1970-1979 history

The 1970’s were a simple yet important time in history with scandals, war and protests.
                      

          Many important historical events took place during the 1970’s; The Watergate scandal was one of the largest and most important events. On June 17, 1972 several men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. Secret funds were kept to hire and silence men. Nixon and his staff were a part of the attempt to cover up the break in. On August 5,194 The famous Smoking Gun tape was found and reveled Nixon’s contribution to the cover up. The birth of Earth day was another big event to take place, on April 22, 1970. Founded by U.S. senator Nelson Gaylord it was the beginning of the environmentalist movement. Also what is considered to be the start of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual/transgender movement. The first anniversary parade of the stonewall riots, where the LGBT community fought the government’s persecution towards them, was held on June 28, 1970 in New York City.
         
          One of the most important political figures during this decade was Richard Nixon the 37th president of the United States. He is mostly remembered because of his involvement in the Watergate scandal, which led to impeachment charges and also to become the only president in history to resign from office. Even though people remember him mostly for his negative actions he accomplished many good things, for example he was the first U.S. president to visit China in 1972 and improve relations with them and the United States. He is credited with ending the Vietnam War as well.

         
          One of the biggest issues of this decade was the controversial Vietnam war on May 4, 1970 an anti-war rally at Kent State University in Ohio turned for the worst when four students were shot and killed by members of the National Guard and nine were left wounded. Daniel Ellsberg’s release of the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times newspapers on June 13, 1971 reveled many unreported attacks and top secrets about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945-1967. They were published and available to the public. Finally on April 30, 1975 the long awaited end of the war came.

         
     The 1970’s like every decade had its ups and downs but overall it was important and filled with new ideas and a time of growth for America.

Bibliography:

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade70.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_history_(1970-1989)

http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm

http://www.essortment.com/all/watergatescand_reji.htm