The daily prompt asks – What major historical events do you remember? – I answered this question last year with a number of events in post called Off the Top of my Head being I’m a bit older than some who blog.
It was a pretty complete list of my recollection of the turmoil in the 60s and 70s. As I reread it, I noticed how much it was on death and tragedies.
So here are a few good ones I can recall also from those early days. I remember watching the moon landing on B&W TV. I remember the feeling that Woodstock gave the nation. I remember reading my first issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
Others I remember are being afraid of nuclear war. Also waiting in gas lines on odd/even days depending on your license plate. I remember the music of those years getting me through a lot.
What major historical events do you remember? – Great question from the daily writing prompt.
In the 1960s several events stood out. I remember seeing my parents cry for the first time together when John F Kennedy was shot and killed. I still have the Washington Post paper from that day. It was the decade of death for me. My father died a few years later and was buried at Arlington so I got my own experience there.
The deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F Kennedy stood out more because I was more aware of their impact and with the Vietnam war getting out of control the world seemed to be out of control. I also lost 4 more family members before 1970.
I remember George Wallace being shot in a town near me, then Watergate and Nixon resigning. Sitting is gas lines, beginning to vote, and Three Mile Island. This isn’t a major historical event to many except their original fans. The plane crash of Lynyrd Skynyrd in 77 was something that shook me. Their music spoke to me.
John Lennon being killed, the Chornobyl disaster, and watching the Challenger explode live were the 80s. Another historical event on a local and personal level. The death of Len Bias in 86. A basketball player for the University of Maryland. I enjoyed seeing him play, develop, become the #1 draft choice, and then die from a bad choice. Not casting any stones, I’ve made many bad choices in life.
Then my children were born so that is where current life takes over.
We make history every day by our actions, words, and votes.
Wall of front pages on 9/11/2001. This was from the Newseum in DC. Photo by Mike Hartley
