” In 1980, two-thirds of southerners lived in an urban or suburban area, compared to half in the 1950. Unlike in the Northeast and Midwest, Sun Belt cities continued to grow or at least hold their own as their suburbs swelled”(pg.307).

In the 1970’s , average  income, adjusted for inflation, fell in the North but continued to grow in the South.  This change reflected the massive exodus of poor southern to the North and growth in productive capacity and wealth. Unlike the North, cities in the south  continue to grow ,doubling in thirty years . The region attracted  and generated jobs in low-wage ,labor-intensive industries, like textiles,simple garment manufacturing,food processing, and furniture making, due to companies taking advantage of low taxes, no unions, and pro-business environment promoted by the government agencies. The region also had a growth in defense and aerospace industries. Southern states benefited from the high oil prices, helping developed cities like Houston in leader in medical,legal,electronic, and aerospace center.

“Paul Volcker, whom Carter appointed chairman of the Fed, made stopping inflation his main goal, even if it took inducing a recession to achieve it. Rather than slowing the economy the usual way, by jacking up interest rates, Volcker used a different approach, having the Federal Reserve System tightly control the growth in the money supply, largely through increases in the requirements for bank reserves.” (Pg 329)

The 1970’s was the most difficult age to control the political affairs. Many political scandals, such as the Watergate, were revealed in the beginning of the 1970’s, and people disappointed the government and lost their interest in the politics. The voting percentage gradually decreased; 60 percent of the electorate during the 1950’s and 1960’s, but it dropped to 55 percent in 1972 and 54 percent in 1976. Thus, the presidents, Gerald Ford and James Carter, tried to restore political trust. However, its economy was in the recession, too. The unemployment rate and the inflation rate raised together, called “stagflation”. President Carter straggled to stop lowering the inflation rate to promote deregulation, but it was not so successful. Thus he entrust this control to the Fed chairman, Paul Volcker, whom approach to lower the inflation rate was unusual. Moreover, diplomacy between the Soviet Union wasn’t healthy due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

“The recessions of the 1970’s hit New York particularly hard, with the local unemployment rate hitting 12 percent in 1975. As jobs and city services disappeared and crime increased, many city residents, particularly whites, found the suburbs or other parts of the country more attractive.” (Pg 304)

The 1970’s was the dark, distressful and hopeless era in not only the U.S but also the world. Americans lost their confidences as the world leader because of the defeat in the Vietnam war, started distrusting the government due to the Watergate scandal, and the oil crisis hit their life. These downturns changed their lifestyle and the social geographic in the United States, especially the Northeast and Midwest. Many states lost jobs and populations that Cleveland lost 46 percent of manufacturing jobs between 1948 and 1977, and the population in Washington, D.C., decreased from 892,178 in 1950 to 638,333 in 1980. New York was not exception that its unemployment swelled up. It wouldn’t have affected the life so badly if economical and political downturn hadn’t occurred at the same time.

“As with the anti-ERA movement, the anti-gay rights movements gained national attention through its embrace by an effective leader, in this case pop singer and former beauty pageant contestant Anita Bryant, who was the national spokesperson for the Florida orange juice industry.” p. 341

The author mentions Anita Bryant as one example of a prominent anti-equal rights movement figure. In response to Equal Rights Amendment, conservative women like Bryant and Phyllis Schlafly rallied people around them to thwart any attempts of expanding gay and women’s rights. The efforts were largely the consequences of futile activism in the political arena, yet they gained much momentum as “anti-movement” leaders were succeeding at scaring people with unsupported claims. The transformation of American society in the late 70s and early 80s spawned a multitude of social issues that people like Anita Bryant were still unprepared to deal with. Preserving the old way of life and maintaining certain gender roles was the only way for them to slow down the inevitable progress.

“..Coppola’s 1979 Academy Award-winning Apocalypse Now, rendered a sprawling vision of an American army that had lost all moral bearings, a drugged, disintegrating arm of a failing empire.” p. 310-11

The author mentions Coppola’s movie as an analogy for socio-economic environment of United States in the 1970s. He characterizes American society as “dystopian,” pointing to the downturn of the economy, as well as feelings of uncertainty and pessimism to politics and culture. The defeat in Vietnam caused most of the negative sentiments, which is why Apocalypse Now became such a hit. People’s worst suspicions were “confirmed” upon the release of the film. They were relating all their problems to the over-dramatized vision of Francis Ford Coppola. Other forms of art had adopted a similarly dark tone, contributing to the theme of decline that had become synonymous with the 70s.

After World War II, changes in the political system allowed a democratization of American life. More people were allowed to vote than ever before, and were given additional opportunities provide their own input in political decision making. Although the role of government in the lives of private citizens grew tremendously, it was not appreciated by a large part of the population. People felt disgusted by the government, especially after the revelations of the Watergate scandal, the attitude of the American population “reflected a blanket rejection of politicians and a growing belief that elections had little to do with daily reality.” (319) This lack of trust and unconcern in politics was clearly seen in the massive decrease of participation in national elections. During the 50’s and 60’s, sixty percent of the electorate population voted, whereas in the 1978 election, only 38 percent of the voting population casted a ballot. The public became interested in the immoral behavior of politicians, which was aided by the press. A law was passed in 1978 to set up a system appointing prosecutors in cases specific to the misdeeds of government officials. Trust in the federal government declined by 40 percent between the decade of 1964 to 1974. This crisis of authority did not only apply in the sphere of government, but society also began to lose trust in the medical and legal profession as well. When Gerald Ford came into the political spotlight it seemed as though he had the ability to restore the public’s trust in government with his modest, straightforward personality and normal suburban background. Confidence in Ford shattered soon after his pardoning of Nixon’s crimes during his presidency. The result of this act caused a slump in his approval ratings since people believed that the two had secret dealings, restoring the suspicions of government.

Newark, …, once had been a thriving industry city. But after World War II, it bled industry, middle class residents, and retailing to its suburbs, leaving behind a majority black population, much of it poor. The 1967 riot devastated a city already in crisis. – Pg. 304

“Black Manhattan Borough Pesiudent David Dinkins emerged as a popular mayoral favorite to reduce tenstions and heal divisions. A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg pleaded on “Can I Kick It”: “Mr. Dinkins, will you please be our mayor? You’d be doing us a really big favor.”” p. 293

David Dinkins was the city’s first Black mayor, beating out Koch in the Democratic primary and Rudy Giuliani. The hope was that the racial divide would become less prevalent and slowly subside. Black were hoping that change would come because they finally had someone who had their best interest at heart holding important political office. To the chagrin of many, the divide was too great to be bridged in that amount of time. He was in office for one term.

WIN or “Whip Stagflation Now” was a program that was introduced by President Ford in order to battle “stagflation.” Stagflation was a very new challenge imposed on the policy makers of Ford’s administration. The problem did not fit any of the Keynesian solutions that helped to stabilize the economy in the past. Both unemployment and inflation were on the rise. The reason that policy makers had a great problem with this is that in the past unemployment and inflation seemed to be reciprocal to each other. As one rose the other one dropped.

President Ford believed that inflation was the main  reason for economic decay. He wanted to cut spending on federal programs. he wanted the public to cut spending as well. More precisely he wanted the public to spend 5% less on food and 5% less on driving expenditures. Ford tried to institute the WIN program. He tried to mimic it after Roosevelt’s New Deal Program. In 1974, after his address to the Congress, he pinned a WIN pin to his lapel. Through this program, Ford wanted to “decrease federal regulation of the economy and use public mobilization as a substitute for state intervention”. Although mimicking the New Deal Program, this WIN program was completely opposite. Ford put to much trust into the hands of the public and their ability to help the spiraling economy. The result was a complete failure.

The Congress rejected all of Ford’s proposals and instead went a different route. Members of the Congress had very strong ties to the labor unions and their constituents than to a healthy economic system. That is why in 1974 they went with another program that was aimed at combatting unemployment instead of inflation.