This week marks the anniversary of both the first and last episodes of Star Trek. It still seems hard to believe that the original series only ran for three seasons between 1966 and 1969. But it acted almost like a time machine into the Space Age: The final episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet—definitely a 50s-era show—aired on September 3, 1966, just one day after Star Trek premiered. Then, on September 2, 1969—the day the very last original Star Trek was broadcast—we were swept into a whole new age when America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) began dispensing cash at the Chemical Bank in New York.
Perhaps one of the most uplifting, memorable moments of the Boomer Age occurred on August 28, 1963 when 200,000 people participating in a peaceful civil rights rally in Washington, D.C., heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
We still had hope – we still had both Kennedys, we’d made a breakthrough with the Soviet Union, the space race was exciting to watch, the nation was struggling with racism, but it seemed like a fight we could win! Five years later, when the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago, Illinois, John, and Bobby Kennedy, Dr. King and even Malcolm X had all been shot and killed. The dream had become a nightmare in Vietnam. The DNC became a major battleground in the fight to get US out—and left the nation even more divided. Even more sadly, the dream had turned into a nightmare in our own cities—Chicago, Detroit, LA… But all these years later, while the 1968 Democratic National Convention leaves us with painful memories, we still remember with joy Dr. King’s speech, his beautiful, soul-stirring words. We remember those words and that day in August 1963. We remember how we wanted to stand up to be counted, to make our world a better place. As he, himself, put it: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends… “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ “…With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” It may be tattered and worn around the edges these days, but somehow, I still have that dream!
Mid-August is generally known for its dog days, but that heat must occasionally cause a synapse or two in the brain to go haywire, leading to either a blown fuse or a power surge. That certainly appeared to occur more than once on the Eastern side of the Boomer Half-Century’s Cold War. Every time, it surely did manage to piss off the Western side, even if it was a result of their own prodding.
In August 1953, the Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
In August 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 spy plane, capturing U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers, and then sentencing him to 10 years in prison.
In August 1968, The Soviet Union noticed that the Prague Spring had stretched pretty far into the summer, so sent 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks to Czechoslovakia to set the calendar straight.
In August 1979, Soviet dancer Aleksandr Godunov defected to United States. Six years later, i.e., August 1985, in an odd sort of tit for tat, Hans Tiedge, a top counter-spy working out of West Germany, defected to East Germany.
By August 1990, the whole Eastern Team of the Cold War was approaching retirement. Tiedge the Spy was probably none too pleased—after risking his life to cross the border—to find that East and West Germany planned to banish that same border. At the same time, Armenia declared independence from the Soviet Union.
You wouldn’t think a snowball would have much chance in the northern hemisphere in August, but only a year later, in August 1991, that ball really began to pick up snow. When Gorbachev went on vacation that month a coup was attempted in Moscow, and he was placed under house arrest. That didn’t last long—within a day more than 100,000 Soviet citizens showed up outside the parliament building to protest the coup attempt, Gorbachev was released from house arrest, and by the 23rd of the month, he was back in Moscow giving his Cabinet a thorough cleaning. Not that it mattered – remember the snowball? It was really on a roll…two days later, Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union.
OK, not all 76 million babies born during the Big Boom actually went to Woodstock, NY in 1969 for the biggest music festival ever, but a significant percentage of those of us who didn’t actually attend watched the movie, bought the album, and sang the songs, thus foreshadowing virtual attendance. I came upon a child of god He was walking along the road And I asked him, where are you going And this he told me Im going on down to yasgurs farm Im going to join in a rock n roll band Im going to camp out on the land Im going to try an get my soul free We are stardust We are golden And weve got to get ourselves Back to the garden Then can I walk beside you I have come here to lose the smog And I feel to be a cog in something turning Well maybe it is just the time of year Or maybe its the time of man I dont know who l am But you know life is for learning We are stardust We are golden And weve got to get ourselves Back to the garden By the time we got to woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere there was song and celebration And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation We are stardust Billion year old carbon We are golden Caught in the devils bargain And weve got to get ourselves Back to the garden -- Joni Mitchell
Let’s face it. Boomers are big on conspiracy theories, such as the supposed cover-up of the Roswell UFO matter featured in the BoomerZoo Almanac for the week of June 24. We didn’t invent conspiracy theories, of course—the Roswell incident occurred in 1947, when we hadn’t quite boomed as a group—but we’re really good at inventing new ones, while keeping as many old ones as possible alive. I’m sure our forebears would have been our equals in this matter, but they didn’t have our easy communication benefits: Photocopiers, email, the Internet.
Another conspiracy theory built by Boomers down the road from the event has to do with Marilyn Monroe, who
was found dead in her L.A. apartment apparently of a prescription medication overdose on August 5, 1962. As we grew older and stories about a relationship between President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn began to leak out, the idea of the Kennedys arranging Marilyn’s death in order to keep that relationship secret began to take shape, persisting through the power of those easy communication benefits.
Now, I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories – after all, I hardly know any one single person who can keep a secret, much less a whole government bureaucracy worth of people. And beside that, I just prefer to maintain my illusion that most people—even most famous people—are generally good.
Goodbye Norma Jean
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
It must be only recently that the U.S. president started taking such long summer holidays, as I learned in my
research for this week’s review of history Boomer-style. It turns out that Congress used to not let the big guy go off on his August vacation until he’d finished his homework, which frequently included signing bills into law.
For example, in 1946, the United States Atomic Energy Commission was established as President Harry S. Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act transferring control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands to enable the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. I’d say the history jury is still out on that Act and both its immediate and long-term roll-out.
We know for sure, though, that we like Ike for confirming that America is for God, which is why God is for America.* In 1956, following a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress (something we rarely see these days) is signed by the president, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto. If, like me, you thought E Pluribus Unum was our national motto, you can—also like me—Google it.
Lyndon B—who apparently agreed with the Muslims that trust in God is all well and good, but it’s still a good idea to tie up those camels—signed the Social Security Act of 1965 into law on this week in that year, thus adding Medicare and Medicaid to the program and insuring jobs and long lives to a lot of Boomers – who are just now wondering how they’re going to enjoy all those extra years without that Social Security income they were counting on.* Although we mostly trust in God, we Boomers eventually became suspicious of Eisehower’s Atoms for Peace program. Nuclear power plant operators began battling newly minted environmentalists, so the Congress came up with a way to mediate: create a whole new department and give the complainers a government job—with benefits!* To that end, President Jimmy Carter in 1977 signed legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. Sometimes the presidents used their vacation time to meet with other guys who wanted their autographs. For example, in 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (called Start) in Moscow to reduce stockpiles of nuclear warheads by about a third. By this time, we had reached that critical point in U.S. history where we had to find good acronyms, because the government was becoming so inundated with words, titles, summaries, white papers, blue books, yellow pages…So many things to be named!* Even the Canadians occasionally do a little legal rearranging in the summer. In 1972, Ottawa announced that first-time offenders for cannabis possession would not be jailed. And the Canadians joined all the European nations (except Albania) in signing the Helsinki Final Act treaty, which aimed to ratify Europe's post war boundaries and guarantee human rights. The main signatories were the U.S. and the USSR, but Canada’s benign presence did not serve as a guideline for the Big Two MAD countries to get along. The Soviets continued to repress their human rights activists, and the U.S. continued to act purer than the driven snow about the whole business.* And where there’s a signing, you can bet there’s also an UNsigning, as in the case of the 1987 vote by the Federal Communications Commission to rescind the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and television stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues. *In all fairness – even though that’s no longer a requirement of me – these all truthiness. I have not bothered to try to seek out any evidence to support these statements. Now get out of that suit and tie, stop worrying about US, and go outside and play!
In addition to the return of the Apollo astronauts to earth on July 24, this week included a number of other returns:
In a 1954, for the first time ever, the sound of a human voice returned to earth after having been, transmitted beyond the ionosphere and bounced off the moon. The voice was that of James H. Trexler, an engineer in the Radio Countermeasures Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory’s Stump Neck radio antenna facility in Maryland. It took two and a half seconds for his words to return to him at Stump Neck, after traveling 500,000 miles via an Earth-Moon circuit.
In 1977 Deng Xiaoping, the disgraced deputy Prime Minister of China, returned to Chinese government.
In 1980 the first human re-entry was made into the Three Mile Island Unit-2 containment building since it was shut down following its partial melt-down on March 28, 1979.
And in 2005 Lance Armstrong closed out his cycling career with a seventh consecutive Tour de France victory.
And more in keeping with the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s line from the movie “The Shining,” here’s some news about someone who would NOT be back:
In 1979, a Miami jury convicted Ted Bundy of first-degree murder in the slayings of Florida State University sorority sisters Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy.
I guess when we saw the occupants of the Apollo 11 land on the moon on July 20, 1969 we Boomers really believed we were almost there. We could discern that very first lightening of the dark night sky, the dawn of the golden age of peace, of love, of free room and board. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius!
Alas, it was not to be. But for that one moment – WOW!
You can watch the lunar landing again on YouTube
View images of the mission by going to: Apollo 11 image library
Listen to audio or read transcripts from the mission by going to: Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal
One of the biggest controversies of the Boomer Age started on July 8, 1947. Did a UFO crash land near Roswell, New Mexico, or didn’t it? Only your hairdresser knows for sure. (Do we still call them hairdressers?)
In the interests of objectivity befitting someone with an Actual Degree in Journalism, here are both sides of the debate:
Government Records:
Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico (Letter Report, 07/28/95, GAO/NSIAD-95-187).
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the 1947 weather balloon crash at Roswell Air Field, New Mexico, focusing on: (1) the requirements for reporting air accidents similar to the Roswell crash; and (2) any government records concerning the Roswell crash.
GAO found that:
(1) in 1947, Army regulations required that air accident reports be maintained permanently and although none of the military services filed a report on the Roswell incident, there was no requirement in 1947 to prepare a report on the weather balloon crash;
(2) although some of the records concerning Roswell activities had been destroyed, there was no information available regarding when or under what authority the records were destroyed;
(3) only two government records originating in 1947 have been recovered regarding the Roswell incident;
(4) a 1947 Federal Bureau of Investigations record revealed that the military had reported that an object resembling a high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector had been recovered near Roswell; and
(5) a 1947 Air Force report noted the recovery of a flying disc that was later determined by military officials to be a radar-tracking balloon.
On July 8, 1947 at 5:26 EDT, an Associated Press news wire announced that Roswell Army Air Field had reported recovering a "flying disk" from a nearby rancher's property, first found "sometime last week," and that it was being flown to "higher headquarters." The curious base press release triggered a national press feeding frenzy. Later "higher headquarters" was announced to be Brig. Gen. Roger Ramey, head of the 8th Army Air Force at Fort Worth, Texas. The Roswell 509th Bomb Group was a subcommand of the 8th AAF. It was also announced that the recovered "disk" was eventually destined for Wright Field, Ohio, home of the Air Materiel Command and the AAF's aeronautical research labs. (See also: http://www.answers.com/topic/majestic-12; http://www.answers.com/topic/stanton-t-friedman; http://ufo.whipnet.org/roswell/; and http://n6rpf.com-us.net/peebles1.html) YOU MAKE THE CALL!
If you ignore the 20-kiloton atomic bomb the U.S. exploded near Bikini atoll in the Pacific Ocean in 1946, July generally starts off with a grand celebration of human rights and civic pride. And even that bomb could be thought of as a giant firecracker in honor of America’s birthday!
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am the Yankee Doodle Boy
But let us not go too quickly past the very first day of July. We don’t even have to give up our theme! Not wanting to come in second, the Canadians jumped right in front of the U.S. by having Canada Day land on July 1. This used to be called Dominion Day, in honor of the establishment of Canada as a self-governing country on July 1, 1867. The name was officially changed to Canada Day on October 27, 1982. Not long before that—in fact on July 1, 1980—“O Canada” was adopted as Canada’s national anthem.
Here are the official lyrics in English:
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Inuktitut lyrics—in case they want to sing along
O'Kanata nangmini Nunavut piqujatii
Nalattiaqpavut angiglivaliajuti sangijulutillu
nanqipugu
O'Kanata mianiripluti
O'Kanata nunatsia
nangiqpugu mianiripluti
O'Kanata salagijauquna
What, you may ask, did they do before that? Well, keeping in mind that Canada is a Dominion—originally a polite term for “colony”—of the British Commonwealth of Nations, I’m guessing they mainly sang “God Save the Queen” (or King, obviously).
July 1 is the start of the fiscal year for the U.S. government, too. I don’t know if that’s why the bomb was set off in the Bikini atoll, but I’m betting it’s the reason that zip codes were inaugurated on that date in 1963. If we could figure out how to ship a package through cyberspace, it probably wouldn’t be long before those numbers became obsolete. I’m also guessing that the onset of the fiscal year led to the decision to get the Medicare program up and running on July 1, 1966.
Some other good things started up on July 1, too:
1967: The European Community (originally the EEC or European Economic Community) was formally created from a merger between the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.
1968: The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, Canada and 57 other nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
1997: Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.
1999: The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the day powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.
(Man, over the past couple hundred years or so, the British Empire’s pride surely took a beating and its civic boundaries definitely shrank in the first week of July!)
2000: Vermont's civil unions law went into effect, granting gay couples most of the rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage.
2000: The Confederate flag was removed from atop South Carolina's Statehouse. (OK, they just moved it to a Confederate soldiers’ monument on the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, but it was at least a start!)
2002: The International Criminal Court was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
Now let’s go back to that comment about this being the anniversary of the U.S. Independence Day. Guess which country—besides China and Russia—declined to participate in the ICC and wants its citizens exempted from prosecution by this INTERNATIONAL body (but does want NON-Yankee Doodle dandies prosecuted there—if they can’t be part of our Extraordinary Rendition Program or be enticed to join the Guantanamo Vacation Plan)?
