It was 50 years ago today...

 

How many times have you heard that phrase in the past couple of years? I’ve heard it a lot and that got me thinking.  The “Turbulent Sixties” weren’t all that turbulent. Not the first half of the decade, anyway. In fact, from President Kennedy’s election in 1960 through LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it was one of the all-time great periods in our country’s history…even better than Twitter.

Most of what has happened to us in the past half century was greatly influenced by the early 1960's. We entered the Space Age then and Star Trek first appeared on our television screens. President Kennedy kicked off the Space Race and, not long after, John Glenn circled the earth three times and we were off to the moon.

It was exciting to be an American. We made an American car that was the envy of the world, the Ford Mustang.  We introduced the touchtone telephone and the microwave oven at the Seattle World's Fair and communication and frozen food have been improving ever since. Speaking of the World's Fair, it propelled Seattle into the global spotlight and made many people outside this country very envious of our little Northwest corner of the world.

For me and the millions of other "Boomers", that period of time set the stage for how our lives would play out...the influences, concerns and opportunities were all fresh and new. The "Caution.." statement went on every pack of cigarettes. For the first time, the condition of our environment became a focus for us. Bob Dylan debuted in Greenwich Village and then there was the Beatles. Our early musical influences were taking form.

It was amazing when Willie Mays signed the largest baseball contract in history for $100,000...imagine that, $100,000 (baseball players were the highest paid professional athletes in our country at that time). And my hero, Mickey Mantle, and Roger Maris battled each other to break Babe Ruth's "unbreakable" record of 60 homeruns...and Maris hit 61, legitimately, no extra games, no steroids, he just did it.

MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Peace Corps started then, giving school kids like me a fresh look at the world beyond our shores. Add Johnny Carson taking over the Tonight Show and Dr. No showing up with Sean Connery and Ursula Andress in the first James Bond movie and you're starting to get the idea of what kind of an impression this period made on us.

In some ways, this second decade of the new millennium has certain elements of those glory days 50 years ago. My friend and fellow "Boomer" Sally Jewell, now Madam Secretary of the Interior, often says that one of the main societal influences we are coping with is the transfer of power from the Boomers to the Millennials. With us in the Boomer Boat are Bill and Hillary Clinton, President Obama, Bono, Michael Jordan, Princess Diana, George Clooney, Bill Gates,  J.K. Rowling, Stephen Colbert and Wynton Marsalis. Pretty good company.

The past half century has changed the world and changed us. The early 60's gave us hope and now we seem to have lost it.  The spirit that came from the youth back then propelled us into frontiers of the unknown.  This new generation has got to lead on something besides technology. When all is done you end up with the people. 50 years ago today, the people had the fire. We've got to stick together and make things work.