1970’s: Nixon, Watergate, ping-pong, and Nam.
Richard Nixon is remembered for many things. He’s one of the most interesting presidents in the U.S. He’s remembered, among other things, for forging diplomatic ties with communist China through the Ping-Pong Diplomacy, and withdrew American troops in Vietnam. However, while Nixon seemed to have a flair for international diplomacy, his agenda was much more mysterious inside his own country. In 1972, during Nixon’s re-election campaign, several operatives associated with his campaign broke into the headquarters of the National Security Committee, at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon and several of his campaign administrators denied involvement in the burglary, but later evidence proved that Nixon’s government did all they could to cover up the criminal activity. Facing impeachement by Congress, Nixon resigned on August 9th, 1974, in the middle of his second term, and was replaced by his Vice, Gerald Ford, who pardoned him and other officials for any crimes. By the time he died, he was a charismatic statesman to some and a disgraced crook to others.
The Watergate scandal is the most remembered aspect of Nixon’s presidency. It’s the crisis that painted a negative light of his leadership in the middle of such troubled times. Regardless of the cover-up conspiracy, Nixon did amazing things to help his country. His political career was very interesting, and Nixon is an important figure of the 70s and the postwar world.
1978: A Polish Pope Joins to the Struggle
The Cold War had already produced some of the greatest proxy wars in history. It had been going on for many years. Luckily for the US, they would gain very powerful allies against the Soviet. Earlier, a Polish man named Karol Wojtek Czola had been elected as a bishop by the Catholic Church. In 1978, Karol became the new pope. He was the first non-Italian pope in history. Not only that, but he also proved to be an effecient ally for the US. He traveled around Poland, delivering a message of hope to the opressed people living under the communist banner. Paul remained Pope until his death in April 2005.
Pope John Paul was the first in a series of leaders that sought to create more stable relationships with the soviet union. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom and US President Ronald Reagan later added into the mix and cemented the beginning of healthy relationships with the Soviet countries. By the beginning of the 80s, the relationships between US and the Soviet Union was the complete opposite from mid-50s Cold War tension.
1979: The Iron Lady, The First Woman Prime Minister
On May 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister of Great Britain. She’s also the longest serving Minister of the 20th century, serving for 11 non-stop years until 1990. Nicknamed ”The Iron Lady” for her strong-willed, tough behavior, Thatcher provided a strong opposition. She and Ronald Reagan, who would become president of the US two years later, denounced the Soviet Union as an ”evil empire”, and declared that communism would end up burning in the ”giant ash heap of history”. Nonetheless, she was highly unpopular due to rising unemployment and social tensions that occured on Britain at the time. Through her run as Prime Minister, Britain went through the Falkland Islands War, the 1984-85 coal miners’ strike, and a terrorist attack at the Conservative Party building. Thatcher miraculously survived that attack, and cemented her relationships with Reagan and Gorbachev.
Thatcher had a tough attitude which mirrored mid-50’s Cold War tensions. Despite this, she accomplished many things and her actions were part of the cimentations of healthier relationships with the Soviet Union. She held many records such as more terms (three terms), longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, longest-serving Minister since 1827, and the most renowned British politician since Winston Churchill.
1970’s: Saigon falls, Vietnam War Ends
As the 70s started, the Vietnam War had already been around for almost 20 years. People were growing tired of it. President Richard Nixon had a tough decision in his nose: Should he retire his troops from Vietnam to spare them from more suffering and risk Vietnam reunite under communism, or keep fighting until the bitter end? At the end, Nixon announced his decision: He was ending involvement in Vietnam. In 1973, he made his decision public and troops slowly began to withdrew. US involvement in Vietnam had ended. Two years later in 1975, Northern troops took the Southern capital Saigon. Vietnam reunited as a communist nation, and remains communist up to this date.
The ending of the Vietnam War and the reunification of Vietnam under communism was perhaps the most shocking news in the 1970s. To Americans, it was like hard years of fighting in vain. In the end, nothing could be done to prevent communism from taking over. At the same time, however, we have to consider that various neighboring nations to Vietnam didn’t fall to communism. Perhaps the domino effect never became true, but the Vietnam War still remains a hard lesson in history and a very impacting moment in the postwar era.