In the previous installment, Part 1 in this three part series, I invited you to play a game titled: “Where Were You On …?” I showed you a list of some key events in history from over the past century. I asked you to read each one and see if you could remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard about these events. If you missed playing the game, go to Part 1 at http://www.marketfaith.org/2021/05/lets-play-where-were-you-on-part-1-1900-1959-tal-davis and take a shot at it.
In the that first installment, following the game, we reviewed each historical event starting with the early 1900s through the 1950s. In this Part 2, we will look at the years 1960 to the present. In Part 3 we will examine how the passing of time is relevant to the progress of our lives as understood from a biblical perspective. So let’s continue the historical review we began in Part 1.
Where you on…
April 12, 1961 – Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, flying the Vostok 1, becomes the first human in space.
As I said in Part 1, when the Soviet Union launched a satellite into orbit in 1957, it was a major blow to American pride. But when they put a man in space in 1961, it was a double stunner. This event was nearly 60 years ago, so some of you, like me, remember well the shock Americans felt. Nonetheless, it only motivated our scientists to work harder to catch up with, and eventually pass, the Russians.
October 22, 1962 – President John F. Kennedy announces on TV that the USSR has placed nuclear armed missiles in Cuba.
Without a doubt, one of the most anguishing periods in American and world history was on October 22, 1962, just over 60 years ago. On that date, President John F. Kennedy went on national TV to inform the country that the Soviet Union had covertly installed nuclear armed missiles only 90 miles from our shore in Cuba. He also warned the Russians that we would not tolerate them staying there. For about two weeks, the world stood on edge as the two super powers went eye-to-eye on the brink of nuclear war.
If you are about 67 years old or more, you probably remember the near panic that accompanied the stand off. You may have participated in emergency civil defense drills schools conducted to prepare for what was feared could happen. The crisis abated a few weeks later when the Soviets agreed to dismantle and remove the weapons from Cuba in exchange for a guarantee that the US would not invade the island, and that it would remove nuclear missiles in Turkey.
August 28, 1963 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington.
Certainly one of the most riveting speeches ever delivered was by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial during the Civil Rights March on Washington. His “I Have Dream” address was 57 years ago, so many Americans still living and over the age of about 65 may have watched it live on television. Certainly African Americans of that age can never forget it.
November 22, 1963 – President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
Just about everyone now living who was alive in 1963, and at least the age of 8 or 9, will recall exactly where they were and what they were doing on that Fall Friday afternoon 57 years ago. I remember I was in my 6th grade classroom cutting poster board with a paper slicer. About 2pm, another student came in the room and yelled, “The President’s been shot!” We thought he was joking until the teacher from next door stuck her head in and said, “You better turn on your TV.” The whole class stood in silent disbelief when CBS’ Walter Cronkite, his voice shaking with emotion, made that awful announcement, “The flash from Dallas, Texas, apparently official. President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1pm Central Standard Time. 2pm Eastern, some 38 minutes ago.” What were you doing? I bet you remember vividly.
February 9, 1964 – The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
If you were age 8 years old or over in 1964 you were most likely in front of your black and white television set on that Sunday night 57 years ago (everybody’s parents always watched Ed Sullivan). The Beatles came to America and the country went wild. Their appearance began the “British Invasion” of rock and roll music. Before that time, Americans assumed rock and roll was exclusively our property. The Beach Boys, the 4 Seasons, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker, Elvis Presley, Dion and the Belmonts, Martha and the Vandellas, Connie Francis, and all the other 1950’s and early 60’s rock and roll pioneers, were, of course, Americans. We had all the best rock artists in the world. Who could be better than them?
Then, seemingly out of the blue, along came a mop-haired four man combo from Liverpool England called the Beatles. (The name was a takeoff on the 1950s American group Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Holly died in a plane crash on February 3, 1958, “The Day the Music Died.” Some of you may remember that day.) The Beatles were followed in the next few weeks by the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones, Gerry and Pacemakers, Herman’s Hermits, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, and a host of other British acts. The upstart British suddenly took over American radio station playlists and dominated American music charts. For some formerly popular American recording artists, the Invasion essentially marked the end of their careers.
April 4, 1968 – Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Any African-American born before 1960 knows exactly where they were on this date in history when they got the news about the assassination of Dr. King. Most White people also remember learning this startling news. The Civil Rights icon was shot by a white supremacist career criminal named James Earl Ray. I recall going to school the next morning (I was in 10th grade at Leon High School) and seeing the pain on the faces of my black classmates. Thankfully, there was no violence or anger directed at anyone at school or in the community, just utter sadness.
June 5, 1968 – Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
This was the third devastating political murder in America in the 1960s. Robert Kennedy was considered the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for President until he was gunned down by a Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan Sirhan. Almost 53 years ago Kennedy was shot in the kitchen of a hotel in Los Angeles, California, just after midnight on Wednesday. He had just announced his victory in the state’s presidential primary. If you were at least aged 10 or so, you probably remember learning about it later that morning when you woke up.
July 21, 1969 – Neal Armstrong is first man to set foot on the on the moon
Anyone now aged 60 or older is sure to remember sitting in front of their TV set at 10:56 pm (EDT) 51 years ago as Neal Armstrong (1930-2012) stepped off the ladder of the Apollo 11 lunar excursion module (the Eagle). He then uttered those famous words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” He was shortly followed out the hatch by Buzz Aldrin (he is now 91 years old). Their fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins had remained in the orbiting command module. He lamented that he was the probably the only person then alive who was not able to watch the landing on live TV. Collins died on April 28, 2021 at the age of 90.
August 8, 1974 – Resignation of Richard Nixon as President of the United States.
One of this country’s most disturbing presidential scandals came to be known simply as “Watergate.” That name derived from the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. The investigation that followed uncovered many illegal acts perpetrated by staff of the White House. Eventually it led to the resignation of Richard Nixon as president 46 years ago. If you were born on or before 1966 you may remember that event.
August 16, 1977 – Singer Elvis Presley dies at his home in Memphis, Tennessee.
One of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century was the “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley (1935-1977). Americans of all ages were stunned to hear that Elvis had died at age 42 at “Graceland,” his home in Memphis. The official cause was a heart attack. However, later it was discovered that Elvis was addicted to a number of prescription drugs which contributed to his demise. Do you recall where you were when you heard the news?
January 28, 1986 – The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on takeoff from Cape Canaveral.
By the middle of the 1980s, most people took space travel for granted. America had never lost an astronaut during a flight, so we all thought they were invulnerable. That confidence was shattered on an unusually cold January morning at Cape Canaveral when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after taking off. The tragedy killed the crew of seven, which included a civilian school teacher from New Hampshire named Christa McAuliffe. What were you doing when you heard the awful news? I remember I was driving a van load of teenagers home from a ski trip when the news came over the radio. The normally raucous group of kids suddenly got very quiet.
November 9, 1989 – Fall of the Berlin Wall ends the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States and its western European allies.
Perhaps no single edifice more powerfully symbolized the division of the world during the Cold War than the Berlin Wall. It was built in 1961 by the communist East Germans and Soviets. The wall, which was like a prison, completely encircled free West Berlin, which was next to communist controlled East Berlin and sat in the middle of East Germany. The paradoxical fact, however, was that the wall was not meant to keep the West Berliners from getting out, but to keep the East Berliners from getting in! That finally changed soon after President Ronald Reagan stood next to wall on June 12, 1987, and demanded that Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev “Tear down this wall!” He finally did two years later.
September 11, 2001 – Islamic terrorists hijack American airplanes and attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
This is the really big one for people born before the start of the 21st century. It is our Pearl Harbor. That day, 19 years ago, stands as another “day of infamy.” I am sure everyone now over the age of 30 can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news about the attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Many can remember with horror actually watching the second plane crash into the WTC on live T.V. We later learned that another captive plane had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania when the courageous passengers fought back against the radical Islamic hijackers.
For a while, the country was united in its outrage and determination to destroy the radical Al-Qaeda Islamic movement and its leaders, especially Osama bin Laden. Somehow in the two decades since then, we have lost that unity of purpose. Nonetheless, none of us will ever forget that awful day.
February 1, 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts on board.
In this case, equally as shocking as the Challenger disaster two decades earlier, the Columbia burned up in re-entry due to broken heat-shield tiles. It cost us seven more of our heroic astronauts. It may also have marked the beginning of the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program which was permanently ended in 2011. If you are at least 25 years old, you may remember the dramatic photos of the fiery shuttle fragments in the sky falling to earth.
June 25, 2009 – Singer Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles, California.
The 1980s could be called the Michel Jackson Decades. Perhaps no entertainer since Elvis Presley or the Beatles had so captured the attention of American and world music fans than did Jackson. Starting as a 6 year old child in 1964 working with his four older brothers (The Jackson 5), Jackson eventually became known as “The King Of Pop.” Sadly, Jackson’s once wholesome image was marred by allegations of child sexual abuse at his California home he called “Neverland Ranch” (he was tried and acquitted in 2005). It was near there, on June 9, 2009, that the then 50 year old singer unexpectedly died of an overdose of prescription pain killer drugs. Most Americans 20 or older can vividly remember their surprise when they heard the news that Michael was gone.
So now we have reviewed many of the key historical dates from the last century. How did you do in remembering where you were and what you were doing on each of them? Of course, it depends primarily on how old you are right now. If you are like most people, you recall some of these events clearly and others you have probably read about or heard an older person talk about them.
But, the question still remains, “What does this have to do with the Christian worldview?” In the next and final installment we will examine how we should understand the meaning of time. We will look at how the Bible says the passing of time is reflected in how we live our lives.
© 2021 Tal Davis