01:512:205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 40: Judicial Activism, Earl Warren, Watergate Complex
18 May 2018
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Chapter 40: The Stalemated Seventies, 1968-1980
Sources of Stagnation
• At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s there was a sudden
slump in productivity
• Possible causes were the increasing presence in the work force of women
and teenagers who had fewer skills, declining investing in new machinery, the
heavy costs of compliance, and the general shift of the American economy
from manufacturing to services
• The Vietnam War precipitated painful economic distortions; the conflict
drained tax dollars from needed improvements in education, deflected
scientific skill and manufacturing capacity from the civilian sector touching off
a sickening spiral of inflation (no tax increase in LBJs time)
• Sharply rising oil prices in the 1970s, funding of Great Society programs—
military spending and welfare spending are inherently inflationary because
they put dollars in peoples hands
• The twelve years following Nixons inauguration was the longest and steepest
inflationary cycle in American history; weaknesses in the nations economy
were laid bare—new factories with new technology of the German and
Japanese allowed them to dominate industries; a stalemated, unpopular war
and a stagnant, unresponsive economy heralded the end of the postwar era
A New Team on the Supreme Bench
• Nixon lashed out at the permissiveness and judicial activism of the
Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice Early Warren; decisions of
Warren Court reflected concern for individual
• In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) the Court struck down a state law that
prohibited the use of contraceptives—right of privacy that provided for
protecting womens abortion rights
• In 1963 the Court (Gideon v. Wainwright) held that all defendants in serious
criminal cases were entitled to legal counsel; (Escobedo and Miranda)
ensured the right of pleading the 5th)
• Freedom of the press was endorsed by the Warren Court in the case of New
York Times v. Sullivan (1964) that ruled that public figures could sue for libel
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only if they could prove that malice had motivated defamers—opened door
for criticism of the public actions/politicians
• In Engel v. Vitale and School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, it
voted against required prayers and Bible reading in the public schools
(separation of church and state)
• The Courts determination to support black people in civil rights cases
infuriated many southern-ers; conservatives maligned the Warren Court for
not interpreting but rewriting Constitution
•
• The Court in Reynolds v. Sims ruled that state legislatures would have to be
reapportioned according to the human population; from 1954 on, the Court
came under relentless criticism
• President Nixon undertook to change the Courts philosophical complexion
• The Senate in 1969 confirmed the nomination of Warren E. Burger to succeed
the retiring Earl Warren as chief justice and by 1971, the Court counted four
conservative Nixon appointments
• The Burger Court that Nixon shaped proved reluctant to dismantle the liberal
rulings of the Warren Court and even produced the momentous Roe v.
Wade (1973) legalizing abortion
Nixon on the Home Front
• Nixon presided over significant expansion of the welfare programs that
conservatives denounced
• He increase appropriations for Food Stamps and Medicaid as well as for the
largest federal welfare program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC) that targeted single mothers
• Nixon implemented the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which gave
benefits to disabled
• He signed legislation that raised pensions and provided for increases (Great
Society expansion)
• The US had its lowest level of poverty rate in modern history in 1973 at eleven
percent
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• In his Philadelphia Plan of 1969 Nixon required construction-trade unions
working on federal contracts in Philadelphia to establish goals and
timetables: for hiring black apprentices
• Extended to all federal contracts, the Philadelphia Plan required meeting
hiring quotas
• Nixons Philadelphia Plan drastically altered the meaning of Affirmative
action (LBJ protected individuals against discrimination, Nixon conferred
privileges on certain groups)
• In Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) the Supreme Court justices prohibited
intelligence tests or other devices that had the effect of excluding minorities or
women from certain jobs
• Broad employment and education opportunities opened for minorities and
women
• Critics assailed the new style of affirmative action as reverse discrimination
• Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
Occupation Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) in 19700—concern for
the environment (Air Pollution Control)
• Author Rachel Carson gave the environmental movement a huge boost in
1962 when she published Silent Spring a muckraking piece that exposed the
poisonous effects of pesticides
• The EPA and OSHA was armed—Clean Air Act of 1970 and Endangered
Species Act of 1973
• Worried about creeping inflation, Nixon imposed a ninety-day wage and price
freeze in 1971; to stimulate nations sagging exports, he took the US off the
gold standard and devalued the dollar
• Elected as a minority president, Nixon devised southern strategy to achieve
a solid majority in 1972; the southern strategy emphasized an appeal to white
voters by soft-pedaling civil rights and openly opposing school busing to
achieve racial balance (foreign policy dominated 1972)
The Nixon Landslide of 1972
• Nearly four years had passed since Nixon had promised to end the war and
win the peace but in spring of 1972, the North Vietnamese burst through the
demilitarized zone on an offensive
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Document Summary
Japanese allowed them to dominate industries; a stalemated, unpopular war and a stagnant, unresponsive economy heralded the end of the postwar era. A new team on the supreme bench: nixon lashed out at the (cid:1688)permissiveness(cid:1689) and (cid:1688)judicial activism(cid:1689) of the. Supreme court presided over by chief justice early warren; decisions of. In griswold v. connecticut (1965) the court struck down a state law that prohibited the use of contraceptives (cid:1688)right of privacy(cid:1689) that provided for protecting women(cid:1685)s abortion rights. York times v. sullivan (1964) that ruled that public figures could sue for libel only if they could prove that (cid:1688)malice(cid:1689) had motivated defamers opened door for criticism of the public actions/politicians. Society expansion: the us had its lowest level of poverty rate in modern history in 1973 at eleven percent. Occupation health and safety administration (osha) in 19700 concern for the environment (air pollution control: author rachel carson gave the environmental movement a huge boost in.
