Culture of the 70’s
Unit VI- U.S. Cultural History
FACTS about this decade.
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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
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Watergate forced a president to resign or be impeached.
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SALT I, the first series of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, extended
from November 1969 to May 1972. During that period the United
States and the Soviet Union negotiated the first agreements to place
limits and restraints on some of their central and most important
armaments.
Education
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Social movements, particularly the anti-war movement,
were highly visible on college and university campuses.
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The Kent State massacre was the most devastating event,
with four students gunned down by Ohio National
Guardsmen attempting to stem the anti-war
demonstrations.
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Mandatory busing to achieve racial school integration,
particularly in Boston and other Northeastern cities,
often led to violence and a disruption of the educational
process.
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On a positive educational note, Congress guaranteed
equal educational access to the handicapped with the
Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.
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Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Ed. (1971)-
busing can be used as a tool to desegregate schools
Fads
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Mood rings, lava lamps, Rubik's
cube, Sea Monkeys, smiley face
stickers, and pet rocks all
captured the imagination of
Americans during this decade.
The wildest fad surely was
streaking nude through very
public places! Families
vacationed in station wagons
and everyone wanted an RV.
Fashion
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The men sported shoulder length hair.
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Non-traditional clothing became the rage, including
bellbottom pants, hip huggers, colorful patches, hot
pants, platform shoes, earth shoes, clogs, T-shirts, and
gypsy dresses. Knits and denims were the fabrics of
choice.

Leisure suits for men became commonplace, and women
were fashionable in everything from ankle-length
grandmother dresses to hot pants and micro-miniskirts.
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The movie Annie Hall (1977) even inspired a fashion
trend with women sporting traditional men's clothing
such as derby hats, tweed jackets, and neckties worn
with baggy pants or skirts.
The movies
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The Seventies was the decade of the big comeback for the movies. After
years of box office erosion caused by the popularity of television, a
combination of blockbuster movies and new technologies such as
Panavision and Dolby sound brought the masses back to the movies. The
sci-fi adventure and spectacular special effects of George Lucas's Star Wars
made it one of the highest grossing films ever.
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Other memorable movies were the disaster movies, Towering Inferno,
Earthquake, Poseidon Adventure, and Airport. Sylvester Stallone's Rocky
reaffirmed the American dream and gave people a hero with a "little guy
comes out on top" plot. The Godfather spawned multiple sequels. There
also was the terror of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, the chilling Exorcist, and the
moving Kramer vs. Kramer. There was a definite public yearning for
simpler, more innocent times as evidenced by the popularity of the movies,
American Graffiti and Grease, which both presented a romanticized view
of the Fifties. Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta fueled the "disco
fever" already sweeping the music and dance club scenes; and the nation's
experience in the Vietnam War and its aftermath influenced the themes of
several movies, including Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, and Apocalypse
Now.
Television and the
movies
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Television came of age in the Seventies as topics once considered taboo were
broached on the airwaves for the first time. Leading the way was the
humorous social satire of All in the Family which had plots on many
controversial issues such as abortion, race, and homosexuality. Saturday
Night Live also satirized topics and people once thought of as off limits for
such treatment, such as sex and religion. Nothing was considered sacred.
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Television satellite news broadcasts from the frontlines of the conflict in
Vietnam continued to bring the horrors of war into the homes of millions of
Americans and intensified anti-war sentiment in the country. The
immensely popular TV miniseries Roots fostered an interest in genealogy, a
greater appreciation of whites for the plight of blacks, and an increased
interest in African American history. Happy Days, which followed the lives
of a group of fifties-era teenagers, was TV's primary nod to nostalgia, while
The Brady Bunch comically presented the contemporary family. The
relatively new publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting gained
viewers and stature with such fare as Sesame Street for children, and live
broadcasts of the Senate Watergate hearings.
Technology
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The floppy disc appeared in 1970, and the next year Intel
introduced the microprocessor, the "computer on a chip."
Apollo 17, the last manned craft to the moon, brought back 250
samples of rock and soil. Unmanned space probes explored the
moon, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Venus.
The U.S. Apollo 18 and the USSR's Soyuz 19 linked up in space
to conduct joint experiments.
Atari produced the first low-priced integrated circuit TV
games, and the videocassette recorder (VCR) changed home
entertainment forever. J
umbo jets revolutionized commercial flight, doubling passenger
capacity and increasing flight range to 6,000 miles.
The neutron bomb, which destroys living beings but leaves
buildings intact, was developed.
In medicine, ultrasound diagnostic techniques were developed.
The sites of DNA production on genes were discovered, and the
fledging research in genetic engineering was halted pending
development of safer techniques. The first test tube baby was
born, developed from an artificially inseminated egg implanted
in the mother's womb.
Music
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This decade saw the breakup of the Beatles and the death of Elvis
Presley, robbing rock of two major influences.
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Pop music splintered into a multitude of styles: soft-rock, hard
rock, country rock, folk rock, punk rock, shock rock - and
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The dance craze of the decade, disco!
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Among the top names in popular music were Aerosmith, the Bee
Gees, David Bowie, Jackson Browne, Alice Cooper, Eagles,
Electric Light Orchestra, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Fleetwood
Mac, Billy Joel, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, Pink
Floyd, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart,Three Dog
Night, and The Who.

"Easy listening" regained popularity with groups such as the
Carpenters, and Bob Marley gained a huge core of fans in the U.S.
performing Jamaican reggae music.
The end of the Vietnam War
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The U.S. had always had
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a definite reason to fight a war
Declared war on its enemies
a plan or strategy for fighting and winning
Signed a peace treaty that ended the war.
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1969-1973 most powerful- second march on
Washington and My Lai Massacre
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1970- Bombing of Cambodia, Kent State
and the Pentagon Papers.
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War Hawks, Doves, Draft evasion.
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Vietnamization and Domino Theory
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Cease Fire- January 1973
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Cease fire in Vietnam
People of South Vietnam to choose own
government.
Release of all American POW’s.
Rest of U.S. troops to withdrawn in 60 days
150,000 North Vietnamese troops to remain
in South Vietnam
Oil Embargo
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October 17, 1973, when Arab
members of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), in the midst of the Yom
Kippur War, announced that they
would no longer ship petroleum
to nations that had supported
Israel in its conflict with Egypt—
that is, to the United States and
its allies in Western Europe.

At around the same time, OPECmember states agreed to use their
leverage over the world pricesetting mechanism for oil to
quadruple world oil prices
Environment
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What is Love Canal? Simply put, it is an
incomplete canal, or just a trench, built in
western New York state in the 1890s. From
the 1930s through the 1950s, it was used as a
chemical waste dump. The surrounding land
was then sold and used for residential
purposes, and soon people began
complaining about strange odors and
possible health problems. Since the late
1970s, many studies have been done to
ascertain whether any health problems can
be traced to the waste dumped into Love
Canal.
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Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant is just
outside Harrisburg, Penn.
A failed valve, and a miss reading by a
worker caused the reactor to be exposed and
radiation to escape. No deaths or illnesses.
1/2 hour away from a meltdown.
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Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.
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The charismatic leader of Jonestown, was Jim
Jones, a preacher who set up the Peoples Temple in
San Francisco and ultimately moved his followers
to a more clandestine site in Guyana.
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While Jones was preaching in San Francisco, he
helped out many local and even national campaigns
and was seen as a healer which much power in the
community.
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However, once he had all of his members in
Jonestown, his personality changed. Away from the
constraints of American soil, Jonestown and its
members became very cultish.
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In 1978, 913 followers of Jim Jones and the Peoples
Temple committed a mass suicide in northern
Guyana at a site called, Jonestown. After making
all 276 children at Jonestown drink the punch, all
the adults proceeded. In the end, after Jones
apparently killed himself with a gunshot to the
head.
Watergate- the End of a
Presidency
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Pentagon Papers , Leaks
and the Plumbers
Political Spying and Dirty
Tricks
Break in at the Democratic
National Headquarters.
Cover-up
Saturday Night Massacre
Investigation
 Special Prosecutors
 Tapes
Impeachment
Resignation- “I am not a
crook.”
Patty Hearst and the SLA
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On Feb. 4, 1974, the SLA carried out its most notorious
crime — the kidnapping of 19-year-old newspaper heiress
Patricia Campbell Hearst, the granddaughter of publisher
William Randolph Hearst and an art history major at
Berkeley, it was a national media event.
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A SLA communiqué to a local newspaper said the group had
"served an arrest warrant" on Hearst, daughter of the
"corporate enemy of the people.”
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SLA's first demand: that every poor person in California be
given $70 in free food. The estimated cost of such a food
distribution would be $400 million. Instead a food donation
program was set that provided $2 million in food.
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The SLA robbed a Hibernia Bank branch in San Francisco.
Two surveillance cameras captured Hearst carrying a
carbine and shouting orders at terrified bank customers.
Two bystanders were shot during the robbery, which netted
the SLA $10,692. Urban Guerilla or Brainwashed?
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When she went on trial for bank robbery, she claimed the
SLA had brainwashed her into believing the FBI would kill
her if she tried to return to her parents. A jury rejected
Hearst's claim and she spent two years in prison before
President Carter commuted her sentence.
Apollo Missions
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Apollo 12 was launched at 11:22:00 a.m. EST on
November 14, 1969. The mission plan called for a
landing in the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of
Storms) area. Survey of the area, collect samples;
experiments; photographs
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Apollo 13 was launched at 2:13:00 p.m. EST on April
11, 1970. None of the primary misson objectives was
accomplished. The mission was aborted after nearly
56 hours of flight
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The Apollo 14 Mission, was launched from Kennedy
Space Center, Florida, on January 31, 1971. To
explore, collect scientific data and material.
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The Apollo 15 Mission- explore over longer ranges,
more hours and more equipment.
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The Apollo 16 Mission- explore over longer ranges,
more hours (20) and more equipment and a lunar
rover-27 kilometers.
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The Apollo 17 Mission- the last of the Apollo missions.
Awesome midnight launch its flawless operation, its
72-hour lunar staytime, its deployment of scientific
instrumentation, its return of the richest collection of
lunar materials from any lunar site, its orbital science
coverage.