1970

BEATLES BREAK UP

• April 10, 1970 announced break up
• Tensions and resentment could be seen from documentary “Let it Be”
• McCartney was working on a solo album- openly didn’t get along with new business manager Allen Klein
• Over 600 million albums sold
• 20 #1 U.S. singles
• 1 st appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show Feb 9, 1964
• U.S. had just lost Kennedy in Dallas in Novemberlooking to find something to boost morale
• Diverse in music- looked at Everly Brothers, Little
Richard, Gershwin, Cole Porter, etc for inspiration

DEATHS OF JIMI HENDRIX AND
JANIS JOPLIN

• Janis Joplin- died Oct 4, 1970 drug overdose
• She had formed a band Big Brother & the Holding Company
• Died of heroin overdose and alcohol
• Jimi Hendrix- died Sept 18, 1970 had taken 9 sleeping pills
• All Along the Watchtower- powerful version of Bob Dylan’s song
• Purple Haze, Star Spangled Banner
• Scratch, wah-wah, tried things no one else was willing to try
• Did not like it when people said he was pandering to white audiences. He said he wanted to “show them that music is universal- that there is no white rock or black rock.”
• He can be considered the first rock star (not first black rock star)

LINKS ABOUT JIMI HENDRIX http://www.guitarworld.com/watch-jimi-hendrixs-death-announcement-abcnews-video http://mic.com/articles/104162/jimi-hendrix-is-the-most-influential-guitarplayer-to-ever-live#.44ZEgkFoH

APOLLO 13 RETURNS

• April 11 take off- supposed to land on moon April 13
• James Lovell, John Swigert, Fred Haise
• Oxygen tank #2 blew up, caused damage to #1
• Oxygen stores were lost within three hours, loss of water, electrical power
• #2 tank had been in Apollo 10, when removed, dropped it and jarred it- internal fill line- didn’t realize it was damaged- prior to take off #2 showed issues, would not empty correctly
• “Houston, we’ve had a problem here” John Swigert

• Problem of build up of carbon dioxide from the spacecraft
• Canisters that they had that could remove the carbon dioxide would not fit into the lunar module environment system equipment
• People on the ground figured out how they could create a method by using only items available on the spacecraft
• Plastic bags, cardboard, parts from a lunar suit and a lot of tape
• Jim Lovell “The contraption wasn’t very handsome, but it worked.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YZnTL596Q
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm5nUEG5Bjo
• Conditions were difficult- cold (40 degrees) since they turned off most of the electrical systems to conserve power- moisture condensed on the interior heavily as well

1971

CHARLES MANSON CASE

LINKS ABOUT MANSON CASE http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/us/manson-family-murders-fast-facts/

• August 9, 1969- Roman Polanski’s home
• Four of the members of the Manson Family committed the murders
• Victims Sharon Tate (8 months pregnant), Wojciech
Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring
• Friend of Tate’s gardener (Steven Parent) spotted by intruders and killed
• Next night three Manson Family members killed Leno
LaBianca and wife Rosemary
• Smeared words from victims’ blood
• Manson had convinced the Family members he was the new
Messiah, they would need to hide in the desert to survive a nuclear attack
• Wanted to start a race war

• Defense attorney Ronald Hughes found dead- many feel it was by members of Manson Family
• Manson and followers carved “X” on foreheads during trial (it later morphed into a swastika)
• Convicted of first degree murder
• Sentenced to death- changed when death penalty was ended for time

WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
(MATCH ACTUALLY PLAYED IN 72)

• Bobby Fischer- U.S.
• Boris Spassky- Soviet Union
• Reykjavik, Iceland
• “Match of the Century”
• Ended years of Soviet domination in chess
• During the Cold War- uninterrupted Soviet chess champions back to 1948
• Fischer was bizarre- had erratic behavior and made many demands on venue (didn’t show for second of the matches because of issues with cameras- forced the third match to be moved)
• No American had won since 1888 (and that was a naturalized citizen- not native born)
• Fischer would sometimes makes comments that would not

VIDEO ERA BEGINS: PONG

• Modern video game industry came about because of Atari
• Co-founders Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell
• Pong Creator- Allan Alcorn
• Atari means “to hit a target” Japanese- associated with good fortune
• Home version would be available in 1975- until then they had created arcade cabinet- created the arcade culture
• Early days- original coin receptacle was made from a milk jug
• Atari employees had to be sent out to collect sacks of quarters from venues by hand- venue got 50%, Atari got 50%
• Steve Bristow- one early employee- would carry 30 pounds of coins ($600) in bags from bars- he and his wife carried a hatchet for protection

• Adults had negative view of Pinball in post WWII time
• Teens hung out by pinball machines
• Parents feared children would be corrupted by bright, noisy machine- it was time wasting
• Illegal in some areas
• When home version finally came out in 75- sold through Searsin 1 st year they sold 200,000 units

1972

WORLD TRADE CENTER

• It was finally completed in 1973- almost finished in 1972
• 110 stories each
• 50,000 workers in the Towers
• 200,000 daily visitors
• 10 million square feet of space
• Financial District of Manhattan
• Devotion to progress and the future
• Construction had begun in 1967
• Empire State Building owner Lawrence Wien was negative about the Towers- predicting a commercial airliner was likely to fly into the towers in a 1968 article

• Had to dig down 70 feet to reach bedrock since most of lower
Manhattan was largely landfill
• Last piece of steel was put in place on the north tower on Dec
23, 1970
• South tower topped off the next year
• Construction went on until April 1973- with an outdoor plaza created
• The towers were the tallest buildings in the world for less than one year
• Chicago’s Sears Tower passed them
• Windows on the World restaurant was opened on the 107 th floor in the north tower in 1976
• Bombed in 1993 attack- killed six people, 1000 injured
• TNT exploded in a rental van in the parking garage of the north tower

• July 2001, Port Authority leased the twin towers to Larry
Silverstein, New York City developer
• September 11, 2001
• First plane- hit north tower from 94 th to 98 th floors
• Second plane hit south tower 84 th floor and surrounding
• South tower crumbled at 9:59 a.m. (hit 56 minutes before)
• North tower fell at 10:28 a.m.

ELVIS: ALOHA FROM HAWAII

• Aired in over 40 countries
• Originally planned for 1972- ended up being January 1973
• The United States did not air the concert until April 4, 1973 because the original concert had taken place on the same day as the Super Bowl VII
• 1-1.5 billion viewers worldwide
• Most expensive entertainment special at that time- costing $2.5 million
• Presley wanted a concert to show the world because he felt it was impossible to play in every city on a tour
• The studios felt as if it would clash with a documentary that was going to be aired about him called Elvis on Tour- so they postponed when the concert would be held (this is why it changed from 1972 to 1973)

1973

PATTY HEARST

• 19 year old daughter of publishing billionaire William
Randolph Hearst
• Kidnapped from Berkeley apartment
• Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)- radical activist group
• SLA told Hearst to distribute $70 in food for every poor person from Santa Rosa to Los Angeles
• He agreed to give away $2 million to the poor in Oakland to have Patty released
• The Black Muslims were chosen to manage the food distribution
• Riot- people fought for the food (10,000 people showed up)
• Two months later- SLA robbed a bank in San Francisco
• She was one of the people with machine guns
• Stated she was now to be known as “Tania”

• Finally found in 1975
• Put on trial for armed robbery- convicted
• She claimed she was coerced, raped, isolated, brainwashed
• Sent to prison
• Served two years- Carter let her out
• Clinton pardoned her in January 2001

BAR CODE INTRODUCED

• Wanted to make life easier for the cashier
• Bar codes needed to be legible from almost any angle
• Would have to be cheap and easy to print
• Originally to automate the checkout- not be used for monitoring inventory for awhile- too few items would come labeled with codes
• June 26, 1974
• Marsh Supermarket- Troy, Ohio
• Single pack of chewing gum was the first retail product sold with the help of a scanner

TORNADO OUTBREAK

• Largest tornado outbreak on record in 24 hr time period until
2011
• Most violent tornado outbreak ever
• 30 F4/F5 tornadoes
• April 3-4, 1974
• 148 tornadoes in 13 states
• Cost over $600 in damages (1974 money)
• At one point there were 15 tornadoes occurring at the same time
• Killed 319 people (2011 killed 324)
• First F5 of the day hit Xenia- killed 34, injured 1,150
• Destroyed or damaged over half the city

• Xenia’s tornado- deadliest tornado of 1974 outbreak
• Formed around Bellbrook
• WHIO’s Gil Whitney announced to viewers about a hook on the rear of the storm- would become the tornado- ended up saving many lives as a result of the programming interruptionno prior warning, no tornado sirens in Xenia (10 installed following the tornado)
• Students had been having a practice on stage in high schoolfound cover- stage and most of high school was destroyed- a bus was dropped onto the stage
• Railroad cars were even lifted
• Recorded on film by one resident- 16 year old Bruce Boyd- 3
½ minute on 8 mm movie camera- no sound (they mixed his with an audio of the tornado)

• Nixon came to Xenia a few days later
• Only place he visited from the tornado
• Outbreak is what caused the passage of the Federal Disaster
Relief Act

SPORTS MOMENTS OF 1974

• Muhammad Ali v George Foreman
• October 30, 1974
• Ali becomes Heavyweight Champion of the world for the second time- knocks out George Foreman in the 8 th round
• Match was in Zaire
• Seven years before he had lost his title when the government accused him of draft dodging and the boxing commission took away his license
• The government of Zaire paid each fighter $5 million just to show up- they wanted the world to see their country’s beauty and natural resources
• 4:30 a.m.
• 60,000 spectators- organizers had timed the fight to overlap with prime time in the U.S.

• In the eighth round went after Foreman like “a bee harassing a bear”
• Knocked Foreman down- referee counted him out with just two seconds left in the round
• Ali retired in 1981
• Foreman retired in 1977, kept training, came back and became the oldest heavyweight champ in the history of boxing

• Hank Aaron broke the record for most home runs- set by
Babe Ruth, when he hit 715
• Babe Ruth had hit 714 in 8,399 at bats- Aaron hit 715 in
11,295
• Played for Atlanta Braves
• They were playing against the Dodgers- Al Downing was the pitcher
• There had been controversy about where he would hit 715.
He had hit 714 in Cincinnati and people questioned him sitting out the next game .

1975

MICROSOFT CREATED

LINKS ABOUT MICROSOFT https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/History/The-History-of-Microsoft-1975
(Multi part series about the creation of Microsoft- first video is about seven minutes long- Gates speaks about what movitvated them to write BASIC software) http://www.wired.com/2011/04/0404bill-gates-paul-allen-form-microsoft/
(This is a good article)

• MITS: Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Paul Allen
• Bill Gates
• BASIC: Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
• Simplifies computer language to teach students how to program

BETA VIDEO SYSTEM

• http://gizmodo.com/betamax-vs-vhs-how-sony-lost-theoriginal-home-video-1591900374
• Why did Beta lose to VHS?
• Beta was better- technical superiority- but VHS won because of other things
• VHS had slick marketing
• VHS was more simple, cheaper, lighter weight
• Deciding factor was recording length- Betamax only lasted for one hour, VHS was for three hours. Beta couldn’t tape a whole movie- VHS could

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON
FORD

• Sept 5, 1975 Charles Manson’s follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme tried to shoot Ford on the Capital grounds in Sacramento
• Secret Service took her down before she could shoot
• Sept 22, 1975 45 year old middle class housewife Sara Jane Mooreinvolved in extremist politics and was an FBI informant
• Fromme was convicted of trying to kill Ford- sentenced to life in prison
• Marine Vietnam veteran Bill Sipple had come to see Ford and deflected the shot so she did not shoot him. The news announced that the White House had not thanked Sipple after a few days and that maybe it was because he was gay. His family had not known, and he was alienated from his relatives. He sued The Chronicle for damages, but the case was dismissed.
He became an alcoholic and died at the age of 47. He eventually got a thank you note from the White House.

• Moore- sentenced to life in prison
• Was married five times
• Never expressed remorse
• Both were connected to the Manson Family

APOLLO-SOYUZ TEST PROJECT

• U.S. and Soviets worked together on mission
• Launched on same day
• Returned days apart
• Final flight of Apollo program
• Conducted experiments for two days
• Docking Module designed by both countries together- built in the U.S.
• Big problem was language difference- they learned each other’s language to communicate
• Helped with thawing of Cold War

1976

APPLE COMPUTER COMPANY

• Stephen Wozniak and Steve Jobs
• Wozniak- worked at Hewlett-Packard (made calculators)
• Jobs- worked for Atari
• Worked together to create “Breakout” game for Atari
• Jobs sold his Volkswagon van, Wozniak sold his programmable calculator so they could start off
• Made Apple I as first computer
• Worked out of Jobs’ parents’ house- went from garage to a room
• College dropouts
• Wozniak left Apple in 1983, Jobs left in 1985
• Apple asked Jobs to come back in later 90’s
• Introduced iBook, mp3 (iPod), and media software (iTunes)

NASA AND THE SPACE SHUTTLE

• Enterprise- Test Shuttle
• Never made it to space
• Built without engines or heat shield
• Not capable of spaceflight
• Test vehicle
• NASA had been researching flying winged vehicles from space, land like an aircraft
• Fans of Star Trek organized a campaign and sent letters to the
White House to name it Enterprise
• Most of original cast from Star Trek came to unveiling

• Used to help astronauts get a feel for how shuttle would fly
• Did taxi tests attached to a 747 passenger plane
• Aircraft would also carry shuttles back and forth between
California and Florida
• Enterprise worked on practice landing- Fred Haise (from
Apollo 13) commanded the practice landing
• Columbia was 1 st shuttle to go into space on April 12, 1981
• Challenger added 2 nd years later
• Enterprise was used to figure out how Columbia burned up

1977

BANK OF AMERICA AND VISA

http://about.bankofamerica.com/en-us/our-story/birth-ofmodern-credit-card.html#fbid=dMaM-XjxiyO
Short video clip about VISA- some photos are included
• 1 st nationally licensed credit card program
• Called BankAmericard
• Program grew- renamed VISA (recognized term meaning universal acceptance by other countries)
• Society demanded increased mobility and demand for convenience in purchasing power
• Bank of America used a computer program to create the credit card program in banking- until this credit cards through
American Express, Diners Card etc would have to be paid off at the end of each month

“ROOTS”

http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/roots-slavery-inamerica/
Interview about Roots
• Based on Alex Haley’s 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an
American Family
• 37 Emmy nominations, 9 wins
• Record for 3 rd highest rated episode for any tv series
• 2 nd most watched series finale ever
• Trace family from The Gambia, 1750 Kunte Kinte
• Caught at 15 years old, sold to a slave trader, placed on slave ship- took three months to get to Colonial America
• Sold at auction in Annapolis, Maryland
• Renamed Toby, taught English by older mentor slave named
Fiddler
• 8 night show
• Americans saw story of enslavement, liberation, horrors,

1978

LOUISE BROWN

• Louise Brown- world’s first test tube baby
• Born July 25, 1978
• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment
• Birth attracted controversy- religious leaders expressed concern about the use of artificial insemination and some felt that science was creating “Frankenbabies”
• Paved the way for millions of women to have this treatment

POPE JOHN PAUL II

• 1920-2005 died at 84 years old
• Born in Poland
• Karol Jozef Wojtyla
• During WWII he studied at a secret seminary so the Nazis would not find out
• 1978- First non-Italian Pope in more than 400 years
• Advocate for human rights
• Wanted to end capital punishment
• Helped with fall of communism in Poland
• Would not compromise on contraception
• 1981- shot twice in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican Cityrecovered and forgave