All language subtitles for TIMELINE 1970 - Everything That Happened In 1970 - Documenntary

1970, the year that brought
the swinging '60s to a close

was about as harsh a morning
after as the Poseidon

Adventure, although that
was still a few years away.

After instilling the nation
with the blind optimism

of flower power and Beatlemania,
the back half of the 1960s

came crashing down with the
assassinations of John F.

Kennedy and Martin
Luther King, Jr.,

the beginning of the Vietnam
War, and the Manson family.

Go ride a horse.

1970 rode that bleak
wave into a decade

marked by geopolitical
unrest, gas shortages,

natural disasters, serial
killers, terrorism,

and one of the biggest
scandals in 20th century

American politics, and also a
bunch of really groovy movies,

almost too many really.

Oh, I can imagine quite a bit.

We're going to talk about
the news, culture, sports

and entertainment, and all
that was weird in the '70s.

This is Timeline.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

Get ready for some forgettable
Beatles solo albums

because this one
is all about 1970.

But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird

History Channel and
let us in the comments

below your favorite '70s memory.

Now are you ready
to boogie down?

(SINGING) Let's all dance
through the night together.

Despite positive changes brought
about by the Civil Rights

Movement and a
national excitement

over the possibilities of
space exploration following

Neil Armstrong's historic
first steps on the moon,

the decade began on
uncertain ground.

Two thirds of
Americans disapproved

of the US's involvement
in the Vietnam War.

The year ahead would see
the continued proliferation

of nuclear weapons,
a shocking display

of state violence, an infamous
space disaster that nearly

ended in tragedy, and
the dissolution of one

of the most influential
bands of all time.

But it wasn't all bad.

The Hollywood corner says
an overdose of narcotics

is responsible for the death
of the well-known rock singer

Janis Joplin.

OK, so it was mostly bad.

Some years just start out in
desperate need of a do over

and never fully recover.

When we get started.

When do we get started?

Tonight.

This is 1970.

Sayonara, miss--

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The Who's drummer and resident
party animal Keith Moon

kicked off the decade by
drunkenly running over

his own chauffeur
while trying to escape

an unruly mob of skinheads
outside a pub in London.

The group surrounded
Moon's Bentley

and began pelting
it at which point

Moon's driver, Neil Boland,
climbed out to confront them.

The skinheads pummeled
Boland mercilessly,

and a terrified Moon grabbed
the wheel and took off.

And this was ultimately
ruled an accident,

and Moon was cleared
of any wrongdoing

although it haunted the drummer
for the rest of his life.

Where are you?

Still didn't answer my question.

Which was?

You were sort of lost in
thought when I came in.

What about?

Maybe I was trying to be one
of your grandmother's gypsies,

read the future in the flames.

Four months after
leading a military coup

against Libya's King
Idris, Muammar El Gaddafi

is declared premier of
Libya by the government

he'd just created.

Funny how that works out.

Gaddafi was an army captain
and fierce Arab nationalist

who sought to purge Libya
of Western influence,

removing US and British
military bases from the country

and deporting Libyans with
Italian and Jewish heritage

within his first year of power.

The controversial
dictator remained

in power for just
over 40 years until he

would be captured and killed
by members of Libya's National

Liberation Army on October 2011
during the first Libyan civil

war.

It's safe to say his
popularity rating had dropped

some in the intervening years.

This isn't a hospital!

It's an insane asylum,
and it's your fault

because you don't do
anything to discourage 'em.

What do you want me to do?

Put them under arrest.

See what a court
martial [INAUDIBLE]

Famed folk pop duo Simon
and Garfunkel released

their final studio album,
Bridge Over Troubled Water

on January 26th before splitting
up for good later that year.

Their swan song, considered
by many to be the pair's best,

went on to become one of the
best selling albums of all time

with over 25 million
copies sold worldwide.

That's a whole lot of wax.

Speaking of landmark albums,
the Jackson 5's first single

"I Want You Back" reached
the number one spot

on the Billboard Hot 100
on January 31st fresh

off their history making
appearance on "The Ed Sullivan

Show" in December.

Here's the youthful
Jackson 5 opening

with a medley of their hits
that have sold over a million.

The group released three other
number one singles that year--

"ABC," "The Love You Save,"
and "I'll Be There"--

making them the first
recording artists

in history to have
their first four singles

reach the top spot.

Flash forward to
October 7, 1971,

when the group's magnetic lead
singer Michael Jackson released

his first single
as a solo artist,

"Got to Be There," when
he was just 13 years old.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We'll be right back.

(SINGING) Gimme a J, gimme a
A, when I'm eating Alpha Bits,

I'm OK.

(SPEAKING) I'm gonna eat a dog.

What, you crazy, man?

What's that spell?

Dog.

I ate it. (SINGING) Gonna
eat my Alpha Bits, A-B-C.

I want you to remember that
no bastard ever won war

by dying for his country.

You won it by making the
other poor dumb bastard die

for his country.

The legendary heavy
metal band Black Sabbath

released their
self-titled debut album

on February 13th
introducing the world

to their colorful frontman Ozzy
Osbourne for the first time.

We like the name Black
Sabbath, so we said--

We just like the name, you know.

Why did you pick the
name in the first place?

Why did The Beatles pick
The Beatles, you know?

Nobody knows.

According to the band's
guitarist, Tony Iommi,

the album was
recorded in one day

during a single 12-hour session.

Black Sabbath's debut
is widely considered

to be the first heavy
metal album and one

of the most influential
records of the 20th century.

Black Sabbath.

The Chicago Seven, the name
given to the men standing trial

for allegedly inciting a riot
during anti-Vietnam protests

at the Democratic National
Convention in August of 1968,

were found innocent on charges
of conspiracy on February 18th.

Rennie Davis, David Dellinger,
John Froines, Tom Hayden,

Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and
Lee Weiner were all acquitted.

The judge knows that the only
one who is in contempt of court

is Julius Hoffman.

We're going to have
demonstrations at local courts

across this country.

The last witness was a
rebuttal to Rennie's testimony.

It was hysterical.

He didn't see any
defendant there.

He didn't see anybody on a
bullhorn yelling kill a pig.

Nothing.

Where's their case?

I seen more evidence
in the case of Scotch.

Davis, Dellinger, Hayden,
Hoffman, and Rubin

were convicted of crossing
state lines to start a riot,

but those convictions,
along with several others

for contempt of court,
were eventually reversed.

In late March the
United States detonated

its 500th nuclear
device since dropping

atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki

in 1945 as part of its ongoing
nuclear testing program.

America would set off more
than 1,000 nuclear explosions

before a moratorium was placed
on testing by President George

HW Bush.

In October 2, 1992, President
Clinton extended the moratorium

and signed the comprehensive
nuclear test ban

treaty in 1996.

The treaty will
constrain any nation

from improving its
existing nuclear arsenal

and in the development of
advanced nuclear weapons

and help to stop their spread.

The treaty has yet to
be ratified by Congress,

not that we're going to start
setting off nukes again.

We just like to keep
our options open.

At the end of March,
jazz legend Miles Davis

released his 27th studio
album Bitches Brew.

The album would go on to become
Davis's highest charting,

topping out at number 35, and
would earn him the first gold

record of his career.

To date, Bitches
Brew is regarded

as one of the best jazz
albums ever recorded.

On April 1st,
President Richard Nixon

signed a bill banning
cigarette advertising

on radio and television.

Hey, how would you like
to have a phone like that.

Great, then I could
see you all the time.

(SINGING) Don't settle for some
of the taste some of the time.

Viceroy gives you all
the taste all the time.

To the woe of the
tobacco industry,

this was not an
April Fool's joke.

Philip Morris company has
bought all commercial time

on the first half hour of all
the network talk shows tonight.

That is the last
half hour on which

it is legal to sell cigarettes
on radio or television

in the United States.

It marks as we like to
say the end of an era.

Regulation of the
tobacco industry

had ramped up following
increasingly alarming health

studies linking
smoking to cancer,

heart disease, and
birth defects including

an report by the surgeon
general linking smoking

to low birth weight.

The last televised cigarette
ad ran on January 1, 1971,

at 11:50 PM during The
Johnny Carson Show.

The hearts of millions of
Beatlemaniacs around the world

were shattered on April 10th
when Paul McCartney officially

announced his departure
from The Beatles.

In the spirit of the well-known
tensions that had steadily

developed between the
bandmates, McCartney

revealed he would
no longer be working

with the rest of the fab four
in a press release promoting

the impending release of
his solo album McCartney.

The release took the form
of a fictional Q&A featuring

questions reportedly written
mostly by Sir Paul himself.

Despite the fact that neither
the general public nor the rest

of the Beatles
themselves initially

knew how seriously to take
McCartney's announcement,

it turned out to
be the real deal.

The band never reunited.

Keeping it real
classy, Sir Paul.

One day later,
Apollo 13 embarked

on its ill-fated
voyage to the moon.

Two days into the mission,
an oxygen tank at the command

module failed,
forcing the crew--

Jim Lovell, Fred Haise,
and Jack Swigert--

to abandon their
planned lunar landing.

Uh, Houston, we've
had a problem.

Over the next three
days, the entire nation

held its breath as NASA mission
control worked tirelessly

in a race against time to bring
the three astronauts home.

The crew finally returned
safely to Earth thanks

to some DIY ingenuity that
would have made MacGyver proud.

The men of Apollo 13
epitomized the character

that accepts danger
and surmounts it.

Theirs is the spirit
that built America.

Flash forward to June 30, 1995,
when Director Ron Howard's

blockbuster film about
the unforgettable mission

was released in theaters.

Houston, we have a problem.

The appropriately
titled Apollo 13

went on to become the second
highest grossing movie of 1995

and was nominated
for nine Oscars.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We'll be right back.

Introducing the GI
Joe Space-a-Matic.

Space-a-Matic, the
futuristic space vehicle

you program yourself.

Program it to lift or to scoop
or use the magnetic pickup.

Watch this.

Way to go, Joe.

GI Joe Space-a-Matic
from Hasbro.

Moving into May, America
watched in horror

as 28 national guardsmen
fired into a crowd

of unarmed students at
Ohio's Kent State University,

killing four and
wounding nine others,

leaving one victim
permanently paralyzed.

Leave this area immediately.

The National Guard had been
deployed two days earlier

in response to escalating
student protests

against the Vietnam War.

The guardsmen, armed with
tear gas and bayoneted rifles,

first ordered the demonstrators
to disperse before firing

into the crowd without warning.

The event sparked widespread
outrage and demonstrations

on college campuses
across America.

Ultimately a federal
court dropped

all charges against the
National Guard troops

responsible for the shootings.

The Beatles' final
studio album, Let It Be,

was released on May
8th just a few weeks

after the news of their
unofficial official breakup

left millions of fans confused.

The album, released
alongside a documentary film

of the same name, was met
with an equally mild response,

earning the group some of
the most mediocre reviews

of their career.

Despite its lukewarm
initial reception,

Let It Be one the
fab four an Academy

Award for Best Original Song
score the following year--

On their behalf,
thank you very much.

And has since been reappraised
by fans and critics

alike as The Beatles'
most underrated album.

The band's tense rehearsal
sessions were captured on film

for the documentary and later
repurposed by none other than

Peter Jackson in an eight-hour
documentary series about

the creation of the album
titled The Beatles--

Get Back.

Leave it to Peter Jackson
to turn an 80-minute movie

into an epic.

Maybe one day he can do the
reverse to those Hobbit movies.

Staying with music, founding
Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter

Green walked away from the band
following a final performance

on May 20th to join a
German commune he discovered

a few months earlier.

Green had been invited
to a party at the commune

by model and actress
Uschi Obermaier.

Green decided he
didn't want to leave.

Bandmate Mick Fleetwood and
two Fleetwood Mac roadies

had to literally drag him
away to complete the rest

of their European tour.

John is to this day absolutely
furious with these people.

Called them the German jet
set and they captured Peter

completely.

Hey, it was the '70s.

You might wander off
and join a cult was just

an occupational
hazard for musicians.

In fact, Flash forward
to March of 1971

when guitarist Jeremy
Spencer went out

to get a magazine while
Fleetwood Mac was in California

to play a series of shows
at the Whisky a Go Go

and never returned.

Spencer left to join
the infamous Children

of God cult, now known as
The Family International.

He remains a member to this day.

That's one way to avoid
the drama of making Rumors.

Who do you think
you are talking to,

some kid that fixes bicycles?

I know every inch of the 707.

Take the wings off this and
you could use it as a tank.

This plane is built to withstand
anything except a bad pilot.

All right, hold it, hold it.

This kind of talk
will get us nowhere.

In late May, Detroit
Tigers outfielder Al Kaline

suffered one of sport's
most bizarre injuries

during a game against
the Milwaukee Brewers.

While running to
catch a fly ball,

Kaline collided with
teammate Jim Northrup

so violently that he actually
swallowed his tongue.

Kaline collapsed on the
field unable to breathe.

His teeth were
clenched so tightly

that Milwaukee's bullpen
Coach Jackie Moore was

unable to force his mouth open.

Luckily, left fielder and
renowned slugger Willie Horton

had the Hulk's strength
necessary to pry

Kaline's jaws open and clear
his airway, leaving Horton

with scars on his hand.

Kaline ultimately
only missed one game,

and Horton was presented with
a Michigan Heart Association

award for his actions.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We'll be right back.

(SINGING) Come on, come on,
come on and taste the Pepsi way.

La, la, la, la.

Come on, come on, come
on, and have a Pepsi day.

You found a place to celebrate.

Pepsi's cold.

The food is great.

Come on, come on,
and have a Pepsi day.

You're the Pepsi generation.

Have a Pepsi day.

Come on!

On June 20th, UCLA fired
assistant professor

of philosophy Angela
Davis for the second time.

This firing was for her use
of inflammatory language

in speeches about the handling
of the People's Park rally

the previous summer in
which she characterized

the police as pigs and
the university regents

as killers and murderers.

Three weeks ago, there were
pigs on the campus attacking

everybody they saw.

The People's Park rally
deviated from its topic

of the Arab-Israeli
conflict into a protest,

which turned into a park
takeover in which police fired

shotguns into crowds
of demonstrators,

ending the life of one
and injuring dozens more.

The college had previously
terminated Davis's employment

back in September
of 1969 because she

was a member of the
Communist party.

Davis was also an
activist and member

of the Black Panthers,
which will matter

when we fast forward
to October 13, 1970,

when Davis was arrested
after a two-month manhunt

for her connection to the
Marin County Civic Center

domestic terrorist
attack on August 7th.

Using three guns owned
by Davis, one of which

was a shotgun she had
purchased just two days before,

four men took five hostages from
a courtroom including Superior

Court Judge Harold Haley.

They demanded the release
of three Black inmates

who were on trial for the
stabbing of a white prison

guard.

Three of the kidnappers
and the judge were killed.

Davis spent 16 months in
prison awaiting her trial

but was eventually
acquitted of any crime.

She continues her
activism to this day.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Here we go with the top
40 hits in the nation

this week on American Top 40.

This is Casey
Kasem in Hollywood.

The syndicated radio
countdown show American Top 40

with Casey Kasem aired its first
episode on the 4th of July.

A show in which Kasem counted
down the top 40 Billboard

singles of the week became
a staple of American culture

for the next several decades.

All right, all you dream
analysts turn up the sound.

Here's Eric Burdon with
his new group called War,

and the song is called
"Spill the Wine."

Kasem's sonorous voice
is what we think of when

we hear the words top 40 DJ.

He walked so Carson Daly
and Ryan Seacrest could run.

Incidentally, Seacrest
is the current host

of American Top 40,
which he took over

from a retiring Kasem in 2004.

In addition to the
radio, you might

recognize Kasem as the original
voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo--

I'm so scared I wish I had a
ham sandwich to calm my nerves.

A character he played
for roughly 40 years.

A week later Norwegian
ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl

completed his trip across
the Atlantic sailing

from Morocco to Barbados
in a raft in 57 days.

The trip was an effort to
prove Heyerdahl's theory

that the ancient Egyptians and
other ancient Mediterranean

civilizations actually
sailed to America

and exchanged trade and culture
with the people in Central

and South America.

Heyerdahl's raft, the Ra II,
was constructed of papyrus

and modeled after Egyptian
sailing vessels of the period.

Despite successfully completing
the 4,000-mile journey,

his theory is still not accepted
by most anthropologists.

Well, several things
have been proven.

One of them is definitely that
a papyrus vessel is seaworthy.

You go on a 57-day raft
trip and you get nothing?

That's got to sting.

Moving into September, legendary
football coach Vince Lombardi

passed away at age 57.

Mr. Vincent Lombardi, coach
and executive vice president

of the Washington Redskins,
died at 7:12 AM today

at Georgetown
University hospital.

Lombardi led the
Green Bay Packers

to five NFL championships
including the first two

Super Bowls.

After his death, the
Super Bowl trophy

was renamed the Vince
Lombardi Trophy.

To this day, Lombardi is
regarded as the greatest coach

in the history of the NFL.

Most times, the streets are
named after the deceased.

I just want you to
know I'm not dead.

[CHUCKLING]

The music world was shocked
when Jimmy Hendrix, one

of rock's most towering
icons, died suddenly

on September 18th
at the age of 27.

During his short career, Hendrix
flailed his electric guitar

into some of the most unusual
sounds of an unusual music.

An astonishing
performer whose onstage

gyrations could make Elvis
Presley look like a PE teacher.

Sadly, Hendrix wouldn't be
the only 27-year-old talent

that would be lost in 1970.

Just a few weeks later,
rock legend Janis Joplin

passed on October
4th at the age of 27.

Joplin was in Los Angeles
recording her upcoming album

Pearl when she was found
unresponsive in her hotel room

after missing a
recording session.

The passing of both
Hendrix and Joplin

coupled with the deaths of
blues musician Alan "Blind Owl"

Wilson earlier that
September and Rolling Stones

guitarist Brian Jones
a few years earlier,

marked the unofficial beginning
of the infamous 27 Club.

In September, some now
iconic TV shows debuted.

So here I am in Minneapolis,
new life, new job, well,

not a new job yet.

First, I had to go on an
interview at a local TV

station.

The job that's open
is associate producer.

I like it.

Associate producer.

Mary's making new friends.

Make yourself at
home on Tuesday.

I painted this whole room
without bothering you.

It won't cost me a cent.

I'm going to sell the
old furniture to buy new.

You won't touch
anything in my room?

Have I ever?

You won't be sorry.

Hey, kids, Hollywood Boulevard.

If anyone had told
me four months ago

that I'd be driving an old
school bus filled with my five

children and a large
dog through Hollywood,

I'd have thought
they were crazy.

Ladies and gentlemen,
America's latest success story,

the Partridge Family.

[APPLAUSE]

The Doors frontman
Jim Morrison was

convicted of indecent
exposure and profanity

on September 20th.

The charges stemmed
from a 1969 concert

in Miami during which
Morrison allegedly

used some swear words and may or
may not have dropped his pants.

Morrison was sentenced
to six months in jail

and a $500 fine for the
scandalous incident.

To this day, Doors
bandmates maintain

Morrison's pants stayed on.

This is PBS, the Public
Broadcasting Service.

PBS began operations as a US
television network on the 5th.

The nonprofit
organization, dedicated

to high-quality
educational programming,

has been the broadcast home
of beloved children's shows

like Sesame Street, Mr.
Rogers' Neighborhood,

and The Magic School
Bus as well as

stuff here grownup shows like
Masterpiece Theater and Downton

Abbey, which have
way less puppets.

Garry Trudeau's satirical
political comic strip

Doonesbury made its debut in
newspapers on October 26th.

The scathingly
topical cartoon became

the first daily comic
strip to win a Pulitzer

Prize for the strip titled
"Stonewall" published on August

12, 1974, that took aim at
the then unfolding Watergate

scandal.

Although Doonesbury has
gone on several hiatuses,

Trudeau continues to publish
new strips half a century later,

continuing to prove that comic
strips don't have to be funny.

On November 4th, the
nation was stunned

by the discovery of Genie, a
13-year-old girl who had grown

up in almost total isolation.

Mr. Wylie, why did you keep
your daughter in a room.

Mr. Wylie has no comment.

The abuse was so
severe that Genie

had no concept of language.

When her mother finally
got her out of the house,

Genie's developmental age was
similar to that of an infant's.

Genie became a
ward of the state,

and although her case initially
received widespread attention,

she never made a
significant recovery

and her current
whereabouts are unknown.

Tragedy struck again
on November 14th

when a jet carrying the Marshall
University football team

crashed in Kenova,
West Virginia.

The team had been
returning from a loss

to East Carolina University
when the plane struck

some trees during its approach
to the tri-state airport

and crashed.

Everyone on board
perished including

37 players, the coach,
and 25 team boosters.

The devastating loss
nearly resulted in Marshall

suspending its football
program indefinitely.

Flash forward to
December 22, 2006,

when the film We Are
Marshall debuted.

The movie stars
Matthew McConaughey

and a pre-MCU Anthony Mackie.

Chicanery was up in
the air on December

5th when the Stanley Cup,
the Conn Smythe Trophy,

and the Bill Masterson Trophy
were all stolen during a break

in at the Hockey Hall
of Fame in Toronto.

Luckily, the Stanley
Cup was only a replica,

but the other two
trophies were very real.

The trophies were
unceremoniously

returned just a few weeks later
when the thieves left them

in the driveway of a
Toronto police officer

after discovering that
as far as ransom goes,

the trophies were
basically worthless.

One of the oddest meetings
in White House history

occurred on December
21st when Elvis Presley

paid President Richard Nixon
a visit in the Oval Office.

The king of rock and
roll dropped in on Nixon

to offer his services as
an anti-drug spokesman,

showing up at the White
House Gates unannounced.

The Secret Service didn't
bother to search the king.

If they had they would have
discovered the antique Colt 45

pistol Presley carried inside,
which he presented to Nixon

as a gift.

It's good to be king
just for a while.

The famous photograph of
their strange conversation

is the single most
requested image

from the National Archives.

And that's how 1970 ended,
with a historic meeting

of two rulers, neither of
whom would reign much longer.

1971 was right
around the corner,

bringing the demise of
several more musical icons

and the conviction of one
of the 20th century's most

notorious criminals.

And Dirty Harry would begin
patrolling cinema streets.

Jeez, the '70s
need to lighten up.

But that is for next year.

Coming soon, 1971.

So what do you think?

What was your fondest
memory of 1970?

Let us in the comments below.

And while you're
at it, check out

some of these other
Timeline videos.