Speaker 1: If it's happening, shut the government down, to secure the border.
Speaker 2: Fight for a future, make America great. To get it.
Speaker 1: Happens year on fifty five KRC the Talk stage show,
Speaker 1: Heyoh five and fifty five KRC Detalk Station, A very
Speaker 1: Happy Friday to you, extra special getting away from politics
Speaker 1: and actually kind of delving into politics at the same time.
Speaker 1: It was a crazy decade the year of my birth
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five and the year that this book begins with.
Speaker 1: My next guest authored the book The Magical Decade, A
Speaker 1: personal memoir and popular history of nineteen sixty five through
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five. Welcome to the Morning Show, David hud Win.
Speaker 1: By way of background, real quick, David, to let people
Speaker 1: know who you are. Born in nineteen fifty So he's
Speaker 1: got fifteen on me in Chicago, which is a great
Speaker 1: place to be. I suppose back then we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about that. And so he was and eyewitnessed all
Speaker 1: these things that were going on. Actually was at the
Speaker 1: Beatles concert there Comiski Park in nineteen sixty five during
Speaker 1: the British invasion, anti war press protesters in the Moonlighting
Speaker 1: You saw it All, per author of was a teenage
Speaker 1: Space Reporter, which is based on his Apollo eleven experiences.
Speaker 1: He went to med school rather than stick with journalism
Speaker 1: or his end and just recently retired. Congratulations on your
Speaker 1: retirement and write and having published the book The Magical Decade.
Speaker 1: It's good to have you on the Morning show.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. It's a great pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1: All right, let me just throw a bunch of stuff
Speaker 1: at in rapid fire because I have a question that's
Speaker 1: predicated on all this. I was just sitting there thinking
Speaker 1: about I'm a student of this era. Actually it's just
Speaker 1: a real it's a fascination for me. But I go
Speaker 1: back to the Beat era, and you know Kerauak and
Speaker 1: and and the and the authors from the Beat era
Speaker 1: and how it progressed into the Hippie movement and all
Speaker 1: the cultural change that was going on, and it was amazing,
Speaker 1: which is why I find the era so fascinating. But
Speaker 1: think about it right then and there in that decade,
Speaker 1: you got the formation of Greenpeace, got the free speech movement,
Speaker 1: and the Students for Democratic Society rioting over in Berkeley
Speaker 1: under Mario Savio, the anti war movement because Vietnam Black pans,
Speaker 1: you have assassinations JFK, RFK, Malcolm X Martin, Luther King.
Speaker 1: You have bombings from the Simines Liberinary Liberation Army up
Speaker 1: in Chicago, your neighborhood, the Watts riots in sixty five.
Speaker 1: This is a and I'm just scratching the surface of
Speaker 1: all those things. Were you aware of how tumultuous and
Speaker 1: how transformative socially speaking a time it was while you
Speaker 1: were living at beginning at age fifteen in nineteen sixty five, No,
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: Think I had the perspective, you know, at that age
Speaker 2: to understand really what was going on. You know, each
Speaker 2: event would come, the assassinations, the riots, the events in space,
Speaker 2: the events in Vietnam, and I didn't keep them in perspective.
Speaker 2: But years later I decided to write this book as
Speaker 2: kind of the gifts to my kids and grandparents and
Speaker 2: grandkids as far as you know, what were the sixties
Speaker 2: and seven these really like? And doing the research for
Speaker 2: the book, I got a much greater perspective on how
Speaker 2: revolutionary this decade from sixty five to seventy five was.
Speaker 1: Indeed, And let us start with something very positive, something
Speaker 1: that I think everybody appreciates this day. You can go
Speaker 1: to any radio right now, anywhere. And I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about pre program radio or any particular identified satellite radio,
Speaker 1: but I mean, just generally speaking, they're still going to
Speaker 1: be playing music from the sixties. It was just it
Speaker 1: was like the best decade ever for music. You know,
Speaker 1: all the British Invasion bands, which had profound influence on
Speaker 1: bands in the United States. Of course, they got their
Speaker 1: influence from all blues artists and acts. You know, musically speaking,
Speaker 1: we have I don't think we've ever had a better decade.
Speaker 1: Did you get to go to a lot of concerts.
Speaker 1: I knew he went to the Beatles concert at Comisky Park,
Speaker 1: But were you aware of the awesomeness of what was
Speaker 1: coming out material wise and creativity wise?
Speaker 2: Yes, I was in the venue for appreciating the music.
Speaker 2: I was in high school then, the first part of
Speaker 2: the Magical decade. I was in high school till nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty eight, and high school had dances in the gym
Speaker 2: called sock hops because everybody had to wear socks. You
Speaker 2: couldn't wear shoes because it would wreck the basketball floor.
Speaker 2: And so I really got an appreciation for the music
Speaker 2: at these high school dances and.
Speaker 1: Moving over to more tumultuous thing. Well, obviously, the Vietnam
Speaker 1: War was going on, clearly a lot of protesters, and
Speaker 1: I thought it politically speaking, I thought it was an
Speaker 1: interesting alignment that ended up forming, which is very analogous
Speaker 1: to what's going on today. And I suppose you two
Speaker 1: can draw some parallels disparate groups sort of working together
Speaker 1: to fight against the system. You know, it was Vietnam
Speaker 1: War protesters, it was the Echo warriors, Green Peace was
Speaker 1: formed in sixty nine. Again, you had the free speech movement,
Speaker 1: but all of them seemed to coalesce into one giant
Speaker 1: coalition of protesters. I get a sense of that going
Speaker 1: on today.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it was certainly going on then. And
Speaker 2: one of the catalysts for that was disdained by a
Speaker 2: lot of young people then. For President Nixon and President
Speaker 2: Johnson before them, both were kind of undone in different
Speaker 2: ways by the Vietnam War. And there was a great
Speaker 2: antipathy among young people then for the Vietnam War with
Speaker 2: fifty two thousand dead until the latter lottery was institute
Speaker 2: of the draft lottery, a very unfair draft system, and
Speaker 2: that and so the young people their personal safety was
Speaker 2: at risk. You point out one thing out. So much
Speaker 2: of the issues then, more than fifty years ago, are
Speaker 2: issues now. You look at a voting rights, abortion, foreign wars.
Speaker 2: It's it's amazing how the more things change, the more
Speaker 2: they remain the same. The issues maybe in a different
Speaker 2: context or phrase differently, but we're fighting politically over the
Speaker 2: same type of thing that we fought about in this
Speaker 2: period nineteen sixty five to seventy five.
Speaker 1: More things change, the more they say the same. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I understand for the notes you got tear gas at
Speaker 1: the Vietnam War protests. You were getting into draft territory
Speaker 1: there at your age at that time. Am I wrong?
Speaker 2: No, you're right. And I had a student deferment, and
Speaker 2: then when the draft lottery came, I had a very
Speaker 2: high number, so I was not going to be not
Speaker 2: going to be drafted, And I don't know what I
Speaker 2: would have done had I had a load number in
Speaker 2: subject to the draft. I was against the Vietnam War
Speaker 2: when I was tear gas, though I was kind of
Speaker 2: an innocent bystander. I was a student journalist then and
Speaker 2: I covered in nineteen sixty nine the March on Washington
Speaker 2: for my college newspaper, The Michigan Daily, and it was
Speaker 2: a night before the main demonstration, and I was covering
Speaker 2: a group of protesters who were headed towards the South
Speaker 2: Vietnamese embassy. And they make a long story short, everybody
Speaker 2: in the area was tear gassed. So I had my
Speaker 2: first taste, or I guess with of teary asse at
Speaker 2: that point.
Speaker 1: How about that. That's interesting. And then you also were
Speaker 1: at the first Moon launch. I know that was a
Speaker 1: subject matter of your other book. I was a teenage
Speaker 1: space reporter, right.
Speaker 2: I had been interested in space since Sputnik, which is
Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty seven, and I was a very impressionable
Speaker 2: seven year old boy then, and like a lot of
Speaker 2: boys of that era, I was fascinated by space. And
Speaker 2: when the moon landing attempt was announced for the July
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty nine, I had turned I was just turning
Speaker 2: nineteen then and was able to travel by myself. So
Speaker 2: with a buddy of mine, we were able to get
Speaker 2: NASA press credentials and that was actually down there as
Speaker 2: armstrong columns and all, and lifted off towards the Moon.
Speaker 2: And it was one of the most exciting experiences.
Speaker 1: Of my life, I imagine, And you know, even as
Speaker 1: a four year old, I do remember the television coverage
Speaker 1: of the Moon launch, and of course, you know, one
Speaker 1: small step for man, one giant step leaf for mankind.
Speaker 1: Don't remember the words at that young age, but do
Speaker 1: you remember watching on television. I was just just fascinated
Speaker 1: by space program, and I had all kinds of rocket
Speaker 1: toys and my little tang moon rover that came with
Speaker 1: your jar of tang, which we drank because that was
Speaker 1: what I guess the astronauts did you Were you at
Speaker 1: this sixty eight convention by any chance, because obviously that
Speaker 1: was a rather momentous, riotous occasion.
Speaker 2: Well, luckily, in retrospect, I had to go and start
Speaker 2: school at the University of Michigan in ann Arbor the
Speaker 2: week of the convention. They were on a trimester system
Speaker 2: and started early in August, so I just missed it.
Speaker 2: That I had volunteered in the McCarthy Eugene McCarthy campaign
Speaker 2: and would have been there if I hadn't had to
Speaker 2: go to school and friends of mine were beaten up
Speaker 2: and arrested.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a different view of law enforcement back then.
Speaker 1: There's the law enforcement folks were rather applauded for their
Speaker 1: there I say brutality on some of the protesters. It
Speaker 1: was just sort of, you know, we're in for law
Speaker 1: and order, and these punks are out here protesting and
Speaker 1: they deserve the police baton beating that they get. I've
Speaker 1: heard many comments like that over the years. What was
Speaker 1: it like growing up in Chicago back then? I lived
Speaker 1: in Chicago between nine in nineteen ninety eight, and I
Speaker 1: know it was obviously during that period of time even
Speaker 1: more murders and homicides per year than there is now.
Speaker 1: But it was an interesting reality living there, growing up
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. What was it like back then? Because it
Speaker 1: was far more segregated and divided back then.
Speaker 2: Right, Chicago was a city that was segregated, perhaps even
Speaker 2: more so than certain parts of the southern United States.
Speaker 2: There were certain neighborhoods where blacks lived in other neighborhoods
Speaker 2: that were white neighborhoods, and by a series of restrictive
Speaker 2: covenants in leases by pressure, the people in one neighborhood
Speaker 2: did not sell to people from another group, and it
Speaker 2: was very segree I think it's telling that doctor Martin
Speaker 2: Luther King that after he concentrated on voting rights in
Speaker 2: the South that he came to Chicago in nineteen sixty six,
Speaker 2: started a campaign for fair housing in Chicago, and there
Speaker 2: is all types of conflicts over this at that time.
Speaker 2: And I think that would be amazing to someone who
Speaker 2: lived then that African American is now the mayor of
Speaker 2: Chicago compared to then when the mayor was a long
Speaker 2: term mayor was Richard J. Day, a politician of Irish descent.
Speaker 2: So in terms of the power base of Chicago, things
Speaker 2: have really changed through the years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. I guess the Harold Washington
Speaker 1: first black mayor in Chicago, he was there between eighty
Speaker 1: three and eighty seven. I actually it was a little
Speaker 1: later than that, if I recall. But yeah, during my
Speaker 1: closener of my time there, let me get your comments
Speaker 1: on the Hipbie movement. Always fascinated by the Hipbye movement,
Speaker 1: the idea that having longer hair, which is ubiquitous these
Speaker 1: days on a guy was looked down upon by society
Speaker 1: at large. Where were you in terms of your acceptance
Speaker 1: of that philosophy, that concept, the free love and the
Speaker 1: long hair and the beautiful colors and all that relative
Speaker 1: the more conformist, you know, very tight high and tight
Speaker 1: haircuts that men typically had. Clearly this was a divisive
Speaker 1: thing within families. What was your personal experience along those lines.
Speaker 2: Well, when I was in high school, I had a
Speaker 2: tight military type crew cut. Yeah, and that kind of
Speaker 2: laugh when I look at the pictures of myself from
Speaker 2: you know, sixty five sixty six, the start of what
Speaker 2: I call the Magical decade when I was in high school.
Speaker 2: Later on I hit kind of a long, bushy haircut
Speaker 2: and mustache, but it was still pretty conservative looking. But
Speaker 2: for example, a cousin of mine, the first cousin of mine,
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty seven, went to San Francisco for the
Speaker 2: Summer of Love, and he got involved with drugs and
Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff while they are and it's created
Speaker 2: in the family a great deal of concern, and he
Speaker 2: stayed up there and joined the commune.
Speaker 1: Communes collunes and ashrams didn't work out real well for
Speaker 1: most folks because from each according's ability to each according
Speaker 1: to his need typically doesn't work out because people tend
Speaker 1: to get lazy. My observation, not necessarily yours, mister Chudwin.
Speaker 1: David Chudwin, author of the book We're Talking About Today,
Speaker 1: which you can easily get on my blog page fifty
Speaker 1: five KRCY dot com. The Magical Decade, a personal memoir
Speaker 1: of and popular history of nineteen sixty five nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 1: Is it just a history of the era? You're an autobiography?
Speaker 1: You what would you characterize this book as for part
Speaker 1: Company today?
Speaker 2: Well, I think I turn give a different perspective. It's
Speaker 2: an intersection between a personal memoir and a popular history
Speaker 2: of the era. And I was very lucky to be
Speaker 2: kind of the Forrest Gump during that decade in the
Speaker 2: middle of everything, and so I talk about my personal
Speaker 2: experiences but put it in the context of popular history.
Speaker 1: It's been a great conversation this morning. I'll strongly encourage
Speaker 1: my listeners to get over to my web page fifty
Speaker 1: five Caresee dot com. Click on the link you two
Speaker 1: can get a copy of the book The Magical Decade
Speaker 1: by my guest today, David Chudwyn. David, it's been a
Speaker 1: real pleasure today, and thanks for sharing your experiences a
Speaker 1: little bit here this morning. I know my listener is
Speaker 1: going to really enjoy the book.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. It's good to talk.
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