“Come mothers and fathers, / Throughout the land, / And don’t criticize, / What you can’t understand.” – Bob Dylan in “The Times They are A-Changin” from 1965, written to reflect the changing times of the 1960s.
When the year 1960 pops into conversation, I’m sure you think of peace and freedom marches, love beads, draft-card burnings, drugs, and protests, but what would a day in 1960 look like really?
For many families, the 1960s were a wonderful time, despite the crazy reality of the decade. Family life proved the times worth as the decade set about innocently but spread to disorder with assassinations, war, and rebellion. However, the years did bring substantial societal breakthroughs with women’s rights, civil rights, and also space exploration.
By 1960 most American households had a television, even though there were only three channels and only one TV set normally allowed socially per household. People began to rely more on television news and less on the paper for the day’s headlines, though they still collected and read the paper just as often. When something crucial happened on TV, it affected the whole country at the same time.
The decade brought with it many pronounced television news stories that included the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy. It also included the civil rights struggles that were documented were peaceful protests, violent retaliation, and landmark legislation. The Vietnam War and the counterculture movement also made headlines as the future became very unclear and scary.
Aside from the important news stories of the decade, TVs were also used for entertainment. After dinner, families gathered around the television and the living room became a family theater. Some of the most popular shows being aired on television at this time included the Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, Dick Van Dyke, The Andy Griffith Show, and Star Trek.
By the mid to late 1960’s more women were entering the workforce and the ideal visuals of the family had started to change. This change confronted the social order of men being the breadwinners and women managing the home and caring for the children, forever changing the social conformity and views of a family.
Road trips during this time were also increasingly accepted. The interstate highway system was growing from coast to coast. At the same time, automobiles were becoming an attachment in front of many staple family homes. Gas was about 25 to 30 cents per gallon. With a triple-A triptych map and a loaded-up station wagon, American families tackled the road with a plan to stop at a holiday inn or a Howard Johnson restaurant.
The 1960s was a great decade for sports. Baseball has never been more exciting than it was in 1961 when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle raced to break Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a single season. On October 1st during the last game of the regular season, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run against the Boston Red Sox.
In 1964, Olympic gold medalist Cassius Clay at 22 years old defeated Sonny Liston in a technical knockout to win the heavyweight boxing championship of the world, a few weeks later he would change his name to Muhammad Ali.
The first Super Bowl highlighted the Green Bay Packers against the Kansas City Chiefs in 1967, the Packers beat the Chiefs 35-10. The first Super Bowl halftime show featured not a popular singer but instead two marching bands, a solo trumpet player, and the Bell Rocket airman.
If you came of age in the 1960s, your best times were most likely spent riding your banana bike with friends, listening to the Beatles, wearing gogo boots or bell-bottom jeans, watching American Bandstand, and learning to do the Twist.
As the decade came to a close, one event seemingly brought us all back together after years of riots and disagreement. Watching the Apollo 11 rocket into space and then witnessing astronaut Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon in 1969 was enthralling. But the entire decade was spent watching, waiting, and dreaming about a real moon landing. Watching NASA put men on the moon was like watching science fiction come to life, straight out of an episode of the Twilight Zone, and it was the perfect ending to a significant time in American History.
