| Additional Class Topics
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Additional Class Topics

For Further Interest: Additional Class Topics
Chapter 39: The Stalemated Seventies, 1968 - 1980

  • Focus on Nixon and Watergate. Consider whether Watergate was in the end a victory for democracy or whether it created national cynicism about leaders and weakened Americans faith in democracy and the presidency.

  • Examine the rise of the environmental movement. Consider the relations of environmental concerns to economic issues in the 1970s, including oil and other energy sources.

  • Consider the origins of the conflicts over busing and affirmative action. Explain how the broad American consensus in favor of civil rights, voting rights, integration, and economic opportunity fell apart on the questions of positive government action to advance African Americans economic and political standing.

  • Discuss the Iranian revolution in relation to the rise of militant Islam in the Middle East. Consider why Americans (including government officials) had such difficulty comprehending Islamic fundamentalism.

  • Conduct a class debate over the following topics: e.g., America Needs an Equal Rights Amendment and A Defense of the Nixon Presidency; primary source readings will come from the following book: Opposing Viewpoints in American History Volume II: From Reconstruction to the Present, San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Another good source of debate topics is Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle, Taking Sides Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, Volume II: Reconstruction to the Present, Connecticut: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

  • Show students the following videos: The Century Americas Time (ABC Video in association with The History Channel), Volume V: 1971-1975: Approaching The Apocalypse: The publics faith in their government shatters with the disclosure of Watergate. Nixon becomes the first President in U.S. history to resign, as corruption and politics truly become synonymous. Can Americas trust in its leaders ever be restored? Volume V: 1976-1980: Starting Over: The upheavals of the 60s and 70s now leave many confronting the emotional fallout, including forced interracial busing and women torn between their roles as housewives and breadwinners. Meanwhile, the sounds and style of Disco dominate the decade.

  • Have the students read selections from John RawlsA Theory of Justice (1971) and Robert Nozicks Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974). Both books are considered classics of American political thought both arrive at very different conclusions.

  • Have the students read Ira Levins The Stepford Wives (1972). Use the novel to explore issues about the dangers of forced conformity, made into a movie in 1975 and again in 2004.



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