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Caspar Ling

AP US History
Mr. Rork
May 04, 2016
Explain how the 5 following impacted the decade of the 1970s:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

OPEC and the energy crisis of the 1970s


Three Mile Island incident
stagflation and deindustrialization
Watergate
Bakke v. University of California (1978)

People in the decade of 1970s witnessed a period of pivotal changes. The momentum of
social progressiveness was passed down from the 1960s and continued in this age
regarding issues such as racial and sexual. A new movement for affirmative actions,
initiated during the Kennedy administration, developed nationally to provide equal access
to social resources, such as education and job, for the former discriminated minority
group in the United States. The formation of OPEC, a cartel of oil-producing countries,
monopolized the petrol price and triggered a serious energy crisis that led to the first-seen
economic phenomenon of stagflation. Nuclear energy, a new form of clean energy
derived from military nukes, experienced a period of rapid growth in U.S. because of its
high efficiency. However, the emergency in Three Mile Island put a sudden cooldown on
this expansion. This is also an era of political instability. The eruption of Nixons political
scandal made the popular Republican the first and only resigned president, which
widened the credibility gap between the government and the people.
1970s was an era of economic distress triggered by the increased price of oil. The
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was a cartel established by
the oil-rich countries which were mainly located around the Persian Gulf. Due to the US

support to Israel in Middle Eastern conflicts, the Arabian states in OPEC retaliated with
an oil embargo to the U.S. causing the gasoline price skyrocketed 40% immediately. The
supply shortage made cars lined in gas stations for hours to get the tank filled. In order to
conserve the limited oil, the US imposed a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour on
vehicles. New car buyers more and more preferred compact, fuel-efficient vehicles that
were produced by European and Japanese manufacturers, and the sale of Detroit-made
cars plummeted. Approximately 16% of jobs in America were involved in carmanufacturing industry, and the decrease in the sale affected the workers lives as the
salary was reduced and many were laid off. The energy crisis also boosted to the
ongoing revival of environmentalism in the decade. People realized that natural resources
are not limitless and more of them actively participated in environmental events such as
the Earth Day, which was already established in 1970 prior to the OPEC-caused energy
crisis. Due to the vast spending in Vietnam War and Johnsons Great Society plan,
inflation rate soared in America as well as the increase in national debt. Western
European nations benefited from the Marshall Plan and recovered gradually from 1950s
to 1970s. Japan was also able to get out of the economic distress after World War II.
These countries competed with the US in world trade, which was further escalated by
American customers who purchased fuel-efficient car since the energy crisis. The US
share in world trade fell from 32% of 1950s to 18% in 1970s, led to a surge in
unemployment. Being pressured from two sides inflation triggered by the oil price and
unemployment due to world trade competition, the first-time seen stagflation rose in the
US. As a blow to the national pride, nine European nations outstripped the US in GDP
per capita besides the 18% drop in purchasing power for the income of ordinary people

since the inflation. Because of the stress in manufacture, US economy shifted from
industry to more service-oriented, such as financial and health care. The
deindustrialization reduced the job opportunity in the Rust Belt of the North, and many
northerner moved to the Sun Belt, the economy of which benefited from the investment
of national defense and provided more jobs. The demographic change led to an increase
in the political power of the South versus the North due to the surging population, starting
the trend as the South held more and the North controlled fewer seats in Congress.
Nuclear power, derived from the firstly military technology, was acclaimed by
American for its efficiency and no air pollution, and gained more popularity from the
energy crisis. However, the partial melt down in the Three Mile Island nuclear plant
warned the people of possible catastrophe might be caused by the nuclear energy. After
the incident, no new nuclear plant was authorized in the US except the construction of
several that were already approved before it.
The passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally protected the minoritys right for
job without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national pride. However some
liberals did not believe that this was sufficient to bring African Americans into the
economic mainstream. To address the legacy of exclusion, affirmative action started to
develop and spread in to hiring and enrollment nationwide, forging a positive
discrimination. Affirmative action also received fierce opposition from many white
Americans. In Bakke v. University of California, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative
actions, but banned quota system of enrollment that designated exclusively toward
disadvantaged minority. The case restricted the extent of affirmative action, and
initiated the trend in the US to curb the effect of it in the society, since the historical

disadvantage resulted from prior open discrimination gradually disappeared, which was
particularly reflected in Proposition 209 of California that prohibited affirmative action in
public institution.
The eruption of Watergate Scandal exposed to America the problems about the
power of the President. Nixons CREEP conducted illegal infringement warned the
people of the abuse of power by the White House. As a result, congress sought
impeachment and Nixon resigned before it, becoming the only president to resign in
American history. In response to the exposed problems, politicians in the legislative
branch passed a series of laws, including the War Powers Act, the Freedom of
Information Act, and the Ethnics in Government Act, to put a limit on presidential power.
Democrats, Nixons opponents, benefited from the scandal, as they solidified majority in
both chambers of Congress, who were nicknamed the Watergate babies. However, both
Democrats and Republicans were hurt in the long run. The credibility gap was widened
by the incident and future politicians faced more question from the people.

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