Growing up in the Cold War.

I was born in 1955 so I grew up in the 60's and 70's. It was an interesting period in American History. My generation grew up with a certainty that one day we would more than likely die in a nuclear war. Both America and the Soviet Union had these huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons and it seemed such a waste not to use them.

I can recall the Cuban Missile Crisis vaguely. I do remember clearly Kennedy's speech to the nation though. I think I'm able to remember it cause I can remember my Dad talking about how the United States was on the brink of a nuclear war while the President was speaking. Of course being only seven years old at the time I had no idea what a nuclear war was,but I understood war. My Dad and most of my friends Dads had served in the military during World War Two,and we had some idea about atomic bombs cause growing we had been told about how an atomic bomb had ended the war.

Being born in 1955 only 10 years after the end of World War Two,as a child we had all played war games where we shot and killed a bunch of dirty Japs. I know Japs isn't a word that the Japanese like and I don't blame them, but I'm just trying to be factual in my memories and that's the word we used as Kids,so sorry in advance.

Growing up I can remember Air Raid commercials on TV. Civil defense psa's would tell you where the nearest Air Raid Shelter was to your location. The theater in the basement at the High School in our town was a Civil Defense Shelter. I can still recall finding cases of canned food and dry rations marked with the Civil Defense emblem when I was in High School there in 1971-72.

I know now that the 60's and 70's seemed like a simpler time and place but that's just not the case. I've always said that anyone who is nostalgic about the 60's didn't live through them. It was really a scary time.

I was in the 3rd grade when JFK was murdered. I can remember my teacher telling us that one of the other teachers had heard on the car radio while sitting in his car during recess grabbing a cigarette that he had heard the news flash about the President being shot in Texas. We being 3rd graders really didn't grasp the enormity of the situation. The principle of the school came into our class later and told us that the President had died and we would be going home early that day. I remember walking in front of the school with my teacher and her pointing out to me the flag being at half staff.

The President had been killed on a Friday and as a Kid I was looking forward to a weekend of my favorite cartoons. I had no idea that there wasn't going to be any cartoons on the television that weekend. All the networks naturally were running live from Washington and Dallas all weekend. I watched Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald live on national TV. There was no school that Monday either because of the Kennedy Funeral but as a Kid I didn't care. There was nothing good on TV so what good was a day off from school?

Then there was the Vietnam War and the War protests. Another scary time! Honestly it seems to me as a Kid at the time that the country was coming apart. There was so much dissident and disagreement.

People remember the good times and tend to forget the bad times. Remember the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago? I was 13 years old and I watched the Police of Chicago viciously beating with their billy clubs what seemed to me to be innocent young people who were close to my age, mostly who were doing nothing more than voicing their opinion. Which is the right of all Americans.

1968 was a very very scary year. Not only was there the war in Vietnam and sometimes violent war protests with police using teargas against people close to my own age once again. There was the King assassination in April and the race riots that followed that in most cities in the country that had large black populations. Then Robert Kennedy was killed in June. It really did seems like America was falling apart before your very eyes.

I could go on but I have to go to work now. I hope everyone has a great day!