The United States During the 1970´s

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War, corruption, scandal, sounds like the theme for a movie. Actually it describes the atmosphere of our country during the 1970’s. The decade of the 1970’s was a decade filled with political, social, and environmental issues that have had a lasting impact on America today. Some of the issues that affected our country in the first half of the 1970’s carried over from the decade before. One of the first notable events was the Kent State massacre. The year was 1970 and President Richard Nixon stated in a television speech that the United States had invaded Cambodia. Nixon told the American people the invasion was a defensive response to the aggression of the North Vietnamese in Cambodia. He stated that this action would speed up the American troop’s withdrawal in Vietnam. Many Americans felt this would lengthen our time in the Vietnam War. As a result, students across the country began protesting the war. One of these protests’ happened at Kent State in Ohio. The National Guard was called in to settle rioting protesters. After 4 days the event ended with the death of 4 students and the wounding of 9 others, all shot by the National Guard. (Rosenbug)
Before 1970 the U.S. Department of Agriculture had the job of regulating pesticides. In 1970 the government formed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and gave them the job of regulating pesticides. In 1972, the EPA stopped the use of a popular pesticide called dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane or DDT. The EPA said that DDT had bad effects on the environment including wildlife and potential health risks to humans exposed to the chemical.
June 17, 1972 is the date that starts the biggest political scandal of the 1970’s. Watergate is a term often associated with politic...

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... a few months before her death on September 5, 1997 because of her health. Mother Teresa received many awards for her work, receiving the Inaugural Pope John XXII Peace Price in 1971 and the Albanaia’s Gloden Honor of the Nations in 1994. The Catholic Church has beatified Teresa in 2003 and continues their steps toward sainthood. Her official title today is Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. (Legacy)
The political, social and environmental events that happened during the decade of the 1970’s helped shape our country into what we are today. The war in Afghanistan, while not popular has seen fewer protesters. The race barrier in athletics has improved. The EPA has done much to clean up our environment. The financing of our political campaigns has changed. These are all signs that our nation has been changed by the events that happened in the decade of the 1970’s.

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