1961

On Aug. 13, 1961, Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city’s eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees.

(from today’s NY Times)

 

In 1961, I was a college student, living in a dorm, enjoying the whole experience of college very, very much.   The world was, or so it seemed to me, relatively peaceful.

Here is the real world of 1961:

 

• U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba
• JF Kennedy inaugurated as 35th  (and youngest) President of the US; established Peace Corps
• Activities of reactionary John Birch Society are a concern of the US Sentate
• UN General Assembly condemns apartheid
• Bay of Pigs
• Kennedy and Kruschev meet to discuss disarmament, Laos, and Germany
• Berlin Wall constructed
• Ben-Gurion forms new coalition gov’t in Israel
• Adof Eichmann found guilty in Jerusalem trial
• Trujillo, dictator of Dominican Republic, assassinated
• Literature:   Salinger, "Franny and Zooey," Iris Murdoch, "A Severed Head," Henry Miller, "Tropic of Cancer," John Steinbeck, "The Winter of our Discontent," Harold Robbins, "The Carpetbaggers,"  Joseph Heller, "Catch-22," James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name"
• Moscow synagogues closed
• Movies:  "West Side Story," "Judgment at Nuremburg,"  "The Hustler"
• Popular songs:   "Love Makes the World Go Round,"  "Moon River,"  "Where the Boys Are,"  "Exodus"
• Yuri Gagarin orbits the earth in six-ton satellite
• Alan Shepard makes first US space flight
• Spy trials in London:  Gordon Lonsdale, George Blake, and the Krogers
• Tanganyika conference moves to protect African wildlife
• Last journey of the train "Orient Express"  (Paris to Bucharest)
• Floyd Patterson retains heavyweight boxing crown
• Bobby Fischer, only 17, wins US chess championship for fourth time
• "Freedom Riders"..white and black liberals loosely organized to test and force integration in the south, are attacked and beaaten by white citizens in Anniston and Birmingham
• Jack Nicklaus wins US Golf Association Amateur

So there it is,  not such a peaceful time at all.   I remember the terror we on the east coast felt during the Bay of Pigs event, the horror the Berlin Wall went up in Germany; but we also knew the thrill of the beginning of space travel.  Most of all perhaps, was the utter joy in Kennedy’s having won;  he was so young, so handsome and charming.  It has been a long time since we’ve had a young, handsome, charming and articulate President.   During the past election, I..as so many..thought of Kennedy often.

Of course, we were just ratcheting up our connections in Vietnam.  In 1961, we didn’t pay that close attention.  Boy, did that ever change in the next few years.  And the Freedom Riders caught our attention in a way that wouldn’t let us ignore the problems of racism any more.  The stage was set for the tumultous time we think of when we say "1960s."   They began as just an extension of the ’50s, but then they changed, and changed, and changed.   We never did get back to the 50s, and what a good thing that is on so many fronts.   Still, it’s hard not to miss the prosperity of that time.  Partly, of course, it’s just that we 50s kids are now adults, ok old people, and we know that nothing is ever as simple as it seems/seemed.   And yet we live these good lives!