Time Magazine Reports: The 1970s Quiz

Answer: Bangladesh

Underestimates were the order of the day. 'Time' titled the story 'Worst of the Century' and reported casualty estimates from 20,000 to 60,000. Later reports began to describe the true extent of the tragedy. "At one village, when a newsman asked why hundreds of bodies had been left unburied, a man cried: "We have buried 5,000 in mass graves. Our hands are aching. We can't dig any more.""
Urdu speaking government officials from West Pakistan (who thought the Bengali East Pakistanis practiced an 'impure' version of Islam) at first drug their feet and then provided totally inadequate aid to their stricken countrymen. The feeble response by the government in Islamabad led directly to the 1971 Liberation War which resulted in Pakistan's defeat and the creation of the independent state of Bangladesh.

Also in 1970: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect, Paul McCartney announces the Beatles have disbanded, cost of AMC Gremlin auto $1879.

Answer: Till Death Us Do Part

'Time' carried on its tradition of panning TV shows and movies which proved popular with audiences, explaining that "Family is based on the BBC's classic satirical series on lower-middle-class racism, Till Death Do Us Part [sic]. The copy, however, has none of the original's vulgar gusto, savagery or plausibility. By way of a breakthrough for CBS, there is an on-air burp. A black is called a spook, a Jew is called a Yid. Nuns and preachers, pinkos and John Wayne get equal slurring time. The show proves that bigotry can be as boring and predictable as the upthink fluff of The Brady Bunch."
During its eight year run, 'Family' won over 20 Emmy Awards and was nominated for many more. It was the number one ranked program for five consecutive years - a record at the time.

Also in 1971: UK inflation 8.6%, US rate 4.3%, 26th Amendment lowers voting age in US to 18, women granted right to vote in Switzerland.

Answer: R. Sargent Shriver

Schriver replaced Eagleton who had neglected to inform McGovern of his history of electroshock treatment for depression. 'Time' said Schriver was playing tennis when McGovern called, "engaged with his wife Eunice in a spirited, Kennedyesque Saturday-morning doubles match at their home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod. A houseboy brought news that Senator George McGovern was on the phone. Without pausing, Shriver served, played out the point, finally stroking a shot weakly into the net. Only then did he casually walk off the court to take the call."

Also in 1972: comedian George Carlin arrested for obscenity in Milwaukee after performing 'Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television', Oakland A's defeat Cincinnati in World Series, UK unemployment exceeds 1 million for first time since WWII.

Answer: Marlon Brando

"Afraid that Littlefeather would make a militant speech if she were called on to receive an award for Brando, academy officials held a panicked powwow. "We even considered arresting her," admitted Howard Koch, the show's producer. (The tickets were supposedly nontransferable.) With stars taking their seats all around, Koch decided to talk to her instead; she promised not to read a yawning five-page speech on the plight of the Indians that Brando had prepared for her.
After all that quiet, nontelevised diplomacy-the most interesting part of the evening-it was inevitable that Brando would win as best actor. It was also inevitable that Littlefeather would give his reason for refusing the award: "The treatment of American Indians in the motion picture industry, on TV reruns, and what's happening at Wounded Knee today." Some in the audience booed, some applauded, but it was left up to Raquel Welch to sum up the prevailing mood of silliness. "I hope," she huffed as she read off the list of nominees for best actress, "that the winner doesn't have a cause."

Also in 1973: cost of Mortons TV Dinner $.36, Nobel Peace Prize shared by Henry Kissinger of the US and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns as Vice President and pleads no contest to income tax evasion.

Answer: OPEC

"Within a day of the official announcement, President Nixon proclaimed the end of gasless Sundays in the U.S. General Motors canceled layoffs of 27,000 workers that had been scheduled to begin this week, in the hope that greater availability of gasoline would halt the deep slump in car sales."
During the course of the embargo the price of oil quadrupled and US gas prices jumped from 38 cents to 55 cents per gallon by June of 1974. In February 1974 up to a third of the nation's gas stations had no fuel for some part of the month. Perhaps the most remembered effect of the oil embargo was the imposition of a national 55 mile per hour speed limit.

Also in 1974: Host West Germany defeats Holland to capture World Cup, global population reaches 4 billion, George Foreman and Muhammad Ali fight for heavyweight title in Zaire.

Answer: The Rocky Horror Show

Three previews and 45 performances was the extent of Broadway's interest in a play that has become a cult favorite. 'Time' didn't drum up much enthusiasm, "They are selling decadence short in this musical, but they are very bullish on silliness. The Rocky Horror Show is a mindless spoof of old horror movies performed to the accompaniment of a rock score in the style of the '50s."

Also in 1975: IRA bombs London Hilton Hotel In Park Lane, cost of US first class postage increases to $.13, Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe win Wimbledon singles championships.

Answer: The Cod War

'THE HIGH SEAS: Now, the Cod Peace' in the June 14, 1976 issue described the final acts in a conflict dating to 1958. Iceland feared that foreign commercial fishing fleets were depleting stocks of Cod upon which Iceland's export economy depended.
The argument even threatened to disrupt NATO's capabilities in the Cold War, "London apparently agreed to such harsh terms mainly because it was under pressure from the U.S. and Norway, which feared that Iceland would make good on its threat to quit NATO if the 200-mile zone was not respected. That could have denied the alliance the key Keflavik base from which Soviet surface and submarine naval activity has been monitored. London now hopes that when the new treaty expires in six months, the Common Market, as a bloc, will negotiate new terms with Iceland that will enable Britain to increase its harvest of Icelandic cod."

Also in 1976: Grammy Song of the Year 'Send In the Clowns,' UK inflation rate 16.5%, 'Concorde' begins first scheduled supersonic air service.

Answer: Anita Bryant

Bryant's "Save Our Children" crusade "argued that the statute condoned homosexuality, which she claimed was against God's law. The mother of four children, Bryant scored most heavily when she claimed that the ordinance would force principals to hire homosexual teachers who could lead their pupils astray.
In conservative, middle-class neighborhoods, in fundamentalist communities and in the family-oriented Cuban sections, Bryant and her legions pressed their fight in more graphic terms. She told a gathering of Cubans, "It would break my heart if Miami would become another Sodom and Gomorrah and you would have to leave again." Full-page newspaper ads bought by the association suggested that an epidemic of child pornography might result if the voters approved the ordinance."

Also in 1977: A. J. Foyt becomes first 4 time winner of Indianapolis 500 auto race, lightning strike causes New York City Blackout lasting 25 hours, Nobel Peace Prize won by Amnesty International.

Answer: Pius XII

Paul VI died August 6 after 15 years as Pope. His successor, John Paul I served only 33 days before succumbing to an apparent heart attack. 'Time' noted that the Cardinals had apparently chosen the third Pope of the year with longevity in mind, "in the wake of his frail predecessor, the youngest Pope chosen since 1846. The last under-60 Pope, Pius IX, reigned for 32 years. At age 58, Wojtyla is robust and muscular (he was described in the national daily The Australian as "a man built like a rugby front-row forward"), and it thus seemed possible that he could lead his faith into the 21st century."

Also in 1978: Egypt and Israel sign Camp David Peace Treaty, Volkswagen Beetle ceases production after nearly 30 years and 20 million cars, US national debt $776.6 billion.

Answer: Lord Mountbatten

Vacationing in northwest Ireland, Mountbatten set out on his boat accompanied by several family members. He stopped to inspect his lobster pots when, " an enormous explosion shattered the summer stillness of the harbor. The blast blew the boat "to smithereens," in the words of one eyewitness, and hurled all seven occupants into the water. Nearby fishermen raced to the rescue. Still breathing, Lord Mountbatten was pulled into one of the boats. He died, his legs nearly blown off, almost immediately. Two Belfast doctors on holiday hastily set up a makeshift aid station on the wharf, using old doors for stretchers, broken broomsticks for splints and ripped-up sheets to bind up wounds until ambulances arrived to rush the victims to Sligo General Hospital.
"A few hours after the explosion came the dreaded confirmation of what many already suspected. "The I.R.A. claim responsibility for the execution of Lord Louis Mountbatten," said a statement issued by the Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army in Belfast."

Also in 1979: year end Federal Reserve interest rate 15.25%, USSR invades Afghanistan, Sugar Hill Gang releases first commercial rap hit, 'Rapper's Delight.'