GRC - The Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and James Carter Administrations, 1969-1981 (Lesson)

The Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and James Carter Administrations, 1969-1981

It is difficult to wrap up an entire decade in one paragraph—especially if one is talking about the 1970s. These were years of a global economic recession based on oil prices, war and peace in the Middle East, the reaping of rewards (and punishments) from decades of the Green Revolution, widespread changes in political regimes and an increase in both hope and terrorism. As usual, keep those themes from the first lesson of the module in your mind as you read through the timeline.

February 4, 1969—Palestine

• Yasser Arafat took over the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in February 1969 and stayed in that position until 2004. At first, his approach to Israel was one of open conflict; but in the late 1980s, he recognized Israel's right to exist and sought the creation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Therefore, his legacy varies by perspective—to Israelis, he was a terrorist; to Palestinians, he was a hero; to rival Arab organizations, he was a crook.

March 17, 1969—Israel

• In March 1969, Israel elected Golda Meir as its prime minister. Described as the "Iron Lady of Politics," Prime Minister Meir was the first woman elected to that position in Israel.   During her tenure, she saw Israel through another war, an Olympics terrorist attack, and many meetings with foreign leaders over the best way to bring peace to her nation. The image to the right is Golda Meir (center) meeting with President Nixon and his wife.

April 7, 1969—Science & Technology

• On this date, the Advanced Research Projects Agency granted a contract to BBN Technologies to build a computer network. Upon receival of the contract, BBN Technologies quickly developed a system of processors that allowed for the interconnection of local resources. In other words, they created the ARPANET—a precursor to the internet that we all know and use today.

July 20, 1969—Science & Technology

• On this date, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon. Commander Armstrong of the Apollo 11 was soon joined by his crewmate Buzz Aldrin. Armstrong is often remembered by his famous quote upon taking his first step, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." His walk effectively ended the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Image below: Aldrin poses on the Moon, allowing Armstrong to photograph both of them using the visor's reflection.
  
  

September 1, 1969—Libya

• In Libya in 1969, King Idris I was overthrown by a rebel faction within his military led by Colonel Muammar Qaddafi (sometimes spelled Gaddafi.) This was due to the resentment building after the king became rich once oil reserves were found in his nation during the 1950s. The actual coup only took a few days to complete and was greeted enthusiastically by Libya's younger generation—afterwards the rebel military abolished the monarchy and named Qaddafi as the Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic. Qaddafi eventually launched his own "Cultural Revolution" and transformed Libya's economy to one of Islamic Socialism —a blend of Islam's pillar of zakat ("almsgiving") and Socialism's increase of government intervention within the economy.

November 17, 1969—Cold War

• When President Johnson was in office, he learned that the Soviet Union was stockpiling Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and building an Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system around Moscow. Johnson's Defense Secretary lamented that the more each reacted to the other's missiles, the more they chose "an insane road to follow." Therefore, in 1967, President Johnson met with the Soviet Premier for an informal Strategic Arms Limitations Talk (SALT.) When Nixon replaced Johnson as president, he continued down this path and held the first formal SALT in Finland with the Soviet Union's General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in November 1969. In 1972, the two superpowers signed the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT I) limiting their number of nuclear missiles as well as defensive missiles and sites.

September 6, 1970—Palestine

• The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) formed in 1967 and joined the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) the following year—making it the second-largest faction within the PLO. However, it was a more radical faction that remained committed to a one-state (Palestine) solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and developed a reputation for aircraft hijackings like the ones they orchestrated in September 1970. Over a three-day period, the PFLP attempted to hijack four planes leaving European airports—they succeeded in taking three. The PFLP rerouted two of those planes to an airfield in Jordan, where they met a third plane hijacked from Bahrain. There, the PFLP held press conferences while keeping the flight crews and Jewish passengers hostage. Having landed at a Jordanian airstrip, the PFLP put Jordan's King Hussein in a spot that made him look weak and he immediately instituted martial law within Palestinian neighborhoods within his borders. For a time, it looked like the Arab world would go to war amongst itself—but then the hijackers and the Jordanian government negotiated a transfer of PFLP prisoners for the hostages.

September 28, 1970—Egypt

• On this date, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser died of a heart attack sending the Arab world into shock. His funeral procession included five million mourners as he was very popular among Egyptian citizens—however, he had many detractors too. They argued that Nasser had been a demagogue that stifled Egyptian progress while creating an authoritarian regime with a Command Economy. Nasser's successor former Vice President Anwar Sadat strengthened the dictatorship of the president's office. But that was the only similarity of President Sadat's rule to that of his predecessor. President Sadat ended Egypt's friendly relationship with the Soviet Union, choosing to cozy up to its rival, the United States, instead. In so doing, he moved Egypt's economy more towards a free market economy by allowing foreign investors into Egypt.

November 21, 1970—Syria

• Hafez al-Assad literally came to power in Syria by seizing it from the former leader. He, then, proceeded to win every presidential election through 1999. As leader of the Ba'ath Party in Syria, al-Assad instituted a socialist system and reached out to the Soviet Union in exchange for support against Israel. To maintain his political longevity, al-Assad groomed his reputation as a cult of personality. Although he led Syria for several decades, you might be more familiar with his son and successor, Bashar al-Assad (whom we will get to later.)

January 25, 1971—Uganda

• Gaining independence in 1962, the nation of Uganda reformed itself in 1967 with a new constitution that abolished kingdoms and created a strong central government with Milton Obote as president. However, in January 1971, a military coup led by Major General Idi Amin overthrew Obote's government. His was a rule of terror, indeed. Many experts believe that during his years in office, between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed due to ethnic cleansing or as an attempt to erase political opponents. Additionally, he expelled most of the Asians living within Uganda and caused many more Ugandans to flee for a life of exile. However, in comparison to other African dictators, his reign was relatively short and ended when he was expelled from office in 1979.

October 25, 1971—China

• As an Allied Power during World War II, China was one of the founding members of the United Nations and a permanent member on its Security Council. But at the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War—when Chairman Mao declared mainland China as the one, true China and Chiang Kai-shek declared his government on Taiwan as the one, true China—the United Nations found itself in a pickle as to whom to acknowledge as China. It took a couple of decades (and a thawing of relations between the West and Mao's People's Republic of China;) but in 1971, members of the United Nations voted to recognize the communist People's Republic of China as the one, true China in Resolution 2758. [Side Note: The government set up by Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan has, ever since, gone by other names (rather than its original Republic of China) when participating in international organizations. Which is why you will see a delegation representing "Chinese Taipei" at Olympic games.]

October 27, 1971—Democratic Republic of the Congo

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Joseph Mobutu made many changes in his attempt to erase all traces of colonialism in his nation. One such change was the name of his country—a change he made a couple of times while in power. The first time came in October 1971 when Mobutu changed the title of his nation to Zaire—supposedly, after the pre-colonial name of the Congo River—and meaning "river that swallows all other rivers." The next year, he changed his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko—meaning "the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, shall go from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake."

December 3, 1971—India and Pakistan

• Once again, the nations of India and Pakistan went to war in 1971 (another entry in the series of Indo-Pakistani Wars)—this time, however, the cause of the war had more to do with the independence of East Pakistan (whose population baulked at the Pakistani push to make Urdu its official language) than it did with the contested borders between India and Pakistan to the west. Lasting less than two weeks, the Pakistan army surrendered and allowed East Pakistan to become the new nation of Bangladesh.

January 30, 1972—Northern Ireland

• Not to be confused with the "Bloody Sunday" that occurred in Russia in 1905—in January 1972, Northern Ireland experienced its own "Bloody Sunday" when British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders. The protesters had gathered in Derry, Northern Ireland to oppose the recent mass arrests of hundreds of suspected members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who were being held without trial. On "Bloody Sunday," 14 people were killed—and while that might not seem like a massacre in this day and age—it was the highest number of civilians shot during a single incident during "The Troubles." Throw in the fact that the shooters were British soldiers, the victims were unarmed, and the entire event went down in front of the public and the press, and you will have a better understanding of why it became one of the more significant and memorable events of "The Troubles." In fact, in 1983, the Irish rock band U2 released a single "Sunday Bloody Sunday" memorializing the horrors witnessed by observers on that day. Besides resulting in a popular song, "Bloody Sunday's" aftermath included a rise in hostilities of Catholic and Irish Nationalists with an increase in the numbers who actually did join the IRA. [Side Note: One side effect of "The Troubles" was an outbreak of murals on walls throughout Northern Ireland depicting political messages, memorials (as seen here for those that died during "Bloody Sunday,") historic tributes, and Irish mythology. Both Nationalists and Unionists participated in this phenomenon that included thousands of murals throughout Northern Ireland.]

February 21, 1972—China

• On this date, U.S. President Richard Nixon arrived in China for an historic visit that ended a 25-year freeze on relations between the United States and the communist People's Republic of China (PRC.) Prior to this visit (and the United Nations' acceptance of the PRC as a member,) the United States identified the Republic of China—located in Taiwan—as the government of China. His visit lasted a week during a time when China's relationships with the Soviet Union and North Vietnam were frosty, at best, and the United States was fairly sure that it would not be able to save South Vietnam from communism—therefore, it was a very timely move on the part of Nixon and Mao to begin the slow "thaw" in relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. (Add to this combination the fact that the United States was a wealthy nation with a tradition of consumerism and China was a highly-populated nation looking to increase manufacturing and trade—and you can get a good idea as to why the previously hyper-anti-Communist Nixon visited China and why the previously hyper-anti-West Mao hosted him.)

September 5, 1972—Israel

• The 1972 Olympics were held in Munich, Germany. Five days before the closing ceremonies, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group—Black September—snuck into one of the Olympic athletes' dormitories and took 11 Israeli athletes hostage. They demanded the release of hundreds of prisoners from Israel. Following events happened fast and within less than 24 hours, the Munich Massacre was over with all eleven hostages dead, five of the terrorists dead, and the remaining three terrorists in custody. The bodies of the dead terrorists were sent to Libya (which was ruled by Qaddafi) where they were buried with full military honors and two of the surviving terrorists were exchanged for hostages during an October 1972 hijacking. Israel responded by bombing PLO bases in Lebanon and Syria and authorizing the Mossad (the Israeli national intelligence agency) to track down and kill the surviving terrorists. During the massacre, the Olympic games continued and, forty-four years later, the International Olympic Committee honored the memory of the fallen members of the 1972 Israeli Olympic delegation for the first time during the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

 

March 29, 1973—Vietnam

• In 1969, when Nixon became president of the United States, he declared that he would start withdrawing American troops from the Vietnam War and prepare the South Vietnam army to take over the fight in a move he called "Vietnamization." In 1970, he started the American withdrawal by relocating American troops from the front lines to interior areas. Over the next few years, American troops returned home from their deployments. In January 1973, the Americans and North Vietnamese agreed to military and political terms for U.S. withdrawal from the war—but neither the North or South Vietnamese were particularly warm to the agreement. However, two months later in March 1973, the last American combat troops left Vietnam via the "Hanoi Taxi" (the C-141 Starlifter pictured here) while thousands of U.S. civilian employees remained behind to provide assistance to South Vietnam's remaining struggles—and these included a quick end to the cease-fire that was included in the earlier peace talks—by early 1974, full-scale war resumed.

May 14, 1973—Science & Technology

• The United States' first space station launched in May 1973. During its six-year mission, three manned expeditions visited and stayed at the Skylab. One of the main purposes of the Skylab (along with scientific experiments) was to observe the sun using its special telescope.

August 14, 1973—Pakistan

• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the 9^th prime minister of Pakistan in August 1973 following his two-year stint as the nation's president. Under his administration, Pakistan became an Islamic Socialist state. (Six years later, Bhutto was executed for an order he gave to have a political opponent murdered.)

September 11, 1973—Chile

• Since 1932, the nation of Chile had been a bastion of democracy in South America. But that all came crashing down in September 1973 during one of the most destructive events of Chile's history. For almost three years, Salvador Allende served as Chile's popularly elected president—but he was a known Marxist—which led to the United States practicing a sort of economic warfare (a strategy used to weaken another nation's economy) to undermine Allende's administration. The resulting social unrest and political tension in Chile set up perfect conditions for a military coup—which occurred in September 1973 when General Augusto Pinochet overthrew President Allende (who committed suicide in the presidential palace.) While Pinochet served as President of Chile until 1990—his rule was clearly that of a dictatorship full of oppression and violence and often labeled fascist.

October 6, 1973—Israel

• Also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Yom Kippur War that started on October 6 was yet another war with Arab coalition fighting Israel. Most of the fighting remained in the areas taken by Israel during the Six-Day War. October 6^th of that year was the day of Yom Kippur—the "Day of Atonement" and the holiest day of a year within Judaism. In a surprise move, Egyptian troops crossed cease-fire lines to recapture the Sinai Peninsula while Syrian troops crossed cease-fire lines to recapture the Golan Heights. Within weeks, this war became more than a regional skirmish as the United States supported Israel and the Soviet Union supported the Arab coalition—the threat associated with an escalation in the Cold War caused the United Nations, the Arab nations and Israel to broker a second cease-fire during the three-week war. This war marked the 4^th Arab-Israeli War in Israel's 25-year history (but the first for the leader of Egypt—Anwar Sadat—and Israel—Golda Meir.) Both nations gained valuable lessons from the experience—the Araba coalition felt vindicated for its humiliating loss during the Six-Day War of 1967 (even though it lost more territory during the fighting of the Yom Kippur War) and Israel realized it could not forever rely on its military to preserve its lands.

October 1973—International

• One response to the Yom Kippur War was an oil embargo by OPEC nations against Israeli allies—including the United States. The end of the embargo came half a year later—but the damage was already done—the price of a barrel of oil jumped from $3 to almost $12 around the world. Such a sudden shift on the price of a global necessity sent international markets into shock and started a global recession that strained international relationships (especially among those nations that imported a higher percentage of oil—like in Europe and Japan—with those nations that imported a lower percentage of oil—as in the United States.)

April 25, 1974—Portugal/Decolonization

• Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. While technically a prime minister, Salazar was practically a dictator. He died in 1970, but the dictatorship continued on, along with Salazar's policies. One of those policies included a harsh stance against the nationalist movements within colonies during the 1960s—under Salazar, Portugal engaged in the Portuguese Colonial War starting in 1961 in the Portuguese colonies of Angola, Portuguese Guinea, and Mozambique. Salazar's death and the increasing divisions within Portugal over the cost of the Portuguese Colonial War ultimately led to a military coup within Portugal on April 25, 1974. Known as the Carnation Revolution and led by left-wing forces within the Portuguese military, the coup was bloodless but did lead to the downfall of the remnants of Salazar's government (as well as an end to his colonial policies.) After the coup, all of Portugal's colonies (except Macau) received their independence and roughly 750,000 Portuguese expatriates (a person who lives outside of his/her country) returned to Portugal. The new military government continued to rule Portugal until a civilian government (under a new constitution) came to power in 1982.

July 20, 1974—Cyprus

• Cyprus is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea that has been the site of contention between Greece and Turkey for decades. Following World War I, Great Britain annexed the island as territory was stripped from the defeated Ottoman Empire. At that time, the island was home to both Greeks and Turks who identified themselves by their "mother" countries. As per British colonial policy, Great Britain practiced its "divide and rule" strategy to keep its colony in line and depended on building the mutual animosity between the two ethnic groups that made up the Cypriot population. In 1960, Great Britain released its hold over Cyprus and the island became an independent nation—with two very mutually-suspicious ethnicities comprising its population. Throughout the next decade, Cyprus experienced a great deal of intercommunal violence as the Greeks and Turks faced off against one another and with the Cypriot government barely hanging on. In 1974, the Greeks staged a coup and deposed the president of Cyprus. In response, the Turkish military invaded Cyprus in July in order to protect the island's Turkish community. They partitioned the island, creating Greek Cyprus (in the south) and Turkish Cyprus (in the north) and causing hundreds of thousands to flee across the partition border. Despite several attempts to reunite the island over the next several decades, as of 2017, the island nation was still partitioned with the capital city sitting smack on the border line.

 August 8, 1974—United States

• Amid allegations of criminal activity based on the Watergate Scandal, United States President Richard M. Nixon resigned.

 

 

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