1973 Oil Crisis

Examples of 1973 Oil Crisis in the following topics:

• Energy and Environmental Reform

  • Carter's Energy Crisis responses included deregulation of American oil production, leading to an increase in American oil production.
  • During the 1973 Oil Crisis Richard Nixon imposed price controls on domestic oil, and the resulting shortages caused gas lines.
  • Many politicians proposed gas rationing; one such proponent was Harry Hughes, Governor of Maryland, who proposed odd-even rationing (only people with an odd-numbered license plate could purchase gas on an odd-numbered day), as was used during the 1973 Oil Crisis.
  • Carter's speech argued the oil crisis was "the moral equivalent of war".
  • Additionally, as part of his administration's efforts at deregulation, Carter proposed removing price controls that had been imposed in the administration of Richard Nixon before the 1973 crisis.

• Domestic Policies

  • In 1973, during the Nixon Administration, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced supplies of oil available to the world market, in part because of deflation of the dollars they were receiving as a result of Nixon leaving the gold standard and in part as a reaction to America's sending of arms to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
  • This sparked the 1973 Oil Crisis and forced oil prices to rise sharply, spurring price inflation throughout the economy and slowing growth.
  • The lines were quelled through the lifting of price controls on gasoline, although oil controls remained until Reagan's presidency years later.
  • When the energy crisis set in, Carter was planning on delivering his fifth major speech on energy; however, he felt that the American people were no longer listening.
  • On July 15, 1979, Carter gave a nationally-televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a "crisis of confidence" among the American people.

• The Energy Crisis

  • In October 1973, the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or the OAPEC (consisting of the Arab members of OPEC, plus Egypt and Syria), proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur War; it lasted until March 1974.
  • In the United States, the retail price of a gallon of gasoline (petrol) rose from a national average of 38.5 cents in May 1973 to 55.1 cents in June 1974.
  • A few months later, the crisis eased.
  • The embargo was lifted in March 1974 after negotiations at the Washington Oil Summit, but the effects of the energy crisis lingered on throughout the 1970s.
  • This chart reveals the steep increase in oil prices related to the Energy Crisis of 1973.

• Nixon and Foreign Policy

  • In March of 1973, Nixon implied that the United States would intervene militarily if the communist side violated the ceasefire; however on June 4, 1973, the U.S.
  • Nixon had been a firm supporter of Kennedy in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • The war resulted in the 1973 oil crisis, in which Arab nations refused to sell crude oil to the U.S. in retaliation for its support of Israel.
  • In October of 1973, the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or the OAPEC, proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur War; it lasted until March of 1974.
  • The of the energy crisis lingered on throughout the 1970s, amid the weakening competitive position of the dollar in world markets.

• The Iranian Crisis

  • The Iranian hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
  • Mossadegh had sought greater Iranian control over the nation’s oil wealth, which was claimed by British imperialist companies.
  • As Iran’s oil revenue grew, especially after the 1973 oil embargo against the United States, the pace of its economic development and the size of its educated middle class also increased, and the country became less dependent on U.S. aid.
  • In the United States, some political analysts believe the crisis was a major reason for U.S.
  • Explain the background, resolution, and aftermath of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

• Interventions in Latin America and the Middle East

  • The U.S. halted Cuban sugar imports, on which Cuba's economy depended the most, and refused to supply its former trading partner with much needed oil, creating a devastating effect on the island's economy.
  • Relations between the U.S. and Cuba culminated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • This crisis showed that neither superpower was ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of the other's retaliation, and led to the first efforts at nuclear disarmament and improving relations.
  • The departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel, and the increasing importance of the oil industry, marked the creation of the modern Middle East.
  • The U.S. was the ultimate guarantor of the stability of the region, and from the 1950s, the dominant force in the oil industry.

• Economic Stagnation

  • The 1979 energy crisis ended this period of growth, however.
  • The sudden doubling of crude oil prices by OPEC, the world's leading oil exporting cartel, forced inflation up even higher, averaging 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980.
  • The sudden shortage of gasoline as the 1979 summer vacation season began exacerbated the problem and would come to symbolize the crisis among the public in general.
  • Oil imports, which had reached a record 2.4 billion barrels in 1977 (50% of supply), declined by half from 1979 to 1983.
  • Evaluate the ups and downs of the economy during the Carter Administration, including the effects of the energy crisis.

• The Recession

  • However, in North America, the lumbering savings and loans industry was beginning to collapse, leading to a savings and loan crisis which put the financial well-being of millions of Americans in jeopardy.
  • It soon turned out that the quick recovery was illusory, and by 1990, economic malaise had returned with the beginning of the Gulf War and the resulting 1990 spike in the price of oil, which increased inflation (albeit to less of a degree than did the oil crisis of ten years earlier).

• The Gay Rights Movement

  • In 1973, Segal disrupted the CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite, an event covered in newspapers across the country and viewed by 60% of American households, many seeing or hearing about homosexuality for the first time.
  • The connection between gay men and GRID—later renamed human immunodeficiency virus/autoimmune deficiency syndrome, or HIV/AIDS—led heterosexuals to largely ignore the growing health crisis in the country, wrongly assuming they were safe from its effects.
  • President Reagan, always politically careful, was reluctant to speak openly about the developing crisis, even as thousands faced certain death from the disease.
  • In 1982, New York City men formed the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), a volunteer organization that operated an information hotline, provided counseling and legal assistance, and raised money for people with HIV/AIDS.
  • One of the images adopted by the group, a pink triangle paired with the phrase “Silence = Death,” captured media attention and quickly became the symbol of the AIDS crisis.

• The Ford Administration

  • Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the thirty-eighth President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and prior to this the fortieth Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974.
  • The Cyprus dispute turned into a crisis with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, causing extreme strain within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance.
  • American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973.