Essential Question: To what extent were the 1970s a decade of malaise?
The first six lessons provide the context for why many Americans felt a sense of malaise at the end of the 1960s and throughout most of the 1970s. The first lesson revisits 1968, this time through the election and how the rise of conservatism in response to the chaos and disorder of the 1960s led to Richard Nixon becoming president. The second lesson gives scholars an understanding of the consequences of Richard Nixon’s law and order platform, executed through the War on Drugs, which disproportionately affected poor and minority communities. Lessons 3 through 5 address Richard Nixon’s major presidential scandal through his participation and cover-up of the Watergate affair, which led to his resignation and caused many Americans to begin to lose hope in the U.S. government’s ability to be fair and honest. The sixth lesson introduces scholars to the American economy and the concept of stagflation; the primary reason for Americans’ malaise during the 1970s. By the end of these six lessons, scholars should have a solid understanding of why Americans felt a malaise during the 1970s.
Lesson 1: 1968 Election (Source Analysis)
- Central Question: How did the rise of conservatism influence the outcome of the 1968 election?
Lesson 2: The War on Drugs (Video Analysis)
- Central Question: Why did the United States wage a war on drugs in the 1970s?
Lessons 3–5: The Watergate Scandal (DBQ Writing)
- Central Question: Should Congress have impeached President Nixon?
Lesson 6: The American Economy in the 1970s (Source Analysis)
- Central Question: How did stagflation and the oil crisis of the 1970s affect Americans?
Lesson 7 introduces scholars to the foreign policy of all three presidents of the 1970s. Through this lesson, they will be introduced to policies that benefited the United States, such as a cooldown of the Cold War through détente and the end of the Vietnam War. Scholars will also see foreign policy decisions that caused a deeper malaise, such as the Iran Hostage Crisis at the end of the decade. By the end of this lesson, scholars will be able to articulate how foreign policy of the 1970s was mostly positive and helped ease some of the malaise felt by many Americans during the 1970s.
Lesson 7: Foreign Policy (Jigsaw)
- Central Question: To what extent was presidential foreign policy successful in the 1970s?
Lesson 8 introduces scholars to the many movements of the 1970s, most of which were continuations of previous movements that began in the 1960s. By the end of the lesson, scholars will understand that although many Americans were protesting for equal rights, the government was not necessarily amenable to granting equal rights through legislation, exacerbating many Americans’ sense of malaise during the 1970s.
Lesson 8: Social Movements of the 1970s (Jigsaw)
- Central Question: To what extent were social movements of the 1970s successful?
The last three lessons revisit all three Big Ideas of the unit through the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Through this DBQ, scholars will understand that Jimmy Carter did not get reelected because he did not restore hope and faith in a beleaguered American public; he could not solve the domestic economic issues and he exacerbated foreign fears through the renewed oil embargo and the Iran Hostage Crisis. By the end of these three lessons, scholars will understand that despite any foreign policy or domestic legislation wins, by the end of the 1970s the American public had lost faith in the U.S. government to solve its problems, leading to another rise of conservatism.
Lessons 9–11: Jimmy Carter and the Crisis of Confidence (DBQ Writing)
- Central Question: Why didn’t President Carter get reelected in 1980?