Emma Kenney

The 1970s were a completely unique and overwhelming decade, full of eccentric people, exciting inventions, and standard-changing events. Familiar names such as Richard Nixon and Michael Jackson came into light, as well as many other iconic people and things. The 1970s were an interesting and important decade.

Possibly the biggest achievement and event of the early 1970s was the Title IX. According to TitleIX.info, which is the officially Web site for this Act, “Title IX is a law passed in 1972 that requires gender equality for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding.” A vast number of people have no idea Title IX even exists or that it applies to things other than sports. In reality, Title IX addresses 10 different subjects: Access to Higher Education, Career Education, Education for Pregnant and Parenting Students, Student Employment, Learning Environment, Math and Science, Sexual Harassment, Athletics, and Standardized Testing and Technology. Before Title IX, girls were unable to participate in the majority of team sports, having only cheerleading and dance as options. Title IX requires if there is no team for girls, girls must be given a fair chance to try out for the boys team while receiving no prejudice based upon their gender. Title IX also opened up doors for any woman who wished to become involved in the fields of math, science, or law. Before Title IX, girls could be denied admission to a college simply because they were girls. Oftentimes, even when a female application had better grades and credentials she was denied admission so the opening she deserved could be given to a male student instead. Title IX changed this drastically. Before Title IX was passed, there was great discrimination against girls, but even more so against girls who were pregnant. Schools were able to expell students who became pregnant, especially if they refused to abort the baby, even if it was due to rape. Title IX ensures if schools have special programs for pregnant students, they are not mandatory and their content is just as good as that which non-pregnant students receive. As seen in these points as discussed by TitleIX.info, Title IX completely changed things for girls everywhere, giving them their first fair chance at many things that had been seen as only for boys for many years.

Richard Nixon, who was elected as the 37^th President of the United States (1969-1974), was born in Yorba Linda, California on January 9, 1913 to a grocer and his wife, named Francis and Hannah Nixon. Seeing how discontent his parents were with their circumstances, Nixon became increasingly ambitious and inspired. Nixon graduated from Whittier College in 1934 after having been elected as president of the student body and discovering he had apt skills in the field of debate. He married Thelma Catherine “Pat” Ryan, whom he knew from his local theatre group, in 1940, and together they had two daughters named Patricia and Julie. Richard served in the United States Navy during World War II from 1939-1945. After this, Nixon began pursuing his political career. The man represented his district of California in the House of Representatives. In 1950, Richard gained a position in the U.S. Senate. Nixon served as vice president to General Dwight Eisenhower for two consecutive terms, starting in 1952. Nixon ran for president in 1960, but was beaten by John F. Kennedy in what was one of the closest presidential elections in American history. Many assumed his political career was over when he then lost an election for Governor in California merely two years after he lost to Kennedy. However, Richard Nixon ran again for president in 1968. He won the election and began his term. The Vietnam War had caused much controversy among American citizens, so Nixon developed a strategy to achieve what he referred to as “peace with honor,” commonly known as Vietnamization. This trained the army of South Vietnam how to fight for themselves while slowly withdrawing American troops from Vietnam. A peace agreement with the communist area of North Vietnam was reached in January of 1973 by Nixon and his administration officials.

In 1972, when Nixon was running for reelection, the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. was broken into and burgled by operatives associated with his campaign. Nixon firmly denied any knowledge or involvement in this theft, but many members of his administration had knowledge of it, and later secret White House videos confirmed he was indeed involved and had only attempted to cover that fact up. Nixon, rather than being impeached by Congress, resigned from office on August 9, 1974, making him the only United States President to resign from office. On April 22, 1994, Nixon had a stroke and died in New York City.

The 1970s can claim many interesting inventions as well. The Post-It Note was invented in the 1970s by Art Fry and Dr. Spencer Silver. Art Fry, a member of his church’s choir, grew increasingly frustrated as week after week his bookmarks fell out of his hymnal. The man began searching for a bookmark that wouldn’t fall out but also wouldn’t damage his book. That was when he observed his colleague, Dr. Spencer Silver, had developed a strong adhesive that left no residue and could be continuously repositioned. Art applied this to the edge of a piece of paper, creating the first Post-It Note. Arthur and Spencer watched as their colleagues quickly gained interest in their invention. Here was a new and unique way of both communicating and organizing. When shown to test-markets in 1977, no interest in the product was shown, and for the time being, Post-It Notes had failed. However, the product production exploded in 1979 when a massive consumer sampling strategy took place. Post-It Notes continued to gain popularity as time progresses.

Another interesting invention of the 1970s is the floppy disk. The floppy disk was created by Yoshiro Nakamatsu, a Japanese inventor. He claims to have created it as early as 1950 but was not commercially introduced until 1971. The floppy disk is, according to Webster’s Dictionary, “a flexible removable magnetic disk, typically encased in hard plastic, used for storing data.” It forever changed computing as for the first time, large amounts of data could be easily stored for continuous use. Not only that, but floppy disks were removable and could be transported to a different location, unlike any sort of data device seen before this was invented.

Popular musicians of the 1970s included Elvis Presley and the Jackson 5. Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. The boy began his musical career in 1954 when he began a recording contract with Sun Records, and he was an international sensation by 1956. In 1970 he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation by the United States Jaycees. During this he served in the United States Army. Elvis wrote many popular songs before his death in 1977, including “Falling in Love With You” and “Blue Suede Shoes,” which were both popular in the 1970s. The Jackson 5 is another example of a popular music group from the 1970s. They produced a number of hits, including “I Want You Back” and “ABC.”

The 1970s can take credit for many great movies, some which are still popular today. A few examples of timeless 1970s films are Star Wars, which came out in 1977, and Jaws, which came out in 1975. Popular children’s movies from the 1970s include films such as Robin Hood, which came out in 1973, and the Aristocats, which came out in 1970. Popular television shows included M*A*S*H, Charlie’s Angels, and The Brady Bunch. Children could watch shows such as Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Scooby-Doo Where Are You?. The 1970s saw actors and actresses such as Goldie Hawn and Peter Strauss.

The 1970s saw a menu similar to that of today. Fondue and Jell-o were incredibly popular during this decade. Watergate salad and Watergate cake were popular in the later 1970s after two cookbooks poking fun at the Watergate incident of the early 1970s were published. One of these, The Watergate Cookbook, the Committee to Write the Cookbook, contained recipes such as Nixon’s Perfectly Clear Consommé and Cox’s In-Peach Chicken. Many popular foods were invented in the 1970s as well. In 1970, Hamburger Helper was created, followed by Starbucks in 1975, Pop Rocks in 1976, and Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream in 1978.

Clothing in the 1970s was very similar to that of the 1960s; no initial fashion revolution occurred during this decade. Many of what people consider to be the best elements of the ’60s drifted into the ’70s, but blended together the styles of mods and hippies. The majority of the 1970s sported the famous wide-legged bell-bottoms, but by the end of the decade, they had almost entirely been replaced by much thinner legged pants. Dresses and tunics were popular for the ladies, but at the same time this was first decade in which women could wear pants for basically every aspect of their lives and have it be seen as proper and acceptable. Sandals or platform shoes were the shoes of choice. While the beginning of the 1970s saw many vibrant colors and intriguing patterns, by the end of the decade they had almost completely disappeared and been replaced by earth tones, grey, and black, as if the people grew tired of the exciting colors they had spent decades enjoying.

During the beginning of the 1970s, abortion was still illegal, and many woman were getting them in secret, usually unsafely as well as for a decent amount of money. Many people, mainly those within the Christian church, still sided with the belief abortion was completely wrong and undeniably sinful. The only exception to the laws against abortion was if a woman had been a victim of a rape that was proven to have happened in court. This exception was almost completely new to the ’70s. So many woman were found to be having dangerous illegal abortions that finally, in 1973, the  Roe v. Wade case caused the  legalization of  abortion in the United States. While people within the church weren’t thrilled by this at all, many active rights groups and more radical groups of people were thrilled. For the first time abortions were being safely conducted in large quantities, and no mothers died. The firm conservation Christian beliefs of past decades were being transformed into new ideas. Homosexuals started to be more open about their sexuality, though gay marriage was still entirely illegal. Lastly, many people began desiring a larger government with more control than had been seen in the past.

In conclusion, the 1970s were lively and progressive years. Much progress was made in ensuring equal opportunities and rights for both females and males. Useful inventions such as the Post-It Note were introduced and media were full of timeless artists and movies such as Elvis Presley and Star Wars. Well-known foods, such as Starbucks and Ben and Jerry’s, were created. Clothing slowly transformed from being vibrant and wild to being more reserved in both color and style.  The meaningful years of 1970-1979 will not be forgotten anytime soon.

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