1972 Presidential Election

The 1972 Presidential election was held on November 7, 1972 between democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, and Republican President Richard Nixon. Nixon was already in office and was running for his second term at the time. Nixon beat McGovern by a landslide even though Nixon was at that time taking heat over the firing of Vice Presidential nominee Thomas Eagleton a medicare scandal going on around that time. Nixon centered his campaign on the economy and emphasized his success in international affairs, after successfully beginning negotiations with China, and their ruler Mao Zedong. Nixon also played a major role in the completion of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union, which banned the development of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles. McGovern's campaign put emphasis on an immediate ending of the ongoing Vietnam War, which America was involved with for the past 12 years until the time of the election. Nixon won 60.7% of the popular vote and the margin of votes between him and McGovern was the fourth biggest blowout in presidential election history. However, five men were caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. This led to a series of investigations and cover ups for the next two years, which was soon to be known as the Watergate Scandal.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=17&hid=119&sid=6fb289b3-32bb-493b-b99e-df859930ab95%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ofm&AN=504241438

The A.I.R. Gallery

On September 16th, 1972, the first all-artist, non-profit art gallery strictly for female artists was opened in the SoHo (South of Houston St.) section of New York City. The gallery was opened by Barbara Zucker and Susan Williams in hopes to push feminism into the spotlight of the New York arts scene, which was dominated by males. This gallery came to be called the A.I.R. Gallery, A.I.R. standing for, "Artists in Residence", referencing the Artist in Residence certification artists needed to live in commercial spaces in SoHo. Each artist who's work is presented in the A.I.R. gallery has to pay membership fees, which in turn gives them partial ownership of the gallery and the freedom to express their art in exhibits however they want to. This freedom isn't given at other exhibits, because usually, the artist is subjected to the owner's view on how his/her work is exhibited.

                                                                 

"Drive By"

Susan Bee

2009

http://www.airgallery.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.page&pagename=History&pageid=147

Pong: The First Video Game

On November 29, 1972, the electronic company Atari Inc. released the first ever video game, called "Pong", a two-dimensional sports game that simulated table tennis, or Ping-Pong. In this game, the player controls an in-game paddle by moving it vertically across the left side of the screen, and can compete against either a computer controlled opponent or another player on the right side of the screen. You win by accumulating the most points at the end of the game by making the other paddle miss the square dot moving on the screen. The creator of the game, Allan Acorn, originally created this game as a training exercise for the employees of Atari. The release of this game is said to be the start of the video game industry, due to how lucrative the game was to consumers and without this huge innovation, we may not have the video games we have in today's day in age. And, according to my dad, this was the coolest thing of all time, in his day. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong

Wayne Collett and Vince Matthews

One of a few controversial moments of the '72 games was Wayne Collett and Vince Matthews' awards ceremony where acted casual, joking around on the podium and not seemingly caring that they won gold and silver medals for their country in the 400 meter race. When the "Star Spangled Banner" was played, they did not face their flag. In an interview with ABC, Collett said the anthem meant nothing to him. He also stated that he felt unable to honor the anthem because of the struggles Black Americans were facing in America at the time. They were later banned from Olympic competition in the future.

"I couldn't stand there and sing the words because I don't believe they're true. I wish they were. I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don't think we do." -Wayne Collett


http://speedendurance.com/2011/02/01/vince-matthews-and-wayne-collette-1972-the-forgotten-protest/

Mark Spitz

American Swimmer Mark Spitz won seven gold medals at the '72 Munich games held in Munich, West Germany, the second Summer Olympic festival held in Germany, the first being the '36 games in Berin. This feat of Spitz was a then world record for most gold medals in a single Olympic game. Michael Phelps then broke this record after receiving eight golds in the Beijing games. He left before the closing ceremonies in fear of being a target of Palestinian terrorism, since he was in fact, jewish. He also won these medals with long hair and a really cool mustache, which is awesome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Spitz

The Munich Massacre

On September 5, 1972 in the second week of competition during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, 8 members of a Palestinian radical military group called "Black September" stormed into an apartment where the Israeli National Team were housed. The assailants killed 2 people in the house, and took 9 others hostage, while others were fortunate enough to escape by either hiding or jumping out windows. Then after negotiations with authorities to free 235 Palestinians, 2 Germans who were founders of the Red Army Faction, and a safe passageway to Egypt, they moved the hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck Airport en route to a Boing 727 to take them and the hostages to Egypt. The German authorities then tried to ambush them with snipers, but failed. As a result, a firefight ensued, which killed 4 hostages, followed by a explosion via grenade of the helicopter the remaining hostages were in, killing them instantly. Five of the eight gunmen were killed in the chaos, while the other 3 were taken into custody. This put a damper on the games, but after an impromptu memorial service, the games continued, with added security around the events. The massacre led to Operation Wrath of God, a covert operation of the Israelis aimed to take out all the major members of Black September, with the first assassination happening on October 16th, 1972, of Wazel Zwaiter. Israel received much criticism for this operation, along with Operation Spring of Youth in 1973 due to the accusations that the people targeted were not even a part of the planning of the massacre. It is believed that Operation Wrath of God went on for as many as 20 years.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=21&hid=14&sid=6fb289b3-32bb-493b-b99e-df859930ab95%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ofm&AN=504123899