Decades ProjectBy Samuel Buchner

Key Political Figures One of the most influential people of the 1970’s was

Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon had accomplished milestones for America as a President. One thing he did was end the war draft. Which is the mandatory service that all able body Americans were supposed to do, by serving their country by being a part of the military during a time of war. Richard Nixon ended the cold war that America was in. He reduced tensions with not only China and US. But he also did with the U.S.S.R. His meetings with U.S.S.R. leaders lead to a treaty that stated less nuclear weapons. So as you can see with many facts and statements Richard Nixon was definitely one of the biggest Key Political Figures.

Nixons Speach Link

Trends And Fads In the 1970’s their was a ton of fads. From hopscotch, slip n slide to

waterbeds and trans –ams. Games and toys became more about action with the boys. Such as GI Joe and other “action” figures. Girls toys became about elegance and being “pretty.” That’s when more and more kids get Barbie Dolls and boys get Action figures. Besides dolls and figurines other fads were coming out such as play-doh, hopscotch and very early video games. In fact the first one in the 1970’s was invented. Its name was “pong.” Those are some of the Fads.

Many trends in the 1970’s were lets say interesting in today’s standards. You would think that many guys may have borrowed their sister’s daisy dukes. Girls were wearing things such as leather leotards. Or cheetah print. Both men and women were wearing bell bottoms. Even to this day my mom wears them. From ascots to turtlenecks. People were wearing ripped jeans and t-shirts. Pretty much exactly like Scooby-doos cast. Those were some trends and Fads of the 1970’s.

Speaches of the 1970’s Probably the biggest speech of the 1970’s

was given by Richard Nixon. It was a speech telling about his resignation. He was giving this speech due to the Watergate scandal. He speaks about the Gov. not feeling he is doing a proper job. He gave this speech on account of the near 90 percent chance he would be impeached. So he decided to resign and save some dignity and respect he had left. That was probably the biggest speech given in the 1970’s.

Popular Entertainment There were many forms of entertainment in the

1970’s simaler to today. One being baseball. Basketball was another along with football. People loved to go out. Like go to the horse races where they could blow their money on bets. Maybe go to the movies or a concert to see their favorite bands or artists. Such as Queen. Lynard Skynard and other bands such as Billy Joel and many more. Many popular entertainers were also on tv. One being Regis Philbin who was on a talkshow for more than 30 years unfortunately he has recently retired in 2012. Those are just a few entertainment done in the 70’s and people who entertained in the 70’s.

Popular Music There were many different genres of music in the 70’s. From hard

rock to soothing jazz. But one stood out, that being disco. It was a relatively short lived style of music. I guess the white suits with excessively big collers was an unattractive thing to the newer generations. Anyways other genres such as rock became very big and popular. One of the bigger bands were of course Queen who was famous for many songs one of the famous being “we are the champions.” Or Lynard Skynard known for “Sweet home Alabama.” You know theres many rock bands like Pink Floyd, Kansas, Rush, and many more. But Rock and Disco wasn’t the only music that was popular there was Punk. Which included artists such as the misfits, the Cars, the Sex Pistols and of course David Bowie who was known for Ziggy Stardust and more. Those are only some of the amazing musical events that happened in the 1970’s. Because during this time music was evolving and becoming a new form of true expression and metaphors through sound.

Important Figures and Happenings Some major sport events and people

were… U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz won an unprecedented seven gold medals at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Secretariat won the Triple Crown. In horse racing the horse won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and then the Belmont. Hank Aaron slammed in the 715th home run of his career. Topping the previous record set by Babe Ruth. These are only some of feats that were accomplished during the 1970’s.

Scientists and Inventors In the 70’s there were many useful inventions and

some that were not as useful. But non the less they still played some sort of a role. One being the Floppy Drive which was invented by Alan Shugart. This led to more storage on a smaller space, which gave us thumb drves and the flash drives we use today. The VCR was invented. And one of the most iconic hippie games/ activities was invented….hacky sack. But the biggest invention of the 1970’s was the cellular telephone. This invention changed history and to this day people are improving phones more and more. Those are some inventions and inventors of the 1970’s.

Significant Art Movements There was a lot of varieties of art in the 1970’s.

One type was natural, this being taking existing rocks and sticks, etc. and placing them in their natural in a spiral, square or other. Another form of art was definitely music. More and more people were using music as an art form to express themselves. There was also a big influence on art pieces from drugs. Men and women artist on drugs would often hallucinate and they would paint or sketch these visuals. Some artist would take paint and drip it onto a canvas these are know as drip paintings. And some nowadays are worth quite a lot. Those are only some of the many art movements in the 70’s.

Significant Books Copied from http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade70.html

Many of the books published in the 70's revolved around a general theme of man's alienation from his spiritual roots.  John Updike portrayed characters trying to find meaning in a society spiritually empty and in a state of moral decay. Joyce Carol Oates wrote of the search for spiritual meaning in the contemporary world, and  Kurt Vonnegut explored the loneliness of contemporary society and the power hungry materialism that pervaded it.  One of the strongest literary voices to emerge from this decade was Toni Morrison, who examined the Black American experience as never before.  The poetry of Rod McKuen was immensely popular.  No playwright dominated this decade of both social and artistic unrest.  Among the most acknowledged were Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, David Mamet, Christopher Durang, and Neil Simon.

Significant Events Although this particular event I’m going to talk

about took place in 1969 it set the tone for the entire 1970’s. The event I am speaking of is WoodStock. This event was two full days long of music, nonstop. There was over 400,000 attendance of hippies and music lovers. There was 33 musical acts. The Concert cost 2.5 million yet the hosts two boys with a love of music only mad 1.5 and owed a total of 1 million. Even to today’s standard the amount of people the cost and the set list of performers was amazing. It is considered to be the best concert of all time. This set the standard for 1970’s and sent people neck deep into sex drugs and rock and roll.

Woodstock

Significant Buisness One of the biggest industry/business during

the 1970’s was most definitely tobacco. Their were many ways that this industry was booming. One being that it was advertised as cool to smoke. In fact one of the brands was named Kool Cigarettes. Many of the advertisements portrayed young healthy people smoking or being “elegant.” Very little research was done on the harsh effects of cigarettes until after people were getting lung cancer. Creating addicts and lifetime customers. The cigarette and tobacco industry was significant in the 1970’s.

Ciggarette CommercialClick the link above for a Video.

Wars and Conflicts There was one war that stood out in the 70’s.

That war would be Vietnam. Their was a lot of casualties in Vietnam for both Americans and the Vietnamese. The war caused a rift between the American public. Ones who wanted the war and ones who believed it was immoral and wrong. Soldiers who came home from serving their country were called murderers and baby killers when it was their Gov. The war finally ended thanks to president Nixon who I had previously spoke about. And although there were so many lives lost the US gov. doesn’t call it a war. They call it a Political Dispute. Which disgusts me and there’s nothing you can dispute over that.

Timeline

1969-Woodstock 1970-The Beatles Break Up 1972-M*A*S*H premieres 1973-Abortion is legalized in

US,sears tower is built, Us pulls out of Vietnam

1974-Nixon resighns,terricotta army is discovered

1977-Elvis is found dead 1979-Sony introduces the walkman

Comparison Chart

Then Category Now .40 Gas Prices 3.50 .24 Bread 2.20 1.00 Milk 3.10 .70 Eggs 2.50 2.00 Movie Ticket 10.00 21 credits Grad. Requirements 22

credits

Works Cited Videos- Speech- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU1vL3TsIis Richard Nixons Accomplishments-http://wiki.answers.com/Q/

What_were_the_major_accomplishments_of_Richard_Nixon Fads of the 1970s- http://www.crazyfads.com/70s.htm Trends of the 1970s-

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/1970s-fashion-trends.html Nixons speech of resignation-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOGJJ7UKFM Top 10 singers-

http://wittalum09.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Singers-of-the-1970s Popular music in 1970- http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/70smusic.html Sports and events- http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade70.html MLA style-

Gillis, Charles. "1970-1979." American Cultural History. Lone Star College-Kingwood Library,     1999. Web. 1 Mar. 2011

Inventors/inventions http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/modern_3.htm Woodstock info-

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2009/07/19/fast-facts-woodstock/