We have reached the third part in our ongoing series Better Know a Decade History That Happened in the Past. This time, we’re covering the 1970s. While technically The Sixties didn’t end until about 1973, it is still important to acknowledge that the 1970s were in fact a decade, a hairy, oversexed decade.
The good news was that all the assassinations and angry mobs were more or less over by the time the 1970s rolled around, thus, it was time for America to let other countries have a chance at scaring it senseless. All the while the U.S. rejoiced in the feeling that the Vietnam War was over, because allegedly it was.
Grab your polyester and hit the jump.
International
The Cold War continued to rage on. Only now, with the U.S. clearly dominating the world stage for moon superiority, the USSR decided to move the competition elsewhere. The natural decision was of course, the Olympics. It was here that the First World and the Second World, better known as the commies, did their battle.
For both summer and winter games, it was a constant battle for supremacy. The Russkies were always bigger and meaner, while the free world could always depend on Canada to win the gold medal in curling. Among our nation’s great Olympic moments was 1972 Winter Games in Munich, where Mark Spitz’s mustache won seven gold medals.
By the way, if you were a foreign dictator, this was not the time to be on America’s bad side.
Homefront
Fashion designers often refer to this as the Dark Ages. It was a time when plaid pants were cool, bellbottoms were all the rage, leisure suits were in and the tighter you could get your pants, the better–and that’s just the men. The women got to wear a lot of brown and had their hair scorched to make sure it would stick out as widely as possible on all sides. Everyone was allowed to wear platform shoes. Most of these problems were blamed on Jimmy Carter.
It was a time of celebration–a lot of it. And with too much celebration comes bad ideas. People started putting CB radios in their cars, cocaine was everywhere, and with it came disco music, which showed white people that dancing was more than just twirling around in a circle at a folk festival. Jimmy Carter was later blamed for the advent of disco.
Social
Back at home, minorities had more power, because they had successfully scared the crap out of white folks for years. The old, old wooden ship known as diversity was coming to America. Black people had their own genre of films, which were usually hokey and at times violent. White people preferred their films violent and bullet riddled.
Women were also allowed in the workplace in roles slightly larger than the secretarial ones they had been kept to a decade before. Now, professional women were showing that they didn’t need a man to depend on, they could make it on their own. The cause of this problem was–you guessed it–Jimmy Carter.
Notable births
- Actress Liv Tyler
- Mustache Katie Holmes
- Rapper Marky “Mark” Wahlberg
- Golfer Tiger Woods
- Thespian Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Notable births: ME!