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The Seventies
What happened in the seventies. -
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US Soldiers found guilty of murder in My Lei Massacre
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn March 16, 1970, the American Public learned of the May Lai Massacre. It was the mass murder of the Vietnam War killing between 340 and 505 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam. A lot of the victims were women, children, (that includes babies), and the elderly. Three US servicemen who tried to halt the massacre and protect the wounded were later decorated by the army for their actions. -
Kent State Shootings
Website and picture linkMany college students at Kent State University were fired upon by the Ohio National Guard and Policemen. The kids that were shot were protesting against the American Invasion of Cambodia. Some students burned copies of the Constitution, and their draft cards. They didn’t like the role of the United States in the Vietnam War. -
Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn September 6th, five planes were hijacked by Palestinians that diverted the flight to the Revolution Airport which were different landing strips across the world. Only three of the five made it there. The hijackers wanted to attract attention to the Palestinian cause and they also wanted to sabotage the U.S. plan of peace who wanted to reduce tensions among Jordan, Egypt, and Israel. -
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London Bridge Brought to the U.S.
Picture LinkWebsite LinkThe London Bridge wasn’t big enough to handle the traffic in London, so a man bought it over here and had it brick by brick brought over here and reconstructed for a tourist attraction. It was reconstructed over the Colorado River. The London Bridge attracted a lot of tourists to the area. -
The Pentagon Papers Released
Picture LinkWebsite LinkPapers talking about Americans were to conduct the Vietnam War leaked out into the public. It shows what the plans were for the Vietnam War. People were shocked to hear of the news about the documents. Johnson and Kennedy assured the nation did not seek a wider war. They had a conflict during this. -
Attica State Prison Riots
Picture linkWebsite LinkThe Attica Prison riot occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States. This was during 1971. The prisoners wanted better living conditions. That is what the riots were based on. It was led by a small band of political revolutionaries. Responding to the death of prisoner George Jackson, on September 13th, 2,200 inmates rebelled and seized control of the prison. They also took 33 members of the staff hostage. -
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KKK riots in NYC
Picture LinkWebsite LinkIn New York City, 1972, the Ku Klux Klan rioted. This took place in Central Park. Three people died in this riot. This occurred on May 8th in Lower
Manhattan. They were protesting about the war in Vietnam during this. -
George Wallace shot while campaigning
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn May 15th, 1972, Wallace was campaigning in Laurel, Maryland when he was shot four times by a “would-be” assassin. This assassin’s name was Arthur Herman Bremer. Wallace was paralyzed below the waist and this ended his campaign. It was said that the shooting was not motivated by politics, but that Arthur wanted to become famous. -
Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn September 5th, 1972, eight members of a Palestinian terrorist organization, called Black September, snuck into the Olympic Village at Munich, Germany. They were holding the XXth Olympic Games. They raided the building that was housing the Israeli athletes. Two athletes were killed in the raid, and nine others were taken hostage. Nine of the Israeli hostages were killed during a shoot-out, and five Black September members were killed, and three were taken into custody. -
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U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam
Website and Picture LinkOn January 27th, 1973, the peace talks resume and the parties agree to cease fire that same day. Even though many people were pulled out before hand, the last of the U.S. forces came out on that day. There was a release of all prisoners of war and there was international force to keep the peace. Towards the end of 1973, almost all U.S. military personnel had left South Vietnam. We let the South Vietnamese choose their own future, but that the South Vietnamese troops in the South could stay. -
Sears Tower Built
Website and Picture LinkThe Sears Tower was built on May fifth, 1973. It was a massive commercial structure. It was to hold Sears, Roebuck, and Co. in the one building. The company had a bout 350,000 employees. It is 108 story structure and was the tallest building in the world when it was first built. It broke the record that was set by the World Trade Center. It is still one of the tallest buildings standing today. It is made completely of steel. -
Paul Getty Kidnapped
Picture LinkWebsite LinkAt 3am on the 10th of July in 1973, Paul Getty was kidnapped from a Rome piazza. He was only 16 years old. Some days after his disappearance, his kidnappers told a local newspapers company that he was being held hostage by the Mafia. His father and grandfather didn’t believe the kidnapping and didn’t pay the ransom until the evidence of the hostage was provided. His severed right ear and photos of the body part not there was the evidence that was sent. -
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Patty Hearst Kidnapped
Website and Picture LinkApril 15th, 1974 was tax day. Four white women and a black man robbed the bank she was at. The police saw in the tape they were reviewing that a woman who had been missing for two months was in the video. Patty Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th at gunpoint in front of her Berkeley Apartments. In the tape, the woman that had been missing for two months was her. She was helping them rob the bank. She was the granddaughter of the legendary newspaper publisher, William Randolph Hearst. -
National speed limit 55
Picture LinkWebsite LinkThe national speed limit was made 55 m.p.h. on May ninth, 1974, when Richard Nixon signed the Emergency High conservation Act. Before this event, states were free to set their own limits. The new law threatened to strip federal highway funding from any state going above the national standard. The purpose for this limit was to keep down gas prices. -
Girls allowed to play in Little League Baseball
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn November 4th, 1974, the first little league team for girls was created. 30,000 girls signed up for the softball program. One in every 57 little leaguers was girls. This was looked at as a part of women’s rights. Maria Pepe was the one to give girls a chance to play. She only played in three games. The ages were about 5-18. Today it is about the same. Only about 1 in 7 girls are little leaguers. It changed America’s history forever. -
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Jimmy Hoffa disappears
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn July 30th, 1975, former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa stood outside a restaurant named Machus Red Fox. This was in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. That day, his wife and some of his friends noticed that he was considerably nervous. He was kidnapped by some members of a gang he worked with, and both the guys that did it said they knew nothing. There was a match of DNA from a piece of hair in the backseat of the car he was kidnapped in and his hairbrush. The likely suspects were all known. -
President Ford assassination attempts (2)
Picture LinkWebsite LinkPresident Ford survived his second assassination attempt. This attempt on his life came only 17 days after a woman tried to kill him. The first try at killing him was when Ford was on his way to a speech towards the California legislature in Sacramento. A bystander grabbed the person’s hand with the gun in it, while Secret Service agents got Mr. Ford in a car and drove him to safety. Both people who tried to shoot Ford thought of him as a symbol of their hatred for the political establishment. -
Catalytic convertors introduced on cars
Picture LinkWebsite LinkThese have been mandatory on all cars since they were invented. An internal combustion engine creates emissions that are very bad for the environment. To reduce the pollution that comes from your car, the catalytic convertors change these harmful gases into harmless ones. So, this was made to help the environment. -
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Entebbe Air Raid
Picture LinkWebsite LinkThis air raid was part of an ongoing Arab-Israeli problem. The Entebbe commandos landed on July 4th, 1976 at Entebbe. The Air France Flight was stopping at Athens when two members of the Palestinian Liberation Front and two Germans hijacked the plane. The terrorists took the plane to Libya where there were three more extremists. The only hostages that were kept were Israeli’s or Jews. In order for the people to be released, the Palestinians wanted 40 of their people released as well as others. -
Mao Tse-tung dies
Picture LinkWebsite LinkChairman Mao died on September 9th, 1976 at the age of 82. His cause of death was Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS or the Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He also smoked so Mao Tse-tung had breathing problems. After he got the disease, the chairman lived with it for five years. -
Red Dye #2 is banned
Picture LinkWebsite LinkRed Dye #2 is an artificial food coloring that can be harmful to you. While the product you are buying may say natural, it does not mean ALL natural. It could contain Red Dye #2. They use the food dye to make the food look like the product you are buying. If you are buying Blue Raspberry, it needs to look blue. Red Dye #2 was found in Bubble Yum. The gum was pulled from shelves because the FDA said it was harmful for people. -
Neutron bomb funding began
Picture LinkWebsite LinkThe Neutron Bomb was to be detonated above the Earth and the neutron rays would come down and kill the people but it would leave the buildings standing. It was considered a killer. It was an enhanced radiation weapon. It was a very big controversy at the time. NATO Commanders would be able to attack and not destroy West Germany. -
New York City blackout
Picture LinkWebsite Link Lightning struck a Consolidated Edison tripping two circuit breakers setting off a power failure. Part of New York was blacked out for more than 24 hours. This happened around 9:30 p.m. This blackout happened when they were almost bankrupt. There was rioting and looting during the blackout. Fires were also set. -
Elvis Found Dead
Picture LinkWebsite LinkElvis Presley was found dead on the 16th of August in 1977 in his home in Graceland, Memphis. He was found in his upstairs bathroom by his girlfriend. Ginger Alden, his girlfriend, called the doctor, but nothing could be done to save him. Presley was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm by his physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos. -
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Atlantic City permits gambling
Picture LinkWebsite LinkIn April, on the 10th, the first Atlantic City casino opened for gambling that was legalized. It immediately became a hot spot. People arrived in a steadily increasing flow. This casino and gambling right was voted for. Property values near the casino skyrocketed. -
Love Canal in New York declared federal disaster
Picture LinkWebsite LinkAugust 7th, 1978, the Love Canal came to international attention. Jimmy Carter, president, declared a federal emergency at the Love Canal. It was a former chemical landfill. It became a 15-acre neighborhood of the City of Niagara Falls in New York. The Niagara River was made so they could get cheap power and fuel the home industry. This idea never happened, though. -
Jonestown Massacre
Website and Picture LinkMore than 900 people were killed in the middle of a South American jungle. This was at Jonestown. This massacre was done willingly. The religious ministry was moved to Guyana to escape American capitalism and criticism. This was a cult. It was run by James Warren Jones. Relatives of cult members wanted the U.S. government to rescue these brainwashed victims. To preserve their church, they decided to give their own lives. The people were given a deadly concoction of a purple drink. -
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Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island
Picture LinkWebsite LinkNear Middleton, Pennsylvania, something went wrong at Three Mile Island’s nuclear plant. Around 4 a.m., there was a failure in a non-nuclear part of the plant. The feed water pumps had stopped running which kept the steam generators from getting rid of heat. The pressure in the nuclear portion of the plant began to increase. After reading the water level, the alarms went off and the operators didn’t realize the plant was experiencing a loss-of-coolant. The plant was suffering a core melt down. -
Ayatollah Khomeini Returns as Leader of Iran
Picture LinkWebsite LinkAyatollah Khomeini was exiled out of Iran for 14 years. Five million people lined the streets to see his homecoming. He was imprisoned by the Shah in 1963 and was expelled the following year. He was many people’s religious inspiration. His first name, Ayatollah, means “Sign of God”. His last few months of being exiled were spent in France. -
The Greensboro Massacre
Picture LinkWebsite LinkOn November 3rd, there was a “Death to the Klan” rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Ku Klux Klan got a map of the rally and the march. While this rally and march were in progress, the Klan/Nazis loaded several car trunks with firearms to use at the rally site. Once they got there, they got the guns out and started firing at the demonstrators. There was no police around. (They had just gone on break.) Four protestors died, several were wounded, and one died three days later.
