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Running head: TIME CAPSULE

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TIME CAPSULE

1960’s Time Capsule

June Saxton

Kaplan University

SS310

Mary Laska

12/17/12

1960’s Time Capsule

The year is 2035, while on an archeological dig in the hills of Boulder, Colorado, a time capsule from the 1960’s was discovered. This paper will examine the five objects that it contained and try to determine why those who buried the time capsule chose to include these particular objects and their significance to this era in history.First of all, the five objects include a card titled Medicare Health Insurance, a small nearly flat plastic box with 28 little pills in it on a shiny circular background covered in clear plastic, a poem written on November 22, 1963 by June Sanderson entitled “A Leader Smitten”, a black plastic disc with grooves and a label which reads “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane and a picture of John Glenn. Research was necessary first of all in order to determine what these objects were and second of all why these objects are important to the era. Description of the ObjectsThe Medicare Health Insurance card is for a health insurance program for the elderly, which was signed into law on July 30, 1965 as part of President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s “Great Society” program (Hareyan, 2005). The small plastic box with the disc of pills was found to be birth control pills. Birth control pills received approval by the FDA on June 23, 1960 (University of Southern California, n.d.).Here is the transcript of the poem:

A LEADER SMITTEN

By June Sanderson (1963)

(In Memory of John F. Kennedy, 1917 – 1953)

The spirit of youth,

The symbol of American democracy,

The life blood of all Americans,

The leader, the sign, the symbol, the man!

A man only to lose who loved him,

Only to those he befriended.

He befriended all,

Beloved by all.

Smitten down, smitten down by a savage,

No not an American, an American would not have committed this act.

A crime against America.

A threat to all Americans.

The day, unimportant.

Although, no one could forget it.

Dead, gone, forgotten, no.

Died a martyr.

The black plastic disc is an audio recording of a song released in June of 1967 by the Jefferson Airplane entitled “The White Rabbit”. This song used references to the White Rabbit in “Alice in Wonderland” to illustrate how drugs could expand the mind and change world perceptions (IPC Media, 2011).

John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. On February 20, 1962, he piloted “Friendship 7” which completed three orbits around the earth. (National aeronautics and space administration, 1999).

SIGNIFICANCE OF OBJECTS

The passage of Medicare was an important event of the 1960’s because it provided health insurance to the elderly at a time when only 56% of the elderly had health insurance (Hareyan, 2005). At the time it was passed, it guaranteed almost free medical care to everyone over 65, regardless of income. This program was part of Johnson’s Great Society which was an effort to end the “War on Poverty” by creating programs which helped the poor get themselves out of poverty (Farber & Foner, 1994).

Over the years, birth control pills have had an important impact on the lives of millions of women around the globe. The development of the birth control pill could be seen as an offshoot of the Women’s Liberation Movement because it gave women more control over their own bodies and helped them feel sexually liberated. Two of the leaders of the women’s movement, Margaret Sanger and Katherine McCormick saw that the pill could be used as a tool toward women’s emancipation because with the pill they could decide whether to have children and when and because of this they could better take advantage of the opportunities that the women’s movement opened up to them in the years following the pill’s approval (University of Southern California, n.d.).

The poem represents the feelings of the American people at the time of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy won the hearts of the American people through his effective use of the media to promote himself and his charisma. Television played an important part in his assassination also. The American people were able to share in this private event through television. His death and funeral became a shared event that helped the country grieve for this beloved man and his family (Farber & Foner, 1994). Because of television the American people felt a part of his family and therefore when he died, they felt that it was a crime against all Americans. He indeed was not a only a leader, he was a sign of the times, a symbol of American democracy and when he died many American’s felt that their life blood was being taken away (Sanderson, 1963).

Jefferson Airplane’s song the “White Rabbit” was an example of the music that the drug culture of the 1960’s produced. At the time, the younger generation was disillusioned with the consumer culturism of the 1960’s and used drugs as a means of protesting it. Musicians of the 1960’s thought the using drugs made their music better. Music executives of the time even thought that it gave musicians a heightened sense of awareness which helped produced some of the classic hits of the time (Farber & Foner, 1994).

The Space Race was a response to the Cold War. It showed America’s general fear of the Soviet Union and reflected the competition which existed with the Soviet Union during the 60’s. It was feared that if the Soviet Union gained control of space, that they would gain control of the world (Farber & Foner, 1994). Much good came out of the Space Race. Not only did it create jobs, but because America and the Soviet Union were in a race to prove their technological superiority many of the technological advances of the 20th century can be directly attributed to the Space Race. Satellite Technology was developed as a way to communicate with the astronauts and gave rise to satellite TV. Laptop computers were first used by NASA to help astronauts carry out onboard functions and space navigation. The smoke and carbon monoxide detectors of the 20th century stemmed from detectors developed by NASA to detect toxic fumes and fires in Sky Lab. Telemedicine was developed from applications designed to keep astronauts healthy (Mead, 2009). Without these and other innovations which came from the space program, the world would be a much different place.

In conclusion, as early as the 1970’s the world recognized that the country had gone through a great time of cultural and political change. The changes that occurred in the 1960’s had a major effect on the whole climate of the nation. The confusion and upheaval that occurred in the 1960’s, had an effect on the freedoms that we enjoy today. Major strides were made achieving equal rights for all, but these battles were hard fought. In the 1960’s, moral values were challenged and the national culture changed. People protested for civil rights, women’s rights and against the war. The 1960’s was a time that is often misunderstood, but by studying what was done then and why it was done, we may be able to understand how and we have changed and what we might become (Farber & Foner, 1994).

References

Farber, D. R., & Foner, E. (1994). The age of great dreams, america in the 1960s. (First ed.). New York: Hill & Wang.

Hareyan, A. (2005, January 29). The history of medicare. Retrieved from http://www.emaxhealth.com/72/1272.html

IMDb.com, Inc. (2012). Yellow submarine. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063823/plotsummary

IPC Media. (2011). 100 best songs of the 1960's. Retrieved from http://www.nme.com/list/100-best-songs-of-the-1960s/263950/page/7

Mead, R. (2009, July 20). 10 tech breakthroughs to thank the space race for. TechRadar, Retrieved from http://www.techradar.com/us/news/world-of-tech/10-tech-breakthroughs-to-thank-the-space-race-for-617847

National aeronautics and space administration. (1999, January). Astronaut bio: John glenn. Retrieved from http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/glenn-j.html

Sanderson, J. (written in 1963). A Leader Smitten. From personal archives.

University of Southern California. (n.d.). The birth of the pill. Retrieved from http://www-scf.usc.edu/~nicoleg/history.htm