If a person graduated from high school in 1961 and proceeded directly on to a four year college, he would graduate just in time to see President Johnson, in June of 1965, send several (was it six or eight?) Marine Divisions to Vietnam to straighten out that mess (it was well understood that they would be home in time for Christmas).
In 1961, all was well. The World's Laziest Journalist knows of one member of the class of 1961, who joined the Navy, was assigned to a destroyer that circled the globe, came back home to Scranton and declined all additional opportunities to travel. "I've been around the world. I like Scranton. Why would I want to leave?"
Soldiers from Scranton, in the 28th Division's 109th Regiment, had fought at the battle of the bulge and so America was determined to make sure that those war atrocities, such as the ones that Germany had committed during World War II, would never again be permitted in the world that was beckoning to the eager and enthusiastic members of the class of 1961.
The world in 1961 wasn't perfect. The designers at Chevrolet were trying to develop a coupe model for the popular Corvette roadster. America didn't need a Desoto car. TV would be better in "living color." Pan Am, Eastern Airlines ("The wings of man") and TWA stood ready to fly America's youth to places where they could face the "Europe on $5 a day" challenge.
Americans didn't have to buy a WMCA t-shirt to know that they were one of a special breed. Who didn't want a T-shirt that proclaimed that the wearer was a "Good Guy"?
Wasn't "The Ugly American" a Commie propaganda ruse? Didn't the East German authorities have to build a wall to hold back their young people with curiosity about freedom?
The graduates who got married and started having kids didn't have to worry about the draft. The guys who went on to college did. Did the lamestream media do feature stories about the last guy to be drafted? Who was it? Lord knows the lamestream sure did cover the story when Elvis got drafted and when Cascius Clay turned down his draft board's invitation. When Elvis left the Army, there was a TV special on which Frank Sinatra welcomed Elvis back home.
There was one TV special (was it part of Ford's 50th anniversary celebration?) that featured the best science based predictions for the future. As we recall it, that program predicted that newspapers would deliver their stories directly into homes via a machine that was a combination of calculator, telephone, TV set, and printing press.
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