Okay, so I'm working late tonight, sitting in my office with the radio on, and they are playing a salute to 1976. I was born in 1978, so I really don't remember much about that decade, but I've always loved the music. All these tunes got me to thinking about my perception of that decade, most of which comes from photos, stories, movies, and television. Were those years as "easy" as this music and those cheesy old shows I grew up with? Looking back, it almost seems like a nice lull between the 1960's and 1980's. I know the cars were crap, gas was high, and a recession was on, but I never hear folks talk badly about those years. What were you doing in the late 70's?
Okay, so I'm working late tonight, sitting in my office with the radio on, and they are playing a salute to 1976. I was born in 1978, so I really don't remember much about that decade, but I've always loved the music. All these tunes got me to thinking about my perception of that decade, most of which comes from photos, stories, movies, and television. Were those years as "easy" as this music and those cheesy old shows I grew up with? Looking back, it almost seems like a nice lull between the 1960's and 1980's. I know the cars were crap, gas was high, and a recession was on, but I never hear folks talk badly about those years. What were you doing in the late 70's?
The Carter years were rough. I preferred the 1980s.
watch the movie dazed and confused it pretty well somes up what it was like growing up during the 70s. i graduated in 1981.it was a good time if you can forget about the disco crap and leasure suits
Lots of good stuff was going on for me - got commissioned at Ft. Bragg and did my OBC at Aberdeen Proving Ground MD in 1976. At APG I met a couple of other 2LT's (one from PA and one from MA) who introduced me to deer hunting and pheasant hunting - two animals I had never hunted (we were small game hunters in my family). I graduated from college and got married 1n 1977 - both very good things for me (and still are). My wife bought me my first high power rifle - a Ruger M77 in .270 WIN that I still own and hunt with. I got my first fulltime "career" job - that was good too. Bought my wife a new 1978 Chevy Monte Carlo, 305 V-8, I remember that as a very good car (I had an old 1968 C20 Chevy - tough as nails). In 1976 we had the Bicentennial - that was a great celebration - saw the Freedom Train at the Pentagon. I don't remember much about the music, except I never liked disco or leisure suits!
The down side to the late 1970's? The first idiot president - Carter, took office. Until recently I truly believed no other president could ever be as bad (until we got hung with Obama).
Graduated High School in 1970, College in 1974...It was OK, it was kind of a lull between 60s and 80s...music started to suck about 1972, but there were enough leftovers from the sexual revolution that we didnt care....lots of things were easier/ less regulated then. If we did some of the stuff now, that we did then, I'd be posting this from my cell...and I don't mean cell phone.... Ingwe
I was born in '62. Played drums all my life and that was the schit for me. Today's music doesn't quite measure up. Bands like Zepplin, Yes, Genesis......etc. are tough to follow!!!
Mr. JPro; I turned 14 in 1976, so I recall it quite well, albeit from a rural Saskatchewan viewpoint.
As I recall inflation was pretty bad then, so the cost of goods rose steadily in that time. As you noted, North American manufactured goods were not at a high point. Interest rates were beginning to climb about then or shortly thereafter.
There was a fair bit of strife in the world via such folks as the Red Brigade, IRA and such, many of them supported by various communist governments. The cold war still felt like it was on to me.
There was no AIDs yet that I was aware of at that time.
I don�t remember it as significantly better or worse than the present, although the folks I grew up around certainly didn�t have as much �stuff� as we seem to need these days.
Hopefully my dim recollections were of some use to you.
Let's see, started the 70's in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, ended the 70's in Ramstein, Germany, and in between there was Westover AFB,MA, F.E. Warren, WY, Cape Canaveral, Patrick AFB, FL. Some of the 70's was better than others- no complaints.
watch the movie dazed and confused it pretty well somes up what it was like growing up during the 70s. i graduated in 1981.it was a good time if you can forget about the disco crap and leasure suits
I actually love the movie "Dazed and Confused" reminds me a lot of what it was like when I was growing up in the 70's. My kids bought it once upon a time, just so they could see what it was like a million years ago when Mom was "young". You know, when dinasours roamed free
Graduated High School in 1970, College in 1974...It was OK, it was kind of a lull between 60s and 80s...music started to suck about 1972, but there were enough leftovers from the sexual revolution that we didnt care....lots of things were easier/ less regulated then. If we did some of the stuff now, that we did then, I'd be posting this from my cell...and I don't mean cell phone.... Ingwe
Ingwe, I recall that you are a 1974 ECU grad - what HS did you go to? Odessa
yep they were good times. we use to set out in the parking lot at school during lunch and drink a few beers. can you imagine what would happen now a days if you got caught doing that. heck the vise principle would have a beer with us every now and then
I graduated in 1977 and remember pickups in the high school parking lot with rifles in the gun racks and doors unlocked and windows down. Now if a kid says the word gun they want to kick them out of school.
Like Hawkeye said, not the best of economic times. But it was a good time to grow up as a kid ... the world had not become politically correct yet. Schools still taught, well "old school" ... like phonetics; i.e., concepts were stressed more than just rote memorization. History and government were taught with a traditional, not revisionist, perspective. And if you didn't cut it, you failed. Kids were allowed to roam and play and take risks. They also got their butts whooped and faces slapped without child protective services getting called at the drop of a hat.
OH MAN!! You all are kids.. I remember when leisure suits were really cool. Buddy Holly had been dead for 10 years and Elvis was just getting started. Gas was 20 cents a gallon when I was in High school. Well at least for a time. Like they say, "gettin' old ain't for sissies". Mosaic... I was really gettin' to like you in a "special way", but unfortunatly for me, you're just a kid..
yep they were good times. we use to set out in the parking lot at school during lunch and drink a few beers. can you imagine what would happen now a days if you got caught doing that. heck the vise principle would have a beer with us every now and then
And we had guns in our cars to go hunting with after school! No problem either!
I graduated from college in '66,was married in '68,my daughter Stacy (first child) was born in '75.The beginning of the 70s were marked by the worst in Viet Nam,(not so much as the late 60s in casualties,but in the growing realization that it was definetely not going to end well) protests were getting more frequent and more raucous,of course we finally pulled out in '75.Until then there was a lot of bitter division in the country,and the bitterness did not die down immediately .Closely allied with the war protests were a lot of racial upset. The end of the 70s became difficult economicaslly for many people,between the gas crisies and economic slow down,unemployment was high for a few years into the eighties.Being newly married and with a young family started , it was generally a good time for me,and I was doing OK financially,but the nightly news never let me forget it wasn't so for everyone. All in all it was a sweet decade for many people,but there was a large % of the population who really struggled ,ethically,economically,and in terms of real heartache.
Somewhere, there is a picture of me and my dad, with his two-tone green Courier pickup (with rear Grip-Spurs) and a brand new ATC 90 in the back. He calls them the good old days too....
I started first grade in 1962 and graduated high school 12 years later in 1974.
The Vietnam war and conscription was an ever present condition during virtually *all* of my childhood,..and 12 years is a long, long period of time between age 6 and age 18.
For people my age, the Vietnam war was just a part of the day,..every day,..for what seemed like an eternity. The news every evening was largely centered around the Vietnam war or the situation that it was causing in America.
Then,..in the early part of the decade, all of a sudden it ended..and the draft ended also.
The years directly following that was a celebration for young Americans.
Born in 53, I remember the 70s.Some good and some bad.Lots of confusion.I would not want to go back.Thats about the time we started to realize that our leaders were idiots.
I was born in 67 but spent most of the 70s living in the middle east as an oilfield brat. I watch Dazed and Confused every so often. I went to school with Parker Posey, and that was my initial interest in the movie. From the few times that we were stateside in the 70s, the movie seemed to be pretty accurate.
Hmmm, graduated from HS in '71, from college in '77 (took a brake in the middle), got married in '75. I remember paying 22.9 cents a gallon for gas in late '71, in early '73 I remember a guy saying that gas would be a dollar a gallon by Christmas. I thought he was nuts but he wasn't too far off. Heck for a while there we we're sure we'd be able to get gas for any price. I started the decade driving a '66 Mustang followed by a '68 GTO, blew the engine and replaced it with a Vega (barf!) before gas went through the roof. Hendrix died in '70, the Band broke up in '76, music hasn't been the same since. :P
Jimmy Carter, Watergate, recession, gas lines, the beginning of problems with Iran, Fall of Saigon, the end of muscle cars, it wasn't the best of times.
But it could have been worse - talk to someone who came of age in the '30's.
DSR&R? For me, it was Beer,SR&R. Can't even imagine coming of age now. Even herpes scared us back then. "What's the difference between love and herpes? Herpes lasts forever."
- Nixon was doing a decent job until he got caught being stupid.
- That gave us Jimmy Carter, who gave us: 10% unemployment, double digit inflation, an energy crisis, 21% car loads, 18% mortgages, the takeover of the US embassasy in Tehran, the losing of the Panama Canal, and the gutting and humiliation of the US Military
- We saw the last of the muscle cars become anemic ghosts of what they had been
- Liberalism gained a lot of ground after Vietnam and Watergate
- Roe vs Wade
- Girly-man style long hair on boys and flat chested women were all the rage
- The decade ended with a recession as bad as we are having now. In fact, B-HO is doing a pretty good job of recreating the Carter years..............
For those of you too young to remember, that is why so many of us are huge Ronald Reagan fans. He fixed the vast majority of what Carter had messed up, and literally came to our rescue..........
i cast my first vote at 18 for reagan. didn't know much about politics but carter pissed me off by not getting our peaple out of iran and i couldn't vote for a puzzy
Jimmy Carter, Watergate, recession, gas lines, the beginning of problems with Iran, Fall of Saigon, the end of muscle cars, it wasn't the best of times.
All bad but we didn't have socialism, fascism, communism, residing in the white house or congress. Politicians were still public servants, no czars or tyrants, or wise latino women on the court. Gas reached .50 a gallon in 73. POW's returned from VN. Colleges filled with muslim arabs. No speak English but given better marks than my stupid ass Guess the best thing was we still nixed communism.
Graduated High School in 1970, College in 1974...It was OK, it was kind of a lull between 60s and 80s...music started to suck about 1972, but there were enough leftovers from the sexual revolution that we didnt care....lots of things were easier/ less regulated then.
Me too, ingwe, well said. Married in '76, first born came along late in the year. Wasn't easy trying to support a family through the late '70s (not that it is ever easy) what with Carter and all his stupidity - wage freezes, high unemployment, high interest rates, big inflation. We (our family) had tough times back then but, for the most part, look back on the '70s with some fondness. We make a lot more money now, the kids are all grown and self supporting, but I think we were "happier" and enjoyed our life a lot more then than we do now - still, I wouldn't want to go back to that era for any reason, none. The late '50s maybe, but not the '70s . . .
Graduated from HS in 1980. The high school I attended allowed students to smoke cigarettes between classes and during lunch in two designated "smoking areas". And there was alot of pot smoking going on too. Even a couple HS teachers were rumored to smoke pot.
I did not smoke either, went deer, duck and pheasant hunting in the fall/winter and fished the rest of the seasons.
I graduated from high school in '75. The '70's came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. From the best of everything to some of the worst.
Just maybe, Rocky Mountain Way is the best rock & roll song of all time. Someone wrote about an outdoor concert at the old Met Stadium - as best I can recall:
'The opening chords of Rocky Mountain Way blared as a thunderstorm rolled in. Lightening flashes cut through the pot haze that hung thick in the stadium, and everyone in attendance believed Joe Walsh was God.'
Mike, Whenever someone asks me what it was like in the 70's my reply has always been that the way I lived the 70's I cannot remember anything. I have been told by many friends from that era that they have the same selective amnesia. Have pretty good recall beginning in 1980 the year of my 10 year class reunion.
The early seventies were a bitch. Body counts on the news every night. Homegrown terrorists, Black Panthers and Weathermen. Returning military heroes spit on in the streets. Soldiers ashamed to wear their uniforms while at home on leave. Waiting to find out what your draft lottery number was. The fall of Saigon. "I am not a crook". Woodward and Bernstein. Wondering if your brother or cousin or buddy or son was going to come home alive from Vietnam. Nixon's resignation. Ford's presidency, followed by Carter's incompetency. double digit inflation, and price controls imposed on most of the retail sector.
Bright points that standout: the successful lunar landings of the Apollo program, and of course we were all glued to the TV for days awaiting the safe return of the Apollo 13 mission. Patti Mcguire did the playboy centerfold, the same issue where Jimmy Carter admitted to "Lust in his heart" if I remember correctly. I could go on but the other guys covered the high lights pretty well.
Fortunately, like Bristoe, I barely missed the draft. I also graduated HS in 74. I was mostly acquainted with the miseries of our nation during this period via television reports. My biggest concern during this decade was that the cows all got milked twice a day and all the new calves got pulled in from cold.
The disco music of the late seventies reflects the joy and merriment of the nation as it relaxed form the tensions of the Vietnam war.
There is quite a contrast between the protest songs popularized in the late sixties and into the seventies and "everybody be happy and dance" disco era of the late seventies.
Mike, Whenever someone asks me what it was like in the 70's my reply has always been that the way I lived the 70's I cannot remember anything. I have been told by many friends from that era that they have the same selective amnesia.
Yep , the '70s are mostly a blur for me too. Glad the '70s are over , no desire for a repeat
We had just lost a Russian sub that had chased us into the Med (which was a first for us).
We received the message the president had resigned. The captain announced that news over the 1MC. Very soon afterwards, we went to battlestations-missile... there was no mention of a drill.
That was perhaps the most frightened I've ever been in my life.
Lots of good stuff was going on for me - got commissioned at Ft. Bragg and did my OBC at Aberdeen Proving Ground MD in 1976. At APG I met a couple of other 2LT's (one from PA and one from MA) who introduced me to deer hunting and pheasant hunting - two animals I had never hunted (we were small game hunters in my family). I graduated from college and got married 1n 1977 - both very good things for me (and still are). My wife bought me my first high power rifle - a Ruger M77 in .270 WIN that I still own and hunt with. I got my first fulltime "career" job - that was good too. Bought my wife a new 1978 Chevy Monte Carlo, 305 V-8, I remember that as a very good car (I had an old 1968 C20 Chevy - tough as nails). In 1976 we had the Bicentennial - that was a great celebration - saw the Freedom Train at the Pentagon. I don't remember much about the music, except I never liked disco or leisure suits!
The down side to the late 1970's? The first idiot president - Carter, took office. Until recently I truly believed no other president could ever be as bad (until we got hung with Obama).
Hey Odessa, I went to school in aberdeen pg in 1990 for small arms repair. took up boxing there for the Marines, bumped noggins with some army dogs there for fun.
Quite a place, went to my first Marine corps ball there at APG.
RUGER 4570 - "Buddy Holly had been dead for 10 years and Elvis was just getting started.
Elvis Presley was gigantic long before Buddy Holly came around. Presley recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1955 and it immediately went golden. Holly was just getting started when he was killed in 1958, or 1959.
You '70s guys like real rock 'n roll?? Try this one.
Kiss .. Heavy Metal .. Glam Rock wasn't my kind of music ...
I kept Logging ... Logged my way up to Ketchikan and back to So Cal by late '72 ... even working a stretch in the Redwoods on a pulling crew falling 20+ ft (in diameter) trees. Helicopter Logging started and was new and experimental .. it was exciting and the Heli-logging crews were made up of long haired hippies and Nam Vets .. much alcohol and smoke dope was consumed.
Seems like Cocaine became popular ... you would see Loggers and Fishermen snorting lines off the bar (in Ketchikan) as the 70's wore on. You could tell Camp Life was about over as companies started hiring Homeguards.
The Alaska Pipeline was hiring all hands.
Plenty of Deadheads following the Grateful Dead around the country.
I had enough Tramping by the late 70's and moved up to Ketchikan / POW Island to stay.
Ya, the 70's were pretty light. Vietnam was winding down, people were just into having fun. When I listen to the oldies from the 70's, then listen to today's music, today's music is so damn dark and depressing. I really think the music for the generation really speaks volumes to what the mindset was for that era.
Today the music is all about the ghetto, shootings, bad times, nobody understands me. Back in the 70's most of the songs were about falling in love, & having a good time, becoming enchanted with a long cool woman in a red dress, a witchy woman, Mustang Sally, now days my girl turned out to be a ho, so I shot her, Of course there was Billy Joe MacAllister.
Another '77 grad, I think we got lucky, the 70's were a great time to grow up.
There's good and bad in every time period but the seventies got pretty tough for some. I was out of the army in 68 out of college in 72 with a wife and new baby. We never went hungry, but finding decent jobs could be hard. The inflation, fuel shortages, and the deep recession of the Carter years kind of took the shine off of the 1970's for me.
Some of the best movies in history came out of the 70's
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Apocalypse Now; Rocky Horror Picture Show; The Godfather, The Omen ... are a few I remember seeing.
Easy Rider seem to start it out ... I remember tree planting one winter over on the OR Coast and going to see 'Sometimes a Great Notion' that was filmed around there. That's a classic.
OH MAN!! You all are kids.. I remember when leisure suits were really cool. Buddy Holly had been dead for 10 years and Elvis was just getting started. Gas was 20 cents a gallon when I was in High school. Well at least for a time. Like they say, "gettin' old ain't for sissies". Mosaic... I was really gettin' to like you in a "special way", but unfortunatly for me, you're just a kid..
...and I remember seeing Adolph Hitler in the newsreels at the movies when I was a kid. All of a sudden I'm feeling old........and weak..........and useless..........and GREAT!
I remember when FDR died, rationing in WWII, doors opening automatically (electric eye) were extremely rare, I remember the first ball point pen I ever saw, air conditioning was non-existent in my world. I remember the furor over Rhett Butler saying 'damn' in the movies and watch a movie now! We've learned how to lengthen life but we surely have not learned how to 'deepen' it.
I graduated in '77. It really WAS a different time and mindset. We kept score when we played sports. Not everyone made the team. There was no such thing as a participation trophy. Being a victim was not a status symbol so none of us tried to think of ways to become or emulate one. The ghetto culture was looked at with consternation and disgust. I miss those days.
Graduated High School in 1970, College in 1974...It was OK, it was kind of a lull between 60s and 80s...music started to suck about 1972, but there were enough leftovers from the sexual revolution that we didnt care....lots of things were easier/ less regulated then. If we did some of the stuff now, that we did then, I'd be posting this from my cell...and I don't mean cell phone.... Ingwe
** i don't remember the lull part... the viet nam conflict turned from a "glory stomp" into a national debacle... i remember the late 70s leading up to the very hottest part of the "cold war"...
** CCR busted it up, but skynyrd came on strong... clapton seemed to hit his stride in the 70s... steely dan began to make sense, and i learned to like CSN
Great thread. I graduated H.S. in 1975. Played with the college thing for a couple years mostly chasin girls and drinking beer. Those were the days. Music of the 70s was awesome. Disco sucked!! Spent a summer in Miami Beach in 77. 6 Months in the Black Hills in 78. Think Sturgis & Deadwood at 21 years old!! Glad I survived all that!! 163bc
Graduated High School in 1970, College in 1974...It was OK, it was kind of a lull between 60s and 80s...music started to suck about 1972, but there were enough leftovers from the sexual revolution that we didnt care....lots of things were easier/ less regulated then. If we did some of the stuff now, that we did then, I'd be posting this from my cell...and I don't mean cell phone.... Ingwe
** i don't remember the lull part... the viet nam conflict turned from a "glory stomp" into a national debacle... i remember the late 70s leading up to the very hottest part of the "cold war"...
** CCR busted it up, but skynyrd came on strong... clapton seemed to hit his stride in the 70s... steely dan began to make sense, and i learned to like CSN
** I'm thinking that we'd all be dead...
Wow! I didn't think this thread would take off like this overnight...
Anyway, a couple more thoughts...the "lull" part was basically between the nightly body counts on the news, and the start of good country music and disco ( not good..) and SNL... And you were right about CCR, Skynard, and Clapton...Derek & the Dominoes still my all time fave... As for the other stuff, yeah, guys changing cars/trucks/ guns etc. after school in the parking lot was routine...and guess what...no school shootings back then... Bell bottoms, yes, leisure suits, never....sideburns and wide-azz ties, you bet!
Odessa; from way back on page 2,you were right, I graduated from ECU in 1974, and in answer to your other question, graduated from High School in Columbus, Ga. Hardaway High... Ingwe
I grew up in the seventies and graduated from High School in 1980. There were a lot of changes. I don't remember many hard times. There ended up being a lot of flack over the war in Vietnam by the time it finally ended. Then there was Watergate and people being pisssed about Ford being appointed after the two crooks, Nixon and Agnew, resigned. Carter was the response to that. Nobody around here hated him. The main thing people didn't like was the hostages in Iran not being rescued or dealt with immediately. The gas shortage and subsequent runup on prices was bad.
Law Enforcement and overall government was a lot different. You got pulled over, you got out of your vehicle and walked back and met the cop halfway and hopefully, talked him out of the ticket. There weren't all these nanny-state seatbelt laws and all this crap. The cop didn't go nuts and taze you 'cause you got out of your car and stretched. He didn't want to search your vehicle for drugs and detain you for half a day. A gun in the rack was expected and not something to yell "GUN!!!!!!" over and call backup and maybe a tactical nuke.
Republicans were seen as the agents of big business and democrats as more for the common man. Gun Control was not nearly as much a party-line issue. Jerry Brown came close to becoming President and was actually a pro-gun Democrat from California! He was also living with Linda Ronstadt who was the hottest and best country-rock singer at the time.
Waylon and Willie could actually ride Harley's back then instead of one being planted and the other ready for the nursing home.
Tatoo's were only seen on guys who'd gotten drunk and gotten one while on leave from the Navy or Marines. You'd damm sure better get a haircut and shave and wear a clean white shirt and tie to an interview, even for a stockboy's job at the supermarket. Speaking of which it was Milgram's in Kansas City or Minyard's in Dallas if you wanted some food.
There was a LOT of anti-military sentiment even amongst the common people in those days. Marijuana was seen as no big deal by most except oldsters and everybody drank and drove.
- Nixon was doing a decent job until he got caught being stupid.
While I might agree on alot of the things you posted, this one I'll have to take with a great deal of exception. Nixon did more to destroy the country than just about anyone in the last 40 years, with maybe the exception of the current occupant of the White house. Here's a few:
Defaulted on our debt and violated the Bretton Woods agreement which started the inflationary spiral which abated in 1982, but still plagues us today. It also laid the groundwork for deficit spending with absolutely no boundaries in amounts, except what politicians thought/think they can get away with.
OSHA, EPA, Earth Day, and other expansions of the federal bureaucracy, including the Clean Air and Water Acts, and the Endangered Species Act, which although meant well, have had the unintended consequences of virtually destroying industry in this country.
Left the RVN helpless against the NVA by refusing to resupply.
Left our MIA's in the lurch and unaccounted for in his "peace with honor" agreement brokered by Kissinger.
Opened the door to the Chinese becoming a world power, instead of a 4th world backwater.
Used the CIA domestically to spy on opposition.
Lied to the American public and left in disgrace, setting the stage for the debacle which was Jimmy Carter.
I was 18 in 1975. I remember well the gas lines and shortages caused by the wage and price controls. I remember 55 mph and CAFE standards which caused things like the Pinto and the Chevette to be manufactured. I remember the low esteem in which our military was held. I remember Disco. I remember desegregation and forced bussing-it started in GA the same year I started High School, 1970.
All in all, I'd have to count the '70's as a bust, but don't worry, for those who wonder what they were like, you'll probably get more of a taste of them than you want over the next few years, as I expect to see the same nostrums applied to our economic system that were tried unsuccessfully then.
Graduated in 1976, while in High School you were either a jock, cowboy or head.
My first car was a 1965 GMC V6 Pickup and then a 69 El Camino.
Current events that stood out were Nixon's resignation and the October War when Israel woke up to a war with it's Arab neighbors.
Gun Control was a hot national issue. My current events class set up a Debate between one of our libtard teachers and Neil Knox. Neil lived in Prescott and worked for Wolf Publishing at the time. Neil smoked the debate and opened a lot of eyes.
I was born in early Jan. '61 so the early seventies (except for gas rationing/lines) really didn't mean much too me. I do remember the end of the Vietnam war and the draft. I was also one of the first to have to register with Selective Service when that came around again.
Late 70's were great. I lived on a farm, had a 100 yd range right out the back door, access to a reloading bench, and could go hunting almost any time I wanted. I had some older friends in college (PSU) so roadtrips to visit them were always a good time.
I also had a great time in Scouts. My troop took a summer trip every year, I saw a great deal of this country that way.
You musta really hated Dick. Worse than [bleep]' Johnson? No way.....
Nixon did more long term damage by defaulting on our debt, and removing us from the gold standard. The gold standard had the effect of limiting spending. Once that restraint was eliminated, it was fertile ground for unlimited government expansion. Yes Johnson was bad too, and I make no apologies for him, but to say that Nixon was doing OK until Watergate is just not a true assessment of the facts.
[quote=HawkI]You musta really hated Dick. Worse than [bleep]' Johnson? No way.....
'Bout wraps up my feelings on Johnson. What he did with our boys in Viet Nam just so he and Lady Bird could make a profit on the war was as despicable as it gets, Hanoi Jane knows that low level of despicable too....neither one of them worthy of the air they breathe... Ingwe
Uh, Johnson was paying off war debts with a choice of gold or U.S. dollars. The frogs and others took the gold; either way the spending was happening. The ball was in motion before Nixon could stop it, simply because the government expanded spending, period.
Not to mention the Great Society, which basically put SS funds directly into the hands of the spenders, with promises to eradicate inequities and reform the inner cities...NOT! It did buy more votes at the expense of the country. Just like now....
Watergate today pales in comparison to the foreign investors and countries that now basically buy our officials and its not even hidden.
Drive in movie theaters Leisure suits Afro haircuts
Also purchased my first car in 1975 a 1969 Chevelle SS that I paid $750.00 for. The money was made by hauling square baled hay which is rarely seen around here anymore.
Some of my old co-workers used to refer to me as a �child of the 70�s�. I came of age then, so how could I not be?
Body counts on the news in the first part of the decade, our pullout in 73, the fall of Saigon in 1975. As a teenager, wondering if this was going to continue until you hit 18.
Seven boys from the small community I grew up near coming home in boxes. A large percentage, considering our small population. I once calculated a nationwide casualty figure using that percentage � it would have resulted in something like 750k. It wasn�t that the locals couldn�t duck; we just had a lot of volunteers. A close family member, who did two tours without a scratch, got killed on his civilian job about his 3rd day back. When your number�s up��
Comparing our daily trapping take in the school parking lot each morning during season � a couple of us ran traps on the way to school.
The armed Chinese fire drill that was the school parking lot the first week of dove season � everybody ran from school to grab guns out of their cars and then piled amazing numbers in a single vehicle to head to the dove fields after school. Same-same during duck season.
You skipped school during deer season. Speaking of deer � if you even saw a deer, you had a successful season. One year, a hunting buddy killed a deer on the 3rd day of bow season, we made the county newspaper, such an early success being newsworthy.
I come from pretty humble beginnings so the decade�s financial woes kind of went over my head. I didn�t know we were poor, and I damned sure didn�t waste time sitting around listening to those who would tell me I was. I didn�t have much money, but I certainly was rich.
Loved the music of the first part of the decade, the last part of the decade was a musical desert, with only a few exceptions like Van Halen. Music was a big part of my life; I earned my beans from 1976-1978 playing guitar. Had all the hair and some of the habits.
Twas the decade the drive-ins died. Steamed window filled fond memories there, I�ll tell yah!
A couple of guys in my class were banging the school guidance counselor � all of the rest of us were jealous. When it was finally squelched it was kept just as quiet as the relocation of the local Catholic priest who wrecked his car with two drunk teenagers on board. None of today�s outrage over a female staff member banging a healthy teenager. Where�s the victim? Said tongue-in-cheek, mostly.
Drugs? I find it hard to imagine drugs any more popular at school than they were during the 70�s. Our whole basketball team were speed freaks. Most of us played around with it and then completely walked away from drugs and never looked back. I don�t regret my experiences � it certainly helped prepared me to speak with three sons on the subject.
I could go on and on, but won�t bore everyone. The 70�s were great.
I bought my first high-powered rifle, a model 788 Remington in .308 Win., in 1979. Got it at the local TG&Y store and it came from the factory with a 4X Tasco.
You sure didn't see many deers back then and no turkeys. People around here hunted mainly quail and doves.
Uh, Johnson was paying off war debts with a choice of gold or U.S. dollars. The frogs and others took the gold; either way the spending was happening. The ball was in motion before Nixon could stop it, simply because the government expanded spending, period.
Not to mention the Great Society, which basically put SS funds directly into the hands of the spenders, with promises to eradicate inequities and reform the inner cities...NOT! It did buy more votes at the expense of the country. Just like now....
Watergate today pales in comparison to the foreign investors and countries that now basically buy our officials and its not even hidden.
LBJ was worse....
I said I make no apologies for LBJ, but as far as paying off our debts with paper or gold, the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 which made the US$ the world's reserve currency guaranteed that we would pay off our debts with specie. The fact that Nixon reneged on that deal and defaulted on our debts and obligations-no matter to whom-set up the inflationary debacle that was the 70's, and opened the door to expansion of government through fiat currency creation. Adhering to our obligations and cutting expenditures would have been the right and proper course of action, but one that was not chosen. For that I blame Nixon. Had he toed the line, he could have strangled the Great Society plan that LBJ initiated, but instead he decided to enhance and feed it. His actions lead directly to the problems we're encountering today.
Nixon would not and could not destroy the Great Society if he wanted to. Blame lays at the feet of Congress, like it usually does.
Paying off the debts would have resulted in the same: no currency backed by gold and fiat spending, 'cause Congress has got to spend, whether we have money or not. Think Lincoln started the racket.
Hard to toe the line against Dem. controlled Congress who always have the knack of raising min. wage and "budgeting" fiat spending. How are you going to cut spending when Congress makes the programs and spends the money? Not sign it twenty times?
Reagan didn't even dent the Great Society....you pick your battles, no matter how they suck.
CB radios. Customized vans. Trucks with roll bars and KC lights on them. Black power hand afro picks. Sitting in line to get a maximum of 5 gallons of gasoline. Funny little cars like Toyota's and Honda's. Crappy Harley bikes.
Burnouts from the 60's who just floated around. By the late 70's people never talked about the people who went to Vietnam. Popping pills was the "in thing" for a lot of "adults" who just floated around - uppers followed by downers.
Spirit of '76. It was a big thing. Every little town had something going on. Remember going and seeing the Freedom train that came to town.
I was a kid in the early 70's and my dad would just take me out of school for two weeks in the fall for the start of deer season (We hutned out of state) and teachers would just give me homework ahead of time. Probably throw you in jail for that nowdays.
schit Nathan i had to go to court because my A honor roll 12 yr old son had a few unexcused absentes. he had to do 20 hr community service while the saggy pants flunkys are out walking the streets. that schit really pissed me off. wish i could put him in private school
I think the statement "would not" applies more than "could not". He could have done had he so wished. If I'm not mistaken, Presidents had impoundment powers then, which allowed them not to fund programs. As a matter of fact, Nixon used them so much that Congress passed the Impoundment Act of 1974 to prevent their further "intrusion" into Congressional authority to spend. Saying that he couldn't have strangled Medicare/Medicaid etc, is not accurate. He could have, he chose not to. Use of the veto pen would have also done much to change things. Getting 2/3's of both houses on board for anything is hard work no matter if the majority party is in opposition, and a few allies in the Senate would have gone far in filibustering any override threats.
I lay many things at the feet of ALL politicians, as there are only 545 people in this country responsible for making decisions. The fault lies with all of them, Congress, SCOTUS and the Ececutive. It lies even more so with the voting public for keeping these thieves and charlatans in power.
I lay many things at the feet of ALL politicians, as there are only 545 people in this country responsible for making decisions. The fault lies with all of them, Congress, SCOTUS and the Ececutive. It lies even more so with the voting public for keeping these thieves and charlatans in power
Nixon was always worried about what people thought of him and what people said about him; vetoes and fighting such matters made him feel vulnerable (which got him in trouble). I agree with the "would not".
LBJ didn't give a schit what people thought of him and I'd say he had free reign for awhile, which Nixon never did.
I don't agree with Nixon being worse than LBJ, but I TOTALLY agree with your last statement.
...a kid in England in the 60's with Mods, Rockers and the rise of Skinheads. The "Mersey beat" weren't an invasion over there. And I still fondly recall the '66 World Cup, England vs. West Germany at Wembley, one of the very top sporting events of the Century, went into overtime, we won, the whole country erupted
...and a teenager here in the '70's. Eight tracks playing down by the railroad tracks on warm summer nights, Boonesfarm Strawberry Hill, and high school girls with cigarettes and pot on their breath. If the Cops picked you up drunk they'd just ask where you lived and brung you home.
I hear the flatulent bleat of tricked out "imports" today (complete with rims and mandatory airfoil on the trunk) and I remember the squeal of Mickey Thompsons, rumbling V8's, cars still in bondo and primer paint(complete with faux air scoop on the hood ).
The 'Stones (of course), Zep, Black Sabbath, Bad Company, Johnnie and Edgar Winters, Iron Maiden, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Santana, and we all had the hots for Linda Ronstadt (long before she was Mexican)... ...as seen on the "Saturday Night Special" TV show (followed by "Chiller Theater", who else remembers that hand? )
Me I drove a '67 Veedub bus (40 raging horses on tap, third gear and 45 mph up hills on the Interstate ), steering box so loose I had hitchikers actually ask to be let out Turn hard with it full of people and the inside rear wheel would lift clear off of the ground.
Gas was 55 cents a gallon.
Before that I rode a 12 speed Schwinn Varsity. Oughtta be dead the way I rode it hands free, even down long hills
In college (still in the '70's) I drove a rusted-out AMC Scout, everything was rusted out(remember holes in the floorboards?) , even the door lock on the driver's side. So that when I drove it I WOULD TAKE OFF MY BELT AND STRAP THE DOOR HANDLE TO MY THIGH Didn't think anything of it at the time, nobody wore seat belts much back then either.
We was in the aftermath of the "sexual revolution", all the girls were on the pill, all we worried about was syphilis and gonorrhea, and nobody we knew had them.
Political Correctness hadn't set in yet, but all the people who would later impose it were in school, same as we were. And when Alice Cooper sang "Smokin in the Boys' Room" he weren't kidding, guys would cut class and smoke in there. Most teachers had yellow fingers too.
The Eagles, Boston, Bruce Springsteen .... not all the later 70's music was that bad, and like someone else said this was a golden age for country music.
...and then KC and the Sunshine Band had this hit called "That's the Way", from this strange music Gays (thats when that term came in) listened to called "Disco". Might have marked the decline of so much I dunno.
But what I really miss? All the woodlots and old fields we shot our .22's and bows in are all gone under now, for houses...
Im just a whipper snapper, but my dad graduated in 76 with 5 people in his class.
Him, my mother, another couple that married and are still good family friends.
The 5th guy in their class had a run in with the law and is on death row.
But anyway the track coach would make then run down the dirt road behind the school for exercise and they had to sign a sheet in old man Mayfields mailbox.
My dad and his buddy would run about 400 yards where they had fishin poles stashed in the woods and let my mother and the other girl sigh their name on the sheet, and they would fish till the girls came back buy, then fall in line and run back to school.
I hear stories about just asking and most any farmer would let you hunt, fish, whatever, I wish it was like that now days, I have 440 acres of crap hunting land that i have to save for to lease.
Then, after finishing 13�1 in 1976, the Raiders defeated the Steelers 24�7 in the AFC Championship game. Oakland then defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 32�14, in Super Bowl XI for the franchise's first NFL championship.
One point that I think has been skipped was living in the shadow of nuclear war. I remember being much more worried about the USSR then than Alquida(sp?) ever. On the whole everything seemed fake and crappy and we were glad to see the 70 gone.
Nixon did more to destroy the country than just about anyone in the last 40 years, with maybe the exception of the current occupant of the White house.
Jimmy Carter and B-HO are so much worse they are not even in the same league. They are disasters of a magnitude not seen since FDR. They are/were without a doubt the worst presidents this conutry has ever had.
The only thing that really sets Nixon apart was getting caught doing what his predecessors had been doing.
Late '70"s? I was managing R&D contracts involving radio navigation (LORAN and a new concept later named GPS) and advanced radio communication systems. What we considered VERY advanced then is so obsolete today that it in museums.
Nixon prepped the ground for Carter, and if you don't include destroying what stability was left in the currency, and the expansion of the Federal government, I guess you could give Nixon a pass.
I personally feel that with only the former, he did more damage to the country than Carter. Without doubt he was/is better than the current occupant, but still nothing to write home about; certainly not worth defending as one of the great Presidents.
I never said Nixon was a great president. And I don't know if Nixon expanded the government as much as GWB..............
It's just much more is made of Watergate than there really was. If they applied the same level of outrage to Clinton and B-HO, they would have never been elected.
Was kid in the 60's, fun time to be a kid,. Drafted in 69. Had just married my HS sweetie, she was seeing some one within a month of my departure. I was out soon with a Honorable medical. Life changed. Found a party girl or two, and plenty of other fun things, till I am not so sure I remember a lot of the 70's. I do know I had a hell of a lot of fun, feel fortunate to have lived through it, and that I am still paying in some ways.
All those stations that play "The Best of the 60s" or "The Best of the 70s" suck too -- They only play what Casey Casum said was best -- He never picked Zepplin or Tull or anything but pop.
Yeah the cars started getting getting bad right at the very end of the seventies, especially at the break to the 80s, but most all the kids I hung out with got stuck driving 10-15 year old cars anyway -- They ran.
The Class of '81 still Rules!!!!
BTW, earless prime Coyotes were $85.00 in the Rockies -- didn't even have to skin 'em -- Just throw 'em in the back of the truck and freeze 'em. There were fur buyers parked at local gas stations nearly every other day of the week all winter. It wasn't too hard to get the money to keep in beer and grass and keep the hot rods full of gas and fixed up with those kind of funds around. Then when everyone started calving and lambing in the spring, bounties came out, and you could sell all those 'yote ears for $25.00 more a pair. I hung out with guys that could fill a pickup or two a week with fur. (same deal on $40.00 coons, but no bounty)
I started 9th grade in the Fall of 1972 and graduated college in the Spring of 1980 so I was a child of the 70's. My 1st car was a 69 Firebird that got 8mpg and registered 160 on the speedometer. I worked part time at $1.90/hr. when not playing football. Had to work at least 1 hour each day just to pay for the gas to get to and from work.
Had a lot of fun. The mill where my dad worked had a community pool where I worked summers as a lifeguard until the mill shut down in 77. I wish I could still get paid for hanging around with girls in bikinis.
You know the economy was probably worse then than now, but I was a kid who didn't know any better at the time.
A kid I work with--My apprentice, is a twenty something.
I'll give him heck about his music when he plays his radio at work. One of the things I tell him is that it's no wonder kids shoot each other at school -- all of the music that they listen too just sounds really angry to me.
When he's heard enough of my bellyaching, he'll put it to a seventies station to try to appease me. After a while, I'll tell him , "If that $%^%$ station plays one more ^$^%#% Disco tune, I'm gonna smash that *&$&*# radio with a block!!!
Some days he probably thinks I might be hard to get along with!!!
Saturday night was so beautiful I decided to do an all night cook of pork butts. So there I was out there at 11PM with my iPod and some tiny speakers. Well the following day my older neighbors complained that I was playing my "RAP" music too loud. I believe I had on my Motown tracks of EW&F, Smokey, James Brown, Chicago and Quincy Jones etc etc.... RAP!!??
She also mentioned that my I needed a haircut. Said I looked very 70's. I just walked away laughing. Azzzzzz wipes!
Let's see 1970 got married. Son was born in 71. Left belgium in 72 for Ft Hood. Daughter was born in 73. Spent 74-77 in germany. got out of army in 77. Got my first programing job in 78. tom
