The nations most violent protest over public school textbooks began with an apparently straightforward event—the selection and adoption of books for the 1974-75 school year.

The textbook supporters generally believed that in an increasingly global society with interconnected economies, students needed to have access to the languages and ideas of diverse cultures. This included an obligation to challenge existing belief systems as well as to question the U.S. government. This concept was especially powerful in 1974, when the Watergate scandal was about to bring down a presidency.