I Gotta Go Home

I was starting to worry that the United States was changing at the speed of light while I was living in Europe in 1973 and 1974. Here are a few of the things that I read ... from the pages of European newspapers:

- The Watergate Scandal ... you remember that? Nixon's criminal bunch CREEP (Committee to Re-elect the President) caught breaking into the Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel? Conspirators Mc Cord, Liddy, Haldeman, et al ... sounded like a disfunctional law firm.

- Nixon resigns. BIG surprise.

- Roe v Wade ... Supreme Court overturns the state bans on abortion. To this day ... it's one of the most controvertial split issues ever.

- Streaking ... naked guy running across the screen at the Academy Awards during David Niven's presentation. Following that ... streakers showed up everywhere there were cameras.

- Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner since 1948. He's a horse by the way for those of you that thought that it was an illegal election following a coup in South America.

- American Graffitti was filmed. That was the last time Ron Howard had hair.

- Ted Bundy started his murderous rampage.

- SLA kidnaps Patty Hearst, wealthy granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. Patty ultimately joined the SLA, robbed banks, got captured, married her bodyguard and had bit parts in low budget movies like (I'm serious) Cry-Baby.

- Henry "Hank" Aaron broke Babe Ruth's HR Record at 715. Some white guy came out of the stands to circle the bases with him which made everyone nervous including Hank Aaron ... thinking he was going to try to hurt him.

- Yom Kippur Wars .... OPEC Oil Embargo following the Yom Kippur Wars ...Stock Market Crash following the OPEC embargo. And you thought it was only bad today!

... but of course the most newsworthy of all in 1974 .... was Sacheen Littlerfeather who stood in for Marlon Brando at the Academy Awards to accept his award for The Godfather while talking about how bad it was for the Indians to trade beads for Manhattan (or something like that).

I knew then .... it was time to get back to the STATES before my home was gone for good.