1959

There’s a new book out called 1959: The Year Everything Changed by Fred Kaplan (Wylie).
I’ve ordered a copy to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 1959.
So what happened in 1959? Well to start:
1. Fidel Castro seized Havana
2. The Soviets launched a Lunyk 1 and escaped earth’s gravitational pull
3. The cold war risked going thermo-nuclear
4. Texas Instruments announced the invention of the microchip
5. Lenny Bruce first appeared on TV
6. In the Spring, the first Japanese cars hit US auto shows
7. On July 8th the first 2 US soldiers were killed in Vietnam
8. In July Searle applied to market a birth control pill
And in 1959 my mother got pregnant with the 4th of us five siblings and I headed off to Kindergarten.
1959 – a landmark year. It really was a year when, arguably, everything changed and we’re still feeling it. I was too young to remember it clearly like I can remember the impact of 1969 (assassination trials, Stonewall, riots, FLQ, men on the moon, end of the Beatles, Wal-Mart is founded, first AIDS virus, first GAP store, secret Vietnam peace talks and first troop withdrawals…)
Fifty years later, it is 2009, and change is a constant. What are the turning points this year?
Stephen
Stephen