1969 Moon Landing

No event in history compares with the live TV coverage of America's first sensational moon landing. It's viewed by an astonishing 85% of all American households, and an equally impressive 20% of all humans living on the planet.

This record that will likely stand forever. It commemorates a feat which was repeated five times in the next three years, but never again. By anyone. Some nations have landed probes on the moon, but not humans.

The event marks what may be the high point of America's standing in the world. Later events, like the retreat from Vietnam, the disgrace and resignation of a president, and recent mass shootings, have tarnished that brand.

Moon landings, 1969-72

  Postcard from Space
If you had told Franklin Roosevelt that Americans would soon be walking on the moon, he would surely have thought you were joking. The mainframe computer suddenly makes it a reality.

World Trade Towers and NY crisis, 1970s

  End of an Era?
The World Trade Center is New York's last great skyscraper, but it struggles with vacancy. The city barely avoids default and bankruptcy in 1975, after President Ford declines to provide a federal bailout (lower left). Still, the swank restaurant on the top of the Trade Towers provides a splendid view. In Detroit, the Renaissance Center is another bold attempt to revitalize a great American city. In later years, it too suffers from vacancy.


Urban decline, 1970s map

  Spreading Contagion
The problems in New York and Detroit are symptomatic of a more general decline of cities all across the Northeast. Most are bleeding residents to surrounding suburbs, where crime is low, and graffiti doesn't bloom overnight on every vertical surface. in the map above, the ORANGE shows the extent of urban sprawl, while the RED indicates decay in urban centers. With manufacturing in decline, cities built during the earlier manufacturing boom are saddled with structures and housing units no longer needed.