Monday, December 16, 1974. Safe Drinking Water.

The Republic of Mali invaded the Republic of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) in a border conflict over water rights.

The United States Senate unanimously (93 to 0) ratified the Geneva Protocol, the "Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare", almost 50 years after it had first been signed signed in Switzerland on June 17, 1925, and became effective on February 28, 1928.

Hmmm. . . . 

The Safe Drinking Water Act was signed into law.

Probably wouldn't happen today.

ANZUK, a military unit created in 1971 by agreement of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, was disbanded after slightly more than two years of having been in existence.

No surprise, given the Vietnam War and the "winds of change".

The Towering Inferno premiered.  I recall seeing it in the theaters with a friend on a Saturday afternoon, even though I was 11 years old.  It was awful.

Frankly, they shouldn't have let us in the movie at all.  I'm sure we walked down and watched it, but it features a totally stupid 1970s example of full frontal that serves no purpose other than to be a toss out to the Playboy ethos of the era, which no 11 year old, or 21 year old, or 61 year old, should have to put up with.

It also, fwiw, runs down the National Guard, in the 1970s post Vietnam War style.

And the plot is moronic.  One of the 1970s scare movies.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 17, 1974. Greek democracy restored.

Labels: 1960s, 1964, 1967, 1970s, 1974, Democracy, Greece

Wednesday, November 7, 1973. Congress overrides Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act.

 Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act.

The resolution was a direct byproduct of the Vietnam War, with Congress feeling that it had basically been led into war without a proper chance to vote on troop deployments to the conflict, although it had voted on the murky Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.  The still relatively fresh Korean War was also in mind.

The Constitutionality of the act, which as been questioned, has never been tested by the Supreme Court.  So far, however, Congress and the President have generally complied with it, not wanting to test it, even though early on President's would note that they felt it to be unconstitutional.  This is discussed further with a link here:

November 7, 1973 – Congress Passes the War Powers Act

Nixon addressed the nation on "The Energy Emergency".

It's fair  to ask in a way if the "Energy Crisis" presented a lost opportunity.

Even in 1973, contrary to the way some would like to assert it, there were concerns in the scientific community about climate change.  When the Energy Crisis arose due to the Arab Oil Embargo there was a serious effort to look at alternative energy sources, although nothing like there is today, and it was coupled with a massive effort to increase the production of domestic fossil fuels.  Solar energy was looked at seriously for the first time.  A lot of thought was put into home solar.  Energy saving regulations, in regard to appliances, and fuel efficiency standards were put into place as well.

Had the government gone further, and moved towards home solar in a large-scale way, and undertook efforts then to look towards conversion to non emitting energy sources, we may well have avoided what we're looking at today.

The Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District in Alaska was designated.

About the location, the National Park Service notes:

Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District - Designated November 7, 1973

Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District contains the cultural remains of peoples who have inhabited these beaches for 5,000 or more years. Adjacent to the ridges on unglaciated uplands in the Igichuk Hills are surface deposits that extend the record backward to the time of the end of the Pleistocene. The beach ridges of Cape Krusenstern provide a broad, horizontal stratigraphy which includes virtually all phases of cultural history known in northwest Alaska.