1968: The Year That Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky is the book I wish I had started reading on January 1st of this year, rather than being one of the last books I read in 2018. The book brought back many memories of a tumultuous time, much like the turmoil of the past two years. Early in the book the author states “From the outset of the year, the United States seemed to be run by fear.” To me, that sounds much like what has been happening all around the world for the past few years but is especially applicable to the current President of the US. The book also discusses the war against the press fostered by the government in 1968, again similar to what is happening now.
I was ten years and 11 days old on January 1, 1968. While I was too young to be an active participant in the societal and political events of that year, I recognize that my worldview has been deeply influenced by 1968. Reading the book gave me an opportunity to refresh those beliefs and memories and to learn some things I did not know.
Kurlansky’s 1968: The Year That Rocked the World does not just examine the USA during 1968 but looks at what was happening throughout the entire world. There is a section on Czechoslovakia and The Prague Spring, Alexander Dubcek’s attempt to democratize and humanize Communism in Czechoslovakia, against the desires of the Soviet Union. That resulted in the Soviet and Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in September of 1968, which was credited with being the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. This was especially interesting to me as my ancestry is 50% Czech.
The author also examines the role the press played in the events of 1968 and how TV coupled with violence, became the way for protesters to get their message picked up and delivered by the mass media (If both sides are nonviolent, there is no story.) Another similarity to what is happening today.
“…because television likes drama, television likes conflict, and anything that indicates conflict was a candidate for something that might get on the air—on the Cronkite show that evening, which was what we were all trying to do.” The presence of cameras started to have a noticeable impact on civility in debates. Schorr recalled in covering the Senate, “They frequently raised their voice for no reason at all, just because they knew that it would get our attention by doing that.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 815-818). ]
No book about 1968 would be complete without examining the Vietnam War and how the worlds changing attitude toward that war influenced what was happening. Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin at the time I recall my father watching the news every night and how often demonstrations at Madison’s own UW campus made the national news. The book reviews the student movements throughout the world and how they influenced many events in 1968. Special attention is given to New York’s Columbia University.
“Violence requires few ideas, but nonviolent resistance requires imagination. That is one of the reasons so few rebels are willing to embrace it. The American civil rights movement learned as it went along, making many mistakes. But by the mid-1960s the movement, especially SNCC, had thrilled the world with its imagination and the daring of its ideas, inspiring students as far away as Poland to stage sit-ins. By 1968, all over the world, people with causes wanted to copy the civil rights movement.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 1550-1553).]
“Youth around the globe saw the world being squeezed by two equal and unsavory forces. American youth had learned that it was important to stand up to both the communists and the anticommunists. The Port Huron Statement recognized that communism should be opposed: “The Soviet Union, as a system, rests on the total repression of organized opposition, as well as a vision of the future in the name of which much human life had been sacrificed, and numerous small and large denials of human dignity rationalized.” But according to the Port Huron Statement, anticommunist forces in America were more harmful than helpful. The statement cautions that “an unreasoning anti-Communism has become a major social problem.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 1859-1864).]
America’s Presidential election in 1968 is also discussed, starting with the premise that while Nixon would be the likely GOP candidate, he would have little chance of winning. That changed as the year went on, with LBJ choosing not to run and Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy entering the race. While the polls suggested Gov. Nelson Rockefeller would be the GOP’s candidate we know that did not happen. Instead, Nixon became their candidate, and 1968 marked the end of the liberal to moderate wing of the Republican party.
I often wonder how different the world would be today if RFK has not been assassinated and if he would have become the Democratic candidate and beat Nixon. I have long been a fan of Robert F. Kennedy, and the following quote, of with which I was not familiar with, is cited in the book. It makes me yearn even more for someone like Bobby Kennedy in the White House and in every seat in Congress.
“We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average, nor national achievement by the Gross National Product. For the Gross National Product includes air pollution, and ambulances to clear our highways from carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. The Gross National Product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads. . . . It includes . . . the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.
And if the Gross National Product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials . . . the Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America—except whether we are proud to be Americans.” – Sen. Robert F. Kennedy [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 2547-2558)].
The author discusses some of the predictions made for the near future, and they are in retrospect, quite comical.
“In the 1950s computer manufacturers had estimated that six computers could serve the needs of the entire United States. By January 1968 fifty thousand computers were operating in the country, of which fifteen thousand had been installed in the past year.” – [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 173-174)]
If we consider that the average smartphone is more powerful than any computer from the 1950s and that there as of 2016 there were 2.1 billion smartphones in use, that above prediction was way off.
“One study by the Southern California Research Council claimed that by the year 1985 most Americans would have to work only half the year to maintain their current standard of living and warned that recreational facilities were woefully underdeveloped for all the leisure time facing the new generation. These conclusions were based on the rising individual share of the gross national product. If the total value of goods and services was divided by the total population, including nonearners, the resulting figure was projected to double between 1968 and 1985.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 3322-3326).]
What a wonderful world it would be if all of humanity had a decent standard of living and excess leisure time.
“In thirty years, Servan-Schreiber predicted, “America will be a post-industrial society with a per capita income of $7,500. There will be only four work days a week of seven hours per day. The year will be comprised of 39 work weeks and 13 weeks of vacation.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 3808-3810)]
So, on the one hand, we have exceeded the above prediction; “In 2016, median income per capita was $33,205. That's the highest in U.S. history. In fact, it was more than 10 times greater than in 1967, when median per capita income was only $2,464;” however, many of us are still working five days or more per week and more than eight hours per day. Even with a median capita income more than $33,000, half of the population falls below that. If we look at the levels of food insecurity and homelessness, we have not made as much progress as we would like to think we have made or what was predicted.
The change in America’s two predominant political parties started in 1968 and is well documented in the book.
“1968 was the year in which the Republican Party became a far more ideological party—a conservative party in which promising moderates have been marginalized.” – [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 4766-4767)]
Even the battle for the Supreme Court was being waged in 1968.
“But cronyism was not the main issue; it was the right of Johnson to appoint Supreme Court justices. Republicans, who had been in the White House only eight of the past thirty-six years, felt they had a good chance of taking over in 1968, and some Republicans wanted their own judges. Robert Griffin, Republican from Michigan, got nineteen Republican senators to sign a petition saying that Johnson, with only seven months left in office, should not get to pick two judges.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 6369-6372)]
And, even back in 1968, electing the President via the electoral college was unpopular.
“In fact, a Gallup poll showed that 81 percent of Americans favored dropping the electoral college and having the president elected by popular vote.” [Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 6509-6510)]
1968: The Year That Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky concludes with a quote from Astronaut Michael Collins explaining what he felt as he orbited the moon while it was explored by colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. On one hand, the quote makes me feel good because it professes a view that I believe that most of us from the 60’s believed would be a reality by now. At the same time, I am disappointed. When I see how little progress humanity has made in; ending war and violence, ending poverty, hunger/food insecurity, homelessness, lack of adequate healthcare, and income inequality, ending racism, bigotry, sexism and domestic abuse and violence, ending the destruction of our planet and the environment, ending the concept of nationalism, tribalism and borders and moving towards a unified humanity where we are all working to help one another.
“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let’s say, 100,000 miles, their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified facade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment. The earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or Communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied.” – Astronaut Michael Collins, Kurlansky, Mark. 1968 (Kindle Locations 6823-6827)
If you want some historical perspective on where humanity has been since the 1960s and where we are today, I encourage you to read 1968: The Year That Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky. Hopefully, it will inspire you, as it has me, on our need to do much better, if humanity is to survive.
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The Shadow
Delivered exactly on the day promised
Reviewed in Canada on July 13, 2020
D. Blöcker
An amazing milestone for the generation 60+
Reviewed in Germany on September 29, 2019
John G
The year in the 1960s which made all the difference.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2016Yves Pilon
Enlightening to the history of what happened when.
Reviewed in Canada on March 13, 2023
