Where I Was in the 60's by Louis

If you ask young people today what they know about the 1960’s, some say the Beatles. Most are not aware what a traumatic decade that was. As the war in Vietnam raged on and on and on, pacifism and isolationism became more and more popular. The main problem with the 60’s was the American people went left while the government went right. There was a sort of  blow-up. The 1960’s saw the blacks standing up and demanding their rights, and then there were the riots. And then there were our riots that went on 3 days, the Stonewall riots, that started on June 28, 1969. We must not forget either the assassination of President Kennedy. (You were John Kennedy Jr.’s neighbor).

The only other traumatic event that compares with the assassination of President Kennedy was the blowing up of the Twin Towers. In both events, I think it is safe to say we all felt personally threatened. I was an eye-witness to the blowing up of the twin towers. I was on my way to work. I had to take a bus to get to the Long Island Railroad stop that I took to get to work. On the bus route is a swampy area with very low buildings that would enable the bus passenger to get a good view of the twin towers. I saw smoke billowing out of the towers, and I wondered what that was all about. When I got to the Long Island Railroad stop in Flushing, I was told there was no service into Manhattan. Later I would know why. So I tried the subway. I went a few stops to 61^st Street. The train stopped and the conductor said the train was not going any further since the train was not permitted to enter Manhattan.

Where were you when President John F. Kennedy was shot? I remember I was on my way to swimming class in the Queens College gym. I never got as far as the gym. A fellow student told me the President had been shot. Next to the Queens College gym, that resembled an airplane hangar, was a parking lot. The students with the cars turned on their car radios and let passers-by listen. I listened and was horrified. Jack Kennedy was handsome, well-educated, intelligent, well-spoken. Jacqueline Kennedy was beautiful, soft-spoken, pretty much a perfect first lady. Remember how she remodeled the White House? The whole world was dazzled. I was dazzled, and John Kennedy convinced me that the USA would lead the world into a better place, that human progress was going to continue. Our nasty right-wing neighbors in Dallas, Texas had other ideas. Then Nixon got elected, and hope died, and it has been downhill ever since, let’s face it.  

My visit to the draft-board in lower Manhattan, on Whitehall Street: I had to go for my physical. When the army doctor examined me, I told him I was a homosexual, and I was pretty sure the U. S. military, for their reasons, did not want homosexual men, I guess. So I asked to be excused on that basis though I requested they do not write that down in my record. Whether they wrote that down or not, I do not know. I did not show up in a gown, and I did not paint my fingernails red, nothing like that. I got a 1-Y classification because I wore glasses. My brother went through a long drawn-out rigmarole application process as a conscientious objector. They ultimately denied his application for status as a conscientious objector but they gave him a 1-Y classification. Much has been made of student deferments in those days. Both I and my wannabe conscientious objector brother were attending college, but we never received a student deferment. Go figure. 1-Y meant we would not be drafted unless there was a national emergency. I guess the Vietnam War was not considered a national emergency for some unfathomable reason. Two of my other brothers got 1-Y classifications. My oldest brother was in the Air Force, a major or something; he got out when the Vietnam War was getting a little too hot.

© 19 May 2014

About the Author  

I was born in 1944, I lived most of my life in New York City, Queens County. I still commute there. I worked for many years as a Caseworker for New York City Human Resources Administration, dealing with mentally impaired clients, then as a social work Supervisor dealing with homeless PWA's. I have an apartment in Wheat Ridge, CO. I retired in 2002. I have a few interesting stories to tell. My boyfriend Kevin lives in New York City. I graduated Queens College, CUNY, in 1967.