Miscellaneous
People love to target the 1970s as the period in time in which the war on crime and drugs in modern America really heats up. There is some validity to this claim; "The War on Drugs" is formally declared by Richard Nixon in 1971. New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller passes some of the strictest drug laws the country has ever seen in 1973. For both Nixon and Reagan, their tough on crime policies are essential to their presidential victories. In this episode, we analyze how the 1970s and early 1980s shaped today's carceral state, while reminding listeners that these tough on crime politics have been present throughout much of America's history. Visit whatthefmagazine.wixsite.com/umich/podcast to check out any of the documents we referenced in this episode.