Moon Landing and Chappaquiddick
Forty years ago this weekend, two events marked the end of the Kennedy era–Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, as JFK had promised, and his brother Ted drove off a bridge at Chappaquiddick to signify the end of Camelot.
“I believe,” President John F. Kennedy had told Congress the year Barack Obama was born, “that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”
For those old enough to remember, that juxtaposition of Apollo 11 and Chappaquiddick will always mark the 1960s as a reminder of the essential truth about politics: high ideals being pursued by flawed human beings.
The jubilation over the moon landing (“one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”) was tempered back then by the trauma of a president’s brother, and likely future candidate himself, involved in the death of a young woman and a scandal worsened by attempted coverups and a Nixonlike Checkers speech to save a political career.
5 Responses to “Moon Landing and Chappaquiddick”
Moonlanding video. Quite interesting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdaBwh20nIk
Everyone paid attention to the moon landing, while few paid attention to Chappaquiddick.
We had the liberal media then, as we do now (though less strident and deliberately political as now), but what we didn't have then that we have now is a minority conservative media community that is successful, and we didn't have the sensationalistic, desperately-seeking-scandal-and-controversy nature in the media then. (The assassination of RFK the year prior, unlike Chappaquiddick, _was_ big news, of course, but wasn't sensationalized. So was the assassination of Martin Luther King and to a lesser extent, the city riots. I'm wondering why you neglected these obvious _real_ big news stories about the same time as Chappaquiddick, and focused on the latter, which got little attention. Even the “mere” SST program's progress and killing in Congress, or the more obvious campus unrest, was much bigger news than Chappaquiddick.)
“The jubilation over the moon landing [...]“
Aside from the over-emphasis on the less important other events, the _real_ tempering accompanying the moon landing was actually a tempering _after_ the moon landing. The public relaxed, and interest in the manned lunar program quickly diminished. It was only after distress developed that Apollo 13 became a big news event. The public ceased to care after we attained the Moon, which was a primary reason that Apollo missions 18-20 were cancelled.
That is in contrast to the overall nature of things back then, which even with radicalism in liberal politics, strife on college campuses in addition to central cities, the first “culture wars” associated with changes in society after 1965 (youth versus “the Establishment” dwarfing at times any strife related to civil rights for blacks and women's rights ["liberation"]), continued to be optimistic (complete with optimism among the public at large, not only among liberal activists, that government command respect and could do well or even work wonders). The USA remained optimistic all the way until the Arab oil embargo in 1973-4, at which time the USA and the public faced a shock and difficulties with their way of life that were radical.
No, there was a heck-of-a-lot more to the 60's than Apollo 11 and To begin with Apollo 11, though amazing, was at the end of the decade and defined the future not the past. Chappaquiddick, relatively speaking, was nothing. A mere blurb, or, flash in the pan of time. As a news item, Michael Jackson’s death placed beside Chappaquiddick would eclipse Chappaquiddick like the Titanic next to a row boat. The Kennedy’s were loved, and, still are by many including me. No public family gave as much to this country as the Kennedy’s. After all the sacrifice and sadness , the nation understood Ted Kennedy’s drinking and forgave him for Chappaquiddick quickly. That’s why he has stayed in the Senate for so long. His popularity among his constituency never really waned.
Many events described the 60’s much better than these two. The Vietnam war for one, the opposition to the Vietnam War second. The murders of J.F.K, R.F.K, and, M.L.K. The Students murdered by the Army National Guard at Kent State University. The Beatles. The LA earthquakes. Charles Manson murder of Sharon Tate and party with his Nazi and racist ranting. The sinking of the U.S.S Scorpion and U.S.S Thresher. The Watts Riots and other racial riots and events. Even more that I cannot think of off hand.
What a load of crap.