Blue Crab Boulevard

Magical Mystery Tour

Daniel Henninger takes readers of his weekly column on a tour of 1968, a watershed year in American political history. 1968 was a year, which, in many ways, many people in this country have never gotten beyond. It is an interesting magical mystery tour, indeed.

The year began with sales of the Beatles album, "Magical Mystery Tour." In retrospect, it was a premonition. In late January, North Korea captured the USS Pueblo and crew members. A week later, the North Vietnamese army launched the Tet offensive. On Feb. 27, Walter Cronkite announced on CBS News that the U.S. had to negotiate a settlement to the Vietnam War. On March 12, Sen. Gene McCarthy defeated incumbent President Lyndon Johnson in the New Hampshire primary, aided by antiwar students that Sen. McCarthy called his "children's crusade." Two weeks later, LBJ announced on TV that he would not run for re-election. One week later, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It was only April 4.

There were race riots everywhere. On April 24, students occupied five buildings at Columbia University, protesting the war. In May bloody student riots erupted in France, likely witnessed by the impressionable Mr. Sarkozy.

On July 3, Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol in a New York City loft. The next day, Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In August, the Soviet Union occupied Czechoslovakia. Seven days later, antiwar demonstrators at the Democratic convention fought pitched battles with the Chicago police.

On Nov. 4, having absorbed all this, the people of the United States voted. They gave 43.4% of their vote to Richard Nixon and 42.7% to Hubert Humphrey. Alabama Gov. George Wallace got 13.5%. Four years later, George Wallace was shot dead while running for president. 1968 lasted a long time.

Many of the people active in Democratic party politics in particular are still fighting the same battles as they fought that year. Barack Obama's remark on Fox News is the trigger for the column:

"There is no doubt that we represent the kind of change that Senator Clinton cannot deliver on. And part of it is generational. Senator Clinton and others, they have been fighting some of the same fights since the '60s. And it makes it very difficult for them to bring the country together to get things done."

Henninger points out that the civic culture of America essentially fractured right in the center in 1968 with an almost perfect 50-50 split. Half of the people thought there was something fundamentally wrong with America and that the country required a complete overhaul. The other half believed that America remained essentially sound, only in need of minor improvements. In many ways, we have never gotten beyond that.

I have pointed out that it has been feeling a lot like 1968 for a while now. The saddest thing is that many of the idealists who formed their worldviews in the 1960s do not see that they have become more rigid in their outlook and even more authoritarian than the society they rebelled against in their youth. The same applies to those younger people indoctrinated by that older generation of aging and ossified idealists. There is not a single hint that they see the irony in complaining vehemently over the reaction to an inappropriate display of anti-Bush sentiment by a bridge team while simultaneously screaming for the silencing of talk radio.

No, 1968 never really ended for some of these folks.

History, Politics | Gaius Thursday, 15 November , 2007

By Lars Walker, Thursday, 15 November , 2007 @ 9:38 am

I agree entirely. I graduated from high school in ‘68. My impression is that ‘68 was the year “the party” started. “The party” was a state of things (which my generation saw as an entitlement) where drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll were available without ceasing. That, I think, was the real reason for the anti-war movement. The war was an interruption in the party (plus, the drugs, sex & r&r feel even better after you’ve stuck it to the pigs and escaped). For many of my generation, the party still goes on. Yeah, they’ve taken on some responsibilities, but only the responsibilities they want, responsibilities that sustain the ongoing party. As we age, it will be the government’s job, more and more, to host the party.
By Tim, Thursday, 15 November , 2007 @ 9:50 am

Aside from the fact that George Wallace wasn’t shot dead, but rather paralyzed, the article is very persuasive.
By Gaius, Thursday, 15 November , 2007 @ 10:13 am

They corrected that now.
By The Mechanical Eye, Thursday, 15 November , 2007 @ 5:16 pm

“No, 1968 never really ended for some of these folks.”

As someone born in 1981, I agree — on both sides. And it’s “sad” when people like John McCain feel they can revive it by putting tie-dyed imagery to connect Hillary Clinton to some minor squabble over a Woodstock museum or listen to Hugh Hewitt go through another clipped interview with an “MSM” journalist, trying to avenge his old boss Richard Nixon’s downfall.

I don’t care about your kulturkampf anymore than I care about old hippies.

DU