Unit 8: 1945-1980Senor Escoba

The USSR in Eastern Europe

• Soviet Union wants a demilitarized Germany• Soviet Union wants a buffer zone to

its West to prevent a future Germany attack• Soviet Union sets up pro-Soviet Union

puppet governments in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania

Growing Mistrust

• Truman wants to halt communism• Stalin declares there can be no lasting

peace between capitalism and communism• George F. Kennan – US diplomat to Russia

that declares that US should have long term firm stance against communism• Containment – policy uniting military,

economic, and diplomatic strategies to stop communist expansion

The Iron Curtain

•March 1946 – Churchill and Truman go to Westminster College in Missouri• Churchill declares that Stalin has open an

“iron curtain” over the Eastern half of Europe

• June 1946 – Truman offers to destroy nuclear weapons if Soviets stop trying to make them• Soviets reject it

• Atomic Energy Commission created to research nuclear energy and weaponry

Truman Doctrine

• US fears Western Europe will call to communism• Disease, famine, & rise of communist

governments• Greece & Turkey given $400 million to

improve to stay out of Soviet Union• Truman Doctrine – aid to those in need

and ultimate holy war against the godless Soviet Union

International InvolvementHarry Truman: International

Man of Mystery•National Security Act of 1947 •Armed forces fall under a single

Department of Defense (DoD)•National Security Council (NSC)•Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)• European Recovery Plan – “Marshall

Plan” – direct financial support Europe•Only Western Europe accepts

German Showdown

• Potsdam Agreement – 1945 – Divides Germany into 4 regions (FR, GB, USA, Soviets)• Berlin Split into 4 as well•Western German regions start to join

together• Stalin stops all rail and road traffic to Berlin

from Western Germany in June 1948• Berlin Airlift• Blockade ends in May 1949

German Showdown

•May 1949 – Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) is created• April 1949 – North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) formed from ten Western Europe with USA & Canada • German Democratic Republic (East

Germany) is created • 1955 – Warsaw Pact formed with a number

of Eastern European countries and Soviet Union

Cold War in Asia

•Gen. MacArthur in charge of post WWII Japan•Occupation of Japan ends in 1952• Truman unable to stop communist

forces in China•Mao Zedong wins•Non communist forces flea to

Taiwan

Communist China

•People’s Republic of China (PRC)•Red China•Americans fear the “fall” of China•Some claim that the US should be more concerned with Europe rather than Asia

Truman on Communism

• Culture at home changed by atomic weapons• Bunkers• “Duck and cover”• Nov. 1952 – Hydrogen bomb (H-bomb)

dropped in Pacific on Bikini Atoll• 1,000 times more powerful than an

atomic weapon• Effort to prove Truman was tough on

communism

Truman on Communism

•National Security Paper 68 – notes Soviet aggressive military intentions•Recommends increase in nuclear

arsenal• Increase CIA activity•Advises Truman to resist communism

anywhere and everywhere

Korean War• Post WWII – Korean peninsula split and half by US &

Soviet Union (North was pro-Soviet)• June 25, 1950 – North Korea attacks South Korea• Truman feels aggression must be stopped to be firm

against communism• UN approves “police action” to preserve South Korean

border• US & South Korean troops pushed back very far in start of

war• US landing by Gen. MacArthur helps push back North

Korea forces• Advances towards Chinese border…• …and China fights back

Korean War

• Friction between Gen. MacArthur & Truman• Truman – negotiate surrender and preserve South

Korea•MacArthur – full blown war against China

• Limited war continues and armistice reached in July 1953• Effects• Increased military spending• Precedent of undeclared war (Truman DID NOT ask

congress)• North & South Korea

Truman Administration at Home (1945-1952)

• Troops from WWII come home • Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – “GI

Bill” • Aimed to prevent post-war recession• Soldiers could get preferred treatment at

jobs, unemployment benefits, and low interest government loans• Government payment for 4 years of college

or job training

Truman Administration at Home (1945-1952)

• Economic boom following WWII• Employment Act of 1946 •Prices increase as demand exceeds

supply (Truman gets rid of OPA regulations)• Taft-Hartley Act -1947 - barred closed

shop practices •Republican controlled congress

Election of 1948

• Southern Democrats become the “Dixiecrats” and form the States Rights Party• Leftwing Democrats and communists

form Progressive Party (the sequel)• Truman wins!

Fair Deal

•Fair Deal – agenda from 1949 that focused on civil rights, national health-care legislation, and federal aid to education•Funding reliant upon the economy continuing to grow (More people paying taxes)

The Second Red Scare• Democrats are called “soft” on communism• Federal Employee Loyalty Program – people

could be fired if associated in “subversive” organizations • House Un-American Activities Committee –

1947 – held hearings to expose communist influence in average American life• Dennis v. United States, 1951 – Congress

could censor freedom of speech if national security called for it

McCarthyism•Alger Hiss & Whittaker Chambers incident• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – found guilty

of committing espionage connected to the Manhattan Project• June 1953 – Both executed• Feb. 1950 – Senator Joseph McCarthy

claims to have 200+ communists working in the State Department

McCarthyism•McCarthy would hold hearings and call out

people•McCarthy would get approval from

Republican Party• Democrats too afraid to call out McCarthy

in fear they will look like communists•McCarran Internal Security Act – required

organizations labeled communists by attorney general to register with Dept. of Justice

Election of 1952• Truman becomes too

unpopular for reelection (Korea)• Republicans choose

Dwight D. Eisenhower & Richard Nixon as VP• Democrats choose Gov.

Adlai Stevenson & John Sparkman• Republicans win

presidency and congress

Downfall of Joseph McCarthy

•Pres. Eisenhower hates McCarthy but understands usefulness of anti-communism as a Republican tool• Eisenhower would allow McCarthy to

mess himself up• 1954 –McCarthy accuses the US Army of

harboring communists •Army-McCarthy hearings on television• June 1954 – McCarthy censured

Eisenhower Foreign Policy

• John Foster Dulles – Sec. of State• Promotion of “brinksmanship” – hold out

against communism even if war was possible

• CIA actions to have coup to overthrow Iranian government•Wanted an oil-rich nation ally• Stop possible friendship with Soviet Union• CIA involved in Philippines & Guatemala

Third World Problems

• Pres. Eisenhower supports the French in Vietnam• Suez Crisis • Eisenhower Doctrine – proclamation that the

US would sent military aid and possibly send troops to Middle East nation to stop against “Communist aggression”• 1959 – Fidel Castro overturns dictatorship in

Cuba• Soviets back up Cuba

Third World Problems•Cuba•Nikita Khrushchev threatens use of

atomic weapons if US intervenes in Cuba

•May 1, 1960 – U2 Spy plane shot down over Soviet Union•Pilot Displayed on television• Eisenhower Legacy•Warns of military-industrial complex

Industrial Society•Huge defense spending (Half of federal budget)•Huge military-industry complex •Officials in government want funding to companies in their area•More scientific advancements become government funded

•Electricity and gasoline consumption rapidly increase

Early “Computers”• Early computers were

based around government projects • ENIAC

• Silicon Valley forms around Stanford University in 1950s• Research Triangle

Park in NC

Development of Business

• Consolidation becomes common in big industries•Multinational companies• Conglomerates – merging of companies

that are in unrelated industries• Technology in farming common• 1962 – Silent Spring – Rachel Carson• 1956 – White-collar employees

outnumber blue-collar

Suburban America

• Installment payments common•New models of cars come out on regular

basis•Massed produced Levittowns in several

northeast states• 1950s – 20 million people move to

suburbs from city• Sunbelt – South and West grow in

population and industry rapidly

Suburban America

• Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956•President Eisenhower impressed by

German autobahn•Highways would supply ease of military

and civilian movement• Funding would come from taxes on

gasoline tire, bus, and trucking• Interstates would spur a number of

industries

Baby Boom!

•Baby-Boom Generation – those born between 1946-1964•Return to “normal” after war• Economic prosperity•Advancements in medicine•Women move towards childcare at

home• Education system encouraged this!

Baby-Boom!

Religion in the 50s• Billy Graham – evangelist that promoted

religious salvation•Many religious evangelists also promote

anticommunism sentiment• Church attendance increased between 1945 –

1960• Evangelical fundamentalism• “IN GOD WE TRUST” – 1945• “One nation under God” 1954• http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/

Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx

Television Culture

•1946 – 18,000 households have a television•1960 – Nine of 10 households had at

least one television•3 main radio networks take over

television (ABC, CBS, and NBC)• I Love Lucy – Surprisingly

controversial

Television Culture

• Transition into advertising culture on television• Early television promoted stereotypes

(gender and race)•Revolutionizes the political life of

American people•Millions now hear politicians speak

on television

Other America•¼ Americans lived below the poverty

line in 1950s• “White flight” – whites leave urban

centers and move to the suburbs•Urban slums• Large increase in immigration to US

from Mexico•Native American economic struggles

Early Civil Rights Movement

• Integration of professional baseball with Jackie Robinson in 1947•Violence in South in 1946•President’s Committee on Civil Rights

– Late 1946 – Harry Truman organized the committee• To Secure These Rights

Early Civil Rights Movement• Truman Era• Morgan v. Virginia• Shelley v. Kraemer

• Eisenhower Era• Chief Justice Earl Warren• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka – Separate

but equal is NOT equal• “with all deliberate speed”• Southern Manifesto – signed by Southern

representatives in Congress going against Brown

Little Rock & Civil Rights Act ‘57

• Sept. 1957 – Little Rock Nine Incident• Little Rock school board accepted

desegregation• Arkansas Gov. Orval E. Faubus mobilizes

the state’s National Guard to block action• Pres. Eisenhower uses National guard to

enforce desegregation• Civil Rights Act of 1957 –creates permanent

commission on civil rights •Not much of a force

Montgomery Protests

• Dec. 1, 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of the bus, in violation of ordinance• Arrest sparks outrage•Montgomery Improvement Association

choose Martin Luther King as leader of bus boycott• Buses forced to desegregate a year later

Dr. King• Minister• Philosophy of civil

disobedience• Nonviolence• Direct action rather

than legal action• Southern Christian

Leadership Conference (SCLC)

New Tactics

• Sit-ins and other tactics used on a regular basis• Greensboro, NC lunch counter•Often faced physical intimidation and

violence• Freedom Riders – Spring 1961•Organized by Congress of Racial Equality

(CORE)• Face violence throughout their trip in the

South

New Tactics

•Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee •Focus on nonviolent civil disobedience•Assist in local government action

Sputnik

•October 4, 1957 – Sputnik becomes first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth• US tries to launch satellite in

December and fails• July 1958 – National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) created•National Defense Education Act – 1958• Direct funding to higher education

Rock-and-Roll Culture

•New generation dressed and acted differently (duh.)•Rhythm and blues meet a heavy beat

and help create rock-and-roll• Elvis Presley – “radical” form of

singing and dancing•American Bandstand

The Beats

•Beats – group of nonconformist writers who went against conformity, religion, and family values

JFK- John F. Kennedy

• John F. Kennedy (JFK) – elected to House of Representatives in 1946• Elected to Senate

in 1952• Reelected to

Senate in 1958

Election of 1960

• Democratic candidate – John F. Kennedy• Youth and confidence• Republican candidate – Richard M. Nixon• Experience and connection to Pres.

Eisenhower• First televised debate between candidates• Television viewers – generally agree Kennedy

won• Radio listeners – generally agree it was a draw

Kennedy’s Domestic Policy

• “New Frontier” campaign• Often blocked by Republicans and Southern

Democrats• Kennedy calls for increase defense spending• Claims Eisenhower relied on nuclear

weapons too much• Forms Special Forces (Green Berets)

• Space Race funding• Cuts in corporate taxes• 1963 – Clean Air Act

Cold War Kennedy

•April 1961 – Bay of Pigs incident•Attempt to start revolution to

overthrow Castro•Kennedy DOES NOT provide air

cover• Invasion unsuccessful •August 1961 – Berlin wall goes up

Cuban Missiles Crisis• October 1962 – Soviet Union built bases for

intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs)• US “quarantine” on Cuba• Attempt to stop delivery of more missiles• US military build up in Florida

• Oct. 25, 2014 – Khruschev promises to move missiles as long as US pledges to never invade Cuba• Later deal includes US removal from

missiles in Turkey

Kennedy Assassination

•Nov. 22, 1963 – JFK assassinated in Dallas Texas• Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as

President• Lee Harvey Oswald arrested• Lee Harvey Oswald later assassinated

by Jack Ruby

Kennedy Legacy

•Many point out a mixed record with JFK• Expansion of presidential powers•Questions in regards to• List of accomplishments• Space Race spending NOT welfare

spending•US involvement in Vietnam

Civil Rights Movement - Birmingham

• 1963 – Dr. King notes that the racial struggle needs to be shown to the American public as a whole• Dr. King leads nonviolent marches, sit-

ins, and pray-ins in Birmingham Alabama• Conflict with “Bull” Connor and

Birmingham Police• Dr. King arrested and writes “Letter

from Birmingham Jail”

Civil Rights Movement - Birmingham

• May 1963 – “Bull” Connor uses violence against protestors in Birmingham• Kennedy holds his ground

against Gov. Wallace and forces desegregation at Univ. of Alabama• Sept 1963 – Ku Klux Klan

bombing of Birmingham church kills 4 girls

March on Washington, DC - 1963

•250,000 + march in DC for Civil Rights Movement•Martin Luther

King’s “I Have a Dream” speech

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 – banned racial discrimination and segregation in public accommodations• Banned bias in federal funded programs• Federal government gets power to end

segregation in schools• Created Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission (EEOC) to stop job discrimination

• Voting was NOT addressed

Civil Rights Movement – Voting Rights

• African Americans pushed the national Democratic party establishment• Civil Rights marches in Selma, Alabama

attacked • Public outrage in support of voting rights bill• Voting Rights Act of 1965 – banned all tests

or device used to deny a person to vote based on race• Poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.

Civil Rights Reaction

•Racial rights acknowledged by government•Racial equality didn’t necessarily happen•Rioting occurs in various areas of the US• Los Angeles, CA•Detriot, MI•MLK assassinated in 1968

Black Power

• Growing sense that equality should be reached through coercion• Malcolm X • “If ballots won’t work, bullets will.”

• Nation of Islam / Black Muslim faith – self-discipline, self-respect, BUT rejection of integration• Called for separation from white race

• Cassius Clay converts and becomes Muhammad Ali• Malcolm X assassinated

Black Power

•Black Panther Party of Self-Defense founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale• Sponsored community centers and

school breakfast •Paramilitary style and actions

Expansion of Equality

• Native American Activism • Great poverty in and out of reservations• American Indian Movement – founded in 1968

• Hispanic Americans• Immigration Act of 1965 – Abolished the

national-origins quotas 1920s• Cesar Estrada Chavez• Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 –

outlawed hiring of undocumented immigrants AND legal status to aliens who had lived in US for 5 years

Expansion of Equality

•Asian American Political Alliance

Kennedy to LBJ

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)

•Great Society - “Abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice”•War on Poverty

Election of 1964

• LBJ – Democrat – Great Society Plan• Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona•Goes against government

intervention•Claimed no win situation in Cold

War• Landslide LBJ victory

Election of 1964

Great Society 2: Electric Boogaloo

•Medicare – Provide health insurance for the aged under social security •Medicaid – health plan for the poor and less fortunate•Aid for Appalachia to help improve living conditions

Liberalism Warren Court

•Miranda v. Arizona – police must advise suspects of their right to remain silence

Early Vietnam Involvement• Truman – increased assistance for

French army fighting the Vietminh led by Ho Chi Minh•Domino Theory – theory that if Vietnam

fell to communism then all of Asia would• June 1954 – CIA puts Catholic Ngo Dinh

Diem as anticommunist leader of South Vietnam•National Liberation Front - Vietcong

Kennedy & Vietnam• Kennedy would increase involvement in

the Vietnam •US forces used napalm bomb would burn

anything needed •Move poor farmers out of areas•Move Vietcong out of hiding areas• JFK – Could have choose to increase US

combat involvement• JFK – Withdraw and seek negotiated

settlement

LBJ in Vietnam• President Johnson escalated war• Vietcong attempt to outlast the US rather

than simply wipeout the US• 1964 – Johnson authorizes Pentagon to

prepare air strikes into North Vietnam• August 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin incident • LBJ does not admit US Navy involved in

covert raids• Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin

Resolution

LBJ in Vietnam• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution changes the

war completely• “Blank check”• 1964 – LBJ states that he would not send

troops into Vietnam or bomb Vietnam (For his election)• Early 1965 – “Operation Rolling Thunder” • Bombing into North Vietnam•No negotiation from North Vietnam

LBJ in Vietnam

•Bombing not effective in forcing a truce• LBJ changes strategy in an attempt to

maximize communist casualties• Feeling that superiority in weapons

and numbers would mean victory• Troop increase would match that of

US

Homefront• TV coverage•War demonstrations • ‘67 – Sen. Robert Kennedy and Martin

Luther King support antiwar protests• College deferments• 80% of those who fought in Vietnam

came from poor or working-class family• “Hawks” – “Hell No, We Won’t Go”• “Doves” – “America, Love It or Leave It”

Tet Offensive•Tet Offensive – Jan. 31 of 1968 (First day of Vietnamese New Year) Major attacks on US and South Vietnamese forces•Military victory – South Vietnam does NOT fall•Public defeat – media reports initially report success of offensive

Post-Tet Offensive Politics

• LBJ gets pressure from Democratic party from Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy•March 31, 1968 – Johnson announces

that he will NOT seek reelection• Seeks peace negotiations• LBJ died day of signing of Paris Peace

Accords to end war in Jan 1973

Nixon’s War

•Richard Nixon (Rep.) elected Pres. In 1968•Detente – Reduced tensions between US and USSR (Soviet Union)•Largely based on ending the Vietnam War

The Atrocities of War•March 1968 – My Lai massacre of a village

of women in children in Vietnam• “Fragging” and drug use reported by

American soldiers•Nixon: “Peace with honor”• 1. Vietnamization – replacing US troops

with South Vietnamese troops• 2. Secret negotiations directly with North

Vietnam• 3. Forced compromise with communists

End Game•Bombing raids into Cambodia and Laos

towards “Ho Chi Minh’s Trail”•1970 & 1971 – US goes into Laos and

Cambodia•Paris Peace Accords – Jan 1973• Ends fighting but doesn’t provide

protection for South Vietnam• Spring 1975 – Saigon (capital) and South

Vietnam fall to communism

New Left Protest & Resistance

• “New Left” Movement – supported by Students for a Democratic Society• Port Huron Statement• “participatory democracy”• Berkeley Free Speech Movement – sought

to have a voice on college campuses• Escalation of war and Jan. 1966 end of

college deferments of Vietnam increase protests

Protest & Resistance

•April 1968 – SDS students forcefully take control of multiple university buildings at Columbia University•Violently retaken by police•Nov. 1969 -300,000 protest and

March in Washington DC

Kent State & Jackson State

• Antiwar protests burn ROTC building at Kent State University in Ohio• National Guardsmen

called into University• Guardsmen Kill 4 and

wound 11• Similar situation at

Jackson State in Mississippi

Countercultural Rebellion• “Hippies”• Drug use increases• Marijuana• LSD

• Musical Revolution• Early 1960s – Revival

of folk music• 1964 – Beatles-mania

• Rhythm-and-blues

• Rolling Stones• “British Invasion”

• Woodstock Festival• Aug. 1969 in the

Catskill Mountains of NY

• Haight District of San Francisco & NYC’s East Village• Advertisers target

the youth

Sexual Revolution•Female oral contraceptive became available in 1960•More open views of sexuality•Roe v. Wade -1973 – Women could have an abortion in the first trimester (3 months) of pregnancy

Rise of Feminism (Again.)

• National Organization for Women (NOW) – 1966 – group that would lobby against gender discrimination and sexism• Sought full participation in American society• Feminine Mystique (1963) – voiced the

opinion that women should establish their own personal identities as individuals

Women’s Liberation Movement

• “Women-garbage” thrown out• Female publications• Education Amendments Act -1972 – Title IX-

education institutions that received federal money could not discriminate based on sex• Equal Rights Amendment• NOT passed • Phyllis Schlafly• Colleges become coeducational

Gay Liberation & Environmentalism

•Gay Liberation Movement• Stonewall Incident•Pride Parades• Environmental Activism• Silent Spring – 1962•Anti-nuclear Movement• Three Mile Island Incident

•Also know yuppies and “Me Decade”

Conservative Resurgence

•Election of 1968 •Republican – Richard Nixon (winner)• “Silent Majority”

•Democrat – Hubert Humphrey•American Independent – George

Wallace • Against upper-class and hippie

movement

Richard Nixon• Previous VP under

Eisenhower• Republican• Suspicious of

Democratic Party and…many other things…• Works with Dem. Party• Creates Occupational

Safety & Health Admin (OSHA)• Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA)

Apollo 11

• July 1969 – Apollo 11 lands on moon•Watched on tv by

many• Take that Soviets!• BOOM. America!

Economic Struggles

• Loss of manufacturing – Jobs going overseas• Inflation + Recession = “Stagflation”•Nixon inconsistent on economic policy•Organization of Petroleum Exporting

Countries (OPEC) raises the price of crude oil• Slows American economy

Nixon’s Plumbers• Nixon uses IRS and other Federal programs to

take on his enemies• FBI & CIA do various illegal activities• FBI eventually tells Nixon NO when he wants

to use electronic surveillance, break-ins, and plant evidence

• “The Plumbers” – Nixon’s close men to stop government leaks• Pentagon Papers- Expose lies about Vietnam

War• Also know: Nixon’s Southern Strategy

Detente• Nixon goes to Henry

Kissinger as advisor• Détente – reduced tensions• Nixon visits China• HUGE – US had not

previously recognized China

• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) – 5 year limitation of nuclear weapons

Nixon Diplomacy

• Nixon uses Kissinger to negotiate temporary peace after Yom Kippur War• Soviet Union not involved• Nixon approves money to governments

that were NOT communist• Even if they were horrible (South Africa,

Argentina, & Brazil)•Nixon uses CIA to take down Salvador

Allende (Marxist President of Chile)

Election of 1972• Rep. – Nixon• Dem. – George McGovern• Perceptions of being too radical•Nixon creates Committee to Re-Elect the

President (CREEP)• Secret unit that Nixon uses to commit

espionage against Dems• CREEP members arrested at Watergate

facility in June 1972•Nixon easily wins reelection

Watergate

• “Deep Throat” provides two Washington Post reporters with information on CREEP & Watergate• Cover up!

• Special Committee On Presidential Campaign Activities investigates Nixon• Nixon orders Attorney General to fire

invesigator• They refuse!• Nixon fires them “Saturday Night Massacre”

Watergate

•VP Agnew left office in Oct. 1973•New VP is Gerald Ford (House Minority

Leader)•United States vs. Nixon – 1974 – Nixon

forced to give tapes to investigation•BUSTED!•Nixon Resigns•Gerald Ford becomes President

Economic Woes & Presidential Foes

•OPEC raises crude oil prices•Manufacturing jobs decrease •Overseas influence•President Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon•Pres. Ford – Whip Inflation Now (WIN) – voluntary price controls

Jimmy Carter

• Jimmy Carter elected as Dem. In 1976• “Washington outsider”•Peanut farmer and former Governor

of Georgia•Viewed as a liberal Democrat but

somewhat moderate in reforms•Alaska Lands Act

Carter Foreign Policy

•Camp David Accords – Peace agreement between Israel and Egypt•Rejected by other Arab countries• SALT II Treaty – limiting nuclear

arsenal•Dec. 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by

Soviets•Boycott of 1980 Olympics

Carter Foreign Policy

• Iran• Islamic militant supporters of Ayatollah

Khomeini storm US embassy in Tehran- Nov. 1979• April 1980 – Failed raid to rescue hostages• 52 Americans captive for 444 days• Released on Jan. 20, 1981 – Day Ronald

Reagan becomes President• Carter leaves with incredibly low approval

rating