Shifting from the 1950s to the 1960s, we go from images of holocaust survivors to Father Knows Best and pearls in the kitchen to Vietnam and our boys dying right in front of our eyes.
In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock released Psycho--I had nightmares for weeks. The first televised debates occurred and lasers were invented.
1961 brings us the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Berlin Wall, the founding of the Peace Corps and the Soviets launching the first man in space. President Kennedy advises families to build bomb shelters. I can remember exercises in the school classroom how to duck under the desks in case of an attack. The IBM Selectric typewriter is introduced.The Vietnam War official begins. Roger Maris, of the New York Yankees, hits his 61st home run, beating 34-year old record held by Babe Ruth.
In 1962, Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. The first James Bond film, Dr. No, came out. The Cuban Missile crisis threatened the world with nuclear war.
1963 brought us the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I was 14 and will never forget that day. I was dissecting a frog in Biology. We were sent home and the images of he and Jackie riding in the car and her blood-spattered suit and then baby John saluting as his father's casket passed by. Also, in this year, Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring and Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. Congress enacts equal pay for equal work legislation for women. Patsy Cline dies in a plane crash. Zip codes are introduced in the U.S and I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There are released in the U.S. Martin Luther King makes his "I Have a Dream" speech.
1963 brought us the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I was 14 and will never forget that day. I was dissecting a frog in Biology. We were sent home and the images of he and Jackie riding in the car and her blood-spattered suit and then baby John saluting as his father's casket passed by. Also, in this year, Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring and Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. Congress enacts equal pay for equal work legislation for women. Patsy Cline dies in a plane crash. Zip codes are introduced in the U.S and I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There are released in the U.S. Martin Luther King makes his "I Have a Dream" speech.
1964 brings us the Ford Mustang (perhaps one of the coolest cars ever). Seat belts are introduced as standard equipment. Plans to build the World Trade Center are announced. Malcolm X forms a black nationalist party. The Beatles hold the top 5 positions on Billboard Top 40. This is the first year cigarette boxes had a warning printed on it that smoking can be hazardous to your health (and people still smoke). Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison.
1965 -Medicare bill passes. 32,000 people make a 54-mile freedom march from Selma to Montgomery. Malcolm X is assassinated. The Beatles do the first stadium concert in the history of rock at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York, where I grew up. My best friend's brother stood outside the stadium to hear them. President Johnson orders bombing raids on North Vietnam and Americans begin protesting the war.
1966 - the year I graduated High School, The Beatles play their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Star Trek debuts with its first episode, "The Man Trap." The Black Panther Party is established. Mao Zedong launches the cultural revolution and there are mass draft protests in the U.S
1967 - Rolling Stone Magazine is founded. The first heart transplant is performed. Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service. LSD is declared illegal by the US government. It is also the year of the first Super Bowl and the six day war in the Middle East.
1968 -
Bobby Kennedy is assassinated in California. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities for days. Hair opens on Broadway. The White Album is released by the Beatles. The My Lai massacre occurs as well as the Tet offensive.
1969
Neal Armstrong walks on the moon. Woodstock is held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre farm in Bethel, NY. Easy Rider premiers. Charles Manson cult murders Sharon Tate and others. Sesame Street premiers, along with The Brady Bunch. You can see why some folks might feel a bit schizophrenic about this decade.
My teenage years were shaped by assassinations, race riots, Vietnam, anti-nuclear marches, and of course, the hippy movement, which preached peace and love.
Music was my salvation through all of this. It was hard to remain depressed listening to the Beatles sing All You Need is Love. And John Lennon's Imagine gave us hope. Perhaps the drug culture evolved because of the angst everyone felt about what was happening around us. Things we couldn't control. What strikes me is how similar it is now. Terrorism strikes when and where we least expect it and it is something we cannot control. And folks still use alcohol and drugs to mask their pain.
My truth on this Tuesday: I had a major crush on Roger Maris. I was 12 years old and my Dad was a huge baseball fan, so I got to see Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, called the Bronx Bombers back in those days, play all the time. My grandma lived diagonally across the street from Yankee Stadium and we went often.
Soon to come...., Part III: How all of this impacted my psyche.
Blessings,
Karen
0 Yorumlar