1970s

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 […]

The 1970s

The Conservative Backlash Many Americans, particularly working class and middle class whites, responded to the turbulence of the late 1960s–the urban riots, the antiwar protests, the alienating counterculture–by embracing a new kind of conservative populism. Sick of what they interpreted as spoiled hippies and whining protestors, tired of an interfering government that, in their view, […]

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 […]

This Day in History Video: What Happened on November 22

This Day in History Video: What Happened on October 22

This Day in History Video: What Happened on February 7

Apollo 17: Inside NASA’s Final Moon Landing Mission

The Apollo program’s sixth human landing on the moon ended an epic chapter in space exploration.

5 of the Most Influential Early Video Games

Home video games may seem like a contemporary phenomenon, but they actually have roots that go back to the Truman administration. That’s when computer scientists began tinkering with electronic machines to construct basic automated games, such as the pioneering “Bertie the Brain,” an ingenious 13‑foot‑tall, tic‑tac‑toe‑playing computer showcased at a Canadian national exposition in 1950. […]

How the 1970s US Energy Crisis Drove Innovation

The Arab oil embargo of 1973 put the United States economy on the back foot, causing fuel shortages, a quadrupling of oil prices and long lines at gas stations. Several legacies of the resulting energy crisis have persisted decades later. The spark of the embargo was the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, when a coalition […]