General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: To those DU'ers who lived through the "Golden Age of Capitalism" (1940s to 1970s)-some questions... [View all]CBHagman
(16,980 posts)...I can't resist responding.
I was a kid during the '60s and wasn't particularly savvy about the news but to this day I can hear the voice of the reporter on the news broadcast the morning after JFK was assassinated. The day he was buried every TV set in the neighborhood was tuned to the funeral.
It's dangerous to generalize about national attitudes, optimism vs. pessimism and the like. My grandparents lived through the First World War and the flu pandemic that followed it, and brought up their children during the Great Depression. I frankly remember as much of fatalism and fear of change as the American can-do spirit, flag-waving, and the like.
I remember huge families, milk delivery, knife-grinders. Fast food was a rarity, a treat, not something we relied on every day.
I remember women justifying paying a woman less for doing the same job as a man.
Attention spans were an entirely different phenomenon. TV shows had opening credits and theme songs, movies might have overtures and intermissions, and even if everyone didn't behave well in public, you were expected to shut up and watch the movie, the TV show, whatever. Our church had a so-called crying room from which parents could follow the Mass and attend to their fussy babies.
What is now public broadcasting was then known as educational television.
Censorship was fairly strict, at least on TV, though the Production Code was no longer in effect in the movies.
I do remember 42nd Street in its sleazy incarnation, and reading of lurid crimes in The New York Daily News.
And forget marriage equality. In my grandparents' era, even marrying outside your faith was a major act of rebellion.
As for other topics, I'd suggest spending some quality time with selected parts parts of The American Experience -- e.g., the episodes on the Freedom Riders, the Stonewall riots, and so forth.
[url]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/[/url]
[url]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/[/url]
[url]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/[/url]