The Decade Of Disaster Films Should Have Labelled The Decade A Disaster

Despite all of the dreams of the baby boomers during the 60s, they entered a time which seemed far from the ideal dreams of a Utopia society to a world marred by disappointment, disillusionment, and despair. Not that it was really all that bad, but it was not all that great either. Where does one start to figure out what happened in this era? Where else? Vietnam!

Vietnam was still a hot spot and a sore issue that had been brewing since the mid50s. There were two camps of those who supported our boys over their serving the country and those who felt these boys were being trained to become inhumane murderers wanting to end this immoral war.

What were they doing over there anyway? Officially, we were there to stop the domino effect of Communism from the surrounding countries of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Over the years, many stories came about which were filled with some truths and twisted around many different agendas. What really happened?

Our President, Richard Nixon, came to a point where there was no other choice but to send orders to call them back home. Nothing was won or lost by the United States, but South Vietnam was a big loser in this situation. Communism took over the entire country of Vietnam. Our troops came home with a non heroic welcome and many were treated like monsters by some and heroes by others. It was rarely talked about in schools so there is a generation that knows virtually nothing about this time except what the media propaganda wants to paint it.

Decades after the war, Vietnam is fully Communist, and the US is still safe from the "threat" of Communism. Those citizens of South Vietnam had to flee for their lives when the US pulled out. The few that could make it out on our planes and ships were lucky and allowed to become citizens of this country. However, many who were not so lucky were killed by the opposing troops claiming the whole nation as one. Many years after the police action, Vietnamese people have been taking risky measures to escape for freedom and have died in the process and not well received in other countries. That is the part most will agree with.

African Americans and those from economically deprived backgrounds were complaining that they were the ones being drafted to do most of the dirty work and getting killed off in disproportionate numbers while upper class people got out of doing service. The soldiers were said to be mostly made up of drug addicts who loved to commit acts of war crimes on the innocent people. Other young men who could not attend college would escape to Canada or Mexico in order to avoid the draft. The musical play, "Hair," describes the tensions that were going on during this era when a peace loving man tries to avoid the draft but ends up going over there only to get killed. The troops who came back home were broken mentally and spiritually. Some were exposed to a toxic chemical known as Agent Orange which was proven to cause cancer. Many were treated with disrespect when they came back. Many vets could not find jobs. The domino effect was all hype that had no merit. But was this all true?

This is one of the stereotypes most think about of this era that were not 100% true. Facts were that most of those who served volunteered. The death count was equally proportionate to the racial population of those who were over there. There were many of the upper class society who were more at risk since they had the educational advantages to do the actual dangerous fighting. There were atrocities committed, but as in all wars it was done by a small percentage of the fighting men some who were charged and made to pay while others got off with a slap on the wrist. Agent Orange, a term for what was called only Orange during the war, was indeed toxic, but not all of the troops were exposed to this herbicide and those who were had only a small dosage since this was sprayed 6-8 weeks before the troops came into those cleared jungles and this chemical starts to degrade within 48 hours so that by the time the troops arrived it was mostly gone. As far as troops suffering from job discrimination because of their status is a bit of a stretch since they came back during an economic recession and a lot of people were not working. If the US had not gone over there when they did, the surrounding countries would not have made the move to kick the Communist rulers out and would be Communist today.

According to those who were an active part of the war, the veterans, it was a bad war, but not as bad as most wanted to make it. Statistics about the Vietnam War shows many facts and lists sources of what was thought to be true. The protesters on the home turf and the media fed more into the myths that have long lingered over the real issues. This kind of dangerously charged propaganda is behind the tragedy at Kent State University. The hype sold newspapers and books and television air time, so it was profitable to treat this as a point of dissension in American History. Besides, the Vietnam veterans got a memorial tribute long before vets of WWII and have recovered more men who were missing in action. War is awful, but don't make it bigger than it is.

June 17, 1972 was the beginning of the end of an otherwise exemplary political career of Richard Nixon. While serving his duty as President and trying to keep damages to a minimal at Vietnam, a burglary in the Headquarters of the Democratic National Party which was held in a wing of the apartment complex known as The Watergate would destroy many political careers and reputations including President Nixon.

Five men, including a former agent of the CIA were found wiretapping the lines and monitoring activities of the Democratic Party. Nixon called for an in house formal investigation which cleared any connection of this to the White House even though two of the men were White House aides. (How convenient!) Just the same, Nixon won the 1972 elections by a landslide. Shortly after his reelection, FBI director, Patrick Gray resigned followed by several members of Nixon's staff and word was out that Gray was a key in covering up tracks of the Watergate break in. People who were not suspicious before were now having doubts of the complete innocence of their leader.

Before a Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities White House counsel John Dean testified which implicated himself as well as a few others including Nixon in a plot that became known as the Watergate scandal. He also revealed for the first time the infamous list of enemies of Nixon's. Vice President Agnew stepped down from his office in light of his role of the scandal and for tax evasion. Ford was then in a position to step up in that role.

It was revealed that tapes were available as proof of the crime of wiretapping and President Nixon tried to deny the existence, but eventually they came out with about 5 minutes of conversation erased by Nixon's secretary. Three charges were made against Nixon for his impeachment. Nixon vehemently denied any wrongdoing. (Gee. Will history repeat itself? Naaaaaah!)

In a move to save face, on August 8th, 1974, President Nixon announced his resignation due to "lack of backing by Congress." Shortly afterwards, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States and gave a pardon to his former boss for any crimes he may have committed during his term in office. (If you want to rise up the ladder quickly, remember the rule, scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.)

In the early 1970s, two decisions were made by the Supreme Court which would set in motion much debate and emotions. They declared the executions were cruel and inhumane punishment and ordered that no one on death row could be killed (1972). Only in 1976 was that decision reversed and left up to the decision of each state. They also settled the decision in Roe versus Wade which now allowed a woman to decide on her right to an abortion if she so chose (1973). I sincerely doubt there will ever be a meeting of the minds on either issue. At least in 1971 an Amendment was passed that made many 18 year olds happy when they were told they could now vote.

The entire decade was plagued by an economic recession. Inflation was soaring faster than the income paid to most workers causing a huge gap between the rich and the poor and it was feared that the middle class would soon cease to exist. Gas prices were at an all time high during the mid70s oil crisis and at times, even when one could afford to put a few gallons of gas in the car, they would be lucky if gas was even available after waiting in huge lines for a pump. The US was finally getting a taste of the problems of the rest of the world when it came to oil prices.

Peace was always an issue when the German Jews wanted to reclaim their homeland promised by their God a few thousand years before. The problem was this land was currently occupied by Palestinians who have been living there for over 1000 years. The Palestinians were Muslim and to them this property was equally holy. To the predominately Christian United States, there was much interest in this land that was also equally holy. Could three religions that all originated from one source ever learn to get along? Let the peace talks begin!

Always so close, but so far away, when it seemed they were on a verge of an agreement, a member in one of the radical camps would sabotage all efforts making any agreements made null and void. Not everyone wanted peace and of those who wanted it their way, to heck with everyone else, they were not going to settle for anything less, after all, God was on their side. With this attitude many involved with the peace keeping efforts and talks would be prime targets for assassinations in the name of God.

This has brought about so much misguided attitudes towards people of the different cultures. Some of the radical Muslims had a disdain for the Jews who they saw as thieves who stole land from their brothers and murderers for killing them off and leaving them to starve. These Muslims also had a disdain for the Western world since they saw the US as a threat to their way of life. To them, the United States was home of Satan and all US citizens were loose and immoral. Militant Jews saw the US in the same light, but thought of the Muslims as thieves for stealing their land and perverting their original teachings. Radical Christians and ignorant Americans saw all Middle Eastern people as a dangerous threat since they were willing to die in order to kill Americans while racists were glad the Jews would have Israel back so they could all go there. It is an unfortunate thing that this whole issue has brought out the most ugliest of the human nature.

Then if things weren't bad enough, we end the decade with our American citizens being held captive by a religious police state of a country, Iran, which was headed by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They were held as a symbol to the Iranian people the disdain of the values of the Western world and a prick on the conscious to go back to old traditional values. Our once political ally, the Shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi to be exact, was pressured to step down from office for the good of the people.

In 1974, a good girl gone bad would rock the nation. Patricia Hearst, daughter of media tycoon Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Wanting to gain publicity for their cause and to make some money, they taunted the press and were not able to be caught. During this time, Ms Hearst was brainwashed into the cause only to reemerge into public as a warrior for the cause, wielding a weapon during a bank robbery. Eventually, they were caught and all, including the heiress to a fortune, were arrested and made to serve time.

1978 brought the Roman Catholics three popes. Pope Paul VI died at age 80 to be followed by Pope John Paul I who died at age 65 after only serving 34 days. Pope John Paul II then took over one of the longest reins of office and was also the first Polish man to become Pope.

1978 was not a year many will forget when people saw the horror on the television set on November 18th. Over 900 people were found dead. Over 200 of these victims were children. Congressman Leo Ryan was called upon by several concerned citizens who had family in this cult commune in a remote section of Guyana which was named Jonestown. There were allegations of abuse and torture of the members and Ryan was sent to investigate if there was any truth and to take with him any who may be held there against their will. At first, things seemed to go smoothly during his visit, but when trying to leave with a few members who knew too much, caused a panic where members shot those who were to board the plane including Mr. Ryan, the pilot, reporters and former cult members. Paranoid, Jim Jones ordered that all commit suicide. This evidently was a routine drill, but many took this time as the real thing. A vat of grape Kool Aid was mixed with tranquilizers and cyanide for all members to drink. The youngest, the elderly and the most frail were the first ordered to die. Those who did not cooperate were forced shots of cyanide or killed by the armed members of the group. Parents were laid to die on top of their children. As they all groaned in agony, a tape recorder was running which captured the final moments. Jones was rambling on about them dying for a good reason and finally he shot himself in the head when everyone else was as good as dead.

1979 was the year for manmade ecological disasters with a nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania when two reactors lost its coolant and allowed some radiation to leak. Although this was not the first or the worst of such incidents, just the same it cleared out this community making it a ghost town overnight until a decade later when people started to come back. The big oil spill earlier in the year which polluted waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean was a nightmare that killed off much of the sea life and its chain reaction killed other mammals. People were still reeling from the discovery in 1977 of barrels of toxic wastes that were sealed up as a community was built. It went unknown until people realized the unusually high rates of cancer. By 1978, over 220 families were relocated out of the area in Niagara, New York known as Love Canal.

With all of this going on, can you blame these once idyllic baby boomers to look inside and be worried about "looking out for number one"? Despite the problems, this would be the decade to indulge in all pleasures of the self. Sex, drugs, music, dancing, seeking the inner child, whatever it took to feel good, it was done without restraint. Disco music was the rage. Studio 54 became a symbol of all the depravity that disgusted many and enthralled its participants. No wonder the Christian Coalition was formed in utter disgust of what they viewed as a blight on our nation! However, they just could not see you can never mix religion with politics and come out a winner - look at Iran!

Finally, the American culture would get a breather. The 80s were bright and shiny over the horizon.