they are also on their own. >> ok, thank you. >> sorry, i used to work for the courts. >> [laughter] michele: on that note, thank you all for coming and thank you matt, dan, and john, for sharing your historical knowledge. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you're watching american history tv. all we can, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. history,ectures in university of massachusetts boston professor vincent cananto teaches a class about the economics and culture of the 1970's. he talks about the 1973 oil crisis, demographic changes in regions, and rise of new types of music, such as disco.

this class is about one hour 15 minutes. prof. cannato: bellbottoms, disco, bad hair. in recent years, and historians have seen the 1970's as very important. in some ways, more important than the 60's, which has gotten a lot of attention. is callingthemes this era the age of limit. we will get to a little bit of how that means. we will also talk about the question mark. was it really an age of women? we will discuss the decade and

the influence it had not just on the 80's, but really down to our time today. recapping what we talked about earlier, we see in the 1970's a faith profound losss of in the institutions, driven by watergate in 74, the final end of the vietnam war in 1975, you see the iconic photo of the helicopter atop the u.s. embassy taking up the last of the vietnamese, soon-to-be refugees, out of the country. the loss of the war was devastating in many ways for the u.s. it really showed on of the world's superpower had a big achilles' heel. it had a profound effect on the military, us at home. the country. the third thing was the church committee hearings. there were two committee hearings in congress that looked

into the central intelligence agency. for the first time, americans got to see what this covert intelligence agency was doing behind closed doors, especially in terms of assassination attempts against figures. this was shocking to many americans. adding to the loss of faith americans had in their government and institutions in general. th 1970's -- the 1970's are a time of economic troubles. we talk about the great postwar economic boom. how the economy after world war ii expanded, group, the middle class grew. not everyone gets taken up in this expansion. large numbers of people do. that really comes to an end around 1969/1970. there's a short recession. then there's the big recession

around the oil crisis in 1973 -1975. then another one from 1979/1982. the word that defines the economic troubles of this time mixedgflation, inflation with a stagnant, slowly growing, if not, not growing at all economy. you see inflation by 1974 hit 11%. ps down in 1978. by 1979, it goes back up again. inflation in the u.s. economy begins in the late 1960's. the economic pressures of the vietnam war, coupled with the great society, put pressures on the u.s. economy. once a country experiences inflation, it can be devastating. not just economically, but another example of losing faith in the institutions buried in this case, losing value of the dollar.

very high inflation erodes the value of the dollar and sake in the dollar. the mid 70's recession coincides with the great oil crisis, when , the organizing nations, mostly the middle east, also including venezuela, nigeria, put an oil embargo on the u.s. in u.s. support of israel 1973 yom kippur war. a retaliation for the u.s. siding with israel. time the u.s. really comes in on the side of israel, in terms of the middle east conflicts there. the oil crisis is going to limit the amount of oil we have. it boosts the overall price of oil, gas lines are seen all across the country.

there will be another oil crisis and the end of the 1970's, as well. i still remember my father having to get up early in the morning to go to the gas station to get the car filled up. see a decline in domestic oil production in the u.s. how dependent are we on foreign oil that a foreign country can close this picket on oil and severely damage our economy? of the energyart conservation movement. maybe we cut back on our use of energy. when youhe time period get the 55 mile an hour speed limit. it leads to concern. it's all about conserving energy. of theer economic issue 70's is economic deregulation. the economy needed to be opened up. government regulation needed to be lifted. we tend to think of that with

reagan in the 1980's. it actually begins in the 1970's under carter, but also congress. it was clear that during this economically troubled time that slipow congress needed to some regulations to boost the economy. the airlines are one of the biggest places where we see the effects of deregulation. it was one of the most highly regulated industries in the country. banking, trucking, many other smaller industries, as well. economic deregulation beginning in the 70's and going into the 80's. i find the essay on the decade. the electricook, " kool-aid acid test." it's the continuation of the the theme, what he calls third great awakening.

great awakenings, we talk about religious fervor. he is talking a lot about the idea of the pranksters engaging in a form of religious experience. not in a traditional judeo-christian sense, but a very experimental different sense. he continues talking about that by talking about the 1970's as rampantde of need, almost narcissistic individualism. let's talk about me. this is a quote from the me decade. " once the dreary little pastors started getting money in the 1940's, they did an astonishing thing, they took their money and ran. they did something only aristocrats, intellectuals, and artists were supposed to do, they discovered and started working on me. it created that greatest age of individualism in american history. all rules are broken. -- all rules are broken."

this focus is central and begins in the 1960's, then continues into the 70's. he begins the essay by discussing a kind of daytime theme, with an individual talking to the public about their hemorrhoids. something very personal and private. it all of a sudden gets expressed and discussed in the open. why? because i want to talk about me, my problems, my needs. referred to the 70's as the me decade. there's this book called "the culture of narcissism." it's a more academic look at the similar theme. oftorians have also kind qualified that, as well. there was also a lot of lyrical activism and community-based

activism during this time. we definitely see changes in society. jeans, casualness, polyester suits, pointy callers. a kind of opening up of society. it had been very buttoned down prior to the 1960's. drug use increases. marijuana increasingly. not just seen in san francisco or new york, but throughout america. it becomes a right of passage for teenagers. there were people supporting the legalization of marijuana, it doubled during this time. by the middle of the decade, becomes a guns -- popular drug, especially among more affluent americans. there are also legal drugs like valium. the idea of self-fulfillment and introspection goes mainstream. calleds book was

" looking out for number one, how to be your best friend." in 1970, phil donahue introduces a new type of national tv talkshow where one gets on and confesses private sins, shares one's feelings with viewers. it had many imitators. oprah, jerry springer, mari povich. flip on your daytime television to this day. that opening up of people talking about all types of five it things, but now in a private audience, is the child of the 1970's. transcendental medication. yoga becomes popular. more americans are looking to the east, the eastern religions and the rise of new age. the counterculture was putting itself in opposition to mainstream american culture. sense, they are looking not at traditional judeo-christian religious values, but looking to the east.

this self-fulfillment that becomes an emphasis in the 70's leads to an emphasis on fitness, health. yuppie, the to classic caricature of 1980's, young urban professionals. of two ofve a picture the most famous tv stars in the 1970's, farrah fawcett and lee majors. lee majors was the $6 million man. young boysett, many had posters of her in their rooms from the 1970's. "charlie's angels." antiwaris what the tester was of the 60's. now, americans are increasingly taking up fitness and health and taking to the roads and jogging. people on the road running would now become a much more common sight.

coming out of the counterculture, we see the rise of natural food movements, which now have become totally mainstream going to supermarkets and seeing rows of organic food. this comes out of this period. it comes out of this counterculture looking for ways to improve one's health. you see the popularity of racquetball, which has kind of declined. i remember playing when i was younger. i don't know if it is popular anymore. it becomes a big sport in the 70's and early 80's. bodybuilding and weightlifting, symbolized by the documentary ," with arnold schwarzenegger as the star. it really made him into a star. there is understanding in the 1970's of the harm of smoking. it's when the surgeon general announces smoking is dangerous. anned onads are b

television. this move towards self-fulfillment, self-improvement, looking inward is a move to improve one's health and fitness overall. the sexual revolution begins in the 70's. that's when we really see it flourishing and moving out into mainstream american society. so much of what the 70's is is taking the trends from the 60's and moving back into mainstream america. the joy of sex becomes a national best seller. polls show loosening attitudes toward premarital sex did even extramarital sex. pornography. this is the era when pornography -- there has been pornography for as long as man has existed, but pornography in terms of movies, when times square in new

york, many of the movie theaters turned over to show porn movies. "deep throat" is the classic american poor movie of the 1970's. we have clubs in new york, sex clubs. wife swapping becomes more common. there's a very famous incident in baseball history in the early 1970's. two pictures from the new york yankees in spring training decided they were going to swap wives. one would take the wife of another and the families would switch. one of the couples ended up staying together, the other one didn't. theas a huge scandal in 1970's. shocking heard still, no punishment for the players. i think one of them was traded within the year. there are also changes in divorce law. divorced before the 1960's, but you see changes in

law, especially with the beginnings of no-fault divorce, which made it easier for couples to get divorced. they would not have to claim some sort of fault, like someone cheated on them or so forth, they could just simply be incompatible. you see the rise in divorces in america in the 1970's. american family life would become more fractured from the 70's onward. daylight also comes into bloom in the 1970's. most historians date the rise of the gay rights movement to the riots at stonewall inn new york city in 1969. gaynext year is the first liberation day parade in new york city. there's also a pride parade in los angeles.

in 1973, the american psychiatric association takes homosexuality off of its list of mental disorders. prior to that, it was seen as a psychological problem. states begin to get rid of sodomy laws. harvey milk in san francisco is elected in 1977 to the board of supervisors. san francisco becomes a of of the gay community in the castro district. in rainbow flag is created 1978. is the rise ofis the culture of disco. clubs,in terms of parties around dance music, begins in the gay community in the late 60's and early 1970's. it begins to flourish by the mid-1970's. studio 54 in new york is probably the most quintessential famous discos.

they are all over. it's a style of music that becomes popular in the early mid 1970's. probably made most famous and most mainstream by saturday night fever. walls,usic, mirrored people in outrageous outfits. a lot of people using drugs. it's a classic example of personal liberation. freedom from restraint. letting go on the dance floor. the music itself was a blend of african-american culture coming black dance music. donna summers, the most famous, or infamous, of the acts was the village people. i think they are even still around to this day. there's also the backlash against disco. when we meet next class, i show you a clip from one of the most

infamous backlashes against disco, that happened in chicago at a chicago white sox game. disco sucks becomes a model for a number of americans. there are underlying cultural tensions in terms of are you a disco or a rock fan? that will tell is often about your background and ideas. the 1970's is also when we see feminism and the women's movement making strides and coming out. you can argue the 70's is the high point of the women's movement. in the 1960's, the book "the feminine mystique" is marked down as one of the most important turning point. this is a book about women at home, very much a book of the late 50's and early 60's, about wives and mothers at home who feel something missing in their life.

she turned it the problem that has -- she termed it the problem that has no name. women read the book in groups and realized those problems in their lives. you begin to get more political action by the late 1960's. the national organization for women is created. you have 2 kinds of women's rights movements. one is a much more middle-class movement, a political movement, like now. it is focused on the political system, things like workplace equality and antidiscrimination. issues like maternity leave and childcare. there's also another more radical group, women's liberation, which takes a much more radical view of politics and of the relationship between the sexes. movingmore women into the workforce.

at the end of the 70's, more than half were working. another famous book of the time, which is still in print, "our bodies ourselves" comes out of boston. it was a focus on women's health and sexuality. it started off as a little pamphlet, a booklet, it's incredibly popular that by 1973, they are publishing it as a book. i don't know what a dish and it is in today. 1970's, these the movements of liberation, rights, filtering down and filtering out. in terms of women's rights, the big political issue was the equal rights amendment. simple, anly amendment to the constitution calling for equality of rights that are equality of rights should not be denied or abridged

on account of sex. it passes congress overwhelmingly. a number of states ratify it. it looks like it will go and easily become an amendment, until political opposition gets formed. the woman who is credited for that is the woman at the top, phyllis shaklee, who leads the movement. this movement is tied to the leaningconservative political and social movement in the country that will culminate in a reagan's election in 1980. toy framed the opposition e.r.a. around much more traditional gender roles, and argue that this amendment would threaten those roles. and hersition organizing will prevent the necessary two thirds of states from ratifying the amendment.

there is a time limit in which the states had to approve, ratified the amendment. they don't meet the deadline. congress extends the deadline to 1982 and it never gets past. on the bottom is the pro-e.r.a. forces, one of the leaders was a congressman from new york city famous for her hats and political activism. this shows us not only the strengths of the women's movement, but also the limits and the opposition going on, which will foreshadow future political trends in the coming years. one of the famous incidents ,egarding the women's movement did anyone see the movie "battle of the sexes" with emma stone and steve carell? bobby riggs was a 55-year-old

former tennis star, he had been a tennis star in the 40's. he thinks there are too many differences between men and women, and no way a woman can beat a man on the tennis court. he also liked. to gamble. he challenges a number of women tennis players to a match. he challenged 29-year-old billie jean king to a televised match, $100,000 to the winner. there are about 90 million people worldwide watching this match. king easily defeats riggs in three straight sets. one would argue riggs was over the hill, not in great shape. there were arguments that he liked to gamble, but he threw the match. i'm not sure that is proven. this is seen as a victory for women over men, especially

rakes, who was obnoxious, vocal in his chauvinism. riggs came to kind of identify with that. do we have questions? feel free to raise your hand at all. we are trying to cover a lot of ground. feel free to raise your hand if you have questions. >> i have a question about the 1982 e.r.a. i had that section in america in the 70's. when it was extended to 1982, did it die, or was it ever passed? >> this is to get the requisite states to ratify it. by amendment passed congress, then it had to go to the individual states to ratify it. two thirds had to ratify it to be a part of the constitution. there was a time limit in which the states needed to adopt it. limit., it was the final

>> it never was amended? prof. cannato: never added to the constitution. people just keep proposing it. prof. cannato: since then, some states have voted on it. --on't think a qualified they would have to go through the process all over again, i'm fairly sure. another interesting part of the 1970's is an increasing emphasis on ethnic identity, racial identity, family roots. today, we call that multiculturalism. increasing evidence on differences. for the decades prior to the 1970's, assimilation was seen as an important social value, especially if you are looking at the children and grandchildren

of european immigrants. the notion of putting aside one's path, becoming american was important. in the 1970's, you see this resurgence of ethnic identity among these groups. to tv or movies prior to the 1970's, not a lot not a lotdifferences, of ethnic differences, either. now in the 70's, you see more of this. "the godfather" is seen as one of those classics. italian american literature. the screen and becomes not only one of the greatest movies of all time, comes into american culture, where you have americans identifying with a mobster. he becomes the hero of a story in many ways. identified --rly

heavily ethnic. other movies, as well. "roots"also the era of above the author finding his african assets are -- ancestors who came as slaves. the book becomes one of the most popular miniseries of all time. boosts thef prominence of genealogy, tracing your family's roots. has anyone ever seen those ancestry.com ads? has anyone ever done one of those? they have become very popular. genealogy is booming. both for whites, blacks, and other ethnic groups. prior to this time, genealogy was for the defendants of the

pilgrims, those who came over on the mayflower. as a way -- it was popular in the 19th and early 20th century, you wanted to prove you had ancestors that came over in 1630 or 1640. old stock protestant nativeborn groups were the groups doing genealogy and set up organizations like the new england historical genealogy society. 1970's, it has become mainstream and popular. all kind of groups now want to know what was grandpa's life over in the old country. where are my african ancestors? what part of africa are they from? what experiences do they have. it's a great interest in family backgrounds as a way of promoting pride in one's own heritage and differences between various racial and ethnic groups.

>> was the emphasis prior to the 1970's? prof. cannato: the issue of is there a link to the breakdown of religious identity and increased in racial identity? i'm not quite sure. certainly there is a time in the 70's where you start to see declining -- we talk about evangelical christianity going up. many mainline protestant religions and catholic church tends to go down at this time. it could be a substitute for that. people down the road in of theter, the identity residents up until the 60's or 70's was routed around what church they were from, mostly irish catholic. as church attendance declined, i think the irish part of the takes prominence and goes down a little bit. that might be a good -- that might be.

a good question. another important trend is the rise of the sun belt. if you look at the map of -- if youhe sun belt see florida, georgia, texas, arizona, california, maybe including las vegas in that area of the south and the southwest. you can see from this map, population trends. whate moving away from becomes -- if this is the sun belt, what do we call the green part? the rust belt. that implies whether rust belt is better than the snow belt, the deindustrialization, factors closing down and getting rested. jobs are starting to open up in the south and west. because of air conditioning and its prominence, it now becomes a

much more pleasant prospect to live in south florida, arizona, or las vegas, or parts of texas. down to this day, we see population growth in america really highlighted in those areas. the carolinas, georgia, florida. alabama and mississippi, it's interesting to see the states left out, alabama, mississippi, and new mexico. they generally are not hugely prosperous or growing. but all around it. what is driving the growth in the sun belt? does anyone know? >> is some of it based off of the movement of industry out of the rust belt and into the south? prof. cannato: some of it. some of it is moving to the south, for instance, the carolinas get a lot of the textile manufacturing. that is part of it. what else?

>> prices in new york, boston, and chicago were expensive. and you get cheaper goods in texas or florida than you could in a bigger city? prof. cannato: prices would be cheaper, taxes are cheaper. one reason people moved to florida is because there's no state income tax. the weather is better. thesese is moving down to -- especially florida? retirees, older people are flocking down to florida. it is look at florida, often said that the east coast of florida is populated by those coming from new england and new york, and the westside is much more weight western -- midwestern. you have retirees down there. what else you have a lot of in the south and west? a lot of military bases. we took a look at military bases

in america. most are in the south and the west. most in the north, especially around us, closing down. even though this is not a great time, think about oil production. the oil industry in places like texas. southern california, aerospace. jobs, even factory jobs, are in these places. they are attracting people leaving places like new york and illinois. it's a trend that has continued to this day. politically, the top three states are california, texas, and florida. york, like new pennsylvania, ohio, illinois, massachusetts, every 10 years they lose congressional seats because population is moving down to the south. i think our state's population has stayed roughly the same, maybe has grown a little bit, but population is so much bigger in the sun belt.

there are so many more people moving down there and will continue to. if you look at the biggest cities in america today, three of them are in texas. los angeles, phoenix. this is a trend that i think will continue as people move out of the northeast and midwest. the deindustrialization of the midwest continues. high taxes in the northeast continue to push people out of the northeast. another interesting and somewhat odd trend in america at this time is the renewed southern culture, especially white southern culture. if you think about the 50's and american think about politics, american news, society. when you look at the 60's in the south, it was mostly looking at

the civil rights movement. especially kind of the white opposition to civil rights that we saw in the 50's and early 60's. especially with television beginning to focus more on the civil rights movement. in birmingham, you started to see the ugly side of america in television and how whites were treating african-americans. highlighting the jim crow laws in the south. ends in the crow 1960's, we get this renewed interest in the south. kind of southern influences begin to seep into american society. something we see to this day. southern rock becomes popular, the band lynyrd skynyrd. the song "sweet home alabama," which is the answer to the song "southern man," a very critical song about white southerners and

their opposition to civil rights. lynyrd skynyrd is the answer to that. a southern man doesn't need neil young around anymore. alabama praising george wallace. other bands like allman brothers, marshall tucker band. you also had country rock. the eagles are not really a southern band, but there's a lot of rock music that becomes kind fied a little bit. country music was known in the 50's as hillbilly music. now, it is mainstream. part of it is the outlaw culture. i think that's one reason -- if you're going to explain why this interest in the south and popularity in this southern culture, i think it has something to do with the individualism, the idea of the outlaw culture. smokey and the bandit, dukes of hazard, these are kind of rebels. rebels in the south have a very

specific meaning, in terms of the confederacy and the civil war. in the 70's, rebel has a different terminology. rebelling against the system. there is an appeal to that. outlaw country music. willie nelson, waylon jennings, merle haggard. then more mainstream figures, dolly parton, emmylou harris. today, country music is all over. thes popular not just in south, it's popular in the north, it's popular everywhere. it's not my couple, but i'm amazed at the number of people who live in the north that are country music fans. you start to see that in the 70's. racecar driving, nascar, deep back to the south going prohibition. today it is hugely popular, not my cup of tea. you see nascar fans not just in the south. you see them all over. in new hampshire, pennsylvania. this is kind of an influence of

the south. and movies. probably one of the big american movie stars of the 1970's is burt reynolds. college football player from florida. --okey and the bandit" anyone remember cd's? i have a board game from the 70's, a cb board game. it was a form of radio communication between truckers. "smokey and the bandit" helped popularize that. here you have burt reynolds acting as a rebel, fighting against jackie gleason, the cop. then " dukes of hazard" which premieres in 1979. you see the confederate flag in the background, the car is called the generally. one of the popular shows of the late 70's/early 1980's. good boys now being mainstreamed

in american society. no longer meaning racial oppression or jim crow, but representing a much broader rebellion against authority figures. this seepings how into american culture of the south. it had a very important place, especially in literature, people like faulkner, flannery o'connor had great influence in american letters. here, we are talking about pop culture. americans are really kind of absorbing this very specific southern culture. as we look to civil rights, we saw upswings, in terms of women's rights and gay rights, but civil rights is a different story in the 1970's. i will also put this powerpoint up, so have no fear. the civil rights act of

1964, after the voting rights act of 1965, the question is what comes next? as the supreme court begins to take up hearings on certain issues, many having to do with schools, one that does not have to do with schools has to do with employment. what kind of test can an employer give to potential employees? intelligence testing. what kind of requirements can they make? can they require a high school degree? the plaintiffs argued that duke power company was using the high school degree argument, and it was adversely impacting african-american applicants. african-americans had lower rates of high school graduation. the court argued that any kind of test or requirement for a job has to be essential, irreplaceable, and directly

related to a job. if there was desperate impact, if some requirement impacted the races differently, that could be seen as discriminatory. now you see we are getting into much more complicated territory. we are beyond the issue of segregation on city buses, or segregated pools or libraries. we are getting into complicated issues about how employers hire. this is a case where there was no evidence of outright discrimination, but the use of the tests could be seen as discriminatory if they impacted applicant differently. the supreme court will also take up the issues. in quantity charlotte -- in kwon v charlotte, they bumped that segregation is constitutional. you can bus students across the district in order to fully

desegregate the school system. that would be important in a couple of minutes when we talk about austin. the keys case, he's be denver, looks at -- keys the denver. looking at charlotte in the south. denver is in the west. they are arguing the schools in denver where de facto segregated, segregated based on racial pattern. the supreme court said a city couldn't say we didn't have specifically black and white schools, so therefore we can't be under a desegregation order. the supreme court said yes. segregation could come under a court order, which is what we will see in boston. in 1974, the court put the limit on this.

case of detroit, a northern city that in the 60's and 70's experienced a white flight out of the city, becomes majority african-american, and the whites in detroit schools tend to be in mostly white schools. the solution was let's bus children across the city lines, let's bus african-american children in detroit across the line to the suburbs, and white children from the suburbs into the city. this metropolitan desegregation order would link the suburban schools with the urban schools as a way to balance the schools racially. it's here the supreme court says no, you can't do that. these are separate school districts.

a court cannot order -- remember, schooling -- public level,ng is at the local locally controlled, run by local boards of education. the court here says they are not going to destroy that, they will not create a metropolitan school district. that is going to put a limit on what courts can demand, in terms of busing. that will have an impact on boston. the other case dealing with african-americans and civil decision ine baking 1978. alan baking was a white applicant to california school. he claimed minority applicants with lower scores were admitted. it goes to the supreme court. this deals with affirmative action. the supreme court in one of its most convoluted decisions, and i want even get into the details

-- i won't even get into the details,, 4 people voting each way, and justice powell was the lone decision able to garner five votes. bakey was allowed to enter medical school, but the use itaid schools could as a plus factor in looking at applicants. notrationale for that was compensatory for a past discrimination, it was to benefit the diversity of the student body. this is something the court continued to use as a criteria for using race in terms of school applications. this is a way schools for educational purposes need to have diverse student bodies. in that case, you can use race as one factor.

thehe middle, just across charles river, in court being challenged by asian-american students that they are using race, but not as a plus factor, in terms of asian-american. they just opened up the harvard admissions process. this is tricky. if we are moving from earlier civil rights movements, think about the civil rights act, inch barred the use of race terms of job discrimination, hiring, schools. we are now getting into race conscious remedies, like busing, like affirmative action. where the legal issue becomes much trickier in terms of what kind of -- how much can government use race as a factor. can racial quotas in jobs? for a company to have x percentage of african-americans

or minorities? do we do that? the other problem is political. once we get to the issues of affirmative action and busing, we are getting greater political opposition. not just from the south, but also in the north, as well. boston, one of the most famous examples of the 1970's, the controversy over school busing to avoid racial desegregation. busese a photo of school rolling into south boston with african-american schoolchildren coming over from roxbury. a quick background on the case, the racial imbalance act of 1965 is a state law which said that any school that had more than 50% minorities was deemed out of balance, therefore it needed to be desegregated. there was one problem with the law. white, thatwas 100%

was not out of balance. it meant the only schools that were in violation of this law were boston schools, and i think a couple of schools in springfield and western, it was only geared toward city schools. as we get into the 70's with milliken, the supreme court said you cannot bus across city lines, it has to be within the city. program,s the metco which is a voluntary program in which african american children in boston are bust to suburban schools. suburban schools agreed to accept a number of those students every year. it is a voluntary student busing plan. fighting thecp is boston school committee through the late 60's and early 70's, arguing boston city schools are segregated, especially in ,oxbury, parts of dorchester

those areas become gradually more african-american. fewer whites live in those neighborhoods. whites are living in places like east boston, south boston, hyde park. arguing the boston school committee is jittering around with the school district schools order to keep majority white. they are seeing what elementary schools feed into middle schools in order to achieve -- keep as many white student in majority white schools. in 1974 morgan b hannigan in a federal court case, judge arthur orders that declares the boston schools are segregated and orders busing to desegregate boston schools. he basically takes over the boston schools and begins to redraw district lines decides, who will be bused where.

one of the problem is because white flight had been happening in the 60's and early 70's, there were fewer white students to bus. another problem, the most famous problem with the plan, was he paired south boston, irish classic -- catholic, with roxbury, primarily african-american, into these two schools. it created a lot of attention, especially in south boston as white residents opposed the busing decision. south boston, some of you know, sort of a very close-knit, tight community. proud of its community, proud of its heritage. did not want to be told that they had to either accept black students, or that their own students had to go to roxbury. you see the police escort. very high tensions. that's a growing feeling

white bostonians ask why are they made to bear the brunt of integration schools when mostly white suburban schools are completely exempt from this. it was the white working-class that was carrying the burden of this, which only increased their anger and opposition to it. you have the group created in boston to oppose busing. "restore our alienated rights." you see the lion. "stop forced busing." on the right is part of the famous photo to come out of this, one of the most famous photos in recent boston history, it's been called "the soiling of old glory." the man on the right is ted leonsis, who is a prominent architect. the man on the right is steve raikes. photo, itk at the looks like he is taking the flag

and is about to spear landsman. the man on the right is holding him so he can spear him. he's certainly being attacked, actually the picture doesn't tell the whole story. the man is trying to hold up landmark because he tripped. in one picture, you see the racial divide white bostonians, working-class bostonians and the anger it created. the boston schools will be under in thetrol of the judge early 1980's. i think that's when he turns back control. there are a lot of small decisions in schools, one of the more famous ones was south boston, where he decided how many balls the gym in the high school should order.

more important, he's looking at teachers, what teachers are being hired, pushing for more minority teachers to be pushing from schools. busing will continue in boston until just a few years ago, when it was officially ended. was,'t know what the law whether you keep a child home in the 1970's. i'm not entirely sure. the options were, and many white parents said this, either parochial schools, send your kids to catholic school. that became such a big option that the archbishop of boston had to declare that boston catholic schools would accept no transfer students anymore. if you are starting in kindergarten, that's ok, but you can't transfer from fifth grade into a state busing.

thing is students just left boston and moved to the suburbs, the south shore, elsewhere in the greater boston area. did this larger implementation of race conscious, action, did it have an effect on the research -- not directly, i don't think a lot of people would say it was, but did it have an effect on the resurgence of insurgency and the confederacy? prof. cannato: perhaps in some ways there was. the number of people who were affected by busing was pretty small. >> i mean just in general. the implementation of affirmative action programs. prof. cannato: yes, more interest. that is probably part of it. i don't think it is a direct relationship. it is more like a broad cultural

-- one of the things that's interesting about the anti-bussing movement is how much the anti-bussing groups tod civil rights tactics oppose busing. protestd sick pains and -- they used sit ins and protest. there's a photo of an anti-protester with a peace medallion. in many ways, the antiauthority movement, this broader feeling of anti-authority, goes down to the busing decision. who are you, judge, higher authorities, to come into our community and tell us where my kid should go to school? we are not listening to you. he idea that loss of faith in institutions and authorities will impact this. broadly speaking, this southern culture, this outlaw culture, this rebel culture, it will appeal to people.

did south boston residents become nascar fans? i don't know. it is sort of in the culture, in the air. intentional that other communities were left out? did they make a choice that they were not going to have to be bused? prof. cannato: the supreme court said you couldn't force them into busing. in 1965inal law exempted them, because it only looked at schools that were 50% or more minority. it did not say a school that was 99% white was out of balance. in that way, most suburban legislators voted for the racial imbalance act. they supported it. had it impacted the suburbs, they probably would not have voted for it. it would have affected them. curious aboutof the effect -- i looked it up on

the southern cultures front. i was looking at southern poverty law center graphs showing the enacting of confederate monuments, things like that. was an abnormally high at all in the 70's, it's pretty normal, in comparison because of the civil rights, this movement is five times as high. that doesn't make sense, the reaction. the earliest one was the foundation of the naacp has the highest amount. prof. cannato: putting up confederate monuments is a way of expressing your support for jim crow and opposition to desegregation. let's move to new york. 1970's, another crucial event is the fiscal crisis of new york. i will tell a complicated story as quickly as i can. new york city almost went

bankrupt in 1975. america's largest city, the financial capital of wall street could not pay its bills and came that close to going to bankruptcy. increase city programs. welfare.emand for new york city had its own hospitals. hospital costs are going up during this time. new york is becoming slightly poorer. again, white flight. menhave white middle-class

-- residents leaving the city. that impacts negatively the tax base. people who remain tend to be slightly poor. city -- what the city does, they had done this early -- in the early 1960's, a lot of borrowing. there is nothing wrong with that per se. borrowed a lot and a lot of its bonds were short term. during this time, interest rates are going up. in 1975s up happening is the banks are not confident enough in new york city to learn the more money. they are saying, we will not lend you more money. these notes are due at the end of the month. stateappened is new york takes over the fiscal control of the city.

a board to take over the budgeting. they create another organization called knack which selves bonds -- sells bonds. raise moneyle to that way. the city cannot make -- raise money but that could. it leads to what has been called the era of austerity. new york city has to cut its budget. having said that, city budget since the mid-1960's had gone up dramatically. hiring of city workers had gone up dramatically. they were going to be cut after 1975 and city workers, police, fire, all down the road, and you will see that impact daily life in new york. had already been in bad shape. places like central park, they get worse when there is some money to upkeep the parks. the city will continue to hemorrhage residents, there will

be a net loss of one million residents during the 1970's. more importantly, for new york city, there is the culture of new york, the social welfare culture, going back to 1930's, created an urban safety net, free city college, the city had its own hospital. support for that will increase in this era of austerity. the idea was the city spends too much money. the famous headlines for the city dropped dead, when new york ford ford to president money, initially, ford said note will not lend you money. you got into this on your own. we will not lend you money. hence the headline. as a turns out a few weeks later, ford would really some funds for new york city afterwards. there are bigger problems in new york as well. in 1977, there is a blackout in the summer. massive looting in

neighborhoods, especially poor neighborhoods in new york. this -- has anyone seen the book -- the movie or read the book "the bronx is burning"? -- the dodgers are playing the yankees in the bronx. outside the stadium, there are fires going. bronx have seen, dating back to the late 1960's, much of the south bronx which was affected by arson. you see rows of burned out abandoned buildings in the bronx. in 1977, president jimmy carter goes to charlotte street in the bronx to survey the urban damage. it became dara gore for politicians to go here to see a sign of urban decay. reagan will go in 1980. on the right is the mayor. on a positive note, that area where carter is now looks very different today.

small single-family homes, a very nice area. this was rebuilt in the 1980's and early 1990's. in new york, but also nationwide, becomes a very serious issue. infamous son of sam killings in 1976 and 1977, david berkowitz who was the son of sam killer, killed six people, wounded seven others. he attacked mostly young couples. is what makes serial killer's tech. this is a question we ask ourselves today. there was a classic case of a man who was frustrated, did not do well with women, harbored hatred of women. the satanic colt, the dog, yeah. there was a side story about a t, some people

have argued there were up -- were other people involved in the shooting besides him. the story is he acted alone. it was -- he was a disturbed individual. his killings were all in new york city. crime itself in new york dramatically increases. looking at murder rates helps tell the story, although if we hold robbery rates, car theft rates, they will be the same. 1960, 400 82 murders per 1970, 1100 murders. 1980, 18 hundred murders. that is much smaller. 10 or 15% smaller than it had been 20 years earlier. the murder rate will go as high as 2100 a year in 1990. today, to give you a sense, murders in new york are in the 300s. it is a much bigger city. we declining crime rates -- will see that in boston as well, most big cities. this period from the early 1960's down to the early 1990's, rate,eriod of study

especially in urban areas, of urban crime. we see two of this famous movies, the bottom left was "death wish." they got remade. -- thee original original takes place in new york. a man's family was murdered. it's as, vigilante, city style, judge, jury, and executioner. he's taking the law into his own hands to deal with criminals. more famously is "taxi driver." is again airo, who disturbed loner. but more complicated. he tries to save jodie foster who is a young prostitute. it is filmed on location in new york in 1975 in the summer. these films are filmed in new york, you can feel what is going on in new york. depend feel the tension and the problems. driver" youch "taxi

can sense that. you can see the dirty streets, you can see the graffiti. and you can see how the city is pushing this man who probably already is in stable to begin with, pushing him to the edge. but, at the same time all of this is happening, if you look at new york, there is stuff going on under as well. that is happening is the creation of hip-hop music and culture. which is occurring in the bronx in the 1970's, the same time you have arson, high crime rates. boughtlike africa mum on and others are creating the style of music in big block parties and the bronx. it is not until the 1980's that it will seep into the broader culture. graffiti becomes part of that as well. one of the complaints about new york and other big cities in the

1970's and 1980's was the graffiti everywhere. on subways, buildings, bridges. and beginning in the 1990's, new york city made a great effort to clean up the graffiti. to clean up the city. you see here, we now know there is atists, and greater understanding of graffiti art. and it is linked to hip-hop culture. the other thing going on in new york is in lower manhattan at a isb called cbg bees which where bands, talking heads, blondie, television, the roma owns, are playing in this club which will usher in the era of punk, new wave, college alternative, whatever in the 1970's. all of these cultural things are going on underneath that were not readily apparent at the time that we can see today. going back broadly speaking, we also see as we talk about, a

rise of a conservative movement in america. often started with william f buckley, the creation of national review. this journal dedicated to conservative thought, to pushing -- opposing new deal liberalism. 1964, runster, against lbj, loses and a landslide, but he runs as an ideological libertarian conservative against government programs. he is a hawk. he is opposed to the civil rights law. that is a complicated story in many ways. in 1964, his loss put an end to the conservative movement. but the events of the late 1960's going into the 1970's will provide fodder for the republican party. in 1969 writes a book called "the emerging public and -- republican majority."

south, --t the light white south, blue-collar whites in the north and says, these will be future republican majority and he turns out to be right. nixon silence majority speech which we have talked about was part of that. anti-authorityis feeling, this greater emphasis on individualism will help fuel political conservatism. ironically because of its criticisms of government, of big government. reagan well come into office in 1981 and he will say in his inaugural that the problem is government. government is the problem. iss belief that government not effective, does not do the job well, is field in part by this distrust of institutions that we see coming from the 1970's. we talked last time of what else is driving in the coast -- driving the conservatism.

prop 13 and the politics of taxes. the rise of the moral majority. the increasing number of evangelical protestants. as mainline churches decline, onngelical protestantism is the rise. roe v. wade, we will talk about that on thursday. it puts abortion -- turns abortion into a political issue. northern white ethnic democrats begin to support republicans like nixon. necessarily leave the democratic party but they are likely to vote for republican candidates are they will be known as reagan democrats. in foreign policy, and we will talk about this incoming classes, there is a backlash against detente with the ussr and a belief that the u.s. needs to rebuild its military and re-challenge the soviet union. who aremer democrats hawkish on foreign policy will move to the republican party. these are called neoconservatives.

seeing in the 1970's and end of a new deal coalition, the birth of the reagan coalition with traditional republican voters, farmers, and in addition, evangelical protestants, and southern whites. in 1964, when he signs the civil rights acts emma he was alleged upon findingthat it, he handed over the south to the republican party. diddemocrats -- the south not follow the democrats going back to the civil war. it is more complicated than that. going down to the late 1970's and early 1980's, a majority of congressional southerners were still democrats. but as we see over time, over the decade, down to today, the exceptionsere are today, became increasingly republican. at the same time, the democratic party is changing. there is a new democratic

majority, some people argue. a d emphasis -- let's forget about the old labor unions. forget about the political machines. focusing on minorities, as well as college education -- educated white liberals. the watergate babies are the congressmen and women elected in 1974 in reaction to watergate. they are the new style politicians. they are liberal, upper middle class, college-educated, the old democratic party. finally, what does it mean? what is the age of limits mean? end of postwar optimism. the political fragmentation and polarization and our politics. the weakening of the american military. the deindustrialization we see in the economy. the beginnings of economic inequality. and the possibility of limited natural resources that we sell oil crisis. is an increasing emphasis on personal freedoms

and rights in the 19 70's. there is expanding opportunities for minorities and women. there is a culture flourishing in the 1970's. disco, hip-hop, punk. the golden era of american film. here, have a picture steve jobs, steve wozniak in 1976 start apple computers. there they are working in their garage. bill gates in 1975 will start microsoft. no limits there. thely young men working in 1970's, building, creating, starting, the technological revolution that will have impact down to our time today. limits, we age of have to put a qualification on there because we will see in the beginning of the 1980's, vast changes in american society and economics. thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] you can watch

lectures in history every weekend on american history tv. we take you inside college classrooms to learn about topics ranging from the american revolution to 9/11. p.m.is saturday at 8:00 eastern on c-span3. this weekend, american history tv joins our media concave apartment is to showcase the history of cedar rapids, i'll appear to learn more about this it is on our current tour, visit c-span.org/ citiestour. we continue with our look at the history of cedar rapids. the spirit of the original people that settled cedar rapids the 1840s and 1850s still lives in on today. the innovation, the spirit, the can-do attitude, the optimism. always striking to make it better. announcer: while in received rapids, we took a driving tour of the city.