70's History


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70's History

Time Line of Important Dates that are Important to Our Country

May 4, 1970 Four students killed when National Guardsmen opened fire during anti-war demonstrations at Kent State University in Ohio.
April 24, 1971 Huge anti-war march in Washington, D.C.
1971 Daniel Ellsberg leaks the Pentagon Papers, massive collection of top-secret government documents, whose publication helps to discredit the Vietnam War policies of the Nixon administration.
May 17, 1972 Republican agents burglarize Democratic headquarters at Watergate.
May 29, 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) signed by U.S. & Soviets.
September 5 & 6, 1972 Nineteen people killed in terrorist siege at Munich Olympic Games.
1973 Arab oil embargo causes severe shortage and energy prices skyrocket.
January 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion.
October 10, 1973 Amid charges of corruption and scandal, VP Spiro Agnew pleads no contest to income tax evasion and resigns from office.
December 6, 1973 Gerald Ford, congressman from Michigan, becomes the new vice president.
1974 Economy in worst recession in 40 years.
August 9, 1974 Ford becomes the thirty-eighth president after Richard Nixon,facing impeachment charges, is forced to resign. Only president to not have elected to the position.
1975 United Nations declares International Year of the Woman.
April 30, 1975 South Vietnam falls to Communist forces of North Vietnam.
July 4, 1976 The country commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with a spectacular bicentennial celebration.
1978 Residents of Love Canal, NY, evacuated due to dangerous toxic chemicals buried in the area.
November 19, 1978. American religious cult leader Jim Jones and 900 Peoples Temple followers die in mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.
March 28, 1979 Radioactive leak at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

FACTS about this decade

Population: 204,879,000
Unemployed in 1970: 4,088,000
National Debt: $382 billion
Average salary: $7,564
Food prices: milk, 33 cents a qt.; bread, 24 cents a loaf; round steak, $1.30 a pound
Life Expectancy: Male, 67.1; Female, 74.8

The History of The 1970's

The beginning of the 1970's was a time full of controversy. The Vietnam War still going on until 1973 and Nixon was caught in the Watergate scandal until 1974 when he resigned. Then it went on to new Presidents in Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. So the main theme of this decade was the Watergate to Post Watergate periods. It affected American people then in that in different ways. At the beginning of the 70's the Vietnam was still going. This incited many protests and riots that were spurred from conflicting beliefs about the war, and other protests and riots in the 60's. This also effected Americans because the of the Watergate scandal. Some government officials were sent to jail and Nixon probably would have been impeached if he hadn't resigned. The country also faced a big change after Nixon's resignation with the unexpected new president Gerald Ford. The Watergate affair left the country struggling to recover. The economy also suffered from stagflation: when inflation and unemployment rise, but the economy remains stalled and stagnant. To make matters worse, a revolution in Iran also caused oil and gas shortages. This theme also effected the rebellious youths and adults of the decade. They found a new type a dance party music called disco. Unfortunately for many people and musicians though, along with this were illegal drugs and promiscuous sex. This was a large carrier of diseases like the AIDS virus that was later discovered in 1981.

Lenny Conley ~ American History ~ May 19, 2004