1970s: Watergate and Women’s Rights

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The 1970s

Conservative Backlash Some Americans, particularly working class and middle class whites, responded to the turbulence of the 1960s—the urban riots, antiwar protests and the counterculture—by embracing a new kind of conservative populism. Tired of what they interpreted as spoiled hippies and whining protestors, tired of an interfering government that, in their view, coddled poor people and minorities […]

Watergate Scandal

The Watergate Break‑In The origins of the Watergate break‑in lay in the hostile political climate of the time. By 1972, when Republican President Richard M. Nixon was running for reelection, the United States was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the country was deeply divided. A forceful presidential campaign therefore seemed essential to the president […]

Energy Crisis (1970s)

Background to the 1970s Energy Crisis In 1948, the Allied powers had carved land out of the British‑controlled territory of Palestine in order to create the state of Israel, which would serve as a homeland for disenfranchised Jews from around the world. Much of the Arab population in the region refused to acknowledge the Israeli […]

Three Mile Island

The China Syndrome Construction of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant began in 1968, in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, on a small island in the Susquehanna River just south of the state capital in Harrisburg. Construction ended in 1978 when the second of two nuclear reactors at the site came online to produce electricity. A thriller […]

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Iran Hostage Crisis

Explore the chain of events that set off the Iran hostage crisis – an diplomatic standoff that would keep Americans on edge and shape the course of Jimmy Carter’s presidency.