The 1970s

The decade began with a hangover. Nixon occupied the White House, ending youthful Americans' dreams of social transformation. The Nigerian Civil War ended in January 1970 when its army swallowed up little Biafra. In February the prominent logician, philosopher and peace activist Bertrand Russell died at the ripe old age of 97. Mankind had been to the moon, but at the cost of several astronauts' lives. In April the survival of the three Apollo 13 astronauts following an oxygen tank explosion captured the world's imagination. Pop musicians took note; Elton John released Rocket Man, and David Bowie Space Oddity. Others charted a new course; environmentalists celebrated the first Earth Day that month. In May Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) set sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II ("Sun") to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados, providing further proof of the feasibility of intercontinental travel in ancient times. In Palo Alto Steve Jobs met Steve Wozniak. American Motors Corporation introduced the Gremlin, a compact car produced in the United States that competed with the Chevy Vega and the Ford Pinto.

Conflict and tragedy were not far behind. In September, terrorism reared its ugly head with the Dawson's Field hijackings. Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked five passenger airliners, forcing them to land at a remote airstrip in Jordan. At that site they destroyed the empty planes, sparing the passengers. King Hussein declared martial law. The standoff ended peacefully by month's end after the release of four imprisoned PFLP members. Jimmy Hendrix as well as Janis Joplin died that fall, demonstrating the risks of drug-fueled excess. In October Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared the War Measures Act to defeat an extremist challenge. Finally, sorrow; Paul McCartney took legal action to dissolve the Beatles on December 31.

The first year thus represented a snapshot of the decade's upheavals. In order to do justice to the era I found it necessary to structure the book differently than those on the 1980s and 1990s. Its three parts deal with flashpoints, social transformation and finally, (as before) movers and shakers. In the wake of the activist sixties the young and young at heart turned inward. By and large, political solutions remained elusive. So the silent majority sought redemption through alternatives, including meditation, communal living, or globetrotting. Sustainability of lifestyles became an important concern, especially after the oil shock of 1973. Governments sped up construction of nuclear power plants.

The decade's flashpoints: Canada's 1970 October Crisis; the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre; Watergate; the Yom Kippur war and its aftermath, the OPEC Crisis; the 1973 military coup in Chile; the US exit from Vietnam; the Angolan Civil War; European terrorism and the German Autumn of 1977; and the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Changing currents of society and social life included the birth of global environmentalism; reactions to recession; self discovery and innovation; feminism; and the temporary thaw of Détente. However, the most profound international development occurred In February 1972 with President Nixon's trip to China.

The movers and shakers who made headlines: Indian PM Indira Gandhi; Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere; Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat; West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt; and US President Jimmy Carter. Honorable mentions include Willy Brandt, Georges Pompidou, Gerald Ford and Adolfo Suárez. Chapters on glorious failures, Henry Kissinger, the intelligentsia and those on the wrong side of history follow. An appreciation of the decade concludes the work.