Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

After Watergate, the country of the United States of America was in a crossroads. There was political division, economic uncertainty, and confusion.  Gerald Ford now was the President by 1974.  Some people wanted to bring people together. The 1970’s saw massive social, political, and economic changes. Gerald Ford was a moderate Republican who had a long political history. He played football at the University of Michigan. He was in the United States Navy and fought Nazis during World War II. He was elected to the Congress and served in the House for 25 years, even being the House Minority Leader in 1965. Gerald Ford was a hard worker and he had more integrity than Richard Nixon. Now as President, Gerald Ford was in a unique situation. Many people in America back then wanted Nixon to go into jail. The public didn’t have a massive trust in government. Economic problems plagued America too. Gerald Ford dealt with these problems, but his administration struggled politically. Ford allowed Nelson Rockefeller to be his Vice President. Nelson Rockefeller is known as a person who was the former governor of New York State, he was involved in the Attica disaster (where prisoners who assaulted), and he supported the War on Drugs (despite his moderate views on other issues). Ford continued the Nixon foreign policy positions. Many people questioned why America propped up authoritarian, totalitarian anti-Communist governments while claiming to promote freedom overseas. Ford followed détente. Also, the Stalinist Soviet regime continued to suppress human freedom which is antithetical to the essence of socialism. Gerald Ford kept Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State. He desired detente with the Soviet Union and China. By late 1974, Gerald Ford and Leonid Brezhnev met.

They endorsed the Helsinki Accords. The documents put the nations of Europe on record to promote human rights. Gerald Ford wanted the Soviet Union to promote more political freedoms. This set the stage for SALT II which wanted to limit nuclear weapons among America and the Soviet Union. Gerald Ford saw the end of the Vietnam War. The communist Khmer Rouge in Cambodia killed 1.5 million people from 1975 to 1979. The U.S. didn’t stop this. The exception was when U.S. Marines freed the American merchant ship called the Mayaguez when it was seized by the Khmer Rouge. South Vietnam lost to North Vietnam while Ford was President. Congress refused to invest money to help the Vietnamese people in the South and American troops came home from the conflict. Hundreds and thousands of Vietnamese people fled into America. Some used boats to escape. These boats included some of the largest mass migration in modern history. In 20 years, more than 1 million men, women, and children left Vietnam and came to other nations abroad. Some Vietnamese people came into America and Canada. It wouldn’t be until decades later until Vietnam and America would have a better relationship with each other.

One of his most controversial actions was a full pardon of Richard Nixon for any crime that he had committed as President. Gerald Ford believed that pardoning Nixon would be the only way to move forward since a trial of Nixon would last undoubtedly for years. Ford wanted to heal the nation’s wounds, but he was criticized for it. Ford denied that he used a pardon to fulfill a deal with Nixon. His popularity went down. Watergate was fresh in people’s minds back then. Later, the 1974 election existed. That election caused Republicans to lose 48 seats in the House of Representatives including Ford’s district in Grand Rapids, Michigan. President Ford had to deal with stagflation too. Stagflation was about high inflation and a stagnant economy. Inflation was in double digits by 1974. So, Ford wanted to lower inflation and lower prices by his voluntary plan called Whip Inflation Now. WIN didn’t work since it was voluntary and Ford had no extensive economic plan for economic growth. Factories shut down. Consumer demands for goods decreased. Unemployment massively grew which further caused Ford to lose support. By the mid-1970’s, Jimmy Carter rose up in the political arena nationally. Carter worked in Georgia. He was once governor of the state of Georgia. By 1976, he won the election with a slim popular vote majority. Carter presented himself as an ordinary man. Many people distrusted professional politicians. He is a born again Christian, so many fundamentalist Christians supported this. This would be the first time in a long time where conservative Christian voters would have a huge influence in a Presidential election. A Christian fundamentalist is a person who believes in a strict, literal interpretation of the Bible as the foundation of the Christian faith.   Conservative Christians increased their role in politics by the 1970’s. Carter had inexpensive in national political affairs. He had town meetings, he walked in the inaugural parade, and he carried a suitcase. He was a center-left President. He had trouble getting legislation because he lacked many ties with Democratic leaders in Congress. Also, it is no secret that Carter and Edward Kennedy didn’t like each other. Jimmy Carter accused Kennedy of ruining chances of his national health care bill. Edward Kennedy accused Carter of not being progressive enough on issues. President Carter passed bills with input from his party.

Jimmy Carter fulfilled one of his campaign promises to give amnesty to Americans who fled America during the draft of the Vietnam War. Carter wanted to help people move forward from the Vietnam War and the divisiveness it had. Yet, the war was emotional for many and Carter was criticized by many for his action. Barry Goldwater criticized Carter for this, but Carter realized that the Vietnam War caused pain in America. The Vietnam War was an unjust war and pardoning many is far better than allowing more people to die in an unjust war. Jimmy Carter had to deal with the energy crisis and inflation like Ford did. Inflation made items more expensive, it stripped savings, and it was terrible. Western European and Japanese companies competing more for the car market than decades ago. Japan sold fuel efficient and less expensive vehicles. this resulted in more profits for Japanese companies instead of more profits for U.S. companies. Chrysler had to get a federal loan to survive the new market reality. The energy crisis dealt with rising oil prices. A gallon of gas rose from 40 cents in 1973 to $1.20 by 1979. Fuel shortages were bad in 1976 and 1977. Folks needed heating oil. Factories closed and businesses lost profits because of fuel shortages. The conservative movement grew into new heights by the late 1970’s too. More Americans joined Evangelical churches. By 1980, one in five Americans was a religious fundamentalist. Also, many megachurch and Evangelical pastors used television by the late 1970’s to spread their message like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, 33rd Degree Freemason Oral Roberts, and others. Millions of viewers saw their shows and religious promotion. At his peak, Falwell had 280 stations showing his views and his broadcast was sent to 1.5 million viewers. Religious conservatives hated the progressive changes in the 60’s and 70’s. Some hated abortion, many disagreed with the ERA, many differently disagreed with homosexuality, and others believe that the Supreme Court eliminated prayer in school (which is lie. The Supreme Court said that teacher or government led prayer in public schools is illegal not individuals praying in public school on their own accords). Falwell formed the Moral Majority in 1979. Religious conservatives are right that adultery is wrong, integrity is important to advance, cults should be exposed, and that there is nothing wrong with believing in God. The weakness of many conservative religious people is that many of them readily ignore the important issues of labor rights, environmental justice, combating racism, ending sexism, and fighting imperialism overseas. Some of them falsely want equality for some people and not for others which contradicts the premise of the Golden Rule (or treating your neighbor as yourself. In other words, equality and justice for all means for all. Many conservative religious people embrace bigotry, xenophobia, and hatred of any progressive contribution to human civilization). Also, you can’t coerce people to follow your viewpoint as people have the right to voluntarily believe or not believe in your views. It is not morally right to jail someone if he or she is ideologically opposed to your views. You can peacefully agree to disagree. Many religious conservatives allied with economic conservatives and anti-Communist radicals to oppose government spending plus advance a hawkish foreign policy (that grows defense spending). This alliance was one major catalyst in bringing Ronald Reagan to be President by 1980. By 1978, affirmative was limited by the Supreme Court via California v. Bakke to make race as one factor in admission cases while eliminating racial quotas.


Jimmy Carter dealt with foreign policy issues too. Jimmy Carter wanted a foreign policy that respected human rights internationally. He wanted other nations to end torture, stop the abuse of human rights, and end political repression. He desired to fight evil and stop the imprisonment of people without trial. Jimmy Carter at first continued the detente policy with the Soviet Union. He met with Leonid Brezhnev and promoted the SALT II Treaty. Many in the Senate opposed SALT II since they believed that the national security of America would be in jeopardy. Later, in December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan since Afghanistan back then was ruled by a socialist government and the Soviets wanted to prop it up. Carter withdrew from the SALT II Treaty and banned Americans from participating in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Elitists like the late Trilateral Commission member Zbigniew Brzezinski influenced President Carter to express a more hawkish tone against the Soviet Union. Brzezinski hated the Soviets and aided the Mujahedeen to fight in Afghanistan via the CIA’s Operation Cyclone. Osama bin Laden was a member of the Mujahedeen movement. President Carter wanted human rights to be advanced in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. These developing nations in those regions were in the Cold War history. Carter wanted to ally with nations that treated its citizens very good. Nicaragua was fueled by the Somoza family filled with dictators. Carter wanted that changed. The leftist Sandinistas in 1978 rebelled against the Sandinistas. General Anastasio Somoza ruled Nicaragua back then. Carter withdrew support from Somoza because of his brutal dictatorship. General Somoza fled since he had little power and the Sandinistas came into power. Carter wanted to improve relations in Cuba too. Fidel Castro ruled Cuba since 1959 and he was a Stalinist communist.


Relations among Cuban and America became worser by 1980. The reason was that Castro wanted anyone to leave the island from the port of Miami to leave. The catch was that Castro wanted criminals to leave from the island’s prisons. The Mariel situation was controversial. Less than 20 of the people transported had spent time in prison. Many folks were political prisoners. Americans in many cases disagreed with Castro. Some viewed Castro as having no concern for the welfare of the emigrants. Carter returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. This policy was right and warranted, but he was criticized for it by reactionaries. The Senate narrowly supported the decision by 1978 and gradually the canal was controlled by Panama. One of President Carter’s greatest accomplishments was his historic peace agreement negotiated by him among Israel and Egypt. Egypt once didn’t agree with Israel’s existence in 1948. President Anwar el-Sadat wanted better relations in 1977. Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met in Jerusalem to negotiate a peace agreement. Carter invited both men in Camp David to make a deal. Camp David is a Presidential retreat. After nearly two weeks, Begin and Sadat agreed to have the Camp David Accords. This was about Egypt recognizing the nation of Israel's existence while Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai Peninsula (which it had controlled after the 1967 Six Day War). It was a historic time. Later, another disaster came. Carter wanted the agreement to be a springboard to promote cooperation in the Middle East. Later, his Presidency would end in part by the events of Iran.

For decades since the 1950’s, America supported the dictator called the Shah in Iran. Iranian protests against him increased by the 1970’s. The Shah left Iran since he had cancer. This was in January of 1979. Later, the fundamentalist clerics supported the Ayatollah Khomeini to rule Iran. Carter allowed the Shah to get medical aid in America. Iranian students protested this decision. Later, some Iranian students invaded the U.S. Embassy and kidnapped 66 Americans as hostages. Khomeini ran the Iranian government. Khomeini and his supporters wanted to defy America. The hostage crisis dominated the last part of Carter’s Presidency. This crisis caused many Americans to see that foreign policy wasn’t just about the Soviet Union. It dealt with the Middle East too. Few Americans were released early. Later, the rest would stay for 444 days. It would only be after Ronald Reagan would be inaugurated at January of 1981 when the rest of the American hostages would leave Iran. By 1980, the conservative movement grew and reached into new heights of power. At 1964, the conservative movement was low in power after the defeat of Barry Goldwater. That is why the conservatives planned a long term organizational powerbase to get the White House by 1980.

In the modern sense (we know classical liberalism is different from progressive thinking), liberals wanted government intervention to help the poor while conservatives wanted the free market, private organizations, and individuals to help the poor. Liberals and conservatives believe in the same goal (which is freedom, justice, and equality), but they disagree on the approaches on getting to that same goal. Back in the day, liberals and conservatives were equally in both Republicans and Democrats. By 2019, most Republicans were conservatives and most Democrats were liberals with moderates spread out in both major parties.  Liberals were responsible for many laws that protected the rights of minorities and women, especially after World War II. Liberals rely on international organizations like the United Nations to resolve conflicts. Liberals believe in governmental regulation of industry. Conservatives wanted to cut government regulations of industry and the environment. They want tax cuts and they were made up of anti-communists, religious conservatives, and economic conservatives like Milton Freidman. From the 1960’s and the 1970’s, members of both parties wanted significant role of government in domestic affairs. Later, the New Right increased their movement to fight against liberal policies. The New Right criticized the New Deal policies to gain more voters from the Midwest and the South. The growth of the Sunbelt states (filled with technological industries, and other businesses) increased more conservative voters in contrast to the declining populations of more liberal Northern areas. After the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act of the 1960’s, most white Southerners voted more for the Republicans instead of the Democrats. Therefore, demographic shifts were abundant during the 1970's. The Moral Majority allowed Republicans to gain more voters as well. The counterrevolution would change America, but the progressives would still fight for freedom regardless. The Election of 1980 changed the world forever indeed.


By Timothy