Thursday, May 29, 2014

Observation, 1969 — End Of The Kennedy Era



Humans walked on the moon for the first time.  Richard M. Nixon became president. 100 counties signed a nuclear proliferation treaty. Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi overthrew King Idris of Libya.  The U.S. Supreme Court demanded an immediate end to segregation in public schools.  Alcatraz was seized by Native Americans who demanded the land be returned to them pursuant to another treaty not honored. Stonewall Riot began gay rights revolution.  Chinese-Russian border clash resulted in 100s dead. Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel. Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for killing Robert Kennedy. Senator Edward Kennedy left the scene of a drowning, ending any chance for a presidential run. Kennedy dad, Joseph Kennedy, died.  James Earl Ray pled guilty to the killing of Martin Luther King.  Electron microscope was developed. First in vitro fertilization of a human egg occurred. Woodstock happened.  DDT was banned.  Paul McCartney was forced to deny he was dead.  Rolling Stones fan killed at Altamont. The last episode of “Star Trek” aired. Mario Andretti won the Indy 500.  Willie Mays hit his 600th home run. Cabaret closed on Broadway after 1166 performances. Joe Orton’s What The Butler Saw premiered in London. The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Samuel Beckett. We read The Godfather by Mario Puzo, Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth, The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles, and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The Mystery Writers of America gave their top prize to Jeffery Hudson for A Case of Need. On the silver screen we watched Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, and Anne of a Thousand Days. Beatles’ album Yellow Submarine was released. We also listened to “Sugar, “Sugar” by The Archies, “Aquarius” by The Fifth Dimension, “I Can’t Get Next To You” by The Temptations, “Honky Tonk Woman’ by the Rolling Stones,  “Everyday People by” Sly and the Family Stone, “Dizzy” by Tommy Roe, “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly and The Family Stone, “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations, “Crimson and Clover” by Tommy James and the Shondells, and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” by Tom Jones.  Shuffling off the mortal coil were Dwight D. Eisenhower, Judy Garland, Jack Kerouac, Sharon Tate, Boris Karloff, George “Gabby” Hayes, Thelma Ritter, Robert Taylor, and Sonja Henie.  Taking on the coil were Jack Black, Jay Z, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Anniston, Simon Baker, Gerard Butler, Edward Norton, Matthew McConaughey and Marilyn Manson.  If you were around, what were you doing this year of the earth rooster?


4 comments:

mybillcrider said...

Our daughter was born in January of '69. so we spent a lot of the year learning about being first-time parents. I was also in grad school, working on my doctorate, so I was busy. I still know what was going on in the world, though, most of the time. And I remember all those songs. Not a bad year for music.

Teri-on-the-sandbar said...

You, sir, were the best man at a wedding at Beck Chapel on the IU campus on June 14 of that year. I'm so glad that, as the years whizzed past, that I got to know you so much better! You have always made me smile!

Ronald Tierney said...

Bill, it was the dawn of the age of aquarius, just out of the army and i was ready to live a little. I had also started my first and no doubtv ery unpublishable novel.

Ronald Tierney said...

Teri, amazing the amount of good fun we've had since, naming malls and visiting a dude ranch.