■ Publisher’s Note Watergate, the end of the Vietnam War, the environ- • crime and punishment mental movement, the energy crisis, the women’s • disasters movement, disco, the development of personal com- • economics puters—so much happened during the 1970’s. The • education Seventies in America brings this controversial decade • energy issues to life by examining these topics and many more. • environmental issues The encyclopedia appears at a time when many peo- • film ple are reevaluating the 1970’s, realizing that, far • health and medicine from a superficial or throwaway era, it was actually a • international relations time of dynamic political, social, and cultural • journalism change. In many ways, the impact of the decade is • Latinos just being felt and understood. The Seventies in Amer- • legislation ica is a much-needed source of reliable and accessi- • literature ble information for today’s students, all of whom • military and war were born after the decade ended. • music • Native Americans Contents of the Encyclopedia This illustrated three- • people volume encyclopedia is a companion set to The Six- • politics and government ties in America (1999) and The Fifties in America (2005). • popular culture It covers events, movements, people, and trends in • religion and spirituality popular culture, literature, art, sports, science, tech- • science and technology nology, economics, and politics in both the United • sexuality States and Canada. The Seventies in America features • social issues longer overviews and shorter entries discussing peo- • sports ple, books, films, television series, musical groups, • television and other important topics representative of that • theater and dance era. Every entry focuses on the topic or person dur- • transportation ing the 1970’s—for this work, defined as January, 1, • women’s issues 1970, through December 31, 1979—in order to ex- plore what made the decade unique. Topics that The encyclopedic format allows readers to take span several decades often provide some back- either a broad view or a narrow one. For example, in ground and information on subsequent events to addition to the overview of Watergate, The Seventies help place the 1970’s in perspective. in America offers related entries on important fig- The Seventies in America contains 672 essays, in al- ures (such as Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, phabetical order, ranging from 1 to 6 pages in White House counsel John Dean, and the informant length. Written with the needs of students and gen- “Deep Throat”); events and documents in the scan- eral readers in mind, the essays present clear discus- dal (such as the Pentagon Papers, the Saturday sions of their topics, explaining terms and refer- Night Massacre, and the Nixon tapes); and the after- ences that may be unfamiliar. Entries fall into the math and cultural assessment (such as Richard Nix- following general categories: on’s resignation and pardon and All the President’s Men). • African Americans The Seventies in America contains three hundred • art and architecture photographs of notable people, events, and other • Asian Americans imagery that evoke the look and feel of the decade. • business In addition, sixty sidebars—lists, time lines, maps, • Canada tables, graphs, excerpts from famous speeches— • court cases highlight interesting facts and trends from the era. ix The Seventies in America Essay Organization Every essay begins with a clear, ment appendices list major films, Academy Award concise title followed by a brief description called winners, major Broadway plays and theatrical awards, Identification (for people, organizations, and most-watched television shows, and Emmy Award works, such as books or films); Definition (for ob- winners. The two literature appendices list the best- jects, concepts, and overviews); or The Event. Next, selling U.S. books and the winners of major liter- a heading for Author, Publisher, Director,orPro- ary awards, and two music appendices discuss some ducer is used when appropriate and includes vital of the decade’s most popular musicians and list dates. A Date line appears for events, legislation, Grammy Award winners. A sports appendix provides films, books, television series, plays, and any topic a quick glance at the winners of major sporting linked to a discrete time. Biographical entries fea- events of the 1970’s. The two legislative appendices ture the headings Born and Died, listing the date look at the U.S. Supreme Court and its major deci- and place of birth and death for the subject. A Place sions and important legislation passed by Congress line appears if appropriate. Every essay begins with a during the decade. The other appendices are a glos- brief assessment of what made the topic important sary of new words and slang from the 1970’s, a de- during the 1970’s. tailed time line of the decade, an annotated general Within the text, boldfaced subheads show readers bibliography, an annotated list of Web sources on the overall organization of the essay at a glance, 1970’s subjects, and a list of entries sorted by cate- make finding information quick and easy. Every es- gory. say features an Impact section, which examines the The encyclopedia also contains a number of use- subject’s broader importance during the 1970’s. ful tools to help readers find entries of interest. A Longer overviews sometimes include a section complete list of all essays in The Seventies in America called Subsequent Events that sums up later devel- appears at the beginning of each volume. Volume 3 opments. Cross-references at the end of each essay contains personage and photo indexes and a com- direct readers to additional entries in the encyclope- prehensive subject index. dia on related subjects. Every entry, regardless of length, offers bibliographical notes under the head- Acknowledgments The editors of Salem Press ing Further Reading in order to guide readers to ad- would like to thank the scholars who contributed ditional information about the topic; annotations essays and appendices to The Seventies in America; are provided in essays of 1,000 words or more. Every their names and affiliations are listed in the front essay includes an author byline. matter to volume 1. The editors would also like to thank Professor John C. Super of West Virginia Uni- Appendices Volume 3 of The Seventies in America versity for serving as the project’s Editor and for contains seventeen appendices that provide addi- bringing to the project his expertise on North Amer- tional information about selected aspects of the de- ican history. cade in easily accessible formats. The five entertain- x A ■ Abortion rights also was supported by a variety of liberal interest groups in her test case against Henry Wade, the dis- Definition Legal efforts to establish or deny the trict attorney in Dallas, Texas. Eventually, her dis- right to abortion in North America pute with the state of Texas was selected for review by The United States and Canada both made important the U.S. Supreme Court. changes in abortion policy in the 1970’s that eventually led In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court voted to reproductive rights for women. 7-2 to recognize the right to privacy to include a woman’s right to abortion when it struck down the The abortion issue gained considerable attention in Texas law prohibiting the controversial medical pro- the United States and Canada during the 1970’s. cedure. Justice Harry A. Blackmun was selected by Both countries addressed the issue to satisfy strong Chief Justice Warren Burger to write the Court’s ma- political movements seeking more privacy and free- jority opinion because Blackmun had served previ- dom for women. In the United States, a divorced ously as an attorney for a medical clinic in Minne- woman named Norma McCorvey inspired the sota: He was familiar with the legal aspects of the change in abortion policy by appealing to the U.S. abortion procedure. Justice Blackmun’s majority Supreme Court, with assistance from members of opinion established that privacy was to be found in the legal community and organized interests. In Can- the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amend- ada, physician Henry Morgentaler almost single- ment. The due process clause was strategically se- handedly brought attention to the abortion issue by lected because of its focus on freedom and liberty as serving time in prison for performing thousands of well as the fact that it could be used to impose the safe, yet illegal, abortions. Morgentaler’s efforts in- right of personal privacy upon the governments of spired a feminist movement across Canada in the all fifty states. Specifically, the due process clause 1970’s that led to the legalization of abortion in the contained the word “liberty” and also referred di- late 1980’s. rectly to “state power.” Abortion Rights in the United States In the early Trimester Approach and Dissent In Roe, Justice 1970’s, a national policy regarding abortion did not Blackmun divided the thirty-six-week pregnancy exist, and abortion rights were dependent upon the term into three trimesters, or twelve-week intervals. laws in the fifty states—each state decided abortion Hence, Blackmun’s test to judge the legality of the policy for itself. In the state of Texas, the abortion abortion procedure was called the trimester ap- procedure was a criminal act unless necessary to save proach. In his opinion for the Supreme Court, the life of the mother. McCorvey, also known as Jane Blackmun asserted that a woman’s right to privacy Roe, was a divorced woman living in Texas with one was absolute in the first trimester of her pregnancy child when she became pregnant with her second. term. Hence, no government interest existed to jus- McCorvey claimed that she had been raped by three tify limiting a woman’s right of privacy in the first men while walking home from a carnival where she twelve weeks, or three months, of pregnancy.