assistance Plan and a Health plan which would provide money to family in need. His plan was rejected as it was never accepted by the Congress and was considered too radical for conservatives. Even

Gerald Ford was appointed to replace Nixon’s spot in the White House. The first action that Ford did was to pardon Nixon which troubled Americans even more. Apart from pardoning Nixon, he attempted to regulate the economy because of inflation and told Americans to shop wisely. However, it did not work because there was an increase of Americans becoming jobless. During the election of 1976, Ford lost against Jimmy Carter. Carter had progressive ideas compared to the previous presidents. During his presidency, he focused on how to improve the economy, especially with inflation. His first action was to cut down spendings on domestic programs to help improve the economy. Additionally, he supported the idea of increasing interest rates until wages fall, even if it took a while to fix. Carter still believed in helping the environment, thus, he expanded nuclear energy in order to reduce the production of oil. Despite the machine being inexpensive, it was still harmful as it released radioactive