In my opinion, 1964 was a significant year in the last century.
As a senior alumni of the baby boomer gang, my generation witnessed great changes only fully appreciated as our years became another chapter of history. With a handful of other codgers, I marked my fiftieth high school reunion a few years ago with the 60th coming soon !
To me, 1964 was a most interesting year on many levels.
As seniors at Saint Pauls High School in Portsmouth Virginia we were just a few months shy of our graduation when the great tragedy of a presidential assassination occurred. While our nuns lost their Saint John of Kennedy, students lost a president with a youthful face and stirring words brimming with optimism. Many of us wanted to be Jacks and Jacquelines in a Camelot world, and this loss was a body blow, especially when a dour faced old man named Johnson took his place. In retrospect, Kennedy wasn't a great president, but to many of us he represented youthful optimism and stirring words for many of our generation.
On the brighter side, 1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Ford Motors introduced the sexy 1964 and a half Mustang. Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon were hot items at their "Bikini Beach" romps. We jerked and jived to the happy music of The Beach Boys and a guy named Andy Warhol immortalized a tomato soup can and became a renowned artist. Bob Dylan wrote and screeched a song which prophesied our turbulent times when he wailed, "The Times They Are a Changing".
As a senior alumni of the baby boomer gang, my generation witnessed great changes only fully appreciated as our years became another chapter of history. With a handful of other codgers, I marked my fiftieth high school reunion a few years ago with the 60th coming soon !
To me, 1964 was a most interesting year on many levels.
As seniors at Saint Pauls High School in Portsmouth Virginia we were just a few months shy of our graduation when the great tragedy of a presidential assassination occurred. While our nuns lost their Saint John of Kennedy, students lost a president with a youthful face and stirring words brimming with optimism. Many of us wanted to be Jacks and Jacquelines in a Camelot world, and this loss was a body blow, especially when a dour faced old man named Johnson took his place. In retrospect, Kennedy wasn't a great president, but to many of us he represented youthful optimism and stirring words for many of our generation.
On the brighter side, 1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Ford Motors introduced the sexy 1964 and a half Mustang. Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon were hot items at their "Bikini Beach" romps. We jerked and jived to the happy music of The Beach Boys and a guy named Andy Warhol immortalized a tomato soup can and became a renowned artist. Bob Dylan wrote and screeched a song which prophesied our turbulent times when he wailed, "The Times They Are a Changing".
In Detroit the "Motown" sound was invented and we listened to Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas who invited us to be "Dancing in the Streets". Sam Cooke crooned "A Change is Going To Come". The Rolling Stones, Animals, and Supremes also rocked 1964, and they were correct about change and getting in the streets.
Meanwhile, President Johnson declared a "War on Poverty", passed a Civil Rights Bill, and told Americans he was all in to make ours "A Great Society". These promises were taxpayer expensive and largely unfulfilled. College students at the University of California Berkeley held the first major campus demonstrations of the century. They boldly marched and occupied an administration building while Joan Baez sang, "We Shall Overcome". Barry Goldwater announced his run for the presidency and allowed actor Ronald Reagan to make the keynote address at the 1964 GOP Convention.
Cassius Clay whipped Sonny Liston in Florida, became "The Greatest", announced his Muslim faith, and forever changed his name to Mohammad Ali. College students gathered at a small college in Ohio to train for their non violent civil rights activities in the deep south. From that group three idealistic young men would travel to Mississippi and die to bring voting rights to black citizens of the Magnolia State. The murder of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Earl Chaney would propel future martyrs Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers to action which would change American history. In 1964 Doctor King would receive the Nobel peace prize. In the summer, riots erupted in Harlem and other ghettos of large northern cities reflecting big "changing times" were upon us. Nelson Mandela and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa, and Nikita Khrushchev lost power in the USSR.
On television we began to enjoy more color programing, and believed every pronouncement from "uncle" Walter Cronkite as the gospel truth. We laughed at the broadcast debuts and weekly shows, "The Andy Griffith Show", "The Adams Family", and "The Dick Van Dyke Show". We set aside our smokes and shuttered as our Surgeon General announced that cigarette smoking "may" be harmful to our health and cause cancer.
Meanwhile, President Johnson declared a "War on Poverty", passed a Civil Rights Bill, and told Americans he was all in to make ours "A Great Society". These promises were taxpayer expensive and largely unfulfilled. College students at the University of California Berkeley held the first major campus demonstrations of the century. They boldly marched and occupied an administration building while Joan Baez sang, "We Shall Overcome". Barry Goldwater announced his run for the presidency and allowed actor Ronald Reagan to make the keynote address at the 1964 GOP Convention.
Cassius Clay whipped Sonny Liston in Florida, became "The Greatest", announced his Muslim faith, and forever changed his name to Mohammad Ali. College students gathered at a small college in Ohio to train for their non violent civil rights activities in the deep south. From that group three idealistic young men would travel to Mississippi and die to bring voting rights to black citizens of the Magnolia State. The murder of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Earl Chaney would propel future martyrs Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers to action which would change American history. In 1964 Doctor King would receive the Nobel peace prize. In the summer, riots erupted in Harlem and other ghettos of large northern cities reflecting big "changing times" were upon us. Nelson Mandela and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa, and Nikita Khrushchev lost power in the USSR.
On television we began to enjoy more color programing, and believed every pronouncement from "uncle" Walter Cronkite as the gospel truth. We laughed at the broadcast debuts and weekly shows, "The Andy Griffith Show", "The Adams Family", and "The Dick Van Dyke Show". We set aside our smokes and shuttered as our Surgeon General announced that cigarette smoking "may" be harmful to our health and cause cancer.
We half listened as President Johnson cited some attack on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin and encouraged a "Resolution" to super size our military presence in the far away country of Vietnam. Many of us would visit Vietnam in the coming years and too many would come home in body bags or gravely disabled.
Late in 1964 Lyndon Johnson trounced Goldwater to begin his one and only elected term as president. The Warren Commission revealed that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone killer of our beloved John F. Kennedy. We read the recently published " Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan , and began to understand that women could be something other than teachers, moms, nuns, secretaries or nurses. Sony introduced the worlds first home VCR device, and Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton for the first time. The 24th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified and forever banned poll taxes as a voting prerequisite.
By the end of 1964 into early 1965, my fellow graduates and I had gone off to colleges, jobs, apprenticeships, marriages, or the military. Some of us would serve in Vietnam, others would resist military service, but in the end all of us would agree the Vietnam era was a troubling time.
We lived and learned a lot from that incredible year. Now, as we toast each other and coast along our Final Lap, it's good to remember and reflect on the yesterdays that got us to today. While our future may not stretch as long as our past, the memories of our times were large with hope, fun, sadness and a wealth of experiences.
I think, it is important we remind our children and their children that our history is but a single falling leaf on a windy fall day. It occurs to me, how important our young masters and misses learn the stories and lessons from past years while enjoying the bright sunshine of their youth.
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