Wednesday, October 18, 1972. Congress overrides Nixon to enact The Clean Water Act, The Soviet Union agrees to pay on Lend Lease, ZZ Top in Kentucky.
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Congress overwhelmingly overrode Richard Nixon's veto to pass the Clean Water Act. The Senate voted 52–12 for an override, and the House 247–23.
It was clearly a different era. It's almost impossible to imagine the GOP supporting the act today, and the television "news" would be full of vindictive comments.
The public had been mobilized by Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring, back in the day when it still could sit and read a book, and the 70s saw a host of environmental legislation pass. As the ABA has noted:
The 1970s was a seminal decade for environmental protection. Its first year saw three major accomplishments: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Air Act, and the creation of the EPA. NEPA alone was groundbreaking
All of which is an understatement. And that text omitted the Endangered Species Act.
The counter reaction set in soon, and already by the mid 1970s there were those who urged the repeal of nearly everything that had been passed, although it never occurred. What has occurred, however, is that an increasingly polarized public, fed slop by such things as "news" outlets that cater only to a person's preformed views, and loud voices on Twitter and Facebook, have made listening to unpleasant scientific news a political act that can be disregarded if it conflicts with a person's preformed views. This reflects a wider crisis in the culture on political issues, that are similarly fed, which is rapidly making the United States nearly ungovernable
On the same day, the USSR agreed to pay the United States $722,000,000 over 30 years for repayment for Lend Lease. The Soviets reneged the following year, but started again, with a reduced amount, under Gorbachev. They paid until 2006, with payments of the renewed obligation having been scheduled to run through 2030. In 06, however, the Russians paid in full and retired the debt. About that same time, the United Kingdom did as well.
ZZ Top preformed at Brannen's Tobacco Warehouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
