1970s
Population: 204,879,000
Unemployed in 1970: 4,088,000
National Debt: $382 billion
Average salary: $7,564
Food prices: milk, 33 cents a qt.; bread, 24 cents a loaf; round steak, $1.30 a pound
Life Expectancy: Male, 67.1; Female, 74.8
Farm population: 9,712,000; farmers 4.6% of labor force
Number of farms: 2.780, 000; average acres: 390
1970
Farmers made up less than 5 percent of work force for the first time.
No-tillage agriculture popularized
Environmental Protection Agency established.
Discovered mode of inheritance of cyclic neutropenia in dogs.
Immunoglobulin IGA discovered in cows milk.
Killed-virus vaccine for Newcastle disease developed.
Developing a safe and effective vaccine for this disease is a big deal. Chicken is the number one source of meat eaten by humans world wide and Newcastle disease is... or at least was before effective vaccines were available... the number one cause of weak, sick and dead chickens. (most avian species are affected to different degrees and there is also some risk to humans)
Newcastle disease can typically kill up to 80 percent of unprotected poultry in rural areas and is found throughout the developing world. Newcastle disease is one of the most infectious diseases of poultry in the world with extremely high morbidity and mortality rates, especially in chickens (100% and 90%, respectively)
The global economic impact of Newcastle disease is enormous. No other poultry virus comes close and it may represent a bigger drain on the world’s economy than any other animal virus. In developed countries outbreaks of Newcastle are extremely costly, and control measures, including vaccination, are a continuing loss to the industry. Countries free of Newcastle (the last major outbreak in the United States was 1974... thanks to vaccination programs, constant monitoring, strict husbandry management, and carefully enforced rules and government veterinary inspectors guarding our borders from letting parrots, other exotic birds, and live poultry enter from certain countries. Unfortunately, like flu, there are many different strains of the Newcastle virus so we must remain ever vigilant.
Plant Variety Protection Act; Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Norman Borlaug for developing high-yielding wheat varieties
My Lai massacre revealed
Pentagon Papers published
January 3 Marxist government takes over in Congo
January 12 Biafran War ends, Biafra surrenders to Nigeria
January 16 Col Kadhaffi becomes premier of Libya
January 25 Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H," premieres
February 11 Japan becomes 4th nation to put a satellite, Osumi, in orbit
February 23 Holy Eucharist given by women for 1st time in Roman Catholic service
March 1 White government of Rhodesia declares independence from Britain
March 2 Supreme Court ruled draft evaders can not be penalized after 5 years
March 4 French submarine "Eurydice" explodes
March 5 SDS Weathermen terrorist group bomb 18 West 11th St. in New York City
Future President Obama thinks it's cool to be an associate of one of these terrorists.
March 12 U.S. lowers voting age from 21 to 18
March 18 Cambodia military coup under Gen Lon Nol, prince Sihanuk flees
March 25 Concorde makes its 1st supersonic flight (700 MPH/1,127 KPH)
March 26 500th nuclear explosion announced by the U.S. since 1945 This amazes me. Am I wrong, but aren't the secondary effects of nuclear radiation devastating to the environment? How many explosions since 1970? As of 2013 apparently there have been over 2000 nuclear explosions with about half being done by the United States.
April 1 President Nixon signs bill limiting cigarette advertisements
April 9 Paul McCartney announces official split of Beatles
April 17 Apollo 13 returns back safely to Earth
April 24 China PR launches its 1st satellite transmitting song "East is Red"
April 29 50,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia
May 4 National Guard kills 4 at Kent State in Ohio
May 4 Premier Kosygin affirms existence Russian military advisors in Egypt
May 15 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
May 15 South-Africa excluded from Olympic play
May 22 Arab terrorists kill 9 children and 3 adults on a school bus
June 16 Race riots in Miami, Florida
June 17 Edwin Land patents Polaroid camera
June 29 U.S. ends 2 month military offensive into Cambodia
July 4 100 injured in race rioting in Asbury Park, New Jersey
July 6 California passes 1st "no fault" divorce law
July 21 Huge Aswan Dam opens in Egypt
July 21 Libya orders confiscation of all Jewish property
July 29 6 days of race rioting in Hartford, Connecticut
August 29 Black Panthers confront cops in Philadelphia (1 cop killed)
September 6 Palestinians seize 3 jetliners
September 13 Palestine guerillas conquer Irbid, Jordan
September 15 PLO leader Arafat threatens to make a cemetery of Jordan ... This is the guy Sweden awarded with The Nobel Peace Prize
September 22 President Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses
September 28 Anwar Sadat replaces Egyptian President Nassar
October 9 Khmer Republic (Cambodia) declares independence
October 10 Fiji gains independence from Britain (National Day)
November 7 Race riots in Daytona Beach Florida
November 12 Scientists perform 1st artificial synthesis of a live cell
November 13 Cyclone kills estimated 300,000 in Chittagong Bangladesh
November 13 Flooding ravages Ganges delta, 200,000-1 million killed
November 20 U.N. General Assembly accepts membership of China PR
November 27 Pope Paul VI wounded in chest during a visit to Philippines by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest
December 15 Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)
December 17 Gdansk, Poland ship workers strike
December 23 NY World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m)
1971
Marek's disease vaccine developed.
Marek's disease is a highly contagious viral neoplastic disease in chickens. It is named after József Marek, a Hungarian veterinarian. This is another big deal.
Humans raise, slaughter, and eat billions of chickens each year. Most of these chickens are raised in confined conditions. However you feel about this, it's a shame to lose a large percentage of these birds to Marek's disease, Avian Influenza, Newcastle disease and Salmonella.
First comprehensive study on the effects of feeding aflatoxin to livestock and poultry published.
Microcomputers invented. This, of course is a big deal too, but doesn't have anything to do veterinarians in particular.
January 1 Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
January 25 Military coup in Uganda under Gen Idi Amin Dada
February 4 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC
February 5 Apollo 14, 3rd U.S. manned Moon expedition, lands near Fra Mauro Alan Shepard and Edward Mitchell (Apollo 14) walk on Moon for 4 hrs (Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon a couple of years earlier (July 1969)
February 7 Swiss men accept female suffrage
February 8 South Vietnamese troops invade Laos
February 11 U.S., U.K., U.S.S.R., others sign Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons
February 24 Algeria nationalizes French oil companies
March 14 South Vietnamese troops flee Laos
March 29 1st Lt William L Calley, Jr. found guilty in My Lai (Vietnam) massacre
April 20 U.S. Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
April 25 About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington
May 3 Nixon administration arrests 13,000 anti-war protesters in 3 days
May 5 Race riot in Brownsville section of Brooklyn (New York City)
May 21 National Guard mobilizes to quell riot in Chattanooga, Tennessee
June 8 North Vietnam demands U.S. end aid to South Vietnam
August 14 Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule
August 15 President Nixon announces 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents
September 3 Watergate team breaks into Daniel Ellsberg's doctor's office
Daniel Ellsberg went to the same prep school as I did (Cranbrook). Presidential candidate Mitt Romney as another graduate.
October 1 Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida opens
October 11 Switzerland recognizes North Vietnam
October 25 U.N. votes to expel Taiwan and admit Red China
November 18 China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
December 2 Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Sharjah and Umm ak Qiwain form United Arab Emirates declaring independence from UK
December 16 Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan
1972
First recombinant DNA molecule synthesized. This technology in now (2014) used to make modern vaccines.
Federal Water Pollution Control Act passed.
Clean Air Act passed.
Consumer Product Safety Act passed.
DDT use banned in the U.S.
Spiroplasmas discovered, an entirely new class of disease-causing organisms.
Five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign, are caught breaking into rival Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington. This leads to President Nixon resignation
January 23 Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour house arrest
January 26 Stewardess Vesna Vulovic survives 10,160m fall without parachute
January 30 Bloody Sunday: British soldiers shoot on Catholics in Londonderry, 13 die
February 5 U.S. airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage
February 21 Richard Nixon becomes 1st U.S. president to visit China
March 4 Libya and U.S.S.R. signs cooperation treaty
March 8 1st flight of the Goodyear blimp
March 30 North Vietnamese troops enter South Vietnam
April 4 1st electric power plant fueled by garbage begins operating
April 9 U.S.S.R. and Iraq sign friendship treaty
April 10 U.S., U.S.S.R. and 70 other nations agree to ban biological weapons
April 16 2 giants pandas arrive in U.S., from China
April 28 Courts awarded Kentucky Derby prize money to 2nd place winner because winner was given drugs before race
July 18 Egypt president Sadat throws 20,000 Russian military aids out
July 21 Bloody Friday: 22 IRA-bombs explode in Belfast
September 6 Summer Olympics resume in Munich Germany after massacre by Muslim terrorists.
September 22 Muslim terrorist, dictator and mass murderer Idi Amin throws 8,000 Asians out of Uganda Similar numbers of anyone in opposition were slaughtered or "disappeared".
September: President Marcos imposed martial law on the nation from 1972 to 1981 to suppress increasing civil strife and the threat of a communist takeover following a series of bombings in Manila.
October 12 46 sailors injured in race riot on aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk
November 7 President Nixon (R) re-elected defeating George McGovern (D)
1973
Endangered Species Act passed.
First gene splicing performed.
Caprine (GOAT) arthritis and encephalitis of goats described.
Fifty farmers organize California Certified Organic Farmers
Roe v. Wade: Landmark Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion in first trimester of pregnancy
CAT scan invented by Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack
Cease-fire in Vietnam U. S. forces start withdraw
January 8 Secret peace talks between U.S. and North Vietnam resumed near Paris
January 15 President Nixon suspends all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam
January 22 US, North and South Vietnam and North Vietnam sign boundary accord which everyone knew was a fraud... In a move nearly identical to France's withdrawal from Algeria... France, (in preparing to withdrawal from Algeria) and the United States (in preparing to withdrawal from Vietnam) pretended to withdraw with "honor" because they weren't abandoning their previous allies because there was a piece of paper saying the winning Algerian Nationalists in Algeria and the Viet Cong in North Vietnam would not massacre those left behind. In reality, we expected mass murder, hundreds of thousands of refuges, and confiscation of property. And that was the result the minute France gave up power in Algeria and when The United States left Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The numbers killed and forced to flee AFTER we withdrew in Vietnam was much higher than the numbers killed in the years of bombings and battles in the actual war.
February 12 1st U.S. POWs in North Vietnam released; 116 of 456 flown to Philippines
February 22 U.S. and China agree to establish liaison offices in Beijing and Washington D.C. China is now our biggest trade partner.
February 27 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
March 2 "Black September" terrorists occupy Saudi Embassy in Khartoum
March 29 U.S. troops leave Vietnam, 9 years after Tonkin Resolution
April 10 Pakistan suspends constitution
May 14 Skylab launched, 1st Space Station
May 14 U.S. Supreme Court approves equal rights to females in military
June Future veterinarian Roger Ross (that's me) graduates from Cranbrook School and heads off to Cornell. (Although I ended up graduating from Michigan State after serving in the US Army.) Forgive my nostalgia, but I posted some pictures of Cranbrook's beautiful campus where I lived as a boarding student for the last 3 forms. "Aim High". The pictures are below on your left. (Famous Cranbrook alumni, includes designer Florence Knoll, former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson, Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann Romney (née Davies), columnist Michael Kinsley, Sun Microsystems founder Scott McNealy, former professional soccer player Alexi Lalas, and actress Selma Blair.)
July 10 Bahamas declares Independence from U.K. and adopts constitution
August 5 Arab terrorists open fire at Athens airport, kills 3 injures 55
September 13
Syrian/Israeli dogfight over Mediterranean Sea Israel shoots down 13 Syrian MIG-21s
September 28 Palestinian Terrorists hijack Austrian train
October 6 Yom Kippur War begins as Syria and Egypt attack Israel
October 13 Jordan enters Yom Kippur war
October 24 Yom Kippur War ends, Israel 65 miles from Cairo, 26 miles from Damascus
October 26 Israeli forces reach Suez, trapping Egyptian army
November 16 President Nixon authorizes construction of Alaskan pipeline. We take this for granted now. But this project of building a pipeline in arctic conditions was so expensive, so huge, and such an engineering challenge that it could be considered comparable to building the pyramids in Egypt.
November 25 3 Palestinians hijack KLM B747 above Iraq, to Dubai
December 17 Arabs terrorists shoot passengers on Boeing 737 to Kuwait
December 23 6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices.
Once again, huge Arab armies, bragging that they will "drive all the Jews into the sea" are so deceptive and conniving with each other and to their own countrymen, that after being defeated in days by tiny Israel .... have to blame someone... so in retaliation for The United States selling supplies to our Israeli allies OPEC drastically raised oil prices which was indeed a major hit to our economy. Some of the consequences included huge amounts of money flooding Arab nations (much of this money would be used to fund terrorism over the following decades), the new nationwide 55mph speed limit, and the huge change over from big gas guzzling cars in favor of small engine Japanese models. Also the political go ahead to approve The Alaskan Pipeline.
1974
United States ratified the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).
First vaccine for chicken pox. (Human)
Giorgio Fischer a gynecologist invents liposuction
Raymond Damadian, American physician, is granted a patent on his invention of the magnetic resonance imaging device (MRI).
January 12 Libya and Tunisia announces they are merging as "Islamic Arab Republic"
February 10 Iran/Iraqi border fight breaks out
July 29 Episcopal Church ordained female priests
August 9 Richard Nixon resigns presidency, VP Gerald Ford becomes 38th president
September 16 President Ford announces conditional amnesty for U.S., Vietnam War deserters
1975
Avermectins discovered. The "wonder drug" that few lay people know about. This discovery is a really, really, big deal positively affecting BILLIONS of human and animal lives.
The ivermectins are derived and a natural organism found in the soil that has a wide range of safety and have proven very effective against most major internal and external parasites affecting all types of animals, humans, and I'm pretty sure in agricultural and ornamental plants and crops.
Originating from a single Japanese soil sample, apparently taken from a golf course, ivermectin, the safest and most widely used derivative of avermectin, was initially available as a commercial product for animals in 1981... just 6 years from discovery to market. It turned out to be effective against so many parasites that greatly affected animal health and economics; gastrointestinal roundworms, lungworms, other nematodes, heartworms, ear mites, mange, other mites, lice, hornflies, fish lice, and ticks, including the ixodid tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, one of the most important cattle parasites in the tropics and subtropics, which causes enormous economic damage. Ivermectin is being used to treat billions of horses, farm animals and pets around the world.
In 1988, Ivermectin proved to be even more of a ‘Wonder drug’ in human health, improving the nutrition & general health of billions of people worldwide when it was found to treat or cure Onchocerciasis, Strongyloidiasis, Ascariasis, cutaneous larva migrans, filariases, Gnathostomiasis and Trichuriasis, as well as external parasites that plague people in the tropics and poorer nations like lice and scabies.
Ivermectin is the essential mainstay of two global disease elimination campaigns that should soon rid the world of two of its most disfiguring and devastating diseases, Onchocerciasis (also known as river blindness and Robles disease, it is caused a parasitic worm spread by the bite of a black fly. Symptoms include severe itching, bumps under the skin, and blindness. It is the second most common cause of blindness due to infection, after trachoma.) and Lymphatic filariasis, which blight the lives of billions of the poor and disadvantaged throughout the tropics.
The discovery story is interesting.
Researchers at Tokyo’s Kitasato Institute were well known for searching for and finding organisms from soil samples that showed some form of bio activity that might be useful. The head researcher of the Antibiotics Research Group (Satoshi Õmura) left the institute in Japan for a research sebatical abroad ... at Wesleyan University, Connecticut to work with Max Tischler* who had an amazing career with the giant drug company Merck, Sharp, and Dohme.
Because of this serendipitous working relationship between Doctors Omura and Tishler, a collaboration with the US-based Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) pharmaceutical company and Kitasato Institute was created... another first... an international partnership between a private research corporation and a public research institution in Japan.
The Kitasato Institute iin Tokyo isolated organisms from soil samples and carried out preliminary in vitro evaluation of their bioactivity. Promising bioactive samples were then sent to the Merck Sharp, and Dohme laboratories for further in vivo testing where a potent and promising novel bioactivity was found, subsequently identified as being caused by a new compound, which was named ‘avermectin'.
Further work indicated that derivatives from avermectin... especially ivermectin... were extremely effective ... and safe... against a wide range of parasites.
Very darn lucky, it turns out, because despite decades of searching around the world since then, the Japanese microorganism remains the only source of avermectin ever found. And maybe because Dr. Omura was a lousy golfer who hit his ball off the fairway and decided to collect some soil.
Monoclonal antibodies invented.
Demonstrated that a fraction of the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease is not infectious, but produces immunity in livestock.
1975 Vietnam falls to the communists leading to mass murder and millions of refuges fleeing for their lives
The situation is even worse in Cambodia
1976
Beef Research and Information Act passed.
Federal Land Policy and Management Act repealed Homestead Act and many other land laws.
Propagated bovine leukemia virus in cell culture.
1977
Discovered direct relationship between Neotyphodium coenophialum fungus in fescue and disease in cattle.
First vaccine for pneumonia (Human)
Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th president President Carter signs treaty agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999.
1978
United States declared free of hog cholera.
Sadat and Begin sign Camp David Accord, ending 30-year conflict between Egypt and Israel
First test-tube baby is born in the U.K.
First vaccine for meningitis (Humans)
1979
Smallpox eliminated, the only microbial disease ever completely defeated.
ultrasound scan invented by Ian Donald
U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949
Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania causes panic
Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people hostage
USSR invades Afghanistan
