MARY TORO Period One AP US HISTORY April 6, 2010

1. THE ‘ME’ DECADE 1971-1980 MARY TORO Period One AP US HISTORY April 6, 2010

2. THE THESIS Although the 1970’s consisted of a wide range of economic and social fluctuations, the political change that occurred in the 1970’s was easily the most influential category of change, with its presidential scandal on the home front, to peace negotiations and détente, and the ending of the war on communism in Vietnam.

3. THE SOCIAL CHANGE *The “Me Decade” term, coined by novelist Tom Wolfe in 1976, was used to describe the fact that Americans began to possess a relatively new attitude consisting of self awareness and self absorbance, straying away from community and history.

4. MUSIC OF THE 1970’s Starting with the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, the overall substance of music declined and morphed into a hedonistic, simplistic mass of pop and disco that fused many different elements of music, which was counteracted by a new wave of rock n’ roll music known as punk music that was often filled with angst and suspicion of mainstream values; some of the most significant artists during this time were Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, The Bee Gees, Donna Summer, and Elton John. MJ BOB MARLEY

5. ART The art of the seventies consisted of refinement of the experimental style of the sixties and introduced a new form of art called earth art, showcased by artists such as Michael Heizer, Alice Aycock, and Richard Serra, which combined minimalist and environmental ideas on a large scale, while new humanist architectural ideas attempted to consider the needs and feelings of the people who would use the buildings. Alice Aycock Art Pennzoil Building fused modernism with humanism

6. LITERATURE Fiction in the seventies saw the reemergence of old-fashioned storytelling, as apparent in Erich Segal’s Love Story, the maintenance of racism as a key literary subject, and the emergence of criminal non-fiction and the genre of horror, as made popular by Stephen King. Carrie, Stephen King’s first published novel (1974) Erich Segal

7. TELEVISION AND FILM In the seventies came the revival of movies with new technologies, with blockbusters such as Star Wars, Rocky, The Godfather, Jaws, and Grease, while in the realm of television, the genealogy based miniseries Roots was pivotal, as well as The Brady Bunch, Saturday Night Live, live broadcasts of the Senate Watergate hearings, and the education kids’ show Sesame Street. Sesame Street Marlon Brando in The Godfather

8. ENVIRONMENTALISM As the war in Vietnam came to a close, the new social cause of environmentalism, especially aided by the younger crowd, came to the forefront of the American social scene, not only initiating the country’s first “Earth Day” on April 22, 1970, but a slew of political battles aimed at protecting the environment as well. Americans partaking in the nation’s first Earth Day on April 22, 1970

9. THE VIETNAMESE After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, approximately 500,000 South Vietnamese “Boat People”, another term for refugees, were accommodated by the United States government in boot camps not for military service but for assimilation in American society, eventually populating rural areas with little economic opportunity and later forming “Little Saigons”, which were neighborhoods with vibrant outposts of Vietnamese culture. “Boat People”

10. THE SECOND WAVE FEMINISM This movement, ending in the late 1970’s, successfully addressed a variety of issues such as pornography, sexuality, the workplace, sexual harassment, and reproductive rights; employment discrimination against pregnant women was banned ,abortion was finally legalized through the Roe VS Wade court ruling, and in 1978, for the first time in the history of the United States, more women than men entered college. The Feminists “Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight. “ -Bob Marley

11. CIVIL RIGHTS African Americans achieved their main goals by the 1970’s and affirmative action was strengthened by President Nixon, making way for the Second Wave Feminism movement, aided by feminists such as Coretta Scott King, as well as the gay rights movement, which was stimulated by the election of Harvey Milk to public office and by the fact that certain celebrities, such as Freddie Mercury, declared themselves gay to the American public. Harvey Milk Coretta Scott King “All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.” –Harvey Milk

12. THE ECONOMIC CHANGE

13. “STAGFLATION”? During the 1970’s, the term “stagflation” was coined as a result of both continuing inflation and stagnant business activity, combined with the increasing unemployment rate, which occurred due to the female work force and the combination of returning soldiers from Vietnam, resulting in almost 96 million unemployed workers.

14. ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION Throughout the 1970’s, Congress passed a great deal of legislation that was intended to protect the environment and conserve America’s nation resources, with organizations like The Environmental Protection Agency, OSHA, and acts such as the Endangered Species Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; President Carter encouraged Americans to conserve by having solar panels installed on the White House and wearing thick sweaters to save heat energy.

15. THE ENERGY CRISIS The 1973/1974 oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) , made up of Arab nations, created energy shortages and drastically increased energy prices, which led to inflation and a rise in the rate of unemployment. In order to conserve oil: Lower speed limits were enforced; carpooling was highly encouraged

16. PRESIDENT NIXON’S ROLE In 1971, President Nixon initiated a plan to combat the nation’s inflation, by imposing wage and price controls, eventually turning into nearly one thousand das of measures known as Phases One, Two, Three, and Four; Nixon’s plan was a rather large failure. President Nixon

17. PRESIDENT CARTER’S ROLE By the time President Carter took office in 1977, the inflation rate had escalated to above 13 percent and the nation’s debt was in the billions, so President Carter was in a rough situation and was not able to truly help out the economic situation at all but the situation did assist the U.S. in realizing that economic isolation was not a good option for the U.S., especially due to their reliance on foreign trade. President Carter dedicating the new solar panels

18. THE POLITICAL CHANGE

19. THE WATERGATE SCANDAL Commencing in 1972 with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, the Watergate Scandal consisted of an FBI investigation in which incriminating tape recorded conversations of Nixon and his top aide were used as evidence to prove that President Nixon was indeed behind the Watergate break-in, causing Nixon to resign from office in 1974 after his reputation had been severely tarnished. “You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I'm innocent. You've got to believe I'm innocent. If you don't, take my job.” -Richard Nixon

20. THE MAJOR POLITICAL LEADERS Throughout the seventies, Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter sought to improve international relations with other countries, negotiate with Communists in China and Russia, ease the transition out of Vietnam, and alleviate the country’s pain caused by the dismal economic situation. Ford and Nixon Carter

21. DÉTENTE Détente, a political easing of strained relations, was initiated by President Nixon, with regards to the USSR, when he traveled to the USSR and negotiated with the leader Leonid Brezhnev, leading to a reduction in defense and long range missiles, and a decline of the chances of Mutually Assured Destruction. Nixon and Brezhnev

22. SALT I/SALT ll While Salt I froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers, later on Salt II became a controversial and unsuccessful arrangement between President Carter of the U.S. and Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union to reduce the production of nuclear weapons. President Carter and Brezhnev

23. THE CAMP DAVID ACCORDS After twelve days of secret negotiations in 1978, these accords were signed by Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in order to improve the relationship between the feuding Israel and Egypt and provide peace, which was the intent of President Carter’s actions to intiate the accords. Begin, Carter, and Sadat

24. THE VIETNAM WAR With the Fall of Saigon in South Vietnam in 1975 came the conclusion of the Vietnam War, in which Vietnam had a transition to reunite back under communist rule, and returning American soldiers had to transition to America with their heads held low to assimilate themselves back into their regular lives. Fall of Saigon

25. THE CONCLUSION Although there existed a great deal of social and economic changes within the 1970’s, the most prominent change within the decade was that of political change, whether it was a result of the Vietnam War that brought shame to the United States, the Watergate Scandal and its disgraced president , or peaceful negotiation, and this political change in the U.S. not only shaped America, but the whole world as well.

26. “Father, Father, We don't need to escalate. You see, war is not the answer, For only love can conquer hate.” -Marvin Gaye

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