Drift below the Tang flavored Cloud for the 2nd edition of Decades, this time focusing on December in the 1960s...
This Month in 1960s History: The British Parliament abolishes the death penalty for murder (December 18th, 1969). It would take them another 19 years to fully abolish it, (treason is always a sticky-wicket with those guys) but for over forty years an eye for eye has not been in the British vernacular. Of course, without the deterrent, it has made Britain one of the top five countries in the developed world for per capita murders... oh wait, that's us.
Watch out Russia and Mexico, we're gunning for ya.
1960s Song of the Month: A Change is Gonna Come, by Sam Cooke (Released December 22nd, 1964). Inspired by Bob Dylan's
Blowin' in the Wind, Cooke penned this song about the discrimination and racism he personally felt hurled towards him on a regular basis. Only a modest success at the time (it reached #31 on Billboard), it became one of the main anthems of the Civil Rights movement. It has been covered by a slew of performers, from Dylan himself, to a 2011 Miss America contestant.
1960s Movie of the Month: The Graduate (Premiered December 22nd, 1967).
You don't have to be a child of the '60s, or a 21-year-old (as I can attest to since I am neither), to appreciate the way this film makes it feel like you, at some time in your life, were Benjamin Braddock. By the way, the much discussed final scene of the movie? I think you could spend hours debating what Elaine was thinking at the back of the bus. As for Ben? He was just tired.
Modern Day Tagline: It is a lot easier to spend your days "drifting" when you don't have a mountain of student loan debt
1960s Law of the Month The Clean Air Act (Signed into law, Dec. 17th, 1963). Air is good, clean air is better. This law was strengthened later in the decade and over the next thirty years, as this version of the act merely established a research program. Still, bravo for first steps.
1960s Progressive Champion of the Month: Mario Savio. Savio was a political activist and leader in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkley, in the early 1960s. He gave many powerful speeches, but he is most remembered for the one he gave on the steps of Sproul Hall in December of 1964. Here is an excerpt from that speech:
There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
A counter-culture founding father
1960s Conservative Bum of the Month: Robert W. Welch, Jr. Welch, born during the month of December, was one of the co-founders of the John Birch Society. He and his cohorts (including the Koch brothers' daddy, Fred) spent a large part of the 1960s hating on commies, opposing pretty much anything the federal government did (such as Civil Rights legislation) and being a thorn in the side of "moderate" conservatives. It was a classic case of a bunch of rich men with too much time on their hands.
He also invented the Sugar Daddy, a pretty shitty candy if I do say so myself.
1960s Sports Highlight of the Month: Curt Flood sues baseball. Before this landmark challenge there was no such thing as free agency in baseball. Once a team drafted a player, he was theirs to do with as they pleased until the day he retired. It has been noted that there is a certain poetic justice in that the "slavery" of players ended due to the act of a black man, who wouldn't have been welcome in the clubhouse a few decades earlier.
1960s Inflation Freak Out of the Month: A first class stamp in 1963? That will be 5 cents please, up from 4 cents the year before. Of course, you couldn't have gotten one of these babies back then:
Back then, you would have been able to afford 9x more of these... doh!
1960s Reincarnation Watch of the Month: On December 15th, 1962, British actor Charles Laughton (Hunchback of Notre Dame) passed away. The next day, future NFL player William "The Refrigerator" Perry was born. Coincidence?
1960s Quote of the Month:
I'm a human being. I'm not a piece of property. I am not a consignment of goods. - Curt Flood