Question

. After World War II and in the prosperous 1950s, business support was high. Why did business support decrease during the late 1960s and early 1970s?

Answer 1

President John F. Kennedy has introduced a more activist strategy to governance. In his 1960 presidential campaign, Kennedy said he would ask the Americans to fulfill the difficulties of the New Frontier. As president, Kennedy attempted to accelerate economic growth by raising government spending and cutting taxes, and pushed for medical assistance for the elderly, inner-city support, and enhanced funding for education.The 1973-1974 oil embargo on the part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pushed energy prices up quickly and caused shortages. Even after the embargo stopped, energy prices remained high, adding to inflation and eventually causing increasing unemployment. Federal budget deficits have increased, foreign competition has increased, and the stock market has stalled. The Vietnam War lasted until 1975, President Richard Nixon (1969-1973) resigned under a cloud of prosecution charges, and a group of Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held for more than a year. The country seemed incapable of controlling activities, including financial affairs.

Just as black power became a fresh focus of the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, other organizations were likewise impatient with incremental reforms. Student activists have become more radical. They took over college campuses, organized huge anti-war demonstrations, occupied parks and other public squares. Some of them even produced bombs and set campus houses on fire. At the same moment, the young females who had read The Feminine Mystique, celebrated the adoption of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and joined the moderate National Women's Organization were also increasingly annoyed by the slow pace of reform. They too have become more militant.

Northern victory in the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), however, sealed the destiny of the nation and its economic system. The slave-labor system was abolished, making the large southern cotton plantations much less profitable. Northern industry, which had expanded rapidly because of the demands of the war, surged ahead. Industrialists came to dominate many aspects of the nation's life, including social and political affairs.