1970s
Decade of Scandals
Presidents of the U.S.
Richard Nixon
President throughout 1969 to 1974, he resigned from office because of the Watergate Scandal. Most importantly known for taking troops out of Vietnam, and forging relationships with Soviet Union and China.
Gerald Ford
He served from the years 1974 to 1977. As Nixon's vice president, he was the first unelected president in our nations history.
Jimmy Carter
Carter served as our president from 1977 to 1981. During his term, the Hostage Crisis in Tehran happened.
World Leaders
Mao Tse-Tung
This leader ruled People's Republic of China from 1949 till his death in 1976. He met President Nixon in 1972 to improve on relations between these two countries, two countries that consider each other foes for 25 years.
Leonid Brezhnev
President of the Soviet Union, he met Nixon in May of 1972. These two presidents discussed the joint space flight, and created the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.
Menachem Begin and Anwar el-Sadat
President Carter helped these two men, Begin--Minister of Israel, and el-Sadat-- President of Egypt negotiate peace between each country, solving a long blood feud.
Key Laws Passed
Occupational Safety and Health Act: OSHA
This act was enacted to create the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to enforce workplace labor laws to prevent injuries and deaths.
Three Acts Created by Natural Resource Defense Council
These three acts all deal with problems that affect nature from pollution.
A link below will give more information on each of these.
Supreme Court Decisions
Roe vs. Wade
This controversial case happened in 1973. This case discussed abortion and right to privacy for women. The decision was the Texas Law, illegal to abort unless to save women's life, violated personal liberty and privacy. It became legal to have abortions.
United States vs. Nixon
This case deals with the Watergate Scandal. The Supreme Court wanted President Nixon to release the recorded meetings from his office. Eventually Nixon released the full tapes, not the shortened versions.
Wars Fought
Vietnam War
United States entered this conflict to stop the spread of Communism. The war ended in 1975.
Yom Kippur War and the Energy Crisis
This conflict happened between Egypt and Israel. Egypt attacked Israel on a holy day, causing many causalities. They settled their differences at Camp David, with President Carter brokering the deal. President Nixon supported Israel which caused the Energy Crisis. The organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Counties set an embargo on oil shipments to the U.S. and the Netherlands. This caused the price of oil to increase, originally $3 to $12 for a barrel, and Japanese cars became more popular.
Technological Change
This decade showed a very large improvement in inventions. One of the big changes in technology was the use of NASA and what they sent into the atmosphere. NASA launched multiple different space probes to explore the outer space such as Pioneer 10. A list below shows some new inventions in this decade:
- Home VCR-March 30, 1970
- Genetic Engineering- February 12, 1973
- MRI Scanner- December 25 1977
- Cell Phone- June 12, 1979
Standard of Living
Lifestyle
The fashion of the 1970s were bellbottoms, Earth shoes, clogs, knits and denims and eyeglasses. The fads of this decade were Pet Rock's, Rubik's Cube, mood rings, Lava lamps and smiley faces. Teen life was greatly impacted by fads and celebrities and disco, and they did a lot of experimentation.
Entertainment
Music
Music in this decade was shown multiple different types of new music. A new type of music was southern rock by ZZ Top, and black metal and doom metal by the debut of Black Sabbath. In addition this decade had multiple deaths of rock musicians at young ages, such as Jimmi Hendrix- 28, Janis Joplin-27, Jim Morrison-27. This decade always is a large influx of Rock n' Roll bands, such as T-Rex, Kiss, Wild Cherry. The list below is the top songs heard throughout this decade:
- Bang a Gong (Get it On)- T-Rex
- Kung Fu Fighting- Carl Douglas
- Low Rider- War
- Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Margaritaville- Jimmy Buffet
This list shows that there was multiple different popular type of music such as Rock, Country, and Disco.
Sports
Movies and TV
The following pictures show the top three movies and TV shows from IMDb.
Halloween (1978)
A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets.
Carrie (1976)
A young, abused and timid 17-year-old girl discovers she has telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her school's prom by a humiliating prank.
The Rocky Picture Horror Show (1975)
A newly engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
M*A*S*H
The staff of an army hospital in the Korean war find that laughter is the best way to deal with their situation.
The Brady Bunch
The misadventures of a large family united when two widowed people married.
Mary Tyler Moore
The lives and trials of a young single woman and her friends, both at work and at home.
Scandals
Watergate Scandal
This scandal began on June 17, 1972 when five burglars were arrested for breaking and entering the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building. This resulted in Nixon trying to keep it secret in which he paid hush none, destroyed evidence and tried to stop the FBI from investigating. This event caused President Richard Nixon to resign in August of 1974.
Hostage Situation in Tehran
This event happened on November 4,1979 when Iranian students overran the US Embassy and took more than 60 Americans hostage. These hostages were held for 444 days, and were released the day after Ronald Reagan became President. President Carter had tried to solve this issue by politics and force, a failed rescue attempt, but did not accomplish anything.