The Late Cold War
Essential Questions
- What events led to Richard Nixon's resignation as President in 1974?
- What accounted for the changes in American attitudes during the 1970s?
- What were the goals of American foreign policy during the Ford and Carter years, and how successful were Ford's and Carter's policies?
- What spurred the rise of conservatism in the late 1970s and early 1980s?
- What were the major characteristics of the conservative Reagan Revolution?
- What were Reagan's foreign policies, and how did they contribute to the fall of communism in Europe?
Learning Objectives
You will learn:
- How and why the Watergate burglary led to a cover up by President Richard Nixon and his staff, a Congressional investigation, and the first resignation of a United States president
- How the foreign policy initiative of “détente” guided the international affairs of the Nixon administration during the Cold War
- How an increase in oil prices and government spending during the Vietnam War led to “stagflation” and a national economic recession during the 1970s
- How and why arguments over energy use and resources impacted domestic politics and policy
- How the ‘Conservative/Reagan Revolution’ of the 1980’s and beyond addressed issues of social and racial injustice and how it impacted American political and economic systems
- How and to what extent the policy of supply-side economics or “Reaganomics” worked and how it impacted the American economy at the end of the 20th Century
- How and to what extent United States foreign policy has been guided by international human rights and the advancement of democracy since World War I
- How Cold War polices of compromise and confrontation with the Soviet Union guided United States presidential administrations from John F. Kennedy to George H.W. Bush
- How and to what extent the Reagan administration’s escalation of defense spending and use of anti-communist rhetoric contributed to the end of the Cold War
- How and why the domestic ‘War on Drugs’ led to United States intervention in Columbia, Panama, and other Latin American nations in the late 20th century
- How, why and to what extent the United States recognition and support of Israel since 1948 has influenced American foreign policy and relationships in the Middle East
Key Terms
Assignments and Readings
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Digital History Textbook
The Past Three Decades: Years of Crisis - Years of Triumph
This chapter examines the impact of the collapse of Communism on international stability; the resurgence of the American economy during the 1990s; and the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton.
Watergate
Crisis of Political Leadership
Restraining the Imperial Presidency
New Style Presidents
Wrenching Economic Transformations
The Age of Inflation
Oil Embargo
Foreign Competition
Whipping Stagflation
A New American Role in the World
Détente
Foreign Policy Triumphs
No Islands of Stability
The Reagan Revolution
The Gipper
Reaganomics
The Celebration of Wealth
The Reagan Doctrine
A Remarkable Ideological Turnaround
The Reagan Revolution in Perspective
The First Bush Presidency
Collapse of Communism
This chapter examines the impact of the collapse of Communism on international stability; the resurgence of the American economy during the 1990s; and the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton.
Watergate
Crisis of Political Leadership
Restraining the Imperial Presidency
New Style Presidents
Wrenching Economic Transformations
The Age of Inflation
Oil Embargo
Foreign Competition
Whipping Stagflation
A New American Role in the World
Détente
Foreign Policy Triumphs
No Islands of Stability
The Reagan Revolution
The Gipper
Reaganomics
The Celebration of Wealth
The Reagan Doctrine
A Remarkable Ideological Turnaround
The Reagan Revolution in Perspective
The First Bush Presidency
Collapse of Communism