During the 1970’s Americans increasingly had a distrust in government. A multitude of events like the anti-war movement, and the Watergate scandal caused trust in government to crater. The, “National mood of hostility to government and business came out of the Vietnam war… political disgrace of the Nixon administration in the scandals that came to be known by the one-word label “Watergate,” and which led to the historic resignation… from Richard Nixon.” By the end of Nixon’s Presidency people were fed up and just wanted to go back to normalcy. When Nixon finally resigned people were very happy and thought Ford was the right answer to the problems we faced, “When Nixon resigned and Ford became President, the New York Times said: ‘Out of the despair of Watergate has come an inspiring new demonstration of the uniqueness and strength of the American democracy.’”
Under Ford the Mayaguez Affair happened where a US cargo ship was taken by Cambodia. Ford then acted to solve the problem without Congressional approval. And, there were American casualties Zinn writes, “Why the rush to bomb, strafe, attack? Why, even after the ship and crew were recovered, did Ford order American planes to bomb the Cambodian mainland, with untold Cambodian casualties? What could justify such a combination of moral blindness and military bungling?” If Ford would’ve waited for Congressional Approval they could’ve made a solid plan instead of being blindsided. Or, the Cambodian’s may have actually returned the ship. This along with Vietnam caused trust in military to drop as well as government, “Confidence in the military during that period had dropped from 62 percent to 29 percent, in business from 55 percent to 18 percent, in both President and Congress from 42 percent to 13 percent.” Overall, people just wanted to be back to normalcy, yet Ford failed to do so and the public’s trust faded.
To the general public, Ford was seen as a positive change after the Watergate scandal. He had a lot of pressure on him to rebuild the American people’s image of the American government. Part of the reason I think that he rushed into attacking Cambodia was that Ford wanted to be the hero for America and show the world that America was still large and powerful. Yet he was rash, and didn’t think it through and ultimately made the whole US situation worse.
Working-class America’s distrust in the government led to civil unrest, notably civil rights and anti-war protests, but at the same time, a large sector of the population ceded electoral and political influence to the growing establishment. Protests and other measures that did not fit within traditional modes of political participation resulted in a void that was filled by corporate influence.
Ford’s handling of the situation with Cambodia was irrational and poorly thought through, but I understand why he did it. Ford was faced with a situation where an American ship was taken, and he needed to respond. While many in the country would’ve appreciated a consultation and plan with congress, there are also many people who desired an immediate, harsh response that asserted power over Cambodia, which is what his bombings and air strikes did.
I think it is really interesting to see that the support of the military dropped from 62% down to 29%, in business from 55% to 18%, and in both the government and the president from 42% to 13%. In addition to this, you talked greatly about Ford and what he did within Vietnam and Cambodia. Another thing that he did was pardon President Nixon. After watching the movie and reading the Zinn chapter, I wondered why Ford pardoned Nixon? What would have happened to Nixon if he never received this pardon?
As you brought up, during the seventies the public wanted nothing more but to have normalcy. Scandal after scandal left the people distraught and unsatisfied with the government. However, a decade is a long time and the differences between the start of the seventies and the end are stark. The beginning saw the end of the Vietnam war, where soldiers were shamed for fighting for the country and patriotism was at a low point. At the end, the 1980 Olympics gave something for the nation to rally behind and caused a new surge in nationalism because it was something we could all come together on, regardless of political beliefs or cleavages.