1964: Beatles, Mustangs and Exploring with Gemini

I was reading Popular Mechanics this morning and stumbled across an ad for the Ford Mustang. This made me think about the year 1964. In a way, 1964, is a pivotal year in American history.

Why?

Look at this this way. In 1964 these things happened:

The Beatles ("British Invasion")

(Source: NARA Archives-Blackwell-Beatles Letter, pg 1)

In the pictures above, I found the the Blackwell letter in the Nara archives. Written from a teenager to the government, one can just sense the importance and the change that the Beatles would have on the culture of the time. No more big-bands or sweet rock-n-roll. The era was passing.

The Ford Mustang

(Source: Archive.org-Styling and the Experimental Car)

The Mustang has come to symbolize the Baby Boomer movement to me. Sleek, low and sporty, this auto, based on a ordinary Ford Falcon is a break from the chrome-laden cars of the late fifties. Try the film and see a facinating glimpse into car design of the early 1960's.

The Space Program-NASA-Gemini

Lastly, the Gemini program symbolizes a move into space, a transformation from the fiftes "shoot and pray" method of space exploration. Man in space was becoming a reality, with the Apollo moon landing happening in just a few years. In fact, Apollo 8 would see the first exploration of landing sites for later Apollo missions.


So, what's your opinion? Maybe it wasn't 1964....if not, what year?

Try the links below for more details.


Have a great weekend! See you Monday!


Links:

Wikipedia-1964

Archive.org Mustang design film

Nasa Gemini program

Nara historical archives

Where were you in: 1966?

I've always wanted to do a series of posts on differing years of American history, so I thought I would kick things off with 1966. Here's a snapshot of a few things that happened. Check it out and then follow the links below for more fascinating glimpses. It's really not fair to spend one blog post on the whole year, so we may be back in the future.....

Star Trek appears on the networks! First episode: The Man Trap

The creator of Mickey Mouse, Disney passes on

US Troops continue to build up in Vietnam. The total so far: 190,000. Bob Hope continues his traditions of entertaining the troops:

(Christmas Special -- Bob Hope and his star-studded cast touched down at Pleiku Air Base, Vietnam, December 19, 1966, enroute to Dragon Mountain, home of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division for his first Christmas show for servicemen in Vietnam, 12/19/1966. Info and Pic courtesy NARA)

The Palomares Hydrogen Bomb incident: A collision between a B-52 and KC-135 results in the loss of 4 hydrogen bombs and an extensive rescue/search by elements of the US Military.

USS Plymouth Rock participated in the search. Image courtesy Naval Historical Center

(Time link here)(Wikipedia entry here)


Buster Keaton, the famous American comedian passes on

John Lennon's controversial comment on the Beatles being more popular than Jesus is published in the London Press.

Wikipedia Link to 1966

Have a great day!!!!