I wrote this report for a class I'm taking, and would like a little feedback from you JUers, if you wouldn't mind. We were told to write a report on the 1970s.....being the oldest in the class by probably 15 years at least, I had to laugh. I'm very likely the only one there with a clear memory of the 1970s.
The sad thing (for me) is, I wrote this report off the top of my head in about 3 hours.....no research needed. ~~~sigh~~~ Just a glance at some books and articles to check a few facts.
Anyway, just let me know what you think, and I'll let you know what I got. Thank you in advance.
The 70s
Any discussion of the 1970s must surely begin with a brief overview of the slow
process of Vietnamization, the Nixon administration's plan to at last extract the US
military forces from the debacle called the Vietnam War.
The war had begun, for the US, in the late 1950's, and had stretched across three decades
and the administrations of four US presidents; John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson,
whose war it "was", Richard M. Nixon, who struggled to bring us "peace with
honor", and Gerald R. Ford, who oversaw the final extraction of US forces and the fall of
Saigon in 1975.
By 1970, the people of the US had been living with the war, as an almost constant daily
event on their televisions and radios, for eleven years. The war, never popular, had caused
a level of unrest never witnessed before. Peace demonstrators marched in protest of the
war and all who supported it, including the troops, whom they often referred to as
"babykillers".
This culture of demonstration came to a head on 4 May of 1970, with a demonstration at
Kent State University in Youngstown, Ohio. The protest resulted in the deaths of 4
unarmed university students by Ohio National Guardsmen.
The invasion of Cambodia, revealed in 1971 by the leaking of certain Defense Dept.
documents to the press by Daniel Ellsberg, a former DoD analyst, caused a new level of
outcry and protest from the war-weary US populace.
By 1973, the Nixon Adminstration had managed to bring the North Vietnamese back to
the peace table by means of intensified air attacks on northern cities and centers of
population and industry, especially Hanoi, the capitol. The US had begun to turn the war
over to the South Vietnamese government, a move which many said should have been
made years before. Training and supply of South Vietnamese troops and forces were still
being managed by US overseers, including Special Forces Green Berets and Pentagon
representatives, but it became apparent that the will and ability to fight was not in the
South Vietnamese troops, many of which were conscripts taken by force off the street by
agents of their own government.
As the number of US forces dwindled, the North began to make great gains in territory
advancement. By 1975, Hanoi had taken most of its Southern enemy, and in April of that
year, took Saigon, ending at last the long, painful war in Vietnam.
In 1972, after a series of visits and summits with leaders, Richard Nixon officially
recognized the People's Republic of China. This opened an era of detente and trade
relations which has continued to the present time.
Also in 1972, however, in June of that year, it was discovered that there had been a break-
in at the Watergate Hotel offices of the Democratic National Committee. This "third-rate
burglary" was soon revealed to have been the work of operatives hired by the "CRP", or
"Committee to Re-elect the President", in an effort to gain intelligence on the Democratic
party's methods and policies. An ever-increasing series of denials and misdirections by the
Nixon White House began soon after, as attempts were made to cover up the attempt and
the President's involvement. "What did the President know, and when did he know it"
became a frequently-heard question by reporters and Senate investigators.
As 1972 wound into 1973, and 1973 to 1974, it became clear that something decidedly
dirty had occurred. After a year and a half of senate and judicial hearings and
administration sackings, on 9 August of 1974, Richard M. Nixon, 37th president of the
United States, resigned his office and left Washigton DC aboard Air Force Two, the
presidential helicopter. As he boarded, he turned, smiled broadly, and gave a triumphant
wave. He was replaced with his vice-president, Gerald R. Ford, who served out the
remainder of Nixon's Term in office, to January of 1977.
The year 1976 is a milestone for two reasons: The first would have to be the Bi-
Centennial, or Two Hundredth birthday of the USA. All year, US history was a feature in
schools and in all the media, as America looked back on two centuries of existence as a
nation. The celebration culminated with a nationwide party on July 4th, with parades,
huge fireworks displays and patriotic speeches by the political leaders of the day.
1976 also saw the election of Democrat James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, a peanut farmer and former
state governor from Plains, Georgia. Carter was elected in the aftermath of what many
saw as the failure of Republican Coservativism, after the fiasco of the Watergate scandal
and the loss of the Vietnam War. Carter's presidency is still in debate by many; some look
to his Middle-East peace successes with the "Camp David Accord" between Egypt's
Anwar Sadat and Isreal's Menachim Begin as proof of his leadership. Still others point to
his poor performance in the area of economics, his mishandling of the Iranian Hostage and
energy crises and the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism during his tenure as proof of his
failure. At any rate, Carter's time in the White House was short, as he was replaced in the
1980 election, in a landslide victory, by Republican Ronald Reagan.
The "culture" of the 1970s has been called a "hang-over" of the wild, open late 1960s, in
which sexual freedom and drug use became prevalent among the young. These young
"hippies" came into the 1970s and brought their liberalistic attitudes and ideals with them.
This created a sub-culture with an atmosphere of virtually moral-free hedonism and
openness, in which centuries-old ideals and traditions were questioned and frequently
scrapped. Divorce became a way of life as couples decided that an unhappy marriage was
not worth working on, and went their separate ways. "Sex parties" among the middle and
upper class often replaced the cocktail and dinner parties of the 1950s and '60s, as "wife-
swapping" became a minor passtime of many "swinging" couples. This open attitude
toward sex and drug use is often said to be to blame for the AIDS epidemic that emerged
in the early 1980s and continues today.
A Supreme Court decision in 1973, in the Roe Vs. Wade case, declared abortion a
"fundamental right" of women and galvanized the anti-abortion movement.
This decision created a rift in society that still exists today along hotly, and often
violently, debated lines.
The 1970s in Hollywood saw the emergence of new forms of writing and movie-making
technique, many of which are still used today.
In 1972, two films were released that rocked the entertainment industry. The first, "The
Godfather", starring Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone and Al Pacino as his youngest
son, Michael. A gangster film, it told the story of the fictional Sicillian Corleone crime family and
was directed by Frances Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario
Puzo. The film is often called the greatest movie ever made, and garnered several Oscars,
including Best Actor for Brando (which he refused in protest of US treatment of American
Indians), and Best Picture of 1972. It was followed in 1974 by "The Godfather Part II",
which, also directed by Coppola and as a first in Hollywood, also won Best Picture.
Another movie released that year was a masterpiece of modern horror called "The
Exorcist". Starring Linda Blair and Max von Sydow, it was based on the book by William Peter Blatty and portrayed the story of a young girl
possessed by an evil spirit and the ritual of exorcism which rid her of that spirit. It was an
immediate hit, in which nuances of language, special effects and filming technique were
combined to create a claustrophobic atmosphere of fear and shock. It spawned numerous
knockoffs and sequels, none of which did justice to the original.
1975 saw the release of a film that became the first "blockbuster", or film that causes lines
to form around the block. "Jaws", a film about killer Great White shark, was directed by
Steven Spielberg, based on the novel by Peter Benchley. It played at local theaters for
months, becoming one of the top money-makers in history. It, like "The Exorcist", was
followed by several sequels, none of which lived up to the first.
The 1970s saw the release of several influencial pictures, including, besides the pictures
mentioned above, "Love Story" (1970), which starred Ryan O'Neal and Ali Macgraw as
lovers, and pioneered the many "tragically doomed love affair" films that followed.
"Dirty Harry" (1971), starred Clint Eastwood as San Francisco Police Inspector
Harry Callahan. Callahan, armed with his big, bad .44 Magnum, cleaned up the mean
streets to the cheers of the average man, who saw the film as a testament to the unbending
rule of the law in days past. Times were changing, and criminals were getting off on
technicalities that hadn't existed before. The film paved the way for the increasingly
violent action genre that followed, and was derided by critics, who called it "fascist".
Nonetheless, it too spawned a series of popular sequels that stretched well into the 1980s.
1976 saw the release of "Rocky", a movie which introduced the world to the average joe,
hard-luck hero, boxer Rocky Balboa. Starring and written by Sylvester Stallone, it was
directed by John G. Avildsen and won the Oscar for Best Picture. It gave Stallone his big
break, and gave the world a series of four sequels, which ended at last in 1989.
25 May of 1977 saw the opening of a film which would perhaps have the most impact on
modern filmmaking of any already mentioned. That film was "Star Wars".
Based on the adventures of Luke Skywalker and the redemption of his fallen father
Anakin, known in the films as the evil Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, it was created,
written, and directed by George Lucas (who also wrote and directed an earlier
visionary piece entitled "American Graffiti). It created a massive film and merchandising
franchise which requires no further description here.
In 1978, "Animal House" was released; its crude humor and protrayal of the juvenile
antics of the members of the Delta House fraternity at Faber College opened the door for
many more "gross-out" comedies which became staples of the 1980s, 90s and today.
A list of the most popular television shows of the 70s would include "Emergency", "All in
the Family", "M*A*S*H", "The Waltons", "The Streets of San Francisco", "Little House
on the Prairie", "Happy Days", "Laverne and Shirley," "Mork and Mindy" (both of which
were spinoffs of "Happy Days", incidentally), "Dallas", "The Mary Tyler Moore Show",
"The Carol Burnett Show", "Sonny and Cher", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "The
Bionic Woman", "The Dukes of Hazzard", "Welcome Back Kotter"......the list goes on.
Musical styles in the 1970s were wide-ranging and eclectic. Influential "Hard Rock" stars
and bands such as Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Kiss, AC/DC and Boston
were offset by "softer" groups and performers, like Elton John, Rod Stewart, David
Bowie, the Eagles, Styx, Queen and Kansas. In the mid-70s, the "Punk" revolution,
featuring "musicians" and groups like Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols, The Ramones,
The Clash and milder versions such as Blondie, along with the first acts of the Techno-
fueled "New Wave", arrived. These new styles would be a major influence on early-to
mid 1980s music.
Country music in the 70s often consisted of pop-styled tunes by such performers as
Charlie Rich, Charlie Pride, Conway Twitty, Freddie Fender, Kenny Rogers and Dolly
Parton. More of the "pure" country artists were Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Jr.,
George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.
The most "infamous" of the 70s music, however, deserves mention all to itself. "Disco",
as it was called, created a culture of its own, based around local dance clubs called,
appropriately, "Discos", short for "Discoteque". The thumping beat and driving lyrics of
disco music combined to bring people in droves to these clubs, where, along with
dancing, drugs and sex were frequently a thriving part of the culture. The most famous of
the discos, the "Mecca", of you will, was a club in New York City called "Studio 54".
There, the famous, very famous and not-so-famous (who often waited outside for hours to
get past the velvet rope) mingled. This culture of music and dancing as a lifestyle choice
was portrayed (some say parodied) in the 1977 film "Saturday Night Fever", starring John
Travolta. The film, a "blockbuster", showed the somewhat seamy side of disco,
spawned one sequel, "Staying Alive", in 1984, and gave Travolta his break in films.
"Disco" fashions included silk shirts opened to the lower chest, gold chains, and tight
pants. Polyester "Leisure Suits", accessorized with the affore-mentioned accoutrements,
were also a staple of the clubs. Short dresses with low necklines, flowy blouses, bell-
bottomed pantsuits, feathered hair styles and high heels were the "in" thing for women.
Life in the 1970s was much the same as in any other era; work, home, school and church
were all important factors in the lives of Americans. When computers that filled entire
rooms, VCRs no one could program, microwave ovens, refrigerators that made their
own ice cubes, clunky car phones and 13-channel cable TV were virtually
the apex of high-tech, people existed much as they had for generations. The introduction
of high technology into our everyday lives, which began in the 1980s, has complicated
things immensely. The years 1970 to 1979 were the last low-tech decade, and it often
seems that things, despite the social changes and economic, politcal and international
turmoil, were much better then."