Mirabilis Member Years

There shall be initially 410 Mirabilis Members. Mirabilis is latin for miracle. The Mirabilis Members will each be unique in that they will adopt a year in the great American story.

1970

Ohio National Guardsmen killed four students and wounded nine, protesting the War at Kent State University, which caused national outrage and increased protests around the nation.

United States ground forces entered Cambodia.

The first female army generals in American history received commissions.

President Nixon announced the first major troop withdrawals from Vietnam, touting the successes if his “Vietnamization” policy.

1971

President Nixon takes the United States off the Gold Standard,

The Libertarian party was founded as a free-market alternative to the two major political parties.

1972

The “equal rights” amendment was sent by Congress to the states for ratification. It failed to receive the states’ approval every time it was brought back for ratification.

Republican Richard Nixon reelected President of the United States in a landslide, but only 55% of the electorate actually voted, the lowest turnout since 1948.

Troop levels down to 27,000 in Vietnam after peaking at about 550,000 in 1969.

1973

President Nixon visited China, thus opening a diplomatic door that had been shut since the communist revolution there in 1949.

The “Watergate scandal” brought together all the enemies of the President to bring about the end of the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned and Michigan Senator Gerald Ford confirmed as his replacement.

1974

Due to the Watergate Scandal, President Nixon became the first President of the United States to resign from office. He was replaced by Vice-President Gerald Ford.

1975

President Ford survived two assassination attempts.

Microsoft became a registered trademark by entrepreneur and inventor Bill Gates.

1976

The Supreme Court ruled in Gregg vs. Georgia that the death penalty “is not inherently cruel or unusual”, overturning a ban that had been in place for ten years.

Georgia Democrat Jimmie Carter elected 39th President of the United States.

1977

Apple Computer incorporated.

The United States transferred ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama, thus potentially changing the dynamics of security in the region.

1978

Garfield makes his debut, eventually becoming the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world

 

President Carter signs a bill making it legal to brew beer at home. Samuel Adams would be proud!

1979

President Carter established the Department of Education, previously a state prerogative according to the Constitution.

The United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, encouraged by the new cleric-dictator Imam Khomeini, overrun by radical Iranians, taking ninety hostages, most of them Americans.

The United States government bailed out from bankruptcy, the auto-maker Chrysler.