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Oh, What a Decade!

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1970

  • Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H," premieres.
  • Jeffrey McDonald murders his entire family.
  • Paul McCartney officially announces the split of The Beatles.
  • The first episode of US soap opera All My Children is broadcast on the ABC television network.
  • An oxygen tank in the Apollo 13 spacecraft explodes, forcing the crew to abort the mission and return in 4 days, culminating the phrase "Houston, we have a problem".
  • Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and 9 wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen, at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia.
  • The Who become the first act to perform rock music (their rock opera, Tommy) at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring its star as an unmarried professional woman, debuts on CBS.
  • The Grumman F-14 Tomcat makes its first flight.
  • The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

1971

  • Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
  • "All in the Family" premieres on CBS featuring 1st toilet flush on TV
  • "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hit #1 on UK pop chart
  • The Provisional Irish Republican Army throw a time bomb into Springfield Road British Army base in Belfast, killing British Army Sergeant Michael Willetts and wounding seven officers
  • Ed Sullivan's final TV show on CBS
  • North Vietnam demands US end aid to South Vietnam
  • George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh takes place in NYC on August 1
  • 11 guards & 31 prisoners die in take over at Attica State Prison

1972

  • The Volkswagen Beetle is a top seller.
  • Radical activist Angela Davis is released from Jail. (The Rolling Stones wrote "Sweet Black Angel" in her honor.)
  • "Bloody Sunday" the British Army kills 14 civilians in Northern Ireland.
  • Average income was $11k.
  • Savoy Brown releases "Hellbound Train".
  • Pink Floyd comes to Portland's Memorial Coliseum. Ticket Price: $4.50.
  • Gas: 55 cents a gallon, cigarettes: 35 cents a pack.
  • "Deliverance" hits the theaters.

1973

  • The Watergate hearings had begun.
  • Abortion was legalized.
  • The Black September Terrorist Movement attacks Athens airport.
  • The Watkins Glen Rock Festival (bigger than Woodstock BTW), happens.
  • Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the Houston Astrodome. It was close too, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
  • Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Vice President.
  • The Endangered Species act is passed.

1974

  • Peter Benchley's "Jaws"is published
  • Evel Knievel tries to jump the Snake River Canyon
  • Girls are allowed to play in Little League Baseball
  • Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business" becomes a top single
  • Patty Hearst, daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the SLA (Simbionese Liberation Army)
  • "Good Times," debuts on CBS TV
  • "People" magazine begins sales
  • First class postage is raised from 8 cents to 10 cents
  • Ted Bundy victims Janice Ott & Denise Naslund disappear, Lake Sammamish, WA
  • "The Rumble in the Jungle". Muhammed Ali defeats George Foreman for the Heavyweight Championship in Zaire, Africa
  • House Judiciary approves Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon
  • Richard Nixon resigns presidency, Vice President Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president

1975

  • US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • Watergate figures John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman & John D Ehrlichman sentenced to 2 1/2-8 yrs for conspiracy and obstruction of justice
  • The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force
  • Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen
  • 47th Academy Awards - "The Godfather Part II", Ellen Burstyn & Art Carney win
  • Last US helicopter leaves US embassy grounds, Saigon surrenders
  • Ron Wood replaces Mick Taylor as Rolling Stone guitarist
  • Peter Gabriel quits Genesis

1976

  • Peter Frampton released platinum live album "Frampton Comes Alive"
  • "The Bionic Woman" with Lindsay Wagner debuts on ABC
  • Taxi Driver" directed by Martin Scorseseis released
  • "Rich Man, Poor Man" mini-series premieres on ABC TV
  • AFC Championship Game: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders 16-10
  • Allman Brother's roadie Scooter Herring sentenced to 75 years for providing drugs for the group, based on Gregg Allman's testimony
  • 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
  • Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
  • Hank Aaron hits 755th & last home run off Angels Dick Drago
  • George Harrison appears on "Saturday Night Live"
  • Comic strip "Cathy" by Cathy Guisewhite debuts

1977

  • George H W Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA
  • Kiss play their first concert in Madison Square Garden (NYC)
  • New Orleans' Pete Maravich sets NBA record for a guard with 68 pts
  • "Eight is Enough" premieres on ABC-TV
  • Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
  • Alex Haley, author of "Roots", awarded Pulitzer Prize
  • Patty Hearst let out of jail
  • "Beatlemania" opens on Broadway
  • Cheryl Ladd replaces Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels

1978

  • Ted Bundy kills Fla State U coeds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
  • Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
  • Harriet Tubman is 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp
  • The Rutle's "All You Need is Cash" is show on NBC-TV
  • Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1st appears as a comic strip
  • CBS raises LP prices to $8.98
  • In Jonestown Guyana 918 members of Peoples Temple are murdered/commit suicide under leadership of cult leader Jim Jones
  • The Runaways' last ever concert at Daly, CA.'s Cow Palace
  • Sid Vicious attempts suicide while at Riker's Detention Center in NYC

1979

  • 1 million Iranians march in Tehran in a show of support for the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, fundamentalist Muslim leader
  • Patricia Hearst is released from prison for bank robbery
  • Pink Floyd premiered their live version of "The Wall" in Los Angeles
  • China invades Vietnam, marking the start of the Sino-Vietnamese War
  • Sid Vicious' trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen begins
  • Formation of Guardian Angels crime fighters in New York City
  • Shah of Iran & family sentenced to death in Teheran
  • Sony introduces the Walkman.