Karen's view of history - the Sixties - part I

Karen Looks at History - the 1960s part I

I was in high school from 1962 to 1965.  It was okay.  If I picked 100 students out of the high school

 yearbook and asked them if they remembered me, 99 wouldn’t, and likewise if I was asked if I

remembered

them, again, the answer would probably be ‘no’.  

My friends were few, my acquaintances many.  I was in the band, I was the drum major, and I was the organizing force behind the chess club!!  (Talk about being a ‘nerd’).  I even had the highest score on the National Math test (beating a distant cousin who was a much better student).  My grades were okay - mostly B’s.  I was smart but didn’t really apply myself!!  

I didn’t get a class ring.  Not much more!!!

The early 1960s in the United States were still magical.  The Kennedy administration was called

 “Camelot” after the musical by the same name.  As the musical said “In short, there's simply not

A more congenial spot. For happily-ever-aftering than here In Camelot.”

We got into the space age and tried to catch up with the Russians.  And we did!!  Kennedy put out

 our BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal of putting a man on the moon in less than a decade - AND IT

HAPPENED!!!  We were all scared of the cold war and in addition to tornado drills, we had civil

defense drills.  Buildings had signage on them that they were fallout shelters and how many people

could survive then.  The United States developed nuclear weapons that could strike anyplace in the

world (especially Russia) and Russia could do the same to us.  While I don’t remember the statistics,

it was macabre - we could kill everyone in the whole world like fifty times over and they could do the

same.  

But, like Camelot, like the Garden of Eden, such things come to an end.  To me, the end came on

November 22, 1963, with the assassination of Kennedy.  Camelot was over - reality set in.  

Some of that reality in the Lyndon Johnson Presidency was great - the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and

1965 brought the evil of racial discrimination to the public.  But, the biggest problem of the 1960s

occurred in 1965 as 3,500 U.S. Marines came to help the U.S. military advisors in Vietnam.  Even now,

some 55 years later, Vietnam divides our country.  

The 1964 election featured Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson.  I even went to a rally held in

downtown Cedar Rapids for Barry Goldwater (students were allowed to go as an educational lesson.). 

Goldwater was bombasted as a hawk - a man who could ‘pull the trigger’ at any second, a man who

would think nothing of sending the nuclear bombs into Russia.  Johnson had kept us out of Vietnam. 

Lyndon Johnson kept us out of war and won the election.  And, he failed to keep us out of Vietnam

and failed to keep his promises.

Now, readers, I’m not sure about whether we should or should not be in Vietnam.  Even with the

passage of time, I’m still not sure.  But, America was one of the two SuperPowers and we drew the

line to stop the Red Menace of Communism in this small country in Southeast Asia.  China was

already a Communist Country, Russia was, North Korea was and Vietnam was split into North and

South Vietnam.  If Vietnam became Communist, that philosophy would soon stretch into Thailand,

Indonesia and that bastion of democracy called India.  The Indians had been allies in World War II,

they had been a British commonwealth and they spoke English - the domino theory said the world’s

Superpower for: "Truth, justice and the American way" (the statement from the Superman television

show).  

But, as a civil Superpower, we wore boxing gloves and behaved like a respectable country.  Because

of our bombing of Japan at the end of World War II, we were the White People who didn’t care about

Asian people.  So, no invasion of North Vietnam was allowed.  

Like many males of that generation, we went through the draft board and got our pre-draft physicals. 

I was in college in Minnesota and went to a physical in Minnesota.  We already had heard of friends

that had been drafted - and some of whom had been sent home in body bags.  I’m not sure if I passed

or failed in my physical, but my family doctor wrote a letter in my defense that my asthma, allergies,

and hayfever would keep me from being an effective soldier.  I got a 4F deferment - meaning “unfit to

serve”.  

The Baby Boomers raised up - our numbers were significant and this was the first time we could make

an impact on society.  The 1968 elections would be the first where I could vote and the first for

many to vote.  

There was another factor that was significant (at least to me) - Music.  In the prior generations, there

were maybe a couple of radio stations - easy listening, big band, and pretty generic, but this

Baby Boomer generation had our own music (maybe thanks to Elvis and Chuck Berry and Fats

Domino and others) - we were in the Rock and Roll generation.  And music and Baby Boomer

“networks” influenced us!!  

Tomorrow, I’m going to talk about protest music, protests (remember the Chicago Seven who

protested the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago?).  Tomorrow, you’ll see how this country is

still living the 1960s - still fighting the Vietnam War - and still split between hawks and doves!!  (And,

maybe an insight into me!!)

See you tomorrow!!

Karen