The Nondecade: An Analysis of the 1970s

Introduction

The 1970s was a time of change in the United States, or so I thought. The 1970s are actually known as the "nondecade" (Baughman). It is not a matter of the 1970s being an unimportant part of U.S. history, but rather nothing of extreme importance occuring in the 1970s, especially compared to the surrounding decades. In the early 70s hippies carried over from the 60s were still around. My mother, Ellen Marie Irvin, recalls seeing these hippies protesting against the Vietnam War in front of Harvard University (Irvin). From pictures of my mother growing up in the 70s I always believed that she had been a hippie herself, but she was far from that. However, these hippies protesting against the Vietnam War held the same view that my mother did about the war, they both did not support it.

Hippies protesting the war. Source: "World."

Why protest?

The Vietnam War was unpopular with the new movements occurring in the United States at the time. When the first major demonstration against the war took place on May 2, 1964, many young people argued that there should only be peace and happiness, not war (Barringer). When the war was still going on in the early 1970s my mother was only a young teenager, but she did have her own opinion about the war. Upon talking about her view on the war she had said, "In the early 70s, I was against the Vietnam War. The way it was reported on the news and with all the protests going on all around the country most young people couldn't understand it. The public didn't have much appreciation for the soldiers or what they were doing. There were no big sendoffs or welcome back home events for the soldiers. The soldiers were even viewed as the enemy even though many of them were drafted," (Irvin). From August 1965 to May 1971 the percentage of people who agreed with the war decreased from 52% to 28% (Barringer).

Ellen Irvin, circa 1974. Source: Irvin, Ellen.

What to do for fun in a time of war?

Even though a war was being fought in the early years of the 1970s, there were still numerous fun things to do in the United States. My mother was only thirteen at the beginning of the 1970s so it was important for her to get out of the house and enjoy her youth. At the time she lived in Somerville, Massachusetts with her mother, step-father, brother, two sisters, and one dog and four cats (Irvin). She was lucky enough to travel to Nova Scotia, Canada with her grandparents when she graduated from grammar school in 1970, which brought about her love for traveling. During these years she also, "enjoyed hanging out with my friends, playing cards and games with my family, and reading" (Irvin). Stephen King was and still his her favorite author to this day, I think that she owns just about every book that he ever wrote. Activities that were done for fun in the 1970s are quite different from today, such as surfing the internet. She did however get to see her favorite singer Cat Stevens live in concert in 1973 at the Wilbur Theater in Boston, which is something that people still do for fun today. Unlike today, in the 1970s the drinking age was eighteen as opposed to twenty-one, so in the later 1970s my mother enjoyed going to bars with her girlfriends. My mother would even meet her future husband at a bar she attended one evening.

Changing View of the War

My mother's view on the war changed when she met my father. It was 1975 when my mother first met my father at the Blarney Stone in Somerville, Massachusetts, she was only eighteen years old (Irvin). It just so happened that my father was a Vietnam War Veteran and when he told his story about the war to my mother her whole view changed. My mother had said, "When I met my husband in 1975, I learned that he was a Vietnam Veteran. I listened to his personal war story and came to appreciate what he had done for this country. Unfortunately, it took years for these men and women to be thanked" (Irvin). My mother did not suddenly support that there had been a war, but the soldiers who had been looked at as the enemy, she now realized that they were only doing their duty in serving their country. They were far from enemies, they were heros. Vietnam Veterans have been thanked in some way, one of which is The Three Servicemen statue (Three).

The Three Servicemen Statue. Source: "Three."

Life After the War

When the Vietnam War was over and my mother and father had met, times were good. They both enjoyed going out to the bars with a group of friends. Not everyone had a car, so if there were extra people coming than could fit into the car, they would just stuff everyone in. This was a method referred to as "car stuffing" (The 1970s). My mother recalls her experience of car stuffing as, "If a bunch of friends were going somewhere in a small car, we would just have the lighter kids sit on the heavier kids lap. A car that might hold six would carry ten of us with no seat belts required" (Irvin).

Extreme Car Stuffing. Source: "The 1970s."

In the later 1970s my mother and father got married. When I asked my mother what her most memorable moment from the 1970s was she said, "This is easy! Of course it was September 30, 1978 when I married my honey Dennis Robert Irvin. He's my best friend who I'm madly in love with and will be forever" (Irvin). My mother married at the age of twenty-one which is fairly young compared to the older ages of people marrying these days. Marrying at a young age worked for her though, and she is still happily married today. Once my parents wed they moved to Malden, Massachusetts where they now reside. One of their favorite activities was playing the Atari game system. My mother said, "I remember when I got the Atari game system in the 1970s. It was so much fun to play! My favorite game was Space Invaders. When I was married in 1978, our friends and family would come over to play it with us. Great times!" (Irvin).

My parents on their wedding day, circa 1978. Source: Irvin, Ellen.

My mother is currently fifty-four years old. She has two sons and two daughters and one beautiful grandchild. While nothing wild happened in the 1970s, she still managed to have the time of her life.

Works Cited

Barringer, Mark. The Anti-War Movement in the United States. Oxford UP, 1999. Web. 16 May 2011.

“Introduction.” American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 8: 1970-1979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale U.S. History In Context. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

Irvin, Ellen. Personal Interview. 28 Apr. 2011.

Sayre, James K. Late 1960s and early 1970s anti-Vietnam war protests, social and political background notes and a short discussion of some of the best rock 'n roll music of the times. Bottlebrush Press, 2008. Web. 10 May 2011.

"The 1970s." A Very Long Time Ago. Hualapai West Inc. , 2011. Web. 16 May 2011.

"Three Servicemen Statue." Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, 2011. Web. 16 May 2011.