What were the 1970s and 1982 like?
ASPartOfMe
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Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
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When the 1970s began, the US was still involved in the Vietnam War. At that time, young men were conscripted to fight and over 58,000 died (not to mention wounded etc.). By the middle of the decade, the war had ended as a defeat for the US (first ever) and the President had resigned from office (also first ever).
The US spent the remainder of the decade essentially recovering from events at the beginning. During this time, the following was true, at least as I see it:
- Conscription ended and has never been reinstated.
- For a brief period, Capital Punishment was abolished (and then reinstated)
- For a few years, US citizens were allowed completely unrestricted travel to any country that would let them in.
- The military in general fell out of favor and was routinely shown disrespect by the popular media, more or less with impunity.
- Nudity was tolerated on broadcast TV and especially on PBS.
- Although marijuana was never legalized, laws against using it were scarcely enforced in some places. I clearly recall walking up 6th Avenue in Manhattan, past Grant Park, and seeing office workers there buying and smoking joints on their lunch break, in broad daylight. I think a few jurisdictions did decriminalize it.
- Young women generally only wore bras if they really needed them. It was often quite obvious when they didn't.
- Meanwhile the Soviet Union reached a high-water mark of its global influence, even making significant inroads in Western Europe (I believe Portugal had a pro-Soviet government for a short time and the government that succeeded the Papadopoulos regime in Greece was very Moscow-friendly at least unofficially).
This was a very unusual period in US history which ended quite abruptly in 1981, with Reagan's inauguration, or possibly the unsuccessful assassination attempt against him a short time later.
This is quite accurate. The only thing would change I think Iran Hostage crisis which started November 4 of 1979 was the moment the political atmosphere changed abruptly. In some areas of the county throughout most of the 1970's when the national anthem was played many people stayed seated or just kept on talking. Within days of US. embassy personal being taken hostage the muscular flag waving patriotism was in style and stayed that way throughout the 80's. The sexual revolution of the 60's and 70's gave way to fear of AIDS
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Well I know it's bad form to bump one's own topic, but I wanted to mention two other aspects of US life in the 70s that contrast starkly with today.
One is that the minimum drinking age was not universally 21 as it is now. But what is more noteworthy is that many states at that time were lowering their drinking ages, mostly in the Mid Atlantic and Northeast, I believe. Two that come to mind are New Jersey and Massachusetts.
The other thing worth mentioning is that the US seemed well on the way to metrication. I posted about this earlier: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp6211393.html&highlight=#6211393
I am inclined to say that, in the late 70s, American Exceptionalism attained an historical nadir.