2.4 - Reactions to CC - role of media Flashcards
(10 cards)
In what way was Nixon ideologically opposed to Johnson’s Great Society programme?
Nixon’s rhetorical campaign attacks on the expense of the great Society assisted his electoral appeal and his victories in 1968 and 1972 but Democrat control of Congress and his own moderate pragmatic republicanism ensured that he left it basically intact
How far did Nixon reduce government spending on welfare, unemployment and poverty?
During the 1968 presidential election campaign Nixon said he wanted to save taxpayers money by eliminating the most wasteful inefficient Great Society programmes and by reforming what he called the ‘welfare mess’. He told his advisers that the American people were outraged by the welfare system and in his view they should be. Polls in 1968 revealed that 84% of Americans believe there are too many people receiving welfare money who should be working. After the Great Society raised awareness of entitlement the number of Americans receiving aid for dependent children (AFDC) rose from 3 million in 1960 to 8.4 million by 1970. 1/9 children and 1/3 black children were on welfare. President Nixon attacked Great Society programmes and principles from several angles:
* He successfully shrank the OEO, closed 59 Job Corps centres, and cut Federal Housing programmes
* He tried to reform the welfare system. polls showed that 80% of Americans believed over half of those on welfare could get a job if they wanted and Nixon hoped he would make welfare recipients work through his family assistance plan FAP. Conservatives liked 3 aspects of the FAP: 1. welfare recipients would only have received $1600 per annum, 2. there were work requirements 3. the number of bureaucrats who administered the system was decreased. Liberals disliked those provisions but we’re pleased that the plan would have made 13 million more Americans eligible for federal aid that which in turn alienated conservatives there were so many criticisms of Nixon’s FAP that Congress rejected it
* Nixon vetoed the 1971 child development act which would have provided free childcare to enable poor mothers to work he said it was too expensive and smacked of communism
However having been brought up in poverty Nixon was basically sympathetic to the poor. Despite all his anti great Society campaign rhetoric he increased federal expenditure on education private healthcare Social Security Medicare and Medicaid and actually spent more on social programmes than Johnson.
HE DIDN’T REDUCE SPENDING
What were Nixon’s views on bussing, tackling ‘de facto’ segregation in schools and affirmative action, and how far did his administration support affirmative action?
The Great Society was to have been characterised by racial equality in pursuit of this Supreme Court rulings in 1971 and 73 supported the busing of students from 1 neighbourhood to a school in another neighbourhood in order to end the facto segregation of schools. However Americans opposed busing by 8 to one and Nixon attacked it as wrenching children from their families. When the Justice Department began to respond to the Supreme Court ruling Nixon told them to knock off this crab do only what the law requires and not one thing more. He was initially unsuccessful in his attempts to slow down school desegregation but his appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices led to ruling that eventually ended busing.
Nixon claimed to dislike affirmative action which he described as reverse discrimination but in practise his administration gave minorities considerable help. For example he put pressure on federal contractors to employ more minority workers. A so often with Nixon there was a gap between what he said and what he did. In many ways his record on race was quite impressive. His promotion of affirmative action helped ensure its entrenchment in federal government agencies and contractors for many years to come.
How far did film and television promote conservative values in the 1960s?
Sometimes TV and film promoted conservative values. For example, John Wayne made the movie The great berets (68) in support of the war. It did well at the box office suggesting silent majority support for US efforts in Vietnam. However the black comedy movie MASH (70) although ostensibly about the Korean War was clearly critical of militarism and the Vietnam War and it too was very popular. In another tale of opposites the family friendly movie The Sound of Music (65) was incredibly popular, while Easy Rider (69) which celebrated drug taking sexual liberalisation and the counterculture was not. Much depended on the quality of the film As for instance Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (69) traced sexual liberalisation in Los Angeles and was a big critical and commercial hit. Hollywood offered more challenges to traditional values than television in this. And such challenges no doubt contributed to change.
Explain how media coverage of CR influenced public attitudes?
- Media showed: coverage of the civil rights movements and especially of white mistreatment of black people in Birmingham. Similarly repeated showings of the violence of Bloody Sunday helped ensure the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
- Influence: However media coverage did not always a positive change in attitudes and images of ghetto riots helped many against further aid for black Americans after 1965.
Helped change northern white attitudes to southern segregation and contribution to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Explain how media coverage of Tet Offensive influenced public attitudes?
- Media showed: Before the Tet offensive in 1968 the government was publicly optimistic about the war and the media was genuinely supportive. However when media started covering tat they showed communists overrunning the South Vietnamese capital and America’s most trusted television reported Walter Cronkite felt that he had been misfiled. He said what the hell is going on I thought we were winning this war.
- Influence: The war and especially Tet increased the credibility gap between what the government claimed and what was actually happening and it made the media more critical and confrontational towards the government. Significant number of reporters keen to challenge official sources and this helped generate a more cynical and public attitude towards politics and politicians.
Explain how media coverage of My Lai Massacre influenced public attitudes?
- Media showed: Soon after TET there was 347 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians were beaten and killed by American soldiers at the South Vietnam. The army wanted to cover up such atrocities in order to protect the reputation and moral of its forces however investigative journalists seymour hershe exposure of the my lai massacre was picked up by the major newspapers in late 1969.
- Influence: Polls suggested that the extensive coverage of the massacre did not change people’s attitude to the war. While it shocked those who were already anti war others felt this was simply how war was and after all the north Vietnamese also killed civilians. However it has been argued that the coverage could help change some people’s attitudes through the war and that it made them think that if the war was turning American wars into killers of civilians then it was time to get out.
- Background: Mass murder of unarmed south vietnamese civilians by Us troops in south vietname on 16 march 1968
Between 347-504 unarmed people were killed by US army soldiers
Independent investigative journalist seymour hersh broke the my lai story on 12 November 1969 on the associated press wire service on november 20, time, life, CBS and newsweek all covered the story. The plain dealer (Cleveland ohio) published explicit photographs of dead villagers killed at my lai
Explain how media coverage of Pentagon papers influenced public attitudes?
- Media showed: in 1971 the New York Times for the challenge the reputation of the government by publishing the Pentagon Papers leaking Defense Department documents and they revealed that American leaders were misleading the Congress and the public war over the escalation of the US involvement in the war.
- Influence: This obviously would have created less trust in the government for people.
- Background: Papers were a study of US involvement in Vietnam from 1945
Released by Daniel Ellsberg who had worked on the study they were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of NYT in 1971
Pentagon papers revealed that US secretly enlarged scope of its actions in Vietnam war with the bombings of nearby Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on north Vietnam and marine corps attacks - none of which were reported in the mainstream media
