The 70`s- Michael Rosenthal

By monstermike22
  • Period: to

    the 70s Michael Rosenthal

  • Aswan High Dam Completed

    Aswan Low Dam, which was first completed in 1902. In Egypt largest populated and now had electricity.

  • Beatles Break up

    • The Beatles' break-up describes the events related to the break-up of The Beatles, one of the most popular and influential musical groups in history. It was not a single event but a long transition,[3] including the cessation of touring in 1966, and the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, in 1967, meaning the Beatles were personally involved in financial and legal conflicts.

  • Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes

    February 21: A P.F.L.P. splinter group detonates altitude bombs in two airplanes, causing one to crash while the other lands safely. Forty-seven people are killed, and both the P.F.L.P. and other Palestinian guerrilla organizations condemn the attacks. Six others hijack an Olympic Airways flight from Beirut to Athens. After landing in Greece, they threaten to blow up the plane unless their comrades (and five others already convicted) are released. No airline security.

  • Bar codes introduced in the UK on retail products

    This helped them figure out how much they have sold and before they couldn’t do this before and this also made it a lot quicker.

  • Computer Floppy Disks Introduced

    The first disk was introduced in 1971. The disk was 8" in diameter with a magnetic coating, enclosed in a cardboard case with the capacity of one megabyte.

  • First Earth Day

    . Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this first Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations

  • Apollo 13 mission suffers huge setback

    A meteor hit the oxygen tank and a made a little tiny hole in it and so then the oxygen went away. People were worried and were trying to figure out how to save them before they ran out of oxygen.

  • 18 year olds given the vote

    • It was a big deal because now 18 thought that it was unfair that they could die for our country therefore we are not old enough to vote.

  • US Soldiers found guilty for murder in My Lei Massacre

    This was a big deal because it showed there are rules and you can’t kill innocent people like parents, adults and children.

  • • Kent State Shootings

    • The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.[5]

  • EPA is created

    Born in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors in downtown Washington, D.C., on December 2, 1970. EPA was established to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection

  • World Trade Center is completed

    • Ground was broken Aug. 5, 1966, and steel construction began in August 1968. The North Tower topped out at 1,368 feet (some sources say 1,353 feet) Dec. 23, 1970. Ribbon-cutting took place April 4, 1973.

  • • First successful video game (Pong) launched

    Pong (marketed as PONG) is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity. The aim is to defeat the opponent in a simulated table tennis game by earning a higher score. The game was originally manufactured by Atari Incorporated (Atari), who released it in 1972. Allan Alcorn created Pong as a trai

  • • London Bridge Brought to the U.S.-

    It was a big deal because it was falling down and it got too old to stay there. They bought the bridge and built it in the U.S.

  • • China joins the UN

    • Because it’s a problem because they couldn’t talk to them without them being in the UN but since they joined that changed.

  • • End of Gold Standard for US Currency-

    It means the value of money was equal to the value of gold. Fiat money-has value because of government says so.

  • Cigarette ads are banned

    Because the teenagers and kids would see it so it’d might influence them.

  • Direct dial between New York and London

    Because you couldn’t just pick up the phone and call someone from a different country. Workers would have to connect you to the country and then to the person that you were trying to call.

  • • Amtrak created-

    The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak (reporting mark AMTK), is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track".[1] It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C.[2]

  • Direct dial between New York and London-

    Because you couldn’t just pick up the phone and call someone from a different country. Workers would have to connect you to the country and then to the person that you were trying to call.

  • • VCRs introduced

    Monday, June 7th. A home entertainment revolution began on this date in 1975, when the videocassette recorder was introduced. The VCR allowed people to watch movies at home when they wanted to and to record and watch their own videos. At its peak, some nine-out- of-10 households across the country had a VCR. Then, the digital video disc or DVD was introduced in 1997, and quickly relegated stacks of VHS tapes to thrift shops. Now, the hottest format is the blu-ray system, allowing video quality t

  • • South Vietnam and US invade Laos

    U.S.-South Vietnamese invasion of southern Laos has been underway since early Monday, but Washington is still trying to keep the action a secret.

  • • The Pentagon Papers Released-

    It showed the American public that they shouldn’t believe the blindly government and the lies they didn’t tell them.

  • • Pocket Calculators Introduced-

    Pocket-sized devices become available in the 1970s, especially after the invention of the microprocessor developed serendipitously by Intel for a Busicom calculator.

  • • First Benefit Concert organized for Bangladesh by George Harrison

    The Concert For Bangladesh was the event title for two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at noon and at 7:00 p.m. on August 1, 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Organized for the relief of refugees from East Pakistan (now independent Bangladesh) after the 1970 Bhola cyclone and during the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities and Bangladesh Liberation War, the event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world

  • • Attica State Prison Riots

    Attica Prison riot occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States in 1971. The riot was based in part upon prisoners' demands for better living conditions, and was led in large part by a small band of political revolutionaries.[1] On September 9, 1971, responding to the death of prisoner George Jackson, a black radical activist prisoner who had been shot to death by corrections officers in California's San Quentin Prison on August 21, about 1,000 of the prison's

  • • Disney world opens-

    October 1, 1971 - after seven years of planning - about 10,000 visitors converged near Orlando, Florida, to witness the grand opening of Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom (the only theme park at the time on Disney property) featured Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Tomorrowland, a Main Street USA, and about 5,500 Cast Members. The price of admission was $4.95!

  • • Swann V. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Ed- Swann v.

    Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) was an important United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools. After a first trial going to the Board of Education, the Court held that busing was an appropriate remedy for the problem of racial imbalance among schools, even where the imbalance resulted from the selection of students based on geographic proximity to the school rather than from deliberate assignment based o

  • • D. B. Cooper-

    D. B. Cooper is the name popularly used to refer an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, USA on November 24, 1971, extorted USD $200,000[1] in ransom, and parachuted to an uncertain fate

  • • The microprocessor is introduced-

    • In November, 1971, a company called Intel publicly introduced the world's first single chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (U.S. Patent #3,821,715), invented by Intel engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stan Mazor. After the invention of integrated circuits revolutionized computer design, the only place to go was down -- in size that is. The Intel 4004 chip took the integrated circuit down one step further by placing all the parts that made a computer think (i.e. central processing unit,

  • • M*A*S*H T.V. Show Premiers

    TV Land kicks off 2007 in a "major" way when M*A*S*H -- one of the most successful shows ever seen on television -- debuts on the network with the week-long "Major Major M*A*S*H Marathon." Beginning Monday, January 1 through Sunday, January 7, viewers can ring in the new year with the gang from the 4077th as TV Land airs

  • • Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals-

    Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics.

  • • George Wallace shot while campaigning

    • A 1972 assassination attempt left him paralyzed; he used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He is best known for his Southern populist,[3] pro-segregation attitudes during the American desegregation period, convictions he renounced later in life.[

  • • Nixon visits Soviet Union

    In 1971 Nixon made the dramatic announcements that he would visit Peking and Moscow in the first half of 1972. He ... announced progress in the negotiations with the Soviet Union on an arms limitation treaty. The visit to Peking took place in February and he was invited to meet Chairman Mao Zedong, a mark of high respect. In May, he visited Moscow and signed the agreement limiting the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union.

  • • KKK riots in NYC-

    Thomas Nast's cartoon "The Modern Samson," 1868 The caricatures of armed Democratic figures include (from left to right): Wade Hampton III with a torch held high; Nathan Bedford Forrest with a Fort Pillow Medallion; Robert E. Lee squatting; presidential nominee Horatio Seymour with hair shaped into horns, wearing a Ku Klux Klan breastplate, and carrying a flag that promotes slavery, the "lost cause" (the Confederacy), Civil War draft riots of New York City, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Reconstructi

  • • Supplemental Security Income (SSI) introduced-

    Supplemental Security Income (or SSI) is a United States government program that provides stipends to low-income people who are either aged (65 or older), blind, or disabled.[1] Although administered by the Social Security Administration,[2] SSI is funded from the U.S. Treasury general funds,[1] not the Social Security trust fund. SSI was created in 1974 to replace federal-state adult assistance programs that served the same purpose. The restructuring of these programs was intended to standardiz

  • • Watergate Scandal Begins-

    The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974, the first and only resignation of any U.S. President. It also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and incarceration of several Nixon administratio

  • • Supreme Court rules against death penalty-

    1972, Furman v. Georgia. The court rules the death penalty does not violate the Constitution, but the manner of its application in many states does. The court notes capital punishment was likely to be imposed in a discriminatory way and that blacks were far more likely to be executed than whites. The decision essentially ends the practice of executions.

  • • Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich-

    The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually murdered by the Islamic terrorist group Black September.[3][4][5][6][7] Members of Black September contended that Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization secretly endorsed the operation. Fatah, however, disputed the accusation. Black September called the operation "Ikrit and Biram",[8] a

  • • The Wars Act passed-

    The War Powers Act is found as 50 USC S.1541-1548, passed in 1973 over the veto of President Nixon. It's supposed to be the mechanism by which the President may use US Armed Forces. It purports to spell out the situations under which he may deploy the Forces with and without a Congressional declaration of war.

  • • HBO launched-

    HBO, an initialism of its full (legal) name Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. As of December 2010, HBO's programming reaches 28.6 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium subscription channel in America (Encore's programming reaches 32.8 million subscribers as of April 2011). [1] In addition to its U.S. subscriber base, HBO also broadcasts in at least 151 countries worldwide.[2]HBO's programming consists

  • • Abortion Legalized in U.S

    Abortion in the United States has been legal in every state since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, on January 22, 1973. Prior to "Roe", there were exceptions to the abortion ban in at least 10 states; "Roe" established that a woman has a right to self-determination (often referred to as a "right to privacy") covering the decision whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, but that this right must be balanced against a state's interest in preserving fetal life.

  • • U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam

    March 29, 1973. All US personnel were evacuated in April 1975

  • • UPC Barcodes come to US

    The Universal Product Code was the first bar code to be widely adopted from as early as April 1973 by the US grocery industry for product marking.

  • • Sears Tower Built

    This tower was completed in 1973. After this building was done being constructed the world had a new tallest building.

  • • Paul Getty Kidnapped

    t is said that the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III was one of the most infamous kidnappings of the twentieth century. He was kidnapped at age 16, on July 10, 1973, in Rome, Italy, and a ransom of $17 million was demanded over the phone for his safe return. As Paul III was so rebellious, when the first ransom message arrived, the family suspected a ploy by the teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather. A second demand was delayed by an Italian postal strike. John Paul Getty II aske

  • • OPEC doubles price of oil

    July 15, 1973. This is the day that OPEC decided that they were not making enough money off of the gasoline that people were buying. This triggered the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution.

  • • The War Powers Act

    The War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 U.S.C. 1541-1548)[1] is a U.S. federal law intended to restrict the power of the President to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. The law was adopted in the form of a United States Congress joint resolution; this provides that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or p

  • • U.S. Vice President Resigns-

    On October 10, 1973, following months of pressure and scandal, Vice President Spiro Agnew turned in his letter of resignation to President Nixon (who was soon to follow him) becoming only the second vice president to resign.* Michigan representative Gerald R. Ford took his place as vice president on December 6, 1973.

  • • Endangered Species Act

    Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544, 87 Stat. 884), as amended -- Public Law 93-205, approved December 28, 1973, repealed the Endangered Species Conservation Act of December 5, 1969 (P.L. 91-135, 83 Stat. 275). The 1969 Act had amended the Endangered Species Preservation Act of October 15, 1966 (P.L. 89-669, 80 Stat. 926).The 1973 Act implemented the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (T.I.A.S. 8249), signed by the United States on Mar

  • • Girls allowed playing in Little League Baseball

    1974: Girls are formally permitted to play in the Little League Baseball program; and a Little League Softball program for both boys and girls is created.

  • • U.S. President Nixon Resigns

    • On August 9th, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. President to resign his office rather than become the first to be removed via impeachment. The night before he had made one of the most dramatic appearances in television history by announcing his intention to resign.

  • • Gerald Ford pardons Nixon

    Richard Nixon became the thirty-seventh President of the United States on January 20, 1969 and was reelected in 1972 for a second term by the electors of forty-nine of the fifty states. His term in office continued until his resignation on August 9, 1974. Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto

  • • Patty Hearst Kidnapped

    The granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and great-granddaughter of millionaire George Hearst, she gained notoriety in 1974 when, following her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), she ultimately joined her captors in furthering their cause. Apprehended after having taken part in a bank robbery with other SLA members, Hearst was imprisoned for almost two years before her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.[1] She was later granted a presidential

  • The National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL) in the United States was a provision of the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that prohibited speed limits higher than 55 mph (90 km/h). It was drafted in response to oil price spikes and supply disruptio

    • Freedom of Information Act passed over President Ford's veto (1974). Event Date: November 21, 1974.

  • • National speed limit 55

    The National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL) in the United States was a provision of the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that prohibited speed limits higher than 55 mph (90 km/h). It was drafted in response to oil price spikes and supply disruptions during the 1973 oil crisis. While gasoline consumption was expected to fall by 2.2%, the United States Department of Transportation calculated actual savings at 1%. Independent studies suggest savings as low as a half percent.

  • • Computerized Supermarket checkouts begin to appear

    • (1975.) "Sevitys Valintamyymalan Kessas Tyoymparistosta", (Working Conditions at the Check-Out Counter of a Supermarket), Tyosuojeluhallitus Tampere, (Finland) in: Busch, Dr. G.K.(1978.) Ergonomic Problems With Cash-Register Operators in Supermarkets and Self-service Stores, London International Federation of Commercial, Clerical and Technical Employees (FEIT).

  • • Jimmy Hoffa disappears

    James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975, declared legally dead July 30, 1982[1][2]) was an American labor union leader and author.Hoffa was involved with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, as an organizer from 1932 to 1975. He served as the union's General President from 1958 to 1971. He secured the first national agreement for teamsters' rates in 1964, and played a major role in the growth and development of the union, which eventually becam

  • • Microsoft Founded

    Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, NYSE: MSFT) is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed

  • • Saigon falls to communism

    • South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh surrenders to the Communist party on April 30, 1975. North Vietnamese colonel Bui Tin accepts the surrender. Later he tells Minh that, "only the Americans have been beaten. If you are patriots, consider this a moment of joy." As the small group of Americans evacuate Saigon, the last two US servicemen to die in Vietnam are killed when their helicopter gets shot down and crashes. This resulted in the end of the Vietnam War.

  • • - Freedom of Information Act passed over President Ford's veto (1974). Event Date: November 21, 1974.

    On this day in 1975, Arthur Ashe defeats the heavily favored Jimmy Connors to become the first black man ever to win Wimbledon, the most coveted championship in tennis.

  • • President Ford assassination attempts

    There have been multiple assassination attempts and plots on Presidents of the United States; there have been over 20 known attempts to kill sitting and former Presidents as well as Presidents-elect. Four attempts have resulted in sitting Presidents being killed: Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President), James A. Garfield (the 20th President), William McKinley (the 25th President) and John F. Kennedy (the 35th President). Two other Presidents were injured in attempted assassinations: former Presiden

  • • Catalytic convertors introduced on cars

    First widely introduced on series-production automobiles in the United States market for the 1975 model year to comply with tightening U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations on auto exhaust, catalytic converters are still most commonly used in motor vehicle exhaust systems. Catalytic converters are also used on generator sets, forklifts, mining equipment, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes and other engine-equipped machines.

  • • Francisco Franco dies

    Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo de Franco y Bahamonde Salgado-Araujo y Pardo de Andrade (4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975), commonly known as Franco (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko ˈfɾaŋko]), was a Spanish military general and head of state of Spain from October 1936 (whole nation from 1939 onwards), and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November 1975. As head of state, Franco used the title Caudillo de España, por la gracia de D

  • • Betamax VCR’s released

    • The first stand-alone Sony Betamax VCR in the United States, the SL-7200, came on the market in February 1976 priced at $1295. This unit sold much better than the previous TV/VCR combo LV-1901. The external clock to turn the unit on and off at preset times was an optional accessory.

  • • North and South Vietnam Join to Form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam-

    The NLF arrived in Saigon on April 30, 1975. After declaring that Vietnam was now a united country, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established in July 1976.

  • • Karen Ann Quinlan

    After seeing Karen like this for several months, her family finally came to the conclusion that she was beyond hope, and decided to remove her from the ventilator. Hospital officials faced with threats by the Morris County prosecutor to bring homicide charges against them, joined with the Quinlan family in seeking an appropriate protective order from the courts, before allowing the respirator to be removed. The Quinlan family persevered, and in 1976 they took their case to the New Jersey Supreme

  • • Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens

    • is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the first gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. She is one of the best-known gymnasts in the world .[1][2][3] In 2000 Comăneci was named as one of the athletes of the century by the Laureus World Sports Academy.[4]

  • Red Dye # 2 is Banned

    • Red Dye Amaranth, Red Dye #2 is a dark red to purple azo dye once used as a food dye and to color cosmetics, but since 1976 it has been banned in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it is a suspected carcinogen. It usually comes as a trisodium salt. Scientists said that it was known to cause cancer.

  • • Entebbe Air Raid

    Operation Entebbe was a hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976.[1] A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and supporters and flown to Entebbe, near Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

  • • Legionnaire’s disease strikes 182, kills 29

    • Legionnaire disease, form of pneumonia caused by the bacillus Legionella pneumophila. The name of the disease (and of the bacterium) derives from a 1976 state convention of the American Legion, a U.S. military veterans’ organization, at a Philadelphia hotel where 182 Legionnaires contracted the disease, 29 of them fatally. The largest known outbreak of Legionnaire disease, confirmed in more than 300 people, occurred in Murcia, Spain, in 2001.

  • • Apple Computer launched

    • Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977,[6] the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc., for its first 30 years, but removed the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007,[7] to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers.[8] As of September 2010, Apple had 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary full time employees worldwide[2] and had worldwide

  • • West Point admits women

    • On October 8, 1975, the President of the United States signed into law a bill directing that women be admitted to America’s service academies. The first class to include women entered the United States Military Academy in 1976. Since that time, women have continued to join that Long Gray Line as cadets and West Point graduates serving the Nation as leaders in and out of military uniform. It is this great success and accomplishment that we celebrate this conference weekend

  • Alaskan Pipeline completed

    • The Trans Alaska Pipeline System was designed and constructed to move oil from the North Slope of Alaska to the northern most ice-free port in Valdez, Alaska. It was 800 miles long. It crosses three mountain ranges and over 800 rivers and streams. It cost to $8 billion to make in 1977, largest privately funded construction project at that time. Construction began on March 27, 1975 and was completed on May 31, 1977. Over 15 billion barrels have moved through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.

  • Miniseries Roots Airs

    • Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's work Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine; it also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still standing as the third-highest rated U.S. television program ever. It was shot on a budget of $6 million. A sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, was broadcast in 1979, and a second sequel, Roots: The Gift, was produced

  • President Carter pardons Vietnam Draft Dodgers

    • U.S. President Jimmy Carter grants an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. In total, some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and early 70s to avoid serving in the war. Ninety percent went to Canada, where after some initial controversy they were eventually welcomed as immigrants. For its part, the U.S. government continued to prosecute draft evaders after the Vietnam War ended. If they returned home, those living i

  • Star Wars Movie Released

    Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year intervals. Sixteen years after the release of the trilogy's final film, the first in a new prequel trilogy of films was released, again at three-year intervals, with the final film released on May 19, 2005

  • Neutron bomb funding began

    • On June 6, 1977 the Washington Post printed a story with the provocative title “Neutron Killer Warhead Buried in ERDA Budget.” Thus began a year-long controversy on the subject of what are technically called enhance-radiation weapons, but what the press, the public, and the diplomatic community came to know simply as the Neutron Bomb. The issue – whether or not the United States should produce and deploy in NATO and particularly in West Germany.

  • New York City blackout

    • The New York City Blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout that affected most of New York City from July 13, 1977 to July 14, 1977. The blackout was caused by a series of lightning strikes. Looting and vandalism were widespread, especially in the African American and Puerto Rican communities, hitting 31 neighborhoods, including every poor neighborhood in the city. Thirty-five blocks of Broadway were destroyed: 134 stores looted, 45 of them set ablaze.

  • First black Miss Universe

    • Miss Universe 1977, the 26th annual Miss Universe pageant was held at the National Theater, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on July 16, 1977. 24-year-old Janelle Commissiong earned Trinidad & Tobago its first Miss Universe crown as well as becoming the first black woman to win the title.

  • Elvis Presley dies

    In Baptist Hospital, Memphis, on August 16, 1977.Elvis Aaron Presley was pronounced dead by his personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos. The pronouncement was final. Yet, for the thousands of yarning souls thronged outside the hospital it brought in shock and disbelief. The disbelief that is still being nurtured by many across the world. Not yet ready to believe that the death has brought such an abrupt end to their so beloved idol. Elvis had suffered irregular heartbeat which the medicos cal

  • • Love Canal in New York declared federal disaster

    The lack of public interest in Love Canal made matters worse for the homeowners' association, which now battled two organizations who were spending vast amounts of money to disprove negligence. Initially, members of the association had been frustrated by the lack of a public entity that could advise and defend them. Gibbs met with considerable public resistance from a number of residents within the community: the mostly middle-class families did not have the resources to protect themselves, and

  • • Atlantic City permits gambling

    In an effort at revitalizing the city, New Jersey voters in 1976 approved casino gambling for Atlantic City; this came after a 1974 referendum on legalized gambling failed to pass. Immediately after the legislation passed, the owners of the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel began converting it into the Resorts International. It was the first legal casino in the eastern United States when it opened on May 26, 1978. Other casinos were soon constructed along the Boardwalk and, later, in the marina distri

  • • First Test-Tube Baby Born

    On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world's first successful "test-tube" baby was born in Great Britain. Though the technology that made her conception possible was heralded as a triumph in medicine and science, it also caused many to consider the possibilities of future ill-use

  • • John Paul II Becomes Pope

    In August 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Wojtyła voted in the Papal conclave that elected Pope John Paul I, who at 65 was considered young by papal standards. John Paul I died after only 33 days as Pope, thereby precipitating another conclave. The second conclave of 1978 commenced on 14 October, ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul I. It was divided between two particularly strong candidates for the papacy: Giuseppe Cardinal Siri the conservative Archbishop of Genoa,

  • • Camp David accords for Middle East Peace

    The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following thirteen days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two framework agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter. The second of these frameworks, A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, led directly to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and resulted in Sadat

  • • Jonestown Massacre

    Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, a cult led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations. A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from app

  • • Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island

    • The accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI 2) nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa., on March 28, 1979, was the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, even though it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community. But it brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations.

  • • Ayatollah Khomeini Returns as Leader of Iran

    1979: Exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran Religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini has made a triumphant return to Iran after 14 years in exile.

  • • Sony Introduces the Walkman

    Walkman is a Sony brand trade name originally used for portable audio cassette, and now used to market Sony's portable audio and video players as well as a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The original Walkman introduced a change in music listening habits by allowing people to carry music with them and listen to music through lightweight headphones. The device was built in 1978 by audio-division engineer Nobutoshi Kihara for Sony co-chairman Akio Morita, who wanted to be able to listen to op

  • • ESPN starts broadcasting

    Founded by Bill Rasmussen,[1] his son Scott Rasmussen and Getty Oil executive Stuart Evey, it launched on September 7, 1979, under the direction of Chet Simmons, the network's President and CEO (and later the United States Football League's first commissioner). Getty Oil Company provided the funding to begin the new venture. Geoff Bray of New Britain, CT was chosen as the architect. George Bodenheimer is ESPN's current president, a position he has held since November 19, 1998. Bodenheimer has al

  • • Margaret Thatcher First Woman Prime Minister of Great Britain

    Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) is a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who served from 1979 to 1990.Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford before qualifying as a barrister. In the 1959 general election she became MP for Finchley. Edward Heath appointed Thatcher Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975 she was elected Leader of the Conserv

  • • The Greensboro Massacre

    • the Greensboro massacre occurred on November 3, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Five protest marchers were shot and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. The protest was the culmination of attempts by the Communist Workers Party to organize mostly black industrial workers in the area.[1]The marchers killed were: Sandi Smith, a nurse and civil rights activist; Dr. James Waller, president of a local textile workers union who ceased medical practice

  • • Iran Takes American Hostages in Tehran

    • The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two US citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamic students and militants took over the Embassy of the United States in support of the Iranian Revolution.[1]Sixty-six Americans were taken captive when Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, including three who were at the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Six more Ame

  • • Jerry Falwell begins Moral Majority

    • The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.