Conclusion: The Movements Go Their Own Way

Abstract

The early 1970s were a chaotic time. Exploiting a conservative backlash among whites, President Nixon swept to reelection in November 1972. Within two years, he was forced from office because of the criminal conspiracies called Watergate. In those years, most of the New Left’s movements put down permanent roots, but their revolutionary dreams faded. As each movement went its own way, the idea of a New Left united by a common radical commitment faded, too. Activists reacted differently. To some, this was a period of collapse, symbolized by the disappearance of sds, sncc, and other groups; government repression; and the dispersion of radical energies. Others remembered the victories, whether ending the war or winning abortion rights, and saw the New Left’s end as the beginning of long-term gains in power. There was one definite closure in these years: the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. The antiwar movement was the common ground shared by all activists, from Betty Friedan to Bobby Seale. With the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973 and Nixon’s resignation in 1974, that common cause was gone. Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, asserted in September 1974 that “our long national nightmare is over.” He was referring not just to Watergate but also to the war in Vietnam and the confrontations at home. His expression of relief spoke to the desire for civic peace and the diminished possibility of a radical upsurge.