OBSERVANCES
A new book by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is about her husband, Richard Goodwin, who was a speech writer and advisor to both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in their campaigns and in the White House. Although he lived until age 85 this is about his 20’s and early 30’s encompassing that turbulent decade of the 60’s when the world turned on its axis with The New Frontier, Great Society, Vietnam, Civil Rights and three assassinations marched across the stage.
I was in the sixth grade in the climatic 1960 election and watching the returns come across our old dim black and white TV with my father. We were Nixon supporters, but I remember how the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon was watched by almost 80% of voters and changed perceptions.
In our class before the debate almost 65% of hands raised supported Nixon and afterward it was almost even reflecting how the kid’s parents were voting.
Three nights before our wedding, I was in college finishing up a semester and watching late into the night as the scenes came in from Los Angeles depicting Robert Kennedy’s assassination. Even though more than half a century has passed, the 60’s shaped the outlook for the entire baby boom generation just as the depression shaped the lives of the greatest generation.
The current generation will be shaped by the iphone and technology and even though there will be vast changes in their lives, the foundation is being shaped by this early adaption, and will linger until time pulls down the curtain. My son says you can tell the difference between the generations when boarding airplanes.
He says geezers like me have paper boarding passes while more modern travelers have them on their iphones.
