About
Watergate Era - I was in my last year of study for a political science degree at San Francisco State when the Senate Watergate Hearings began in May of 1973. There was a rarely used portable television somewhere in the house that just wouldn’t do for this event. My room mates and I chipped in to by a brand new color model and spent enumerable hours watching as the antics of Hunt, Liddy and McCord come to life and Butterfield, Dean, Mitchel, Erlichman, Haldeman and a host of others squirmed before the interrogators of the Senate Committee. It was impressive, I thought, how smoothly the transition of power under the framework established by the founding fathers had occurred. However, I was too young and naive at the time to appreciate the underlying political posturing that would evolve into the contentious political environment we live with today.
Vietnam War - On March 29th, shortly before the Senate Watergate Hearings began, the last American troops would leave Vietnam. Nearly a decade earlier, on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. A somber mood swept the nation. Little notice was given the approximately 15,000 military advisors in Vietnam at the end of the year. In August of the following year North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the U.S. destroyer Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf. On August 7th Congress would pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution granting President Johnson extraordinary war powers in Southeast Asia. The first bombings of North Vietnam would begin before months end. By the end of 1968 the American presence in Vietnam would reach 540,000. My older brother was U.S. Marine stationed at Kae Sahn during the Tet Offensive of that year. The war, with daily news broadcasts from the battlefield and casualty reports would dominate the American conscience and the national election season. This conflict replaced World War Two as the war all following conflict would be compared to.
Decade of Transition - Anyone growing up in the 1960’s knew they were in the midst of great changes to the status quo. The election of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States marked the emergence of “a new generation.” The leaders of World War II turned over the reigns of power and a new “Cold War” was left in it’s wake with points of conflict appearing on every continent. African and Asian nations would emerge from their colonial governments with varying degrees of success and levels of violence. The Soviet launch of the Sputnik would take the ideological struggle between Communist and Capitalist economies to a new frontier; the Space Race had begun. The Civil Rights Movement that made progress in the preceding decade would be embraced by the upper echelons of power during the Johnson Administration. A wave of new music would wash ashore led by the “British Invasion” much of which was inspired by American jazz, rock and rhythm. This would be the passion of the Baby-Boom Generation already showing their disdain for the values of the generation who had just ascended to power. Free Speech, Free Love and free higher education were their passion. Better living through chemistry would make morality subject to the medication on hand.
The decade was full of political beginnings and sad endings. John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy would meet untimely ends. Dashed hopes, tragedy, the clash of issues and contradictions that marked the decade were all on display when Democrats met for their 1968 National Convention in Chicago. Politics during the era blinded most Americans to the amazing technical achievements that were transitioning society in ways yet unknown. The incredible saga of Apollo 13 was not even broadcast. The reaction to the chaos would bring an end to Democratic politics resulting in the election of Republican president; Richard M. Nixon.
In spite of the major changes the decade brought in Americans still saw the world as presented through major media outlets. ABC, NBC and CBS dominated the air waves and delivered their interpretation of the World through the inimitable news anchorman. The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angles Times delivered everything fit to print with almost unquestioned authority. For President Kennedy, having a friend like Ben Bradley as editor of the Washington Post, controlling what was revealed to the public was much simpler than what President Clinton would experience. As Dan Rather would learn, the viewing public now has the means of comparing what is delivered by the media and spreading opinion about it’s validity in real time rather than the manageable medium of “letters to the editor.” Anyone who truly cares to gain an accurate understanding of an issue has never had better odds if they can set aside their own biases and peruse a variety of information sources. We hope you will join us in doing so!