SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — In 1970 you could buy a brand new car for around $3,500 and gas was 36-cents a gallon. It was also a busy decade here in our KELOLAND Newsroom.
The 1970s began with one of the biggest political announcements in South Dakota history. Senator George McGovern was running for president.
McGovern went on to win the Democratic nomination, but on election day voters reelected President Richard Nixon in a landslide.
The ’70s were also a time of civil unrest. College students across South Dakota protested the war in Vietnam and the shootings at Kent State.
Reporter: By the time the march reached Minnesota Avenue, it was a block and a half long and boasted 250 people.The 1970s: The stories that shaped KELOLAND
In February of 1973, members of the Oglala Lakota Tribe took over the town Wounded Knee, in hopes of impeaching a tribal chairman. Federal authorities got involved, and tensions rose.
The occupation lasted 71 days. It resulted in injuries, deaths and hundreds of arrests.
A year later, violence erupted at the Minnehaha County Courthouse. Protesters demanded justice as Native American defendants stood trial on charges from an earlier riot in Custer.
June 9th, 1972 is a day no one who lived in Rapid City will ever forget.
A thunderstorm stalled over the Black Hills, overwhelming rivers and streams. The water left a deadly path of destruction.
238 people died in the flood. The cleanup lasted for months. Rebuilding took years.
