Census indicates a majority of Eurekans had their development seriously impacted by the ‘60s. Hard to believe but that was half a century ago. Here’s a peek back past the winding pathways of history to September 1968, to see what the world was up to a nifty 50 years ago, and if we’ve learned anything.
Leading up to September that year were eight tumultuous months. The war in Vietnam had become very difficult and by mid-year both Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated. Race relations and war protests led to riots and unrest in the streets across the nation and in Europe.
Air bags were invented and 911 emergency phone service went live. Phones were still connected to the wall, and most of them were rotary dial. A bank in Philadelphia auditioned an automatic teller machine, an idea that caught on. Cassette players for cars were introduced and a first class postage stamp cost six cents. The Big Mac was introduced for 49 cents.
In late August, the Warsaw Pact nations, which included the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia. A few days later on the other side of the world, crowds of demonstrators gathered outside the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, and at one point police pushed back and attacked protesters. Chaos ensued. Mayor Richard Daley reportedly declared, “The policeman isn’t there to create disorder; the policeman is there preserve disorder.”
Which brings us to Sunday, September 1, 1968. Lyndon Johnson had four months to go as president, and Democrat Hubert Humphrey launched his campaign against Republican Richard Nixon and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace. Number 1 song was “People Gotta Be Free” by the Rascals and Airport by Arthur Hailey dominated the bestseller lists for months.
Television was transitioning. Most folks still had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel, and sometimes the wind redirected the antenna, but there were locales with cable. “Bonanza” was still on, but so was “Family Affair” about a single man raising his brother’s orphaned kids. “Mayberry RFD” replaced the “Andy Griffith Show” and Lucille Ball tried to re-create her second sitcom into a third one in which her two kids played her two kids. “Laugh-In” was popular enough that Nixon showed up and said, “Sock it to me.”
But this was the month for three important TV events. “Julia” debuted in which Diahann Carroll played a widowed African-American mother. This was the first television series featuring an African-American actor not in a subservient role, and Carroll won a Golden Globe.
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, Harry Reasoner told the world for the first time, “Good evening. This is ‘60 Minutes.’ It’s a kind of magazine for television.” The first episode compared the recent Republican and Democratic conventions.
By month’s end, “Hawaii Five-O” aired for the first time!
On Sept. 3, Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar of Portugal, dictator since 1934, reportedly hit his head when his chair gave way causing a cerebral hemorrhage. He went into a coma and was replaced as prime minister by the end of the month. However, Salazar did not die as expected. He regained consciousness and lived two more years, and those close to him never told him he was no longer prime minister.
On Sept. 6, the Kingdom of Swaziland announced independence from the United Kingdom. Swaziland was led by Sobhuza II who was named Paramount Chief when he was four months old, after his father suddenly died while dancing in 1899. He officially took over in 1921 and ruled until his death in 1982. Records indicate his 82 years and 254 days as monarch is the longest known rule of any monarch in history.
On Sept. 7, protesters decrying sexism and racism gathered at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City and at other locations. Protesters were accompanied by sheep wearing bikinis and Miss America sashes. Judith Ford of Illinois was selected Miss America, and not far away at the same time was the first Miss Black America pageant in which Saundra Williams of Pennsylvania won the crown. By this time, Vanessa Williams was already 5 ½, and 15 years later she became the first of eight African-American Miss Americas so far.
Just like 50 years later, there was fighting in the Mideast. Egypt and Israel were at it as bridges were blasted, electricity disrupted and helicopters blew things up on the same day U.S. negotiator Averell Harriman sat down with Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho to discuss ending the conflict in Vietnam.
Sept. 9 saw the first U.S. Open tennis tournament, and singles winners were Virginia Wade and Arthur Ashe, who was still an amateur.
North Korea had attacked and captured the USS Pueblo in January, and on Sept. 12 some of the crew were displayed for journalists to see.
The following day, Albania withdrew from the Warsaw Pact because of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. “The Warsaw Treaty no longer serves socialism and peace,” Albanian Premier Enver Hoxha said. “It no longer serves the cause of the working class and proletarian internationalism, and it has lost the ideological and class basis on which it was created. It now serves the revisionist bourgeoisie, it serves the big-power chauvinistic narrow interests of the Soviet revisionist leadership as well as the U.S.–Soviet counter-revolutionary alliance for the domination of the world.”
Pitcher Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won his 30th game of the season, still the only pitcher to accomplish the feat since Dizzy Dean did it in 1934.
On Sunday, Sept. 16, the USSR launched a lunar probe carrying, among other things, turtles, worms and plant seeds. Results of the mission vary depending on whom you ask.
As the month progressed, the Rascals were eclipsed at Number One by “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley for one week only until “Hey Jude” crossed the pond and settled in as Number One until Thanksgiving. Number One for country fans was “Mama Tried” by Merle Haggard.
During the middle of the month, the United States and China agreed to meet in an effort to improve relations. A Soviet spacecraft came to within 1200 miles of the moon before turning for home, and was recovered intact in the Indian Ocean three days later. San Francisco State became the first college in the country to offer classes in Black Studies, and other institutions soon followed.
On Sept. 19, Mickey Mantle hit his 535th home run, which put him third on the all-time list behind Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. He is currently 18th on the list behind David Ortiz. Larry Czonka, Haven Moses and Skip Vanderbundt were notable NFL rookies that autumn, and the Razorbacks defeated both Oklahoma State and Tulsa during September on their way to an 11-1 season and a victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
On Sept. 25, Republicans began a filibuster to block approval of Abe Fortas to sit on the Supreme Court, harbinger of yet another partisan clash about the Supreme Court heating up 50 years later.
During a five-year stretch that began in 1968, highjackings occurred almost weekly, worldwide. There were three in September – one plane leaving Puerto Rico and two leaving Colombia that were diverted to Havana.
And during September 1968, the Eureka Springs population was pushing 1600. City council approved Ord. 894, which accepted the Broadmoor Acres Addition (Hayes Street) into the city and Ord. 896, which vacated some alleys.
And just a couple weeks later in October, there were the famous raised fists on the winners’ stand at the Mexico City Olympics in protest of racial injustice, which is similar to the kneeling protests by football players nowadays who feel there are issues being left unaddressed. Middle East conflicts have relocated a few times during 50 years, but they continue. North Korea remains an international blackguard, and Russia is again sticking its thumb in other people’s pies. Think of all we’ve learned in 50 years, and in spite of it all, solutions to these longstanding conflicts remain elusive.
But September 1968, was a time of innocence because we had no idea we’d be able to talk on a phone away from the wall and with no cord, and little did we know the Beatles White Album would be out right before Thanksgiving.