Author : Lindsey Williams
Last Decade Not So Bad By Comparison
January 7, 1970
Hardly anyone has a kind word for the decade just finished.The Vietnam war, race riots, campus rebellion and political assassinations left a bad taste in the mouths of Americans. Good riddance, they say, to the "Soaring Sixties" that fizzled.Yet, it was no worse than any other decade in recent history; and in many respects it was considerably better.After all, we did conquer polio, learn how to transplant hearts and kidneys, sign a limited nuclear test ban treaty and plant the American flag on the Moon.Despite the racial strife, we made greater strides in solving our racial problems than we had in the preceding ten decades.Despite the wars in Asia, we stopped the spread of totalitarian communism.Despite the unrest of youth, we turned out the highest percentage of educated, responsible young adults in the history of man.Those who identify intimately with the Kennedy brothers, or Rev. Martin Luther King, or with the soldiers slain in Vietnam, tend to place recent events in the blackest period of history. These acts are deplorable by all standards. However, a comparison with any ten-year period illustrates the cliché that "there is nothing new under the sun."For example, following are some highlights of the decades since the turn of the century. Which would you like to live over?1900-1909
President McKinley assassinated, Russo-Japanese War, San Francisco earthquake and fire, Norway secedes from Sweden, Czar crushes first revolution in Russia, Marconi invents wireless, Henry Ford starts his automobile company, Wright brothers fly first man-carrying plane, subway opened in New York City, Admiral Perry discovers North Pole.
1910-1919
Mexican revolution, Chinese revolution, Balkan war, terror bombings by U.S. labor organizers, Russian Czar and his family assassinated, second Russian revolution succeeds and taken over by Communists, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria assassinated and this triggers World War I, U.S. adopts prohibition amendment, Capt. Roald Amundsen reaches South Pole, Panama Canal opened, transcontinental telephone service opened in U.S.
1920-29
U.S. intervenes in Nicaragua, Teapot Dome oil bribery involves high U.S. officials, bathtub gin, short skirts, gangsters, stock market crash, Goddard flies first liquid fuel space-type rocket, Lindbergh flies the Atlantic, talking motion pictures introduced.
1930-39
World gripped in Great Depression, Adolph Hitler takes over Germany with his street gangs, Spanish civil war, Italy invades Ethiopia, Japan invades China, Germany invades Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, World War II starts in Europe, assassin misses President Franklin Roosevelt and kills Chicago mayor at his side, Einstein's theory of relativity unlocks secret of nuclear energy, jet airplane engine developed, radar invented.
1940-49
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor bringing U.S. into World War II, 35 killed in Detroit in first big race riot, atom bombs exploded on Japan, commercial television introduced, United Nations established, Dr. Fleming discovers penicillin.
1950-59
Korean war, several U.S. and British citizens convicted of spying for Russia, nation of Israel established, Egypt seizes Suez, Puerto Rican nationalists wound five Congressmen in shoot out in U.S. Capitol and attempt to assassinate President Truman, U.S. intervenes in Lebanon, Russia crushes revolts in Hungary and Poland, U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that discrimination in public schools is unconstitutional, high school at Little Rock, Ark., forcibly integrated by federal marshals, computers developed, transistors introduced.
1960-69
Russia divided German capital with Berlin Wall, American-supported Cubans defeated at Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy forces Russian missiles out of Cuba with ultimatum, U.S. soldiers sent to Vietnam, President Kennedy assassinated by Lee Oswald, U.S. intervenes in Dominican Republic, Bobby Kennedy assassinated, Rev. Martin Luther King assassinated, Russia crushes revolt in Czechoslovakia, widespread race riots, "hippies" spread drug and sex cult, college activists disrupt campuses, U.S. and Russia sign limited nuclear test ban treaty, polio vaccine developed, U.S. astronauts walk on Moon, techniques developed for transplant of heart, kidneys and other vital organs.
A wise philosopher once observed that if all the troubles of the world were placed in one big pile to be divided equally among all men, each of us would be content to take back his own problems and leave without dividing the pile.I have somewhat the same feeling about the decades of my experience. I was far from elated with the last one, but I wouldn't trade it for any of the others I have known.Each decade has its problems, but these are opportunities for the new era. Some good is accomplished, some progress made.Perhaps it is enough to be able to say, "I survived another decade, and I will do my best in the next."Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted at:LinWms@earthlink.netLinWms@lindseywilliams.orgWebsite: http://www.lindseywilliams.org with several hundred of Lin's articles written over 40 years, and his book "Boldly Onward," about the original explorers of America.
Keyword : American History, 1960's, WW II, Korean War, WW I, Viet Nam War, Moon Walk, discovery, history
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