2.  Star football player at University of Michigan  Fought in the Navy in WWII  Won House seat and served for 25 years Minority leader  Seen as hard-working, full of integrity, and dependable

3.  VP Gerald Ford assumed office after Nixon resigned  1 st thing Ford did – pardon Nixon of wrong-doings Goal: “to end long, national nightmare”

4.  Politically – nation was angry and distrustful of the president  Economically – nation still dealing with stagflation

5.  Helsinki Accords Ford and Brezhnev sign document agreeing to basic human rights Criticized for not pushing political rights as well  S.A.L.T. II Limited production of new armaments

6.  Vietnam falls US declines to help Boat People (1,500,000 people)  Mayaguez Incident US marines free Cambodian held merchant ship crew  US gets some hope and optimism from the success

8.  Viking I and II probes land on Mars  Space excitement rekindled

9.  Pledges to make gov’t more transparent Economy weak  Ratings plummet from Nixon’s pardon

10.  Economy tanking as inflation soars and unemployment rises Ford’s plan not working Idea was to make inflation into public enemy number one to spark a public campaign to defeat it Came with bumper stickers and lapel pins

11.  Not seen as in control Challenged from inside his own party Ronald Reagan  US people don’t trust or believe the gov’t Jimmy Carter (D) takes the advantage

12.  Father was a farmer and businessman and mother a registered nurse  Came from a small farming community  Graduated from Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology  Went to the United States Naval Academy in 1946  1971 – became Georgia’s governor  When he came to the presidency he was a relative rookie (1x governor, 2x Georgia state house representative

13.  Wins close election AID: backlash against Watergate and mistrust  “Citizen’s President” Walks inaugural route Dresses in common clothing Carries his own things

14.  Pardons draft dodgers from Vietnam (bad idea) Angers the silent majority  Give Chrysler federal bailout to survive oil crisis Angers fiscal conservatives

15.  Price of oil per barrel goes from about $40 in 1976 to about $80 in 1980  Shortages in fuel and heating oil cause factory and business closings Americans freeze in homes during brutal winters of 1976 - 1978

16.  Carter raises taxes  Price controls  Inflation on the rise Raises interest rates US businesses hurt = more unemployment

17.  Announces US policy will be guided by human rights interests Direct challenge to communism Undercuts spirit of détente with the Soviets

18.  Carter’s response Withdrew from S.A.L.T. II Imposed sanctions on trade Boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics  Communism begins new era of expansion

19.  Nicaragua – Carter cuts US support to ruling Somoza family  Sandinista rebels overthrow the dictator install far leftist gov’t Socialism growing in Central America, Asia, Africa, and South America

20.  Castro and Carter negotiate deal to let Cuban political exiles leave Cuba for the US (Mariel Boatlift) Castro empties his prisons into the US Movie “Scarface”

21.  Panama broke away from Columbia in US aided revolt (1903) US given canal zone for its role  Carter negotiated to return canal to Panamanian control in 1999

22.  Egypt had been leading attacks against US supported Israel since 1948  Carter brokers deal, Israel gives Sinai Peninsula for Egyptian Peace

23.  US ally, Shah of Iran, was hated by the lower classes In US for cancer treatment  Religious exile, Ayatollah Khomeini, returned and led a fundamentalist coup

24.  Khomeini demands the US return Shah for trial (death sentence for guilt) US refuses  US embassy stored by Iranians Embassy workers held for 444 days

25.  Carter sends Special Forces to save captives (Operation Eagle Claw) Helicopters crash in sand storm  Ayatollah seen as victorious, US weak

26.  Effort to rally sour American mood  Claims we are all glum and down in the dumps but we could be great again Seen as desperate, negative, and defeatist Rallies Republicans

27.  1970’s “me generation” Concerned with personal happiness not societal success Perceived as fundamentally flawed  The ‘Moral Majority’ Televangelists decry excesses of the 60s and 70s Want to return to traditional values  Reagan and the Conservatives on the rise