1970s

50 Years Later: Eyewitness to the Last Day of US Military Command in Vietnam

by Arnold Isaacs

In this excerpt, a journalist observes the tragicomic exit of the last US military command in Vietnam 50 years ago on March 29, 1973.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder's Career Shows Real Effects of Electing More Women

by Sarah B. Rowley

Policymakers have too often ignored women's lived experiences in many areas when legislating. The late Congresswoman from Colorado showed how those experiences could be represented. 

Anastasia Curwood on Shirley Chisholm's Childhood Heroes

Born in Barbados, Shirley Chisholm moved to Brooklyn as a child. Her biographer discusses how her childhood heroes shaped her political worldview. 

Jimmy Carter Made Me a Better American; Did He Help Make America Worse?

by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Carter's call for a "moral revival" aimed at replacing materialism with collective purpose. His successors easily twisted that to make materialism into a collective purpose. 

The Carter Presidency Wasn't How we Remember It

by Kai Bird

While he was pessimistic about the moral quality of politics, a biographer says that the 39th president was capable of ruthless pragmatism that helped him achieve more than he is credited for, though it cost him reelection. 

The Case for Blondie as the Sound of the 70s

by Kevin Dettmar

While the decade's pop scene was undeniably eclectic, there's an argument to be made that the New York group was at the center of the most lasting trends of the 1970s. 

Anastasia Curwood on New Shirley Chisholm Bio

By framing Chisholm as a person with a life history, Curwood elevates knowledge of the New York congresswoman from a "first major party candidate" to a political theorist and visionary. 

Stephen Shames's Photos Document the Lives and Activism of Black Panther Party Women

As a college student, Shames built trust with the members of the BPP and documented their activism. Now, working with former member Ericka Huggins, a book of those photos preserves the history. 

Why a Young Minnesota Woman Joined the SLA

What led Camilla Hall to join the radical Symbionese Liberation Army after a Lutheran upbringing in Minnesota? 

Urban Unrest, Stagflation, and Labor Strife: Why is 1970s Economic Policy Coming Back, Too?

Is panicky use of weak historical analogies driving economic policy back to the 1970s when the country is still suffering from the fallout of the first round of austerity politics? 

"Pour Myself a Cup of Ambition": The 1970s Echo in Today's Union Revival

by Ellen Cassedy and Lane Windham

This Labor Day, we’re hopeful about the renewed energy and excitement for workplace organizing—especially by women workers—and cautiously optimistic that today’s workers may overcome the sorts of corporate tactics that blocked organizing in the 1970s.

Adolph Reed, Jr.: North Carolina's "Soul City" Always Showed the Failings of Black Capitalism

A new book looks at a planned Black-led city in North Carolina as a missed opportunity for establishing political and economic power; a left critic says the project proceeded from bad premises that liberation could be achieved through capitalism. 

Rescuing Shirley Chisholm's Life from Symbolism

by Anastasia Curwood

Writing a biography of the Congresswoman and presidential candidate required working through the distinction between Shirley Chisholm the symbol and the much more complex reality of Shirley Chisholm the woman, to see how big trends in Black history unfolded at a human scale.

We Got a Great Big Convoy

by Dan Albert

The media obscured the reality of recent protests in Ottawa and Washington by unquestioningly adopting a mythology of the North American trucker drawn from the 1970s when independent truckers had real grievances.

Betty Davis, Pioneering Queen of Funk, Dies at 77

Her brief marriage to jazz great Miles Davis and ultimate withdrawal from the music business have overshadowed Betty Davis's legacy as a songwriter and performer with lasting influence beyond her album sales. 

The Four Secrets to Success for "Gonzo Journalism"

by Peter Richardson

Hunter S. Thompson's emergence as a major media figure came from the convergence of the souring of John F. Kennedy-style liberalism and collaborations with fellows like illustrator Ralph Steadman who launched HST's interpretive and visceral style as a critique of the Nixon years. 

Government Regulation is Necessary, but it has to be Smart

by Paul Sabin

Two legislative initiatives championed by the Carter administration show the challenge of balancing strong environmental regulation with administrative efficiency and accountability. The balance has, of course, been difficult to strike. 

Stanley George on Putting Viewers in the Middle of the Nation's Bloodiest Prison Rebellion

"It’s like the window has been cracked a little bit, so that people who might never have thought to doubt law enforcement are doubting law enforcement now, and they’re thinking about their cruelty and racism in a way they might not have thought about it five years ago."

New "Wonder Years" Revives a 1970s Tactic for Diversifying TV. Will it Work?

by Kate L. Flach

The technique of "racial inversion" was intended in the 1970s to encourage white viewers to empathize with Black characters. Today, as then, the results show that TV alone can't bridge the nation's racial divisions. 

Edsall: Abortion Has Always Been Part of Broader Politics

Thomas Edsall draws on the work of historians Katherine Stewart, Randall Balmer, Jefferson Cowie and Darren Dochuk, plus other scholars, to argue that the "right to life" movement grew from the movement of resistance to school integration and today is sustained by politics of masculinity.