The past few days I’ve been consumed by reading newsman Tom Brokaw’s latest book, Boom! It’s about the 1960s and the Baby Boomers who have since made significant contributions to our society. He’s interviewed the famous and not-so-famous….entertainers, journalists, politicians, businessmen, community activists, nurses, teachers, etc. to get their reactions to growing up in the turbulent decade. Brokaw’s book certainly re-opened a bank of memories of what the world was like back in the 1960s. Here are the ten that I most remember, in no particular order of significance:
President Kennedy assassinated
Beatles mania
Vietnam War
Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinated
Space race--US lands man on the moon
The "Make Love, Not War" Hippie Movement and great music that went with it
Race riots and Black Power
Kent State war protest and killings by National Guardsmen
Manson Family murders
Woodstock Rock Festival
4 comments:
i remember the moon landing. i was an incoming freshman at pitt state---going through the little 2 day orientation where everyone stayed in the dorms and did all those little intro things. the moonwalk was in the evening, all the orientees were in the common area of the dorm watching one little tv---quiet as anything. i think we all knew it was historic and kind of cool to share it with strangers!
You have lived through some amazing stuff.
The Eagle has landed!
You ought to read the concurrent bio of Carley Simon, Carole King and Judy Collins. I just happened to be at Kent State on the 12 anniversary. The blood on the steps was all worn off so a bunch of us added our own in order that others not forget. This has been done several times since so that students don't fail to remember when our National Guard shot on them. Glad to know Jane Fonda wasn't your only significant memory of the 60's. I've had to re-educate some born in the nineties as to what she stood for--and it was aerobic exercise in a thong.
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