U.s. The Iranian Hostage Crisis - 1929 Words

Not only did the American public hope to be able to rely on and trust their federal government, but they also desired strong management of foreign affairs. During the Presidency of Jimmy Carter, America faced many blunders overseas. One particular high-profile issue was the Iranian Hostage Crisis where, â€Å"Iranian students stormed the U.S embassy in Tehran and took 53 Americans hostage,† and the attempted rescue of said hostages which resulted in a collision between two helicopters and eight dead marines (Davidson, et al 937). The Carter Administration’s handle on foreign affairs proved to be disastrous. As a result, the Republican party’s platform for the election of 1980, in which Carter was running for reelection, focused heavily on†¦show more content†¦President Lyndon Johnson had championed the liberal movements of the late twentieth century and continued the work of Franklin Roosevelt in an attempt to build a â€Å"great society†. He pushed through Congress countless pieces of legislation, more than the New Deal, designed to create equality in America including the Medicare and Medicaid Acts, the Elementary and Secondary School Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Davidson, et al 873). The American public seemed to accept Johnson’s programs as a drastic yet positive step for the nation. However, as time passed, many middle class Americans began to view Johnson’s steps as relaxed liberal policies that allowed lawbreakers and members of the lower class to live off of their hard work. The feeling that they were being taken advantage of led many Americans to question the effectiveness and legitimacy of Johnson’s â€Å"great society†. One of these middle class Americans wrote a letter to Nelson Rockefeller, the Republican governor of New York, stating that she was â€Å"discriminated against in favor of dope addicts and welfare cheats† (Document 3). The feelings in her lette r exemplify the anger of the middle class when dealing with Johnson’s â€Å"great society† and more broadly, the failure of the liberal state to bring about real change or equality. Additionally, the programs that Johnson set in place, while they did lower the unemployment rate initially, eventually left