For many in 1974, world events were spiraling out of control and the government increasingly failing ordinary Americans. Nixon was embroiled in the Watergate scandal, extraordinary inflation led to high prices on fuel and consumer goods, and India detonated its first nuclear weapon.
It was in this context that Kathy Kozachenko decided to run for City Council in Ann Arbor, Mich. — running on a platform of social revolution in a college town, within a college ward where progressives reigned.