8 The 1970s Energy Crunch In the 1970s Americans had to face the fact that their habit of guzzling gas and oil without thought to conservation would have to come to an end An energy crunch led one government official to say Popeye is running out of spinach At the beginning of the decade the United States consumed 30 percent of the world’s available energy One third of that was imported from foreign mostly Arab countries These countries had joined together in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC In October 1973 OPEC imposed an embargo It stopped all shipments of oil to the United States in retaliation for U S arms shipments to Israel during the October Yom Kippur War Overnight long lines formed at gas stations When motorists finally reached the pumps they found that prices had risen dramatically jumping from thirty-five cents to one dollar a gallon in some places In efforts to conserve many gas stations closed on Sundays and the speed limit on the nation’s highways was reduced from 70 miles 112 65 km to 55 miles 80 47 km per hour a measure that proved to save lives as well as gas Carpooling use of mass transportation bicycle riding and walking were encouraged In March 1974 OPEC lifted the embargo and foreign oil began to enter the United States again though prices remained relatively high Gasoline supplies were replenished Furthermore Americans knew that a huge pipeline was being built across the frozen wilderness of Alaska It would soon deliver billions of gallons of oil from the Arctic to the lower 48 states The oil embargo had long-term effects that would plague the nation throughout the 1970s The U.S. automobile industry suffered as Americans switched to smaller more fuel-efficient foreign cars One company Chrysler Corporation was hit so hard that it took 1 5 billion dollars in loan guarantees from the U.S. government to keep the company from collapsing and taking untold numbers of workers down with it The downturn in the U.S. automobile industry triggered economic problems in related industries
The 1970s 9 such as steel glass and rubber The cities where these industries were located were hard-hit as well as many employees were laid off High prices and unemployment were widespread and would cause problems for Presidents Nixon Ford and Carter In December 1978 and June 1979 OPEC again handed the United States huge increases in oil prices This brought a return of the gas-crisis scenes of 1973 This time however Americans and their industries were somewhat better equipped to weather the storm In the mid-1970s a civil war destroyed much of Beirut the once-beautiful capital of Lebanon A civil war in Nicaragua led to the overthrow of a military dictator there And in late 1979 the Soviet Union invaded the nation of Afghanistan leading the United States to boycott or refuse to attend the 1980 Summer Olympic Games held in the Soviet Union Mediterranean Sea Juniyah Beirut LEBANON Zahlah Saida SYRIA Tyre Beirut is not only the capital city of Lebanon but is also the country's largest and most important seaport But as the 1970s closed one country in particular plagued the United States That country was Iran The Ayatollah Khomeni returned from exile on February 1 1979 to become the leader of his country There an Islamic revolution led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had overthrown the shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi a longtime leader who had been friendly with the United States On November 4 1979 the U.S. Embassy in Iran’s capital city Tehran was attacked and 66 American workers in the embassy were taken hostage It was not until January 20 1981 just moments after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president that the hostages were freed The 1970s were difficult years indeed Words to Know embargo em-BAR-goh The suspension of trade or shipment of a particular product
10 Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Nixon It is not unusual for the outgoing president to leave the White House grounds by helicopter after the swearing in of a new president On this occasion as Richard Nixon entered the helicopter his successor Gerald Ford stood on the lawn waving good bye Ford then went inside the White House to be inaugurated And Richard Nixon left the White House as the first president in U.S. history to resign Born January 9 1913 Yorba Linda CA California Yorba Linda Term The Early Years Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9 1913 to Francis Frank Anthony and Hannah Nixon in their home that they had built in Yorba Linda California He was their second son followed by three more boys in later years The boys' parents were Quakers and they grew up in a home where prayer and hard work were constants January 20 1969 August 9 1974 Party Republican First Lady Thelma Catherine Ryan Nixon Vice Presidents Spiro T Agnew and Gerald Ford Died April 22 1994 New York NY Vice President Spiro T Agnew
