It was a time of great hope: President John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, threw down the gauntlet to Americans to put the first man on the moon. Those who grew up then remember astronaut Alan Shepherd's quick entrance and exit from space - the first baby step to the moon landing. Suddenly, every child in America was studying space travel in their classrooms. John Glenn's orbiting the Earth in 1962 made him something akin to a rock star. In 1961 the Peace Corps was founded - an idea of grace and service to the world that caught fire with young people. The arts were in full flourish, from the power and popularity of Rudolph Nureyev, a Russian dancer who in 1961 defected from the still-Communist USSR, to Andy Warhol, who in 1961 painted his first depiction of the Campbell Soup can. Women's issues were also beginning to flower - interestingly, a time that coincided with the first-time marketing of the Pill (1960). Mary McCarthy's "The Group," Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" were all released during these years.
Deb Nicklay writes: 50 years ago, nation went through a mood change
50 years ago, nation went through a mood change
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By DEB NICKLAY, deb.nicklay@globegazette.com | Posted: Saturday, June 19, 2010 11:45 pm | (0) Comments
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I was all of 7 years old in 1960 - but its images are still vivid 50 years later.
Today, I see that year as a marker of sorts; the beginning of a brief few years before the rest of the decade was eclipsed by the social revolution that would begin a few years later.
In those few short years between 1960 and 1963 both promise and tragedy were sown. 1960 marked the first year of the Vietnam War; race riots were already beginning. The Bay of Pigs (1961) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) occurred in quick succession,
But it was also a classy time, a kind of cultural aperitif that stands in lush contrast to what would characterize the rest of the decade: riots, protests, music and cultural upheaval.
It was the elegant age of designers like Hubert Givenchy before the minidress outdistanced the little black dress. It was as if Holly Golightly morphed into Grace Slick.
It was a time of great hope: President John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, threw down the gauntlet to Americans to put the first man on the moon.
Those who grew up then remember astronaut Alan Shepherd's quick entrance and exit from space - the first baby step to the moon landing.
Suddenly, every child in America was studying space travel in their classrooms. John Glenn's orbiting the Earth in 1962 made him something akin to a rock star.
In 1961 the Peace Corps was founded - an idea of grace and service to the world that caught fire with young people.
The arts were in full flourish, from the power and popularity of Rudolph Nureyev, a Russian dancer who in 1961 defected from the still-Communist USSR, to Andy Warhol, who in 1961 painted his first depiction of the Campbell Soup can.
Women's issues were also beginning to flower - interestingly, a time that coincided with the first-time marketing of the Pill (1960). Mary McCarthy's "The Group," Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" were all released during these years.
Elvis was at the top of his game, getting ready to complete his best movie, "Blue Hawaii" (OK, that's my estimation); Roy Orbison shot up on the charts with "Only the Lonely," and the Platters flawlessly harmonized to their last Top 10 hit, "Harbor Lights," one of the loveliest songs of that time.
Not too long ago, I read a blog by an author who insisted the early part of the 1960s was boring - boring clothes, boring hair, boring music. I disagree.
I think there was a finely-drawn passion and beauty to those few, short years.
Robert Frost - poet laureate who would die in 1963 - talked of that age at Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. It has the feeling I am talking about:
Of a power leading from its strength and pride
Of young ambition eager to be tried ...
A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday's the beginning hour.
