Word: vietnam
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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American voters want to be offered a meaningful choice in their elections, but our moderate political system cannot easily accommodate glaring ideological alternatives. In 1968 the polls confirmed that voters saw little or no difference between Nixon and Humphrey on the issues, particulary Vietnam--the candidates were perceived as too close together. In 1972, the polls showed that many voters saw Nixon and McGovern, "the clearest choice of the century," as too far apart on the issues. Recent polls indicate that in 1976 the voters are able to clearly perceive issue differences between Ford and Carter, but that the differences...
...though Carter now conveniently insists he called for a pull-out from Vietnam in March 1971, there is no record of this demand. To the contrary, Stein reports, "As late as April 1975, Carter called for another year of funding the Saigon government...
...year war in Vietnam drew to a close in 1975, President Ford tried to keep it going with an urgent appeal for $1 billion more in American arms. He took military action against Cambodia over the seizure of the Mayaguez in the face of a law that expressly prohibits the use of U.S. forces in Indochina. He secretly aided factions in the Angolan civil war and, had Congress not prevented it with legislation, would have escalated American involvement. These are strange actions for a man who repeatedly extols the virtues of peace for its own sake, and takes credit...
Ford's management of the economy has included attempts to cut $14 billion from social programs, including child nutrition programs, educational benefits to Vietnam veterans, Medicare subsidies and public jobs programs. While vetoing social welfare programs because of their expense, the President recommend increases in defense spending that would have paid for the programs he vetoed and many more. Ford's opposition to government spending is clearly a narrow one. He has no such qualms about granting large businesses extensive subsidies and tax advantages, or providing the military with all the money it desires...
What Jimmy Carter will supply as an alternative, he says, is to help the United States to "be great again." The words are scary; they smack of the manifest destiny arrogance that led this country into the Philippines and, half a century later, into Vietnam. But Carter's call appears actually to be for a country that is great because is feeds and educates its poor, because its people are not divided into white and black, and because its power is used for selfless purposes abroad...