Comparative Questions

COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS

Document Links

Document 30-1: The Watergate Tapes: Nixon, Dean, and Haldeman Discuss the Cancer within the Presidency

Document 30-2: Roe v. Wade and Abortion Rights

Document 30-3: Norma McCorvey Explains How She Became "Roe" of Roe v. Wade

Document 30-4: President Ronald Reagan Defends American Morality

Document 30-5: A Vietnamese Immigrant on the West Coast

  1. How did the concept of national security discussed by Richard Nixon compare with the optimistic complacency of Ronald Reagan and the experiences of the Vietnamese immigrant? What did each identify as the source of security? Why?
  2. To what extent did the Watergate tapes reflect changes in, or deviations from, American ideas about democracy, which later resurfaced in Reagan's speech? What special interests are revealed in each? What views of government?
  3. How did the constitutional protection of privacy in Roe v. Wade extend to the lives of women like Norma McCorvey and working people such as the Vietnamese immigrant? How did protection of privacy influence politicians and the government, as documented in the Watergate tapes?
  4. To what extent did Norma McCorvey's criticisms of Roe v. Wade deal with the issues the Supreme Court considered? Would the court be likely to consider McCorvey's arguments legally persuasive? Why or why not?
  5. To what extent do the documents in this chapter provide evidence of a retreat from liberalism? How many of the sentiments expressed in this chapter seem to be reactions to the ideals and actions of the Vietnam era?