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United States Cultural History
1970-1979

Facts About This Decade

• 203,302,031 people in the United States in 1970
  

• In 1970 9.7% of the population was foreign born.
  

• In 1975 the approximate percentage of persons 25 and older with a high school degree or higher was 59%.
  

• Harvard College Tuition 1975 $10,000.
  

• In 1970 there were 27.6 million veterans in civilian life.
  

• Between 1970-1979 there were less than 50 executions under civil authority.
  

• In 1970 there were 98 state and federal prisoners per every 100,000 people.
  

• Approximately 38,000 new books were published in 1975.
  

• Teenage slang from the seventies

  • The television show Star Trek spawned the expression, "Beam me up, Scotty," used when you wanted to get out of an awkward situation; the response was "There's no intelligent life down here."

  • A stupid or inept person was an airhead, dip, nerd, dingleberry, or dork.

  • A weak person was a wimp.

  • You might greet someone with "What it is?" or "Yo" or "What's going down?"

  • A pretty girl was a fox.

References

Caplow, Theodore, Louis Hicks and Ben J. Wattenberg.  The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900-2000.  Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 2001.

Rollin, Lucy.  Twentieth-Century Teen Culture by the Decades: A Reference Guide.  Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999.

World Almanac and Book of Facts 2002. New York: World Almanac Books, 2002.