The
1970s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1970, to December 31, 1979.
In the Western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow. The
hippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district...
culture, which started in the 1960s, peaked in the early
1970s and faded towards the middle part of the decade, which involved opposition to the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
, opposition to nuclear weapons, the advocacy of
world peaceWorld peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or peoples. World peace is a Utopian idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance which prevents warfare...
, and hostility to the authority of government and big business. The
environmentalistAn environmentalist supports any goal of the environmental movement, an information-based perspective on appropriate use of technology to prevent adverse effects on the environment...
movement began to increase dramatically in this period. Western countries experienced an economic recession due to
an oil crisisThe 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo" in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974...
caused by oil embargoes by Arab countries in the Middle East, while Japan's economy boomed. The crisis saw the first instance of
stagflationStagflation is an economic situation in which inflation and economic stagnation occur simultaneously and remain unchecked for a significant period of time. The portmanteau stagflation is generally attributed to British politician Iain Macleod, who coined the term in a speech to Parliament in 1965...
which began a political and economic trend of the replacement of Keynesian economic theory with neoliberal economic theory, in with the first neoliberal governments being created in Chile, where a military coup led by
Augusto PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean army general and later head of state as president. He was the Commander in Chief of the Chilean army from 1973 to 1998, president of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981 and President of the Republic from 1974 until the return of...
took place in 1973, and in the United Kingdom with election of the Conservative Party under
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
in 1979.
In Asia, affairs regarding the People's Republic of China changed significantly following the recognition of the PRC by the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, the death of
Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
and the beginning of market liberalization by Mao's successors. The economy of Japan witnessed a large boom in this period. The United States withdrew its military forces from their previous involvement in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
which had grown enormously unpopular. In 1979, the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
invaded
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
which led to an ongoing war for ten years. The 1970s saw an initial increase in violence in the Middle East as
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
declared war on
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, but in the late 1970s, the situation in the Middle East was fundamentally altered when Egypt signed a peace agreement with Israel which was followed by Egyptian President
Anwar SadatMuhammad Anwar Al Sadat, or Anwar El Sadat , was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination on 6 October 1981...
being assassinated. Political tensions in Iran exploded with the
Iranian RevolutionThe Iranian Revolution of 1979 or 1979 Islamic Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution...
which overthrew the Iranian monarchy and established an Islamic
theocracyTheocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Common Greek, “theocracy” means a...
in Iran.
The economies of much of the developing world continued to make steady progress in the early 1970s, because of the
green revolutionGreen Revolution refers to the transformation of agriculture that began in 1945. One significant factor in this revolution was the Mexican government's request to establish an agricultural research station to develop more varieties of wheat that could be used to feed the rapidly growing population...
. They might have thrived and become stable in the way that Europe recovered after the war through the
Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II...
; however, their economic growth was slowed by the
oil crisisThe 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo" in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974...
.
Worldwide trends
Developing nations that were rich in oil experienced economic growth; others, not so endowed, saw the economic strain of oil price hikes lead to economic decline, particularly in Africa where a number of moderately democratic states became dictatorial regimes. Many Middle Eastern democracies turned into regimes with pseudo-democratic governments. Several Asian countries also saw the rise of dictators, including Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
People were influenced by the rapid pace of societal change and the aspiration for a more egalitarian society in cultures that were long colonized and have an even longer history of hierarchical
social structureSocial structure is a term used in sociology and anthropology to refer to relationships or bonds between groups of individuals . Whereas 'structure' refers to "the macro", "agency" refers to "the micro"...
.
The first
face liftsA facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy , is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful appearance. It usually involves the removal of excess facial skin, with or without the tightening of underlying tissues, and the redraping of the skin on the patient's face and neck...
were attempted in the 1970s.
The
green revolutionGreen Revolution refers to the transformation of agriculture that began in 1945. One significant factor in this revolution was the Mexican government's request to establish an agricultural research station to develop more varieties of wheat that could be used to feed the rapidly growing population...
of the late 1960s brought about self sufficiency in food in many developing economies. At the same time an increasing number of people began to seek urban prosperity over agrarian life. This consequently saw the duality of transition of diverse interaction across social communities amid increasing information blockade across
social classSocial classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political economists and social historians...
.
Other common global ethos of the 1970s world include: increasingly flexible and varied gender roles for women in industrialized societies. More women could enter the work force. However, the gender role of men remained as that of a bread-winner. The period also saw the socioeconomic effect of an ever-increasing number of women entering the non-agrarian economic workforce. The
Iranian revolutionThe Iranian Revolution of 1979 or 1979 Islamic Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution...
also affected global attitudes to and among those of the Muslim faith toward the end of the 1970s.
The global experience of the cultural transition of the 1970s and an experience of a global
zeitgeistZeitgeist is a German language expression referring to "the spirit of the times" and/or "the spirit of the age." The word Zeitgeist is used to describe the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general...
revealed the interdependence of economies since World War II, in a world increasingly polarised between the United States and the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
.
Economy
The 1970s were perhaps the worst decade of
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
and certainly of American economic performance since the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Although there was no severe economic depression as witnessed in the 1930s, economic growth rates were considerably lower than previous decades. As a result, the 1970s adversely distinguished itself from the prosperous postwar period between 1945 and 1973. The high standing previously enjoyed by the American economy gradually diminished by years of high domestic spending (begun during the
Kennedy administrationJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and continued with the
Great SocietyThe Great Society was a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the United States on the initiative of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. New major spending programs that addressed education,...
campaign) and funding for the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. The oil shocks of 1973 and
1979The 1979 oil crisis in the United States occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his country in early 1979, allowing the Ayatollah Khomeini to gain control. The protests shattered the Iranian oil sector...
added to the existing ailments and conjured high inflation throughout much of the world for the rest of the decade. Soaring oil prices compelled most American businesses to raise their prices, with inflationary results. Manufacturing industries began to decline as a result, with the US running its last trade surplus (as of 2009) in 1975. In contrast, Japan's economy continued to expand and prosper during the decade, boosted by growing exports.
The average annual inflation rate from 1900 to 1970 was approximately 2.5%. From 1970, however, the average rate hit about 6%, topping out at 13.3% by 1979. This period is also known for "
stagflationStagflation is an economic situation in which inflation and economic stagnation occur simultaneously and remain unchecked for a significant period of time. The portmanteau stagflation is generally attributed to British politician Iain Macleod, who coined the term in a speech to Parliament in 1965...
", a phenomenon in which inflation and unemployment steadily increased, therefore leading to double-digit interest rates that rose to unprecedented levels (above 12% per year). The prime rate hit 21.5 in December 1980, the highest in history. By the time of 1980, when U.S. President
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
was running for re-election against
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
, the
misery indexThe misery index is an economic indicator, created by economist Arthur Okun, and found by adding the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation create economic and social costs for a country.
(the
sumSUM can refer to:* The State University of Management* Soccer United Marketing* Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures* StartUp-Manager* Software User’s Manual,as from DOD-STD-2 167A, and MIL-STD-498...
of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate) had reached an all-time high of 21.98%. The economic problems of the 1970s would result in a sluggish cynicism replacing the optimistic attitudes of the 1950s and 1960s. Faith in government was at an all-time low in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, as exemplified by the low voter turnout in the 1976 United States presidential election.
In Eastern Europe, Soviet-style command economies began showing signs of stagnation, in which successes were persistently dogged by setbacks. The oil shock increased East European, particularly Soviet, exports, but a growing inability to increase agricultural output caused growing concern to the governments of the
COMECONThe Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organization of communist states and a kind of Eastern Bloc equivalent to—but less geographically inclusive than—the European Economic Community...
block, and a growing dependence on food imported from Western nations.
On the other hand, export-driven economic development in the
Far EastThe Far East is a term used in English mostly equivalent to East Asia and Southeast Asia, sometimes to the inclusion of South Asia for economic and cultural reasons."Far East" came into use in European geopolitical discourse in...
, especially by the Four Asian Tigers (
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
,
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
,
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
, and
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
), resulted in rapid economic transformation and industrialization. Their abundance of cheap labor, combined with educational and other policy reforms, set the foundation for development in the region during the 1970s and beyond.
Oil crisis
Economically, the 1970s were marked by the energy crisis which peaked in 1973 and 1979 (see
1973 oil crisisThe 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo" in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974...
and 1979 oil crisis). After the first oil shock in 1973,
gasolineGasoline or petrol is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture, primarily used as fuel in internal combustion engines...
was rationed in many countries. Europe particularly depended on the Middle East for oil; the U.S. was also affected even though it had its own oil reserves. Many European countries introduced car-free days and weekends. In the U.S., customers with a license plate ending in an odd number were only allowed to buy gasoline on odd-numbered days, while even-numbered plate-holders could only purchase gasoline on even-numbered days. The realization that oil reserves were not endless and technological development was not
sustainableImage:Sustainable development.svg|right|300px|thumb|Scheme of sustainable development: at the confluence of three constituent parts.poly 138 194 148 219 164 240 182 257 219 277 263 291 261 311 264 331 272 351 283 366 300 383 316 394 287 408 261 417 224 424 182 426 154 423 119 415 87 403...
without potentially harming the environment ended the belief in limitless progress that had existed since the 19th century. As a result,
ecological awarenessEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
rose substantially. This had a huge affect on the economy at that time.
Environmentalism
The 1970s started a mainstream affirmation of the
environmental issuesEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
early activists from the 1960s, such as
Rachel CarsonRachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
and
Murray BookchinMurray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist, political and social philosopher, environmentalist/conservationist, atheist, speaker, and writer. For much of his life he called himself an anarchist, although as early as 1995 he privately renounced his identification with the anarchist...
had warned of. The
moon landingA moon landing is arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on September 13, 1959...
that had occurred at the end of the previous decade transmitted back concrete images of the Earth as an integrated, life-supporting system and shaped a public willingness to preserve nature. On April 22, 1970, the United States celebrated its first
Earth DayEarth Day is celebrated in the US on April 22 and is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970, and is celebrated in many countries every year...
in which over two thousand colleges and universities and roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools participated.
Feminism
The Feminist Movement in the United States which began in the 1960s carried over to the 1970s, and took a prominent role within society. The fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each state and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920.-Text:-History:...
(which legalized female
suffrageSuffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. It is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage may apply to elections, but also extends to initiatives and referendums...
) in 1970 was commemorated by the Women's Strike for Equality and other protests.
With the anthology
Sisterhood is PowerfulSisterhood Is Powerful , published in 1970, was one of the first widely available anthologies of early Second Wave radical feminist writings...
and other works, such as
Sexual PoliticsSexual Politics is a classic feminist text written by Kate Millett, said to be "the first book of academic feminist literary criticism", and "one of the first feminist books of this decade to raise nationwide male ire"....
, being published at the start of the decade, feminism started to reach a larger audience than ever before. In addition, the
Supreme CourtA supreme court is in some jurisdictions the highest judicial body within that jurisdiction's court system, whose rulings are not subject to further review by another court. The designations for such courts differ among jurisdictions...
's 1973 decision of
Roe v. WadeRoe v. Wade, , a landmark case decided by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion, is one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history.In Roe v...
that constitutionalized the right to an abortion brought the women's rights movement into the national political spotlight.
Gloria SteinemGloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist.Rising to national prominence as a feminist leader in 1969, Steinem was a columnist at New York magazine in the 1960s and broke ground in 1963 with an investigative report of how the women of Playboy were...
,
Betty FriedanBetty Friedan was an American writer, activist and feminist.A leading figure in the "Second Wave" of the U.S. Women's Movement, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is sometimes credited with sparking the "second wave" of feminism...
,
Betty FordElizabeth Anne "Betty" Bloomer Ford is the widow of former United States President Gerald R. Ford and served as the First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977. As first lady, Betty Ford was active in social policy and shattered precedents as a politically active presidential wife...
,
Shirley ChisholmShirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. She was a Congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress...
,
Bella AbzugBella Savitsky Abzug was an American lawyer, Congresswoman, social activist and a leader of the Women's Movement. In 1971 Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus...
,
Robin MorganRobin Morgan is a former child actor turned American radical feminist activist, writer, poet, and editor of Sisterhood is Powerful and Ms. Magazine....
, Kate Millet,
Elizabeth HoltzmanElizabeth Holtzman is an American lawyer and former Democratic politician, pioneer woman officeholder, four term U.S. Representative , two term District Attorney of Kings County , and New York City Comptroller Her role on the House Judiciary committee during the Watergate scandal drew national...
, amongst many others, led the movement for women's equality.
Most efforts of the movement, especially aims at social equality and repeal of the remaining oppressive, sexist laws, were successful. Doors of opportunity were more numerous and much further open than before as women gained unheard of success in
businessA business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself...
,
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
,
educationEducation in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual...
,
scienceScience is in its broadest sense to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome...
, the
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
, and even
the homeA homemaker handles household responsibilities as his or her main daily activity. While not an occupation in the traditional sense, as it is not usually undertaken for monetary remuneration, a homemaker may work full-time to maintain the home environment...
. Though most aims of the movement were successful, however, there were some significant failures, most notably the failure to ratify the
Equal Rights AmendmentThe Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which was intended to guarantee that equal rights under any federal, state, or local law could not be denied on account of sex...
to the U.S. Constitution with only three more states needed to ratify it (efforts to ratify ERA in the unratified states continues to this day and twenty-two states have adopted state ERAs). Also, the wage gap failed to close, but it did become smaller (there is also action still taken to ensure
pay equalityEqual pay for equal work is the concept that individuals doing the same work should receive the same remuneration regardless of their sex, race, sexuality, nationality or anything else....
to this day).
The original feminist movement largely ended in 1982 with the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment, and with new conservative leadership in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
. American women created a brief, but powerful,
third-waveThird-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study from 1990 to the present.The movement arose as a response to perceived possible failures and backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism of c. 1960s through the...
in the early 1990s which addressed sexual harrasment (inspired by the
Anita HillAnita Faye Hill is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and a former colleague of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas...
–
Clarence ThomasClarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, having served since 1991. Justice Thomas is the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court, after Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom he succeeded.Thomas grew up in Georgia, and graduated from...
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of 1991) and
violence against womenViolence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive...
. The results of the movement included a new awareness of such issues amongst women, and unprecedented numbers of women elected to public office,
particularly the United States SenateThe Year of the Woman was a popular label attached to 1992 after the election of a number of female Senators in the United States.The hotly contested Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas involving the allegations of Anita Hill raised the question of the dominance...
.
Civil rights
While still around in the 1970s, the African American Civil Rights Movement had achieved its main goals, lost much passion with the murders of the Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today. King is recognized as a martyr...
and Senator
Bobby KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician. He was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S...
, and backed into the shadows, largely to make way for the feminist revolution which it itself had overshadowed for most of the 1960s. The seventies were seen as the "woman's turn", though many feminists incorporated civil rights ideals into their movement. A courageous feminist who had inherited the leadership position of the civil rights movement from her husband,
Coretta Scott KingCoretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
, as leader of the black movement, called for an end to all discrimination, helping and encouraging the Woman's Liberation movement, and other movements as well. At the
National Women's ConferenceIn the spirit of the United Nations' proclamation that 1975 was the International Women's Year, on January 9, 1974, U.S. President Gerald Ford issued Executive Order 11832 creating a National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year 'to promote equality between men and women.'...
in 1977 a minority women's resolution, promoted by King and others, passed to ensure racial equality in the movement's goals, after which, in one of the most emotional moments of the Conference, women of all races joined hands and sung
"We Shall Overcome"We Shall Overcome" is a protest song that became a key anthem of the US civil rights movement. The lyrics of the song are derived from a gospel song by Reverend Charles Tindley. The song was published in 1947 as "We Will Overcome" in the People's Songs Bulletin...
". Similarly, the gay movement made a huge step forward in the 1970s with the election of political figures such as
Harvey MilkHarvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
to public office and the onslaught of anti-gay discrimination legislation passed and not passed during the decade. Many celebrities, including
Freddie MercuryFreddie Mercury was a British musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his vocal prowess and flamboyant performances...
and
Andy WarholAndrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, also "
came outComing out of the closet, or simply coming out, is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people disclosing their sexual orientation and gender identity...
" during this decade, bringing gay culture further into the limelight.
Science and technology
The 1970s witnessed an explosion in the understanding of solid-state physics, driven by the development of the
integrated circuitIn electronics, an integrated circuit is a miniaturized electronic circuit that has been manufactured in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
, and the
laserA laser is a device that emits light through a process called stimulated emission. Laser light is usually spatially coherent, which means that the light either is emitted in a narrow, low-divergence beam, or can be converted into one with the help of optical components such as lenses...
.
Stephen HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is a British theoretical physicist. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes...
developed his theories of black holes and the boundary-condition of the universe at this period. The biological sciences greatly advanced, with molecular biology, bacteriology, virology, and genetics achieving their modern forms in this decade. Biodiversity became a cause of major concern as habitat destruction, and
Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum...
's theory of
punctuated equilibriumPunctuated equilibrium is a theory in evolutionary biology which proposes that most sexually reproducing species will experience little evolutionary change for most of their geological history . When evolution occurs, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation...
revolutionized evolutionary thought.
Space Exploration
As the 1960s ended, the United States had made two successful manned lunar landings. Many Americans lost interest afterward, feeling that since the country had accomplished President Kennedy's goal of landing on the moon by the end of the '60s, there was no need for further missions. There was also a growing sentiment that the billions of dollars spent on the space program should be put to other uses. The moon landings continued through 1972, but the near loss of the Apollo 13 astronauts in April 1970 served to further anti-NASA feelings. Plans for missions up to Apollo 20 were canceled, and the remaining Apollo and Saturn hardware was used for the Skylab space station program in 1973–1974, and for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, which was carried out in July 1975. Many of the ambitious projects NASA had planned for the '70s were canceled amid heavy budget cutbacks, and instead it would devote most of the decade to the development of the space shuttle. ASTP was the last manned American space flight for the next five years. 1979 witnessed the spectacular reentry of Skylab over Australia. NASA had planned for a shuttle mission to the space station, but the shuttles were not ready to fly until 1981, too late to save it.
Meanwhile, the Soviets, having failed completely in their attempt at manned lunar landings, canceled the program in 1972. But by then, they had already started flying space stations. This would have problems of its own, especially the tragic loss of the Soyuz 11 crew in July 1971. It eventually proved a success, with missions as long as six months being conducted by the end of the decade.
In terms of unmanned missions, a variety of lunar and planetary probes were launched by the US and Soviet programs during the decade. The greatest success was that of the Voyagers, which took advantage of a rare alignment of the outer planets to visit all of them except Pluto by the end of the 1980s.
China entered the space race in 1970 with the launching of its first satellite, but technological backwardness and limited funds would prevent the country from becoming a significant force in space exploration. Japan launched a satellite for the first time in 1972. The European Space Agency was founded during the decade as well.
Computing
The birth of modern computing was in the 1970s, which saw the development of
the world's first general microprocessorThe Intel 4004 is a 4-bit central processing unit released by Intel Corporation in 1971. The 4004 is the first complete CPU on one chip, the first commercially available microprocessor, a feat made possible by the use of the new silicon gate technology allowing the integration of a higher number...
, the
C programming languageC is a general-purpose computer programming language developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, rudimentary
personal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
s, pocket calculators,
the first supercomputerThe Cray-1 was a supercomputer designed by a team including Seymour Cray for Cray Research. The first Cray-1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976, and it went on to become one of the best known and most successful supercomputers in history.-History:In the years 1968 to...
, and consumer video games. The 1970s were also the start of fiber optics, which transformed the communications industry. Microwave ovens became commercially available, as did VCRs.
Automobiles
The period is collectively known as 'The Era of Poor Quality Control' with respect to established manufacturers, and the period in which current market leading models from Europe first made their impact.
When the 1970s began, the muscle car was starting to die out. Rising insurance rates, safety concerns, and emissions controls would result in the near-extinction of performance cars by the middle of the decade. For similar reasons, convertibles faded from favor, and the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado would be the last American-built one until 1982, although at the time it was believed that they would never return. The 1973 oil embargo would also cause a move towards smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. Attempts were made to produce electric cars, but they were largely unsuccessful. Imports became a significant factor for the first time, and subcompact cars entered the market. The rise of imports (particularly Japanese cars) owed a great deal to the fuel crises, but also had a lot to do with the poor quality control that was characteristic of American cars during the decade.
Styling on cars became progressively more boxy and rectilinear during the 1970s, and coupes were the most popular body style. Wood paneling and shag carpets dominated interiors. American cars reached the largest sizes they would ever attain, but in 1977 General Motors staged an unprecedented coup by downsizing its full-sizers to more manageable dimensions. Ford followed suit two years later, but Chrysler could not, suffering from a worsening financial situation caused by various factors. By 1979, the company was near bankruptcy, and under its new president Lee Iaccoca (who had been fired from Ford the year before), made the controversial move of asking for a government bailout. Meanwhile, American Motors beat out the Big Three to a subcompact car (the Gremlin) in 1970, but its fortunes declined throughout the decade, forcing it into a partnership with the French automaker
RenaultRenault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. Due to its alliance with Nissan, it is currently the world's fourth largest automaker. Headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Renault owns the Romanian automaker Automobile Dacia and the Korean automaker Renault...
in 1979.
European car design underwent a renascence in the 1970s due to the need for performance with high fuel efficiency – designs such as the Volkswagen Golf & Passat, BMW 3, 5 and 7 series, and Mercedes Benz S-class appeared at the latter half of the decade. Ford Europe, specifically Ford Germany, also eclipsed the profits of its American mother company. The designs of Giorgetto Giugiaro became dominant, along with those of Marcello Gandini in Italy. The 1970s also saw the decline and practical failure of the British car industry – a combination of militant strikes, poor quality control effectively halted development at British Leyland, owner of all other British car companies during the 1970s.
Role of women in society
The role of women in society was profoundly altered with growing
feminismThe term Feminism can be used to describe an academic discourse, or to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing more rights and legal protection for women...
across the world and with the presence and rise of a significant number of women as heads of state outside of monarchies and heads of government in a number of countries across the world during the 1970s, many being the first women to hold such positions. Non-monarch women heads of state and heads of government in this period included
Isabel Martínez de PerónMaría Estela Martínez Cartas de Perón , better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, is a former President of Argentina. She was also the third wife of another former President, Juan Perón...
as the first woman President in
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
and the first woman non-monarch head of state in the
Western hemisphereThe Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the eastern hemisphere...
in 1974 until being deposed in 1976,
Elisabeth DomitienElisabeth Domitien was prime minister of the Central African Republic from 1975 to 1976. She was the first and to date only woman to hold the position....
becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the
Central African RepublicThe Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa...
,
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
continuing as Prime Minister of India until 1977 (and taking office again in 1980), Prime Minister
Golda MeirGolda Meir was the fourth prime minister of the State of Israel....
of
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
and acting Chairman
Soong Ching-lingSoong Ch'ing-ling , also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, was one of the three Soong sisters—who, along with their husbands, were amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. She was the Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China...
of the People's Republic of China continuing their leadership from the sixties,
Lidia Gueiler TejadaLidia Gueiler Tejada was the first female President of Bolivia, serving in an interim capacity from 1979 to 1980...
becoming the interim President of
BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
beginning from 1979 to 1980, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo becoming the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979, and
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
becoming the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. Both Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher would remain important political figures in the following decade in the 1980s.
Music
The early 1970s saw the rise of popular
soft rockSoft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock and roll to compose a softer, more toned-down sound for listening. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships...
/
pop rockPop rock is a mix of pop music and rock music utilizing a catchy pop style with light lyrics, and guitar-based songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
music, with recording artists such as
The CarpentersThe Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. Carpenters was the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and press materials is...
,
Elton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single, Candle in the Wind 1997, has sold over 37 million copies, becoming the...
,
James TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer–songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina...
,
John DenverJohn Denver was an American country music/folk singer-songwriter and folk rock musician. He was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the 1970s in terms of record sales, recording and releasing around 300 songs, of which about 200 were composed by him. He was named Poet Laureate of Colorado...
,
The EaglesEagles is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. The group chose the name Eagles as a nod to The Byrds...
,
AmericaAmerica is an English-American folk rock musical band, composed originally of members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek. The three members were barely past their teenage years when they became a musical sensation during 1972, with their main popularity during the early to mid 1970s and...
,
ChicagoChicago is an American pop rock/jazz fusion band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The band began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had a steady stream of hits...
,
The Doobie BrothersThe Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. They have sold over 30 million albums in the United States from the 1970s to the present. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
, Paul McCartney and Wings,
BreadBread was a late rock/pop band from Los Angeles, California. They placed 13 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1970 and 1977 and were a primary example of what later was labeled "soft rock", releasing a string of well-crafted, melodic soft rock singles.The band consisted of David Gates ,...
and
Steely DanSteely Dan is an American jazz-rock band centered on core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The band reached a peak of popularity in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
as well as the further rise of such popular, influential
rhythm and bluesRhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
(R&B) artists as multi-instrumentalist
Stevie WonderStevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Blind from birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for the label. He has recorded more than thirty U.S...
and the popular quintet
The Jackson 5The Jackson 5 were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana...
. A major event in music in the early 70s, was the death of popular rock star Jimi Hendrix.
Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
was found dead under circumstances which have never been fully explained.
FunkFunk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, an offshoot of blues, was also very popular. The mid-1970s also saw the rise of
discoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
music, which dominated during the last half of the decade with bands like the
Bee GeesThe Bee Gees were a singing trio of brothers — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The group was successful for most of its forty years of recording music, but the trio had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a harmonic "soft rock" act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as the foremost...
,
ABBAABBA was a pop music group formed in Sweden in November 1970. The band consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad , Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog. They topped the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982...
,
Boney MBoney M. is a pop and disco group created by record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's official lineup were Bobby Farrell , Liz Mitchell , Marcia Barrett and Maizie Williams .- History :Frank Farian , German schlager singer, wasn't...
,
Donna SummerDonna Summer is an American singer and songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of music, earning the title "The Queen of Disco"....
,
KC and the Sunshine BandKC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way ", " Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give...
, etc. In response to this, rock music became increasingly hard-edged with artists such as
Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands, helping to pioneer the genre...
and
Black SabbathBlack Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with a total of twenty-two former members...
.
MinimalismMinimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. As a specific movement in the arts it is identified with developments in post-World War II Western Art, most strongly with American...
also emerged, lead by composers such as
Philip GlassPhilip Morris Glass is an American music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .Although his music is often, though controversially, described as...
,
Steve ReichStephen Michael Reich is an American composer who pioneered the style of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns , and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts...
and
Michael NymanMichael Laurence Edward Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many movie scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's...
. This was a break from the intellectual serial music of the tradition of
SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
which lasted from the early 1900s to 1960s.
Experimental classical music influenced both
art rockArt rock is a term describing a subgenre of rock music that tends to have "experimental or avant-garde influences" and emphasizes "novel sonic texture." Art rock is an "intrinsically album-based" form, which takes "advantage of the format's capacity for longer, more complex compositions and...
and
progressive rockProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
as well as the
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and
New WaveNew Wave is a genre of rock and pop music that emerged in in the middle to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and...
genres.
Hard rockHard rock or heavy rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music...
and
Heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States...
also emerged among British bands
Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands, helping to pioneer the genre...
,
The WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They became known for energetic live performances including the pioneering spectacle of instrument destruction...
,
Black SabbathBlack Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with a total of twenty-two former members...
,
Deep PurpleDeep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford, Hertfordshire in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members have tried not to categorise themselves as any one genre. The band...
,
Uriah HeepUriah Heep are an English rock band, formed in December 1969 when record producer Gerry Bron invited keyboardist Ken Hensley to join Spice, a band signed to his own Bronze Records label....
, and
Judas PriestJudas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, formed in 1969. Judas Priest's core line-up consists of bass player Ian Hill, vocalist Rob Halford and guitarists Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing. The band has gone through several drummers, though Scott Travis has held the position since...
. Australian band
AC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock and are considered pioneers of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as "rock and roll".AC/DC underwent several line-up...
also found its hard rock origins in the early 1970s and its breakthrough in 1979's
Highway to HellHighway to Hell can refer to:*Highway to Hell , 1979 album by AC/DC**"Highway to Hell" , the title track from the album*Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell*Highway to Hell , a 1992 film starring Chad Lowe and Kristy Swanson...
, while popular American metal bands included
AerosmithAerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and seen by some as America's greatest rock and roll band. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues,, and has...
,
Blue Oyster CultBlue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed in New York in 1967 and still active in 2009. The group is especially well known for songs including " The Reaper", "Astronomy", "Godzilla", and "Burnin' for You". They have sold over 14 million albums worldwide, including 7 million in the U.S.A...
, "shocksters"
Alice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
and
KissKiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in December 1972. Easily identified by its members' trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid and late-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, and guitar-oriented
Ted NugentTheodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American hard rock guitarist and vocalist from Detroit, Michigan. He originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes...
and
Van HalenVan Halen is a hard rock band formed in , USA in 1974. They enjoyed success from the release of their self titled debut album in 1978. As of 2007, Van Halen has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
. In Europe, there was a surge of popularity in the early decade for
glam rockGlam rock is a style that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s that was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy, theatrical blend of...
. The mid-'70s saw the rise of punk music from its
protopunkProtopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of music artists who were important precursors of the punk rock movement of the mid-1970s and later, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential....
/
garage bandThe term garage band can refer to:* A band that performs garage rock* GarageBand, audio production software published by Apple Inc.* GarageBand.com, a website that helps publicize emerging bands...
roots in the 1960s and early 1970s. Major acts include the
RamonesThe Ramones were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, all of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname 'Ramone', though none of them were actually related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring...
,
BlondieBlondie is an American rock band founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes of the mid 1970s...
,
Patti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk", she integrated the beat poetry performance style with three-chord rock...
, the
Sex PistolsThe Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They are responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
, and
The ClashThe Clash were an English rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk rock. Along with punk, they experimented with reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap and rockabilly...
, while seminal band
The RunawaysThe Runaways were an American all-girl teenage rock band that performed in the 1970s. The band is best known for the songs "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Rock n Roll", "Neon Angels ", and "Born to Be Bad"...
would produce 1980s superstars
Joan JettJoan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock N' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard charts from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
and
Lita FordLita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career during the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
. The highest-selling album was Pink Floyd's
The Dark Side of the MoonThe Dark Side of the Moon is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released in March 1973, the concept built on the ideas that the band had explored in their live shows and previous recordings, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their...
(1973). It remained on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart for 741 weeks. The rise of
DiscoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
music occurred in the late 1970s; however, the first half of the 1970s saw many jazz musicians from the
Miles DavisMiles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
school achieve cross-over success through
jazz-rock fusionFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
. In Germany,
Manfred EicherManfred Eicher is a German record producer and the founder of the ECM record label and its subsidiaries.Eicher studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He is a fan of jazz music and a bass guitar player. In 1969 he founded a new record label in Munich called ECM - Edition of Contemporary...
started the
ECMECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. ECM is best known for jazz music, but has released a wide variety of recordings, the artists associated with it often refusing to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
label, which quickly made a name for 'chamber jazz'. Towards the end of the decade,
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n reggae music, already popular in the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
and Africa since the early 1970s, became very popular in the U.S. and in Europe, mostly because of reggae superstar and legend
Bob MarleyRobert Nesta "Bob" Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers...
. The late '70s also saw the beginning of hip hop music with the song "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang.
Country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
remained very popular in the U.S. In 1977, it became more mainstream after
Kenny RogersKenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers is an American country music singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur...
became a solo singer and scored many hits on both the country and pop charts.
Cinema
In 1970s European cinema, the failure of the
Prague SpringThe Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
brought about nostalgic motion pictures such as
István SzabóIstván Szabó is a Hungarian film director.-Life:Szabó was the son of Maria and Istvan Szabó, who was a doctor. His family was Jewish and were hidden by family friends during the Holocaust...
's
Szerelmesfilm (1970). German New Wave and Rainer Fassbinder's existential movies characterized film-making in Germany. The movies of the Swedish director
Ingmar BergmanErnst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. His influential body of work often dealt with themes such as bleakness and despair, as well as comedy and hope, in his cinematic exploration of the human condition...
reached a new level of expression in motion pictures like
Cries and WhispersCries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish film about two sisters who watch over their third sister on her deathbed, torn between fearing she might die and hoping that she will. The film was written and directed by Ingmar Bergman...
(1973).
Asian cinema of the 1970s catered to the rising middle class fantasies and struggles. In the
BollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the...
cinema of India, this was epitomized by the movies of Bollywood superhero
Amitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan , is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema, and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema.Bachchan has won numerous major awards in his career, including three...
. Another Asian touchstone beginning in the early 1970s was traditional Hong Kong martial arts film which sparked a greater interest in Chinese martial arts to the West.
Martial arts filmMartial arts film is a film genre. A sub-genre of the action film, martial arts films are characterized by extensive fighting scenes featuring specific martial arts, often following the training and progress of the protagonist in training a specific style or school of martial arts.-Kung fu films:A...
reached the peak of its popularity largely in part due to its greatest icon,
Bruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American and Hong Kong actor, martial artist, philosopher, film director, screenwriter, practitioner of Wing Chun and founder of the Jeet Kune Do concept. He is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and a cultural icon...
.
Hollywood emerged from its early 1970s slump with young film-makers. Top-grossing
JawsJaws is a 1975 American horror/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel Jaws. The police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town...
(1975) ushered in the
blockbusterBlockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular and/or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry....
era of filmmaking, though it was eclipsed two years later by the science-fiction epic
Star WarsStar Wars is an epic space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two immediate sequels, released at three-year intervals...
(1977). "
Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a 1977 film starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young man, coming of age, whose weekend activities are visits to a local Brooklyn discothèque and Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual girlfriend...
" (1977) single-handedly touched off disco mania in the US. "
The GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American drama film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne . It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S...
" (1972) was also one of the decade's greatest successes and its
first follow-up,
The Godfather Part IIThe Godfather Part II is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo...
(1974) was very successful for a sequel.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show bombed terribly in its 1975 debut, only to reappear as a more-popular midnight show later in the decade.
"
The ExorcistThe Exorcist is a 1973 U.S. horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl, and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her daughter through an exorcism conducted by two priests....
" (1973) was truly a box office success for the horror genre, inspiring many other so-called "devil (Satan)" films like
The OmenThe Omen is a 1976 British suspense/horror film directed by Richard Donner. The film stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern...
and both of their own second helpings (first sequels).
All That JazzAll That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of the dancer, choreographer, and director's life and career. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny...
(1979) closes out the 1970s. It won four Oscars and several other awards. In 2001, the United States
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.
Television
In the United Kingdom, color channels were now available; three stations had begun broadcasting in color between 1967 and 1969. UK dramas included
Play for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. Over three hundred original plays, most between an hour and ninety minutes in length, were transmitted during the fourteen-year period the series aired, and it is by far the...
and
Pennies From Heaven. The
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
show
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
reached its peak. Many popular British
situation comediesA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
(sit-coms) were gentle, innocent, unchallenging comedies of middle-class life; typical examples were
Terry and JuneTerry and June is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The programme is largely a continuation of Happy Ever After, and stars Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford...
,
SykesSykes is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1972 to 1979. Starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques, it was written by Eric Sykes, who had previously starred with Jacques in Sykes and A... and Sykes and a Big, Big Show....
, and
The Good Life. A more diverse view of society was offered by series like
PorridgePorridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...
and
Rising DampRising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box...
. In police dramas there was a move towards increasing realism; popular shows included
Dixon of Dock GreenDixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series, which ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
,
Softly, Softly, and
The SweeneyThe Sweeney is a British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, an elite branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
.
In the United States, long-standing trends were declining.
The Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for almost two decades, from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had...
and
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show was a popular American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan.-History:...
, long-revered American institutions, were canceled. The innocent, 1950s-style family sitcom saw its last breath at the start of the new decade with
The Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch is an American television sitcom. starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis, which revolves around a large blended family...
and
The Partridge FamilyThe Partridge Family was an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embarked on a music career. The family lived in San Pueblo, a small fictional town in Northern California...
. Television was transformed by what became termed as "social consciousness" programming such as
All in the FamilyAll in the Family is an American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, the show was revamped, and given a new title, Archie Bunker's Place...
, which broke down television barriers. With the women's movement reflected in new shows about single women in 'traditionally male' careers, such as
The Mary Tyler Moore ShowThe Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 to March 19, 1977...
,
Police WomanPolice Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran from September 13, 1974 to March 29, 1978 on NBC.-Synopsis:...
and others. The television
westernThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
, which had been very popular in the 1950s and 1960s, all but died out during the 1970s, with
BonanzaBonanza is an American television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons, it is among the longest running Western television series and continues to air in syndication....
,
The VirginianThe Virginian is a western-themed television series which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. It was the first western to air in 90-minute installments each week...
, and
GunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
ending their runs. Replacing westerns were police and detective shows, a trend that would last through the 1980s. By the mid- to late 1970s, "jiggle television"--programs centered around sexual gratification and bawdy humor and situations such as
Charlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men. The series was broadcast in the USA on the ABC Television Network from 1976 to 1981 and was one of the most...
,
The Love BoatThe Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24, 1977 until May 24, 1986. The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain, who encourages his customers to find romance...
and
Three's CompanyThree's Company is an American sitcom that aired from 1977 to 1984 on ABC. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House....
--became popular.
Soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
s expanded their audience beyond housewives with the rise of
All My ChildrenAll My Children is an American soap opera that has been broadcast Monday through Friday on the ABC TV network since January 5, 1970; repeat episodes air weeknights on SOAPnet. Created by Agnes Nixon, the show is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia...
and
As the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that airs each weekday on CBS.Set in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, the show debuted on Monday, April 2, 1956 at 1:30pm EST. Prior to April 2, 1956 all serials were fifteen minutes in length...
. Game shows such as
Match GameMatch Game is an American television game show featuring contestants attempting to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
,
The Hollywood Squares and
Family FeudFamily Feud is an American television game show that pits two families against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey-type question posed to 100 people...
were also popular daytime television. The height of
Match GameMatch Game is an American television game show featuring contestants attempting to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
s popularity occurred between 1973 and 1977, before it was overtaken by Family FeudFamily Feud is an American television game show that pits two families against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey-type question posed to 100 people...
in 1978. Television's current longest-running game show, The Price is RightThe Price Is Right is a U.S. television game show that is currently owned by the FremantleMedia subsidiary of the RTL Group. It was created by Bob Stewart for Goodson-Todman Productions in the United States in 1956, and was significantly revamped by them in 1972...
began its run hosted by Bob BarkerRobert William "Bob" Barker is an American former television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS' The Price Is Right from 1972-2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history...
in 1972. Another influential genre was the television newscast, which built on its initial widespread success in the 1960s. Finally, the variety showA variety show or variety entertainment is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and comedy skits, and normally introduced by a compère or host. The variety format made its way from Victorian era stage to radio to television...
received its last hurrah during this decade, with shows such as Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
and Donny & MarieDonny & Marie may refer to two television shows hosted by Donny and Marie Osmond.* Donny & Marie , a variety show aired from 1976 to 1979* Donny & Marie , a talk show aired from 1998 to 2000...
.
Literature
Fiction in the early '70s brought a return to old-fashioned storytelling, especially with Erich Segal'sErich Wolf Segal is an American author, screenwriter, and educator.-Early life:The son of a rabbi, Segal attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and traveled to Switzerland to take summer courses...
Love StoryLove Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal based on his 1970 best-selling novel. It was directed by Arthur Hiller. The film, well-known as a tragedy, is considered one of the most romantic of all time by the American Film Institute , and was followed by a sequel, Oliver's Story...
. The seventies also saw the decline of previously well-respected writers, such as
Saul BellowSaul Bellow was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
and
Peter De VriesPeter De Vries was an American editor and novelist known for his satiric wit. He has been described by the philosopher Daniel Dennett as "probably the funniest writer on religion ever"-Biography:...
, who both released poorly received novels at the start of the decade. Racism remained a key literary subject.
John UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
emerged as a major literary figure. Reflections of the 1960s experience also found roots in the literature of the decade through the works of
Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates is an American author. Raised in rural, working-class New York, Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction...
and Morris Wright. With the rising cost of hard-cover books and the increasing readership of "
genre fictionGenre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre...
," the
paperbackPaperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or cardboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples.-Use:...
became a popular medium. Criminal non-fiction also became a popular topic. Irreverence and satire, typified in
Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was an American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction including Slaughterhouse-Five , Cat's Cradle , and Breakfast of Champions...
's
Breakfast of ChampionsBreakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. Set in the fictional town of Midland City, it is the story of "two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast." One of these men, Dwayne Hoover, is a normal-looking but...
, were common literary elements. The horror genre also emerged, and by the late '70s
Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
had become one of the most popular genre novelists.
In non-fiction, several books related to Nixon and the
Watergate scandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States in the 1970s. Named for the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, President of the United States, on August 9, 1974...
topped the best-selling lists. 1977 brought many high-profile biographical works of literary figures, such as those of
Virginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, essayist, epistler, publisher, feminist, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
,
Agatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE , was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays...
, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Architecture
Architecture in the 1970s began as a continuation of styles created by such architects as
Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works....
and
Ludwig Mies van der RoheLudwig Mies van der Rohe, born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to and addressed by his surname, Mies, by his colleagues, students, writers, and others....
. Early in the decade, several architects competed to build the tallest building in the world. Of these buildings, the most notable are the
John Hancock CenterJohn Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Gold Coast area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan. When completed in...
and
Sears TowerWillis Tower, formerly named Sears Tower, is a 108-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion in 1973 it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York...
in Chicago, both designed by
Bruce GrahamBruce Graham is an American architect. Among his most notable buildings are the Willis Tower, the Inland Steel Building, and the John Hancock Center. He was born in Bogotá, Colombia of American parents in 1925. He studied at the University of Dayton, Ohio and at the Case School of Applied Sciences...
and
Fazlur KhanFazlur Rahman Khan , born in Dhaka, Bengal , was a Bangladeshi-American architect and structural engineer. He did the structural engineering" of the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center...
and the
World Trade CenterThe World Trade Center was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks...
towers in New York by American architect
Minoru Yamasakiwas an American architect of Japanese descent, best known for his design of the twin towers of the World Trade Center buildings 1 and 2. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century and his firm, Yamasaki & Associates, continues to do business...
. The decade also brought experimentation in geometric design, pop-art,
postmodernismPostmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement'. While "modern" itself refers to something "related to the present", the movement of modernism and the following reaction of postmodernism are defined by a set of perspectives...
and early
deconstructivismDeconstructivism in architecture, also called deconstruction, is a development of postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort...
.
In 1974,
Louis KahnLouis Isadore Kahn was a world-renowned architect of Estonian Jewish origin, based in Philadelphia, United States. After working in various capacities for several companies in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935...
's last and arguably most famous building, the National Assembly Building of
DhakaDhaka , is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka District. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia...
,
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
was completed. The building's use of open spaces and groundbreaking geometry brought rare attention to the small
south AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
n country. Hugh Stubbins'
Citicorp CenterCiticorp Center can refer to several skyscrapers named after banking conglomerate Citigroup.* Citigroup Center , formerly Citicorp Center* Citigroup Center , formerly Citicorp Center...
revolutionized the incorporation of solar panels in office buildings. The seventies brought further experimentation in glass and steel construction and geometric design. Chinese architect
I. M. PeiIeoh Ming Pei , commonly known by his initials I. M. Pei, is a Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese-born American architect, known as the last master of high modernist architecture.-Early life and education:...
's
John Hancock TowerThe John Hancock Tower, officially named Hancock Place and known colloquially as The Hancock, is a 60-story, 790-foot skyscraper in Boston. The structure, the tallest in the city, was designed by I.M. Pei and Henry N. Cobb of the firm now known as Pei, Cobb and Freed and was completed in 1976...
in Boston, Massachusetts is an example, although like many buildings of the time, the experimentation was flawed and glass panes fell from the façade. In 1976, the completed
CN TowerThe CN Tower, located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and observation tower standing tall. It surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower while still under construction in 1975, becoming the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world...
in Toronto became the world's tallest free-standing structure on land, an honor it held until 2007. The fact that no taller tower had been built between the construction of the CN Tower and the
Burj DubaiBurj Dubai , a supertall skyscraper under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at...
shows how innovative the architecture and engineering of the structure truly was.
But modern architecture was increasingly criticized, both from the point of view of postmodern architects such as
Philip JohnsonPhilip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect. With his thick, round-framed glasses, Johnson was the most recognizable figure in American architecture for decades....
,
Charles MooreCharles Moore may refer to:*Charles Moore , America Olympic hurdler*Charles Moore , English politician, Member of Parliament 1799–1802, 1802–1806 and 1807–1812...
and
Michael GravesMichael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....
who advocated a return to pre-modern styles of architecture and the incorporation of pop elements as a means of communicating with a broader public. Other architects, such as
Peter EisenmanPeter Eisenman is an American architect. Eisenman's fragmented forms are identified with an eclectic group of architects that have been labeled as deconstructivists...
of the New York Five advocated the pursuit of form for the sake of form and drew on semiotics theory for support.
"High Tech" architecture moved forward as
Buckminster FullerRichard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American architect, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.Fuller published more than thirty books, inventing and popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetics...
continued his experiments in geodesic domes while the
George Pompidou CenterCentre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, designed by
Renzo PianoRenzo Piano is a world renowned Italian architect and recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize and the Sonning Prize. One admirer said the "serenity of his best buildings can almost make you believe that we live in a civilized world"...
and
Richard RogersRichard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside, CH, FRIBA, FCSD, is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs...
, which opened in 1977, was a prominent example. As the decade drew to a close,
Frank GehryFrank Owen Gehry, CC is a Canadian Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
broke out in new direction with his own house in Santa Monica, a highly complex structure, half excavated out of an existing bungalow and half cheaply built construction using materials such as chicken wire fencing.
Social science
Social science intersected with hard science in the works in
natural language processingNatural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages. Natural language generation systems convert information from computer databases into readable human language...
by
Terry WinogradTerry Allen Winograd is an American professor of computer science at Stanford University, and co-director of the Stanford Human-Computer Interaction Group...
(1973) and the establishment of the first cognitive sciences department in the world at MIT in 1979. The fields of
generative linguisticsGenerative linguistics is a school of thought within linguistics that makes use of the concept of a generative grammar. The term "generative grammar" is used in different ways by different people, and the term "generative linguistics" therefore has a range of different, though overlapping,...
and
cognitive psychologyCognitive psychology is a discipline within psychology that investigates the internal mental processes of thought such as visual processing, memory, problem solving, and language....
went through a renewed vigor with symbolic modeling of semantic knowledge while the final devastation of the long standing tradition of
behaviorismBehaviorism , also called the learning perspective , is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling — can and should be regarded as behaviors...
came about through the severe criticism of B.F. Skinner's work in 1971 by the cognitive scientist
Noam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as...
.
Sports
In the 1970s, the renegade sports leagues of the
American Basketball AssociationThe American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
(founded in 1967), the
North American Soccer LeagueNorth American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
(also founded in 1967), the
World Hockey AssociationThe World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
(lasting from 1972 through 1979), and the
World Series CricketWorld Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...
(lasting from 1977 to 1979) challenged older, established organizations. The "Battle of the Sexes"
tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
match between
Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King is a tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
and
Bobby RiggsRobert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947...
, who proclaimed the women's game to be inferior, was a turning point in sports during the decade; after King's victory, the match was heralded as a major victory for women in athletics.
The 1972 Summer OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
in MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, Germany were marred by terrorism and
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
-related international controversy. Among the competition's highlights was the performance of swimmer
Mark SpitzMark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics...
, who set seven World Records to win a record of seven gold medals in one Olympics. The
1976 Summer OlympicsThe 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976...
in
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
, Canada were highlighted by the legendary performance of
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
n female gymnast
Nadia ComaneciNadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the first ever gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10, in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 summer Olympics...
and the strong U.S.
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
team, but suffered from boycotts by several countries in protest of South Africa's apartheid policies.
Hank Aaron also broke Babe Ruth's previous record by hitting 715 home runs on April 8, 1974.
Fashion
The 1970s clothing styles were influenced heavily from popular music. Common were leather pants and jackets, chains, safety pins, and Mohawks hairdos. In clothing, prints, especially from India and the Third World, were fashionable.
International issues
- Major conflict between pro-western (capitalist) and pro-eastern (communist) forces in multiple countries, while attempts are made by the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
and the United States to lessen the chance for conflict, such as both countries endorsing nuclear nonproliferation.
- Rise in the use of terrorism by militant organizations across the world. Groups in Europe like the Red Brigades and the Baader-Meinhof Gang were responsible for a spate of bombings, kidnappings, and murders. Violence continued in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Radical American groups existed as well, such as the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army, but they never achieved the size or strength of their European counterparts.
- The presence and rise of a significant number of women as heads of state and heads of government in a number of countries across the world, many being the first women to hold such positions, such as Soong Ching-ling
Soong Ch'ing-ling , also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, was one of the three Soong sisters—who, along with their husbands, were amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. She was the Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China...
continuing as the first Chairwoman of the People's Republic of China until 1972, Isabel Martínez de PerónMaría Estela Martínez Cartas de Perón , better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, is a former President of Argentina. She was also the third wife of another former President, Juan Perón...
as the first woman President in ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
in 1974 until being deposed in 1976, Elisabeth DomitienElisabeth Domitien was prime minister of the Central African Republic from 1975 to 1976. She was the first and to date only woman to hold the position....
becomes the first woman Prime Minister of LesothoLesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km² in size with an estimated population of almost 1,800,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is the southernmost...
, Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977...
continuing as Prime Minister of India until 1977, Lidia Gueiler TejadaLidia Gueiler Tejada was the first female President of Bolivia, serving in an interim capacity from 1979 to 1980...
becoming the interim President of BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
beginning from 1979 to 1980, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo becoming the first woman Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979, and Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
becoming the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- Oil crises in 1973 and 1979.
Africa
- Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada , commonly known as Idi Amin, was the military dictator and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979....
, President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, after rising to power in a coup becomes infamous for his brutal dictatorship in UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
. Amin's regime persecutes opposition to his rule, pursues a racistRacism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment...
agenda of removing Asians from Uganda (particularly IndiansThe demographics of India is remarkably diverse. India's population of approximately 1.17 billion people consists of approximately one-sixth of the world's population...
who arrived in Uganda during British colonial rule). Amin initiates the Ugandan–Tanzanian War in 1978 in alliance with LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
based on an expansionistIn general, expansionism consists of expansionist policies of governments and states. While some have linked the term to promoting economic growth , more commonly expansionism refers to the doctrine of a nation's expanding its territorial base usually by means of military aggression...
agenda to annex territory from TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in central East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.The United...
which results in Ugandan defeat and Amin's overthrow in 1979.
- The Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War began in Angola after the end of the war for independence from Portugal in 1975. The war featured conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the Communist MPLA and the anti-Communist UNITA...
begins in 1975, resulting in intervention by multiple countries on the Marxist and anti-Marxist sides, with CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
and MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498...
supporting the Marxist faction while South Africa and ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
support the anti-Marxists.
- In 1974, Haile Selassie is overthrown from power in Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
, ending one of the world's longest lasting monarchies in history.
- South African activist Steve Biko
Stephen Bantu Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of...
dies in 1977.
- In, 1976 peaceful student protests in the Soweto
Soweto is an urban area of the City of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the north. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now united with the city of Johannesburg. The population has...
township of South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
lead to the Soweto Uprising when more than 700 black schoolchildren were killed by South Africa's Security Police.
- Francisco Macias Nguema
Francisco Macías Nguema was the first President of Equatorial Guinea, from 1968 until his overthrow in 1979.-Rise to Power:...
ruled Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With an area of 28,000 km
2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It has a population estimated at half a million...
as a brutal dictator from 1969 until his overthrow and execution in 1979.
- Jean-Bedel Bokassa
Jean-Bédel Bokassa was the military ruler of the Central African Republic from 1 January 1966 and the Emperor of the Central African Empire from 4 December 1976 until he was overthrown on 20 September 1979.-Early life:Bokassa was born one of 12...
, who had ruled the Central African RepublicThe Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa...
since 1965, proclaimed himself emperor Bokassa I and renamed his impoverished country the Central African Empire in 1977. He was overthrown two years later and went into exile.
Western Hemisphere
- Rise of separatism in the province of Quebec
Quebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in Canada. In 1970, radical Quebec nationalist-1534–1774:Canada was first a French colony. Jacques Cartier claimed it for France in 1534, and permanent French settlement began in 1608. It was part of New France, which constituted all French colonies in North America. Up until 1760, "Canadien" nationalism had developed itself free of all...
and MarxistMarxism is the political philosophy and economic worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; three primary aspects of...
militants of the Front de libération du QuébecThe Front de Libération du Québec , commonly known as the FLQ, was a left-wing nationalist and socialist revolutionary group in Quebec, Canada, with at least two terrorist cells. It was responsible for more than 200 bombings, including the bombing of the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1969 and the...
(FLQ) kidnap the Quebec labour minister Pierre Laporte and British Trade Commissioner James CrossJames Richard Cross, CMG was a British diplomat in Canada who was kidnapped by the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group during the October Crisis of October 1970....
during the October CrisisThe October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec...
, resulting in Laporte being killed, and the enactment of martial lawMartial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupations in the absence of any other civil government. Examples of this form of military rule include Germany and Japan...
in Canada under the War Measures ActThe War Measures Act was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers...
, resulting in a campaign by the Canadian government which arrests suspected FLQ supporters. The election of the Parti QuébécoisThe Parti Québécois is a left-wing political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Québec and secession from Canada. It is a social democratic party and has traditionally had support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social democratic parties, its ties with the...
led by René LevesqueRené Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, Canada , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party, and 23rd Premier of Quebec...
in the province of QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in Canada, brings the first political party committed to Quebec independence into power in Quebec. Levesque's government pursues an agenda to secede Quebec from Canada by democratic means and strengthen Francophone Québécois culture in the late 1970s, such as the controversial Charter of the French LanguageThe Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
more commonly known in Quebec and Canada as "Bill 101".
- United States President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
resigns as President in 1974 while facing charges for impeachment for the Watergate scandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States in the 1970s. Named for the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, President of the United States, on August 9, 1974...
.
- Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean army general and later head of state as president. He was the Commander in Chief of the Chilean army from 1973 to 1998, president of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981 and President of the Republic from 1974 until the return of...
rises to power as ruler of ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
after overthrowing the country's Socialist president Salvador AllendeSalvador Isabelino Allende Gossens was a physician and the first democratically elected Marxist socialist to become president of a state in the Americas....
in 1973 with the assistance of the Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
(CIA) of the United States. Pinochet would remain the dictator of Chile until 1990.
- Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo was the 43rd President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
seizes control of ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
in 1976 through a coup sponsored by the Argentine military, establishing himself as a dictator of a military juntaA military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
government in the country.
- In Guyana
Guyana officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is a state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean.Guyana was discovered in 1498 by the Europeans,Guyana's past is punctuated by battles fought and won,...
, the Rev. Jim JonesJames Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 death of more than 900 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the deaths of nine other people at a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown.Jones was born in Indiana and...
led several hundred people from the United States to establish a Utopian Marxist commune in the jungle named JonestownJonestown was the informal name for the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project", an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, an American cult led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well...
. Amid allegations of corruption, mental and physical abuse by Jones on his followers, and denying them the right to leave Jonestown, a Congressional committee visited Guyana to investigate in November 1978. They were attacked by Jones' guards and Congressman Leo RyanLeo Joseph Ryan, Jr. was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. Representative from the 11th Congressional District of California from 1973 until he was murdered in Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple shortly before the Jonestown Massacre in 1978.After the Watts...
was killed. The demented Jones then ordered everyone in the commune to commit suicide. The people drank or were forced to drink cyanide-laced fruit punch. A total of 900 dead were found, including Jones, who shot himself.
Asia
- On September 6, 1970 the world witnessed the beginnings of modern rebellious fighting in what is today called as Skyjack Sunday
In the Dawson's Field hijackings four jet aircraft bound for New York City were hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine....
. Palestinian terrorists hijacked four airlinerAn airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such planes are owned by airlines....
s and took over 300 people on board as hostage. The hostages were later released, but the planes were blown up.
- Multiple conflicts and crises occur in India and Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
during the 1970s including the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian and Bangladeshi sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's 3 December 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
, Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War
was a civil war in Pakistan resulting in the separation of Bangladesh and West Pakistan . The war broke out after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared Bangladeshi independence on 26 March 1971...
, and the Indian Emergency 1975–1977.
- Martial law
Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupations in the absence of any other civil government. Examples of this form of military rule include Germany and Japan...
was declared in the PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
on September 21, 1972 by PresidentThe President of the Philippines is the head of state and government of the Republic of the Philippines. The President of the Philippines in Filipino is referred to as Ang Pangulo or Pangulo...
Ferdinand MarcosFerdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate . He was Senate President in 1963...
.
- The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
came to a close in 1973 with the Paris Peace AccordsThe Paris Peace Accords of 1973, intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam Conflict, ended direct U.S. military involvement and temporarily stopped the fighting between north and south...
. But without American aid, South Vietnam was helpless. Nothing could stop North Vietnam from its goal of reunifying the country, and it began an all-out invasion of the South, something it waited until the American withdrawal to attempt. This culminated in the fall of Saigon in April 1975 and the following year, Vietnam was officially declared reunited.
- In Cambodia
The Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
the communist leader Pol PotSaloth Sar or Minh Hai, , widely known as Pol Pot, , was the leader of the Cambodian communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge and was Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976–1979....
led a revolution against the American-backed government of Lon NolLon Nol was a Cambodian politician and soldier who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice, as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister...
. On April 17, 1975 his forces captured Phnom PenhPhnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. It is also the capital of the Phnom Penh municipality...
the capitol, two years after America had halted the bombings of their positions. His communist government, the Khmer RougeThe Khmer Rouge was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the totalitarian ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan....
, forced people out of the cities to clear jungles and establish a radical, Marxist agrarian society. Buddhist priests and monks, along with anyone who spoke foreign languages, had any sort of education, or even wore eyeglasses were tortured or killed. As many as 3 million people may have died. Vietnam invaded the country at the start of 1979, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge and installing a satellite government. This provoked a brief, but furious border war with China in February of that year.
- Major changes in the People's Republic of China. US president Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
visited the country in 1972, restoring relations between the two countries, although diplomatic ties were not established until 1979. In 1976, Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
and Zhou EnlaiZhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
both died, beginning a new era. After the brief rule of Mao's chosen successor Hua GuofengSu Zhu , better known by the nom de guerre Hua Guofeng , was Mao Zedong's designated successor as the paramount leader of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China. Upon Zhou Enlai's death in 1976, he succeeded him as Premier of the People's Republic of China...
, Deng XiaopingDeng Xiaoping was a prominent Chinese politician, statesman, theorist, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng became a reformer who led China towards market economics...
emerged as China's paramount leader, and began to shift the country towards market economics and away from ideologically driven policies.
- In 1970, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser died, and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. He broke off ties with the Soviet Union, and launched the Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of...
against Israel in October 1973 to recover the international standing Egypt had lost in the 1967 conflict. The Israelis were taken by surprise and suffered heavy losses before they rallied. In the end, they managed to repel the Egyptians (and a simultaneous attack by Syria) and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt proper. In 1978, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel at Camp DavidNaval Support Facility Thurmont, popularly known as Camp David, is a mountain based military camp in Frederick County, Maryland used as a country retreat and for high alert protection of the President of the United States and his guests....
in the United States, ending outstanding disputes between the two countries. Sadat's actions would lead to his assassination in 1981.
- In Iraq
Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
began to rise to power by helping to modernize the country. One major initiative was removing the western monopoly on oilPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
which later during the high prices of 1973 oil crisisThe 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo" in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974...
would help Hussein's ambitious plans. On July 16, 1979 he assumed the presidencyThe President of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The President is elected by the Council of...
cementing his rise to power. His presidency led to the breaking off of a SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
n-Iraqi unification, which had been sought under his predecessor Ahmed Hassan al-BakrGeneral Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr , was President of Iraq from 1968 to 1979.-Military career:...
and would lead to the Iran–Iraq War starting in the 1980s.
- The Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 or 1979 Islamic Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution...
of 1979 transformed Iran from an autocratic pro-western monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza PahlaviMohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, , was the emperor of Iran from 16 September 1941, until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
to a theocraticTheocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Common Greek, “theocracy” means a...
Islamist government under the leadership of AyatollahAyatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries...
Ruhollah KhomeiniSayyid Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
. Distrust between the revolutionaries and Western powers led to the Iran hostage crisisThe Iranian hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 53 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American embassy in support of the Iranian Revolution.The...
on November 4, 1979 where 66 diplomats, mainly from the U.S., were held captive for 444 days.
- Japan's economic growth surpassed the rest of the world in the 1970s, unseating the United States as the world's largest economy.
Europe
- In 1971, Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German Communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until 1989....
was chosen to lead East Germany, a role he would fill for the whole of the 1970s and 1980s. The mid-1970s were a time of extreme recession for East Germany, and as a result of the country's higher debts, consumer goods became more and more scarce. If East Germans had enough money to procure a television set, a telephone, or a TrabantThe Trabant is an automobile that was produced by former East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Sachsen. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to countries both inside and outside the communist bloc. The main selling point was that...
automobile, they were placed on waiting lists which caused them to wait as much as a decade for the item in question.
- The 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
in MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, Germany, witness the kidnapping and murder of IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i athletes by PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
nationalist militants of the Black SeptemberThe expression Black September may refer to:* Black September in Jordan, the conflict between Palestinian guerrilla organizations and King Hussein of Jordan that began in September 1970 and ended in July 1971 with the expulsion of the PLO to Lebanon....
terrorist organization.
- Growing internal tensions take place in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
beginning with the Croatian SpringThe Croatian Spring was a political movement from the early 1970s that called for greater rights for Croatia which was then part of Yugoslavia as well as democratic and economic reforms....
movement in 1971 which demands greater decentralization of power to the constituent republics of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's communist ruler Joseph Broz Tito subdues the Croatian Spring movement and arrests its leaders, but does initiate major constitutional reform resulting in the 1974 Constitution which decentralized powers to the republics, gave them the official right to separate from Yugoslavia, and weakened the influence of Serbia (Yugoslavia's largest and most populous constituent republic) in the federation by granting significant powers to the Serbian autonomous provinces of KosovoKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
and VojvodinaThe Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census. It is located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian plain of Central Europe...
. In addition, the 1974 Constitution consolidated Tito's dictatorship by proclaiming him president-for-life. The 1974 Constitution would become resented by Serbs and began a gradual escalation of ethnic tensions.
- Enver Hoxha
' was the Communist leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
's rule in AlbaniaAlbania , officially the Republic of Albania , is a Mediterranean country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south-east...
was characterized in the 1970s by growing isolation, first from a very public schism with the Soviet Union the decade before, and then by a splitThe Sino-Albanian split in 1978 saw the parting of the People's Republic of China and Socialist People's Republic of Albania, which was the only Eastern European nation to side with the PRC in the Sino-Soviet split of the early 1960s.-History:The relations between Communist Party of China and...
in friendly relations with China in 1978. Albania normalized relations with YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
in 1971, and attempted trade agreements with other European nations, but was met with vocal disapproval by the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
- 1978 would become known as the "Year of Three Popes". In August, Paul VI, who had ruled since 1963, died. His successor was Cardinal Albino Luciano, who took the name John Paul. But only 33 days later, he was found dead, and the Catholic Church had to elect another pope. On October 16, Karol Wojtyła, a Polish cardinal, was elected, becoming Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer...
. He was the first non-Italian pope since 1523.
- The Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
under the leadership of Leonid BrezhnevLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, serving in that position longer than anyone except Joseph Stalin...
, pursued an agenda to lessen tensions with its rival superpower, the United States, while beginning the Soviet-Afghan war at the end of 1979. The Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
becomes the world's leading producer in steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, and oilPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
in the decade. Despite this growth, inflation continued to grow for the second straight decade, and production consistently fell short of demand in agriculture and manufacturing. By the end of the 1970s, social and economic stagnation were becoming very pronounced.
- Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
and the Conservative party rise to power in the United Kingdom in 1979, initiating a neoliberal economic policy of reducing government spending, weakening the power of trade unions, and promoting economic and trade liberalization.