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During the 1970's the United States underwent some profound changes. First a Vice President and then a President resigned under threat of impeachment. The Vietnam War continued to divide the country even after the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973 put an end to U.S. military participation in the war. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. Crime increased despite Nixon's pledge to make law and order a top priority of his presidency. Increased immigration followed passage of the Immigration Act of 1965, which reformed an earlier policy that favored western Europeans.
People from Third World countries came to this country in search of economic betterment or to escape political repression. Women, minorities, and gays increasingly demanded full legal equality and privileges in society. Women expanded their involvement in politics. The proportion of women in state legislatures tripled. Women surpassed men in college enrollment in 1979. However, the rising divorce rate left an increasing number of women as sole breadwinners and forced more and more of them into poverty. African-Americans also made their presence felt as the number of black members in Congress increased, and cities such as Los Angeles, Detroit, and Atlanta elected their first African-American mayors. Affirmative action became a controversial policy as minorities and women asserted their rights to jobs and quality education. Native Americans began to demand attention to their plight. In 1975 the Indian Self-Determination Act encouraged Indians to take control of their own education and promote their tribal customs. Presidents: Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974), Gerald Ford (1974-1977), and Jimmy Carter (1977-1981). Houston's U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan gained national prominence with her eloquence during the Watergate investigation and hearings which resulted in impeachment proceedings against Nixon.
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Fads of the 1970's
A popular shampoo that makes your hair smell 'terrific' after you used it. learn more Happy Days - The A hit tv show about life in the 1950's. Fonzie was a James Dean type ultra cool guy who rode a motorcycle and could always get a date. learn more Dashboard Hula Girls A small hula girl doll that attached to your car dashboard and danced when the car moved.Made popular by California surfers. view image Cork Pop Guns When you would shoot it, the cork would pop out and hit your assailant. view image Rocky Horror Picture Show For well over 25 years, fans have flocked to midnight screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The original movie came out in 1973 as a British musical. It was then turned into a motion picture, which was released around the time of the dying our glam rock scene. Then, it was to be screened "only" at midnight, later the decision turned out to be a stroke of genius. Midnight movie going had become popular among young film buffs and turned the movie into an instant cult classic. learn more Glass Eating Glass was not safe around Tim Rossovich, an all-pro linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles. Rossovich liked to show the public how tough he was by eating beer mugs and light bulbs. As an undergrad at the University of Southern California, Rossovich was infamous for pulling crazy stunts. But it wasn't until his pro career was underway that his strangest stunt received media coverage. He amazed spectators with his ability to snack on glass without killing himself. Then a sophomore at Harvard University decided to challenge his prowess by munching a light bulb himself. Soon, other students were following suit. But Harvard authorities quickly terminated the budding trend, and the fun was over. learn more EST Therapy When feeling insecure or unhappy with your life, people would have others just verbally abuse and degrade them until you felt worthless. Then they would be rebuilt and reborn as a useful member of society. Basic tenets of EST is (Erhard Seminars Training), a therapy developed by an encyclopedia salesman named Warner Erhard. His first training sessions were held in a small apartment, soon to take place in the conference rooms of expensive hotels. learn more Acupuncture Found by President Nixon in 1971 on a trip to Mainland China. He returned home and brought with him a new acceptance of many things Chinese - including approaches to medicine. Its proponents believe that an imbalance in the body's tch'i (energy), the result of illness or injury, can be adjusted by inserting needles into certain strategic acupuncture points. There are over 900 of these points. Many have claimed that acupuncture works when no other type of medical treatment or procedure seems to do the trick. Also has been used to control diet and as an anesthetic. learn more Disco Music Saturday Night Fever (John Travolta), ABBA, Donna Summer, The Village People, Dance Fever, Bee Gees. learn more The video game revolution began with Pong in 1972, which spawned Atari (1978) and those little hand-held football games. learn more Mopeds In 1974, the United States was in the midst of a national fuel crisis due to the OPEC oil embargo. Travelers were forced to wait in lines for hours just to get a tank of gas. Most cars to that point were not very fuel-efficient and people looked for a new method of transportation, which could allow them to travel efficiently and reasonably. The moped, which was half bicycle / half motorcycle had existed for years in Europe but had not made it to the United States, in part because of safety restrictions implemented by the Department of Transportation. In 1972, Serge Seguin of France wrote his Masters thesis on the European moped. After receiving two mopeds and a small amount of money from a company called Motobecane, Seguin traveled throughout the United States promoting the vehicle. After lobbying Congress on its fuel efficiency benefits, Seguin was able to get more than 30 states to devise a specific vehicle classification for the bikes. The bikes had very small engines and often could not exceed 40 miles per hours. What they could do, however, was run for up to 220 miles on one tank of gas. Because of the problems caused by the aforementioned energy crisis, mopeds caught on like wildfire, with more than 250,000 people in the United States owning one in 1977. Alas, as gas prices eventually moved down and automobile companies devised more efficient cars, the mopeds popularity and usefulness began to fade. learn more Pet Rocks More than a million people bought Pet Rocks as Christmas gifts in 1975. Gary Dahl, of Los Gatos, California, had the idea while joking with friends about his easy-to-care-for pet, a rock. This pet ate nothing and didn't bark or chew the furniture. Pet Rocks were sold with a funny manual that included tips on how to handle an excited rock and how to teach it tricks. By 1976, Gary Dahl was a millionaire and Pet Rocks were the nation's favorite pet. learn more Wizzers They looked like a top and you could roll the tip across the floor to get just the tip spinning and then set it down and watch it go. view image Sayings Do Your Own Thing!: - Be yourself! Do what you want to do. "I got a few acres out in the country where I can do my own thing". Laid Back: - Someone relaxed, easygoing. A place that's cool. "I've been to the commune, it's real laid back." Dig It : - To understand. "Dig it?" To like something. "I really dig the Monkees." If it feels good ...do it: - Don't be inhibited, explore what life has in store for you Streakers People started the craze of taking off all their clothes and running across the field at major sporting events. A streaker ran across the stage of the Oscars in 1973 while it was being broadcast live on TV. There was even a 1970's song written about streakers called "The Streaker". Streaking was popular for only a couple years and soon faded, probably because people were being arrested for streaking. learn more String Art Considered to be pop art, this fad was a challenge. You could choose from a variety of unassembled kits ranging from ships to animals. The kits included a board (often covered in black velvet), nails, and enough string that had to be wound around the nails as instructed. They took many hours to complete and could hung on the wall as a conversation piece. learn more 8-Track Tape Player Developed as a car accessory to give drivers an alternate to listening to radio stations so they could listen to their own song selections. Motorola manufactured the first players, which were installed in Ford automobiles. Many record companies were quick to put many of their artists on the new format, but by the mid 1970's, most record labels had stopped producing music in 8-Track tape format because the quality was not good and they were bulky and inconvenient. Cassette tapes and vinyl records replaced 8-Tracks by the late 1970's. learn more Earth Shoes Earth Shoes were designed to promote a natural and healthier way of walking. Wearing the shoes would result in a better posture and help with back pain and breathing. learn more |