Andrea Shallman

Josh Orlando

Carly Anderson

Kelsey McGorisk

 

 

MYP Unit Question: How did culture, events and leadership shape and reflect post-WWII America?

 

 

The 1970's

 

Business & the Economy

 

 

The 1970’s proved to be a difficult time for the American Economy. After Vietnam, the country was trust into deeper and deeper debt with the high cost of war, and inflation became a serious problem in the United States economy. The housing market was down, prices of goods up, the stock market down, and claims that were compared to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The oil crisis in the Middle East also had the American people frightened for the stability of the economy.

American business survived the tough economic times, however, proving once again the relentless American spirit. Many technology advances occurred in the 1970’s, including the now standardized color TV and the first personal computer. Television was first introduced widespread in the 60’s, but the color TV became popular in the early 1970’s, with the majority of American families owning one. Also, the first personal computer was introduced in 1976 by Steve Jobs, through the fairly new company of Apple. These major advancements in technology portrayed the overall contributions that the 1970’s had on modern technology.

 

Education

In the 1970's race still determined education. Such as when the University of California denied a black man who had higher test grades then some of the other people who were admitted. His name was Allen Bakke. Bakke sued the university and on June 28, 1978, the supreme court ruled in favor of Bakke.

 

Also in the 1970's women were also admitted to schools and started to get an equal education. This was because of all the men going off to war and the women getting to go to school because there were not enough male students. Women were also accepted into athletics and equal education due to Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972.

 

During the 1970's laws for the handicapped were created. Most schools were beginning to accept handicapped students. In 1975, in order to clarify the schools' responsibilities, Public Law 94-142, better known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This made schools accept all handicapped children to attend school.

 

Through race, women, and handicapped children the 1970's was a very changing decade for equality in schools.

 

Fashion

 

    

 

     Fashion is a very important aspect in culture.  It changes many times throughout history.  Certain clothing goes out of style and new clothing becomes a fad.  However, some clothes come back in style.  The seventies fashion was a wide variety.  In general, for pants they wore hip huggers, knit skirts, flared slacks, “pant suits”, and “hot pants”.  “Hot Pants” are extremely short shorts which many people still wear in the 20^th century.  For shirts, people wore anything polyester, colorful, or paisley.  To be specific, men could be found wearing any of the following: business suit, bright colored shirts, wide neckties, bell-bottom trousers, blue jeans and t-shirt, or a jogging suit.  Women specifically wore either dresses, any length of skirt, hot pants (extremely short shorts), or huge bell-bottoms.  Two main clothing stores of the seventies were Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.  Many people still shop at these stores to this very day!  Styles included punk, disco, and hippie.  Lastly, a huge accessory was the mood ring.  I guess you could say the seventies had their own very unique style.

 

                                         

 

-Kelsey McGorisk 

 

Film and theater

 

Film and theater in the 1970's was adventurous and largely realistic. The film industry in Hollywood in the beginning of the decade was largely harmed by economic downturn. Hollywood had trouble drawing people in and had to auction set pieces just to pay for expenses. One type of movie that did not have this problem was war movies, such as, Patton or Tora Tora Tora! These harsh, yet true, war stories brought in high box office numbers. More popular movies included James Bond, with Sean Connery and even Grease, with John Travolta. Also, another huge hit was The Godfather, made in 1972. Though these types of films were very popular, the most popular of all genres was horror movies. These movies sky-rocketed in popularity in the 1970's. This movement was said to begin in 1973 with the movie The Exorcist. More popular horror films include The Omen and even the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The seventies really were a time for horror and gore films to shine. In addition, sequels really started to become popular. More film makers had sequels for their films, even if rating decreased as sequels went on. This was exercised with the Star Wars movies that were originally created in 1977. After Disco became popular, movies included more of the ideals associated with the style. This included marijuana being shown in movies to and increase in sexuality. This made some comedies of the era more popular with teenagers. Overall, film and theater in the 1970's got off to a slow start but ended the era with success.

 

 

Food &  Drink

 

Print Culture

The print culture of the 1970's was largely affected by the rebellious ideals of the 1960's. These new ideals included those of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Writing with these influences in mind was called "New Journalism" or "Gonzo Journalism, " though Gonzo Journalism was mostly drug induced and New Journalism was more about that topic. Some examples of new journalism were Playboy, Esquire but most importantly, Rolling Stone. This magazine was one of the most popular magazines of its time. It was mostly bought by teenagers who wanted to catch up on music and fads.

Also, feminism played a huge roll in print media. Magazines, such as, Ms.and New Woman were founded. In addition, magazines that had been around started adopting feminist ideals. One example of this was Cosmopolitan magazine. This spread ideals of feminism to women all over the united states.

 

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Sports &  Games

During the 1970's players started to find ways to manage themselves and make more money. Eventually in the 1970's the player always went to the highest bidder. This means that the team who would pay the athlete the most per year and for how long, the athlete would most likely go to that team. This was because of a term called “Free Agency”. For example, free agent Pete Rose a baseball player got a contract of reported 1 million dollars a year. Some other news in sports came about in the 1970's. Such as Bjorn Borg made $1.5 million as the best male tennis player in the world in 1978. Also Muhammad Ali earned 2.5 million dollars for his title fight against Joe Frazier in 1971. Also Muhammad's money doubled when he again became the champion in 1975 in the fight against George Foreman.

Women began to put themselves into the sports world throughout the 1970's. In one case basketball player Ann Myer was offered 50,000 dollars to play for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA, but was neglected and dropped in to the Women s Basketball League. Also during the 1970's black managers and few black owners of teams began to start to show. The 1970's sport era was very productive in equality for sports.

 

 

Music

Music was one of the biggest influential culture shifts of the 1970’s.  With the music scene starting to transform during the mid to late 1960’s with genre-changing  bands like The Beatles, the Rock n’ Roll era really opened up once the 70’s hit.  Cultural events of the time greatly reflected the music of the 1970’s; the end of the Vietnam war contributed to the majority of the American people not trusting the government, which lead the Hard Rock movement of “sticking it to the man.” Music in the 70’s was true to its stereotype—this decade was the poster child for “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll.” This common idea of the music in the 70’s was about lead to many older generations resenting the new music era, causing a gap between old and new popular music.  The spreading popularity of stadium concerts, shows that sell 30-40,000 tickets, became extremely popular with the rapidly growing popularity of Rock Music. With much influence from the 1960’s, the 70’s may have some of the most notable bands of modern America , with bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Bob Seger, Elton John, and KISS.  All of these bands have very different music styles, but all are united by the common thread of Rock n’ Roll.

 

Disco music was also a very notable part of 1970’s culture.  Instead of going to the clubs in the present age, people would spend their nights going to the disco.  Many popular songs that came out of this era representing the Disco age are the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” and The Village People’s “YMCA.” This continued and changed as this dance style moved into the 80’s but predominantly originated in the 1970’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Way We Lived"

 Day to day life in the 1970's was deeply affected by the 60's. The radical ideals of the sixties became the accepted ideals of the seventies. One example of this was with environmentalism. During the back-to-the-earth movement, rural areas were flooded with new people coming to work the land. This made rural population rise.

Also, the family relationships in the seventies changed. One example of this was the abrupt increase in divorce rates and “unconventional” family structures. The divorce rate was one cause for a new family structure. This is shown in cases of remarrying. A family like this is shown on The Brady Bunch, a large family of remarried parents and a lot of kids.

Feminism also caused an increased rate in single women who lived alone. Some women never even married. Feminism may have also played a part in the increase in median age that women did get married at. Feminism led to women reentering the workforce after their children were out of the house. The most important aspect about the children is that they started leaving home earlier and it was accepted to leave the house at the age of eighteen. In addition, the number of children in a family decreased because of birth control and a steady birth rate in the nation.

Teenage life was mostly affected by the rebellious culture around them. The had the ideals of being oppressed by "the man." Also, recreational drugs were very popular with teens. Teenagers of the time embraced the ideals of rebellion.

 

 

Government & Politics

During the 1970’s the government was not trustful or reliable. This started with the Watergate Scandal by President Nixon. When Helms did not help him cover up his scandal using the CIA, he replaced Helms with James Schlesinger in 1973. The Watergate Scandal involved Nixon hiring people to place wire taps on the Democratic Headquarters. Permanent intelligent comities were created over the next two years to prevent this from happening again.

Wars

The conclusion of the Vietnam War was ongoing, but in 1971 there was a controversy called the Pentagon Papers. This is when some information about the Vietnam War was leaked to the people. This information included covert military activities including secret aerial attacks authorized by the president and executive efforts to mislead Congress regarding the status of the war effort. When the war finally ended in 1975 and resulted in 58,000 United States American deaths and more than 1 million Vietnamese lives.

New Responsibilities

Other acts were passed including the Highway Safety Act. The Highway Safety Act separated highway safety from administration of the nation’s highway design, construction, and maintenance programs, creating the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to assume safety administration duties.

 

Leadership

 

In 1969 Richard Nixon was elected as the president of the United States. He was the leader of the U.S. through the Vietnam war. This was a very controversial time because many people did not support the war. Also, while the war was still raging,  in 1974 Nixon's fellow politicians bugged Watergate. This caused a lot of controversey and also caused Nixon to officially resign. Nixon was the first and only president in history to formally resign. He was pardonded by Gerald R. Ford in 1975. This decision may have lost him the 1976 election but hewas a strong leader while in office. The man who did win the election was Jimmy Carter. He started his presidecy in 1977 and was president for the rest of the decade. Having three different presidents in one decade definetly put a strain on the U.S. government, but they made it through.

 

Law &  Justice

 

The 1970’s were a very controversial time in the nation’s history in regards to the US people protesting the government and it’s standards, leading to many new laws and regulations being passed. One of the leading movements of the time was the feminism movement, which caught the attention of the US government. In 1971, the case of Reed v. Reed was brought to the Supreme Court, and was voided as a law because of its discrimination against women. Later that year, sex discrimination was reduced in the workplace when the Supreme Court ruled that it violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Women were also becoming increasingly recognized in the academic world, as well. Like in 1976, Rhodes scholarships are offered to women for the first time.

America’s youth gained a stronger voice in the 1970’s by 18 year olds gaining the right to vote in 1971. The US people decided that if 18 year olds were old enough to get drafted and fight for their country, then they should be able to take part in the democratic process of our government.

In the late 70’s, many cases were brought to the courts about the death penalty and “the right to die.” For example, the New Jersey court recognizes a person’s right to die in coma or near-death occurrences. Also, the first execution in decades took place in 1977.

Overall, many new laws and regulations were produced in the 1970’s in order to compensate with the changing aspects of the turbulent 1970’s culture.

 

Religion

     

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     The 1970s consisted of many different religions.  This was mainly due to the fact that the seventies was a “generation of seekers”.  The 70s were one decade after the well known baby boomers.  This means that the 1970s was the generation of the baby boomers from their early twenties to their fifties.  The term “generation of seekers” relates to what religion the older baby boomers decided to turn back to.  Whether it was old traditions or starting over new, many religions were about.  The three main religions were Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish.  Some baby boomers didn’t turn back to any religion.  This cause a bit of a slight downfall of the churches.  They just dropped out of the church for good.  Apart from the three main religions at the time, there were small side religions as well just like we have today.  The smaller religions came about mainly because during the seventies, many immigrants came and with them they brought their religions.  This is how the world came known to religions like Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism.  All these different religions of the seventies affect our religion today because we would never have as many as we do now.

 

-Kelsey McGorisk

   

 

 

 

MYP Unit Question: How did culture, events and leadership shape and reflect post-WWII America?

 

 

     From culture to events of the 1970's and how they shape the United States today. Throughout the 1970's there was a change in equality in education and sports that effects people now. Either it be the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which offered school and athletics to women, or even the Bakke case in which minorities should be accepted to all public schools. Also there are aspects of sports that developed in the 1970's that still happen today, such as Free Agency. These events shaped what sports and schools were like in the 1980's or 1990's and even today.

 

     Leadership of the 1970s shaped and reflected the post-WWII America.  Nixon was President of the United States from 1969 to 1974.  Although he struggled through resigning and almost being impeached, he was praised for one special action.  Nixon ended US involvement in Vietnam.  Ford was elected president from 1974 to 1977.  He had to solve problems like stopping inflation, fixing the economy, and trying to create world peace.  Avoiding inflation was a huge goal that many people supported Ford for.  During Ford’s time he also granted Nixon a full pardon.  Carter took the presidency from 1977 to 1981.  Carter did all that he could in the tough economy and time to complete the tasks he needed to.  He made it through with much success and few drawbacks.  Without these three brave leaders of the 1970s, our country wouldn’t be the same as it is now.  If it weren’t for Nixon, we could still be involved with Vietnam.  The possibilities are endless, because they helped shape who we are today.

      

  The culture of the 1970’s directly reflected the post WWII era in American history. The overall lifestyle of the people of the 70’s was that of the good, the grave and the groovy. America had just come out of the war with Vietnam and the US people were ready to celebrate it’s closure but also morn its occurance. The times were tough for Americans as well, with the down turned economy, inflation on the rise, and the oil crisis in the Middle East, but the relentlessness of the American people showed through during these difficult times. Technology was advancing, and the pop culture scene was booming. Music also had great effects on this era, with the rising popularity of Rock N’ Roll, the American people showed their true qualities of hard-work, strength, and perseverance, but also the ability to enjoy one’s life and the culture encompassing it. This mentality and the way of like of the American people in the 1970’s directly represent Post-WWII America, influenced by its culture, events, and leadership.

   

               Nixon                                        Ford                                             Carter

 

 

Works Cited

 

American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, Victor Bondi, Richard Layman, Tandy McConnell, and Vincent Tompkins. Vol. 8: 1970-1979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GA%7CCX3468302759&v=2.1&u=lom_inac&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>

 

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"Clothing, 1961–79." Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 5: Modern World Part II: 1946-2003. Detroit: UXL, 2004. 895-900. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 26 May 2010.<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3425500584&v=2.1&u=lom_inac&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>

 

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"Radicals and Reactionaries: The Media Assimilation of the Counterculture (1970s)." American Decades CD-ROM. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/

 

 

Routledge, Chris. "Polyester." Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 4: 1960s-1970s. Detroit: UXL, 2002. 959-960. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 26 May 2010. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3425100584&v=2.1&u=lom_inac&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w

 

"The 1970s: Education: Topics in the News." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 8: 1970-1979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 June 2010. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3468302625&v=2.1&u=lom_inac&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>

 

 

"The 1970s: Sports: Overview." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 8: 1970-1979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 June 2010. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3468302899&v=2.1&u=lom_inac&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w >

 

"The Postwar Era (1945–1970)." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: Government and Politics. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL. 8 June 2010 <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=lom_inac>.

 

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