Zinn’s chapter on the 70s is titled with a question: Were the 70s under control? The turbulent social, political, and economic changes of the 60s carried on into the 70s. The 70s were characterized by antiwar sentiments and distrust in the government due to the immorality of the Vietnam War and the disgrace Nixon’s administration displayed with the Watergate Scandal.

Nixon, as well as the advisers who were involved in Watergate, were not reprimanded harshly at all. Rather, Nixon himself was pardoned by the new president, Gerald Ford. The American government tried to move on from the scandal and hoped to restore faith into the American people. Meanwhile, Ford definitely maintained Nixon’s policy. He continued Nixon’s policy of aid to the Saigon regime. Ford and many government officials not only boasted of victory but they also saw profit to be made in Vietnam. Yet on April 29, 1975, the North Vietnamese moved into Saigon in what is known as the Fall of Saigon. This defeat only deterred faith in the American government.

In an effort to re-introduce the United States’ image to both its’ own country and the world, Secretary Kissinger said, “The U.S. must carry out some act somewhere in the world which shows its determination to continue to be a world power.” So, when the Mayaguez cargo ship was stopped by Cambodians and taken to a nearby port, President Ford sent a message to the Cambodians to release the ship and crew. When there was allegedly no response, Ford sent U.S. planes to bomb Cambodian ships. He also ordered a marine assault on Tang Island. No Americans were hurt, Ford knew this, yet he continued the assault. Ford’s own assault killed 41 Americans. It was considered a “very successful operation” by Secretary of Defense Schlesinger.

I think that Zinn mentions these events because it supports his statement, “What seemed to be happening was that the Establishment- Republicans, Democrats, newspapers, television- was closing ranks behind Ford and Kissinger, and behind the ideas that American authority must be asserted everywhere in the world.” Ever since America was established as a world power, the government in charge sought to retain that power. In a time when confidence in the government was low, the government attempted to divert attention from serious internal affairs by involving themselves in external affairs. Many efforts were made to create the illusion that the system was cleaning itself up, when indeed the system was left unscathed.