Life in 1969

Maybe I should have been a sociologist or a cultural anthropologist (sometimes they look at the same thing from different angles) .  Many times, when I learn about a historical event, I tend to be more interested in how people lived back then.

This year, there are many anniversaries of historical events.  Next up - the moon landing and astronauts walking on the moon.

1969.  50 years ago.

There is some nostalgia in this video for me, as I was close to the (pretend) age of the person who made this video.

It seems so simple.  The teens in the video weren't bullying each other on social media.  They weren't texting or using a chat app.  The Internet (actually ARPANET) had just come into being.
The world was different, all right.

You might not want to eat all the popular foods.

There were almost no handheld calculators owned by the general public.  They were invented around 1966 but didn't really catch on until around 1974.  So scientists and mathematicians used slide rules for their space flight calculations.  Slide rules didn't need batteries and worked in power failures, too.

Long distance phone calls could cost a fortune depending on where you were calling. Forget about video. There weren't answering machines, but then again, there weren't robocalls, either.

There were telex machines.

Microwaves? Well they existed but few owned them.

There was a lot more smoking of cigarettes and cigarette ads had not yet been banned on television.

The Vietnam War was on the minds of any.  We were a split country, People who cried "love it or leave it", some who did leave it for Canada, others who fought and lost their lives, still others who burned the flag or draft cards in protests.  The nightly news brought the headcount of deaths on both sides.

So, that was the world that launched the first mission to the moon on July 16, 1969.  A world where each space launch was covered by each of the three networks.  Many people didn't have cable.  There were no 24 hour news channels. 

Simpler times, perhaps.  Maybe better, but that depended on your nationality, religion, and other factors.  Prejudice was alive and well,  and discrimination was more open.  It still is today, of course.

I'm also finding out that people I know on Facebook had parents or other relatives working in the space program or in related industries.  Perhaps you do know people in your lives, too, who were involved.

I would love to hear your stories.