What were big events or things in the 70's?
Asked by
jballzz (
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May 24th, 2011
I’m doing a collage in history, and the decade I have is the 70’s. What are some big events, issues, etc. in the 70’s that I can add to my collage?
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30 Answers
The Vietnam War, Watergate
1973 oil crisis
Disco
Punk
The US Bicentennial
Farrah Fawcett’s swimsuit poster
Leisure suits
CB radios
Nixon’s resignation
Jonestown
Inflation
Steve Martin
Blaxploitation flicks
Compact cars
John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and disco balls.
The fall of the Shah
Nixon in China
Jaws
Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King
All In The Family
but no story was bigger than Watergate, and its destruction of Nixon. It was operaettic, Shakesperian, and jaw dropping.
Groucho Marx passing away.
The emergence of TV shows such as MASH and Saturday Night Live.
The end of mandatory military service (AKA “the draft” back then).
The decriminalization of the possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana in California.
The erection of the Sears Tower in Chicago, which at that time became the world’s tallest building.
The construction of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in NYC.
The murders committed by the Son of Sam serial killer in NYC.
The development of the mobile phone.
The national implementation of a 55 MPH speed limit in the US.
The Bicentennial
Roe. vs. Wade
@Brian1946 I even remember the slogan when they changed the driving speed limit to 55. “Arrive alive, drive 55.”
Flower power was still around in the early 70’s.
The Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany
@chyna
”“Arrive alive, drive 55.”
Good recall. :-)
One cool thing about that slogan is that it also works for 85. ;-)
The yellow smiley face, the Bee Gees and Charlie’s Angels
Sesame Street began in the 70’s:) Also, the Apollo program ended and the Beetles split up.
is the 70’s too early for SNL or am I thinking of the 80’s. (either way I wasn’t alive I’m a secondary source haha)
@dxs
“is the 70’s too early for SNL”
SNL first aired in October, 1975.
Are you looking for global or just country-specific answers?
Throw in some Bay City Rollers, R. Crumb, and cocaine for good measure.
Nixon resigning, Beatles break up, Kent State shootings, pocket calculators replace slide rules (the first HP calculator was around $360 – as much as a semester of college tuition at a state school), Arthur Ashe wins Wimbledon, first Star Wars movie
You might want to compare prices to today. I got my license in 1973. Shortly thereafter, gas went from 23 cents a gallon to 45 cents a gallon. I was horrified.
Reminds me of Gerald Ford and his WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now!).
Feminism came into its own in the West from the early 1970s onward.
Whip Inflation Now!
The kidnapping of American Embassy workers in Teheran in 1979.
The big plane crash in Tenerife, 1977. It’s still the crash with the largest loss of life ever (just from the plane crash itself, not 9/11).
Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army
Nobody has made a movie yet?!
LOL Tanya! I used to talk to her every day!
Jimmy Carter
oil price crises
emphasis on small cars that goes nowhere
The Great American Dream Machine on PBS. Starring Chevy Chase( before SNL).
By 1975 the sales of microwaves exceeded gas ovens.
The Oil Crisis
The end of the Cultural Revolution in China
The election of Margaret Thatcher
The rise of Palestinian Asymmetric Warfare
Carlos Alberto’s wonder goal in the 1970 World Cup Final
Since my post was inordinately Americentric, I’d like to add:
Nadia Comăneci’s perfect score (10.0) on the uneven bars, at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Alright, thanks everyone. I used most of the suggestions provided and I“m pretty sure I got a good grade on it :)
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