1969 we had no cars, no computers, no phones, no money, no TVs...we had radios and our mouths and we

[jodymarie aimee]

in 1969 we had no cars, no computers, no phones( of any kind), no TVs, some of us had no homes, no MONEY.....we had the radio and our mouths. We stopped a WAR. OH, and yeah, we did Woodstock...

[WhiteTara]

1. I learned to run a mimeograph machine

to print posters for anti war protests.

[WheelWalker]

3. Yes. Gestetner mimeograph and spirit duplicators... there were no copy machines

[FarCenter]

7. Xerox machines were fairly common by '69, but they were usually in copy centers.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. And they were sloooowww.

I remember the one in our college library. It was quite large. You'd put your book or document on it, put down the cover, drop a nickel in the slot, push the button and wait. It would start to hum and you could see a line of light moving very, very slowly under the cover. In due time the copy would appear. It would be warm and smell like some petrochemical product, and the paper would turn black if it was exposed to heat (it might have been Thermofax rather than Xerox). The process was much too slow to make large numbers of copies.

[FarCenter]

62. Yes, for a large number of copies, it was still preferable to cut a mimeograph stencil

Best you have an electric typewriter like the IBM Executive or Selectric and excellent, error-free typing skills.

[LakeArenal]

61. 25 cents a copy.

[WhiteTara]

22. I worked for Met Life

I never had a clue as to what I was doing and why--but, I would sneak in and use the mimeograph and print off dozens of copies to hand out on the street.

We arrived in SF the day of Kent State and I was never the same again.

[kimbutgar]

32. Purple ink and that smell on the paper

I remember getting mimeographed copies at school and we all smelled the paper.

[k8conant]

55. Not mimeograph but DITTO copies...

mimeograph copies were made with stencils. (I did both).

[volstork]

85. Yep. I guess

I was a grade-school ditto-huffer.

[PatrickforO]

75. I remember dittos. That smell and the blue ink.

[Brother Buzz]

86. Purple was the most common in my world

But I also remember red, green, blue and yellow, but yellow was all but impossible to read. Arithmetic tests were always red in fourth grade.

[paleotn]

44. The only good thing about test time....

a flash from my generation....

[LakeArenal]

64. Remember the blue books?

[paleotn]

68. That I do....

I was introduced to them as an undergrad.

[crazycatlady]

91. They still had those when I was in college (this century)

[FarCenter]

2. In 1969 had a car, computer, phone, money, TV, radio, home, and mouth.

Admittedly, the computer didn't do much.

[Xipe Totec]

36. I had a Think-A-Tron in 1961

And you're right, It didn't do much.

At 5 years of age it took me an hour to figure out how it worked. I haven't had any respect for computers since.

[BigmanPigman]

46. I want one. Really.

[FarCenter]

59. The computer wasn't really mine, but I was one of a few people with access to a CDC 1700

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_1700

[Xipe Totec]

81. My first computer at work was a Sperry Univac 1108

Before that just IBM 360's and DEC PDP-10 at school.

[FarCenter]

83. The first program I wrote was for an IBM 1620 in Fortran

[Xipe Totec]

100. FORTRAN-II, I presume. nt

[FarCenter]

112. No, I believe it was FORTRAN still for the 1620. It was a pretty limited machine. nt

[Xipe Totec]

115. My Sympathies. FORTRAN-IV was bad enough

I worked with FORTRAN-66 and FORTRAN-77.

FORTRAN-IV I used only in college.

[FarCenter]

116. Yes, FORTRAN didn't originally have subroutines

Real programmers use GOTOs.

[bluestarone]

99. I really DO NOT REMEMBER THIS AT ALL

I would have been in 8th grade then.

[Tavarious Jackson]

4. We have become a police state

Marshall law slowly being implemented

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. *Martial* law. Not "marshall."

Meaning law imposed by military forces, not marshalls. Sorry, that's one of my many little peeves.

[bench scientist]

48. One of mine is council instead of counsel in complaints, or briefs.

If you can not distinguish between those terms, perhaps a career in law is not for you.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. I believe Agent Orange made that mistake in one of his tweets.

Not only could he never be a lawyer, he can't even find one.

[dchill]

102. You can't fire one if you can't hire one.

Whoops!

[Skittles]

5. there were plenty of cars, phones and TVs in 1969

[FarCenter]

9. It's not like there was public transportation to Yasgur's farm

[shenmue]

12. Your point?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

40. Is there now?

It's the middle of nowhere.

[FarCenter]

65. But somehow about 10 times as many people went there as were actually there

"I was at Woodstock" is the premiere example of false memory.

[Skittles]

106. or just plain lying

[jmowreader]

111. One of my team chiefs in Berlin had the opportunity to go, and didn't

He looked a lot like the man in this video:

...and at the time, he was in NYC doing the Slightly Starving Actor thing. He was going up to Albany that weekend, and some of his friends wanted him to drop them off at Woodstock. When he picked them up, everything was wrong - it rained, it was a huge mud bog, no food, no water, this, that and the other thing. Two years later..."yeah, it was the greatest thing in the world!"

[safeinOhio]

17. For the first two...

I had a thumb and a dime. Some one in the house had a tv, but the stereo got more use.

[samnsara]

6. AND we levitated the Pentagon. :)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

41. Hey, gimme a hit of that! nt

[Tom Rinaldo]

95. I was there for that. I think it might have glowed a little :) n/t

[Dennis Donovan]

8. My family had TV in 1949, and cable in 1966...

...was Woodstock in 1919?

[jodymarie aimee]

14. we didn't live at our Mom's house

of course our parents had houses and TVs. That is the last place we would live.

[wasupaloopa]

10. We had music. We had underground newspapers and comics.

[samnsara]

31. we need more really great protest songs!!

[Marthe48]

50. Do you notice they don't play those oldies on the radio?

Surely some of the protest songs went gold, but you never hear them. (Ohio, Blowin' in the Wind, Where Have all the Flowers Gone, Universal Soldier, and others come to mind)

[mr_lebowski]

88. Even in a Red State, I still hear Anti-War CCR like Fortunate Son on FM pretty often.

I've also heard "For What's It Worth", and "Get Together" from time to time for sure. Although interestingly FWIW is not actually an anti-war song, per se, if you read Still's history of it. It's about the Springfield's time as the house band on the Sunset Strip and some civil unrest that surrounded that place/era.

[k8conant]

58. Phil Ochs is long gone...

but Joan Baez sings on!

[FarCenter]

80. It's life's illusions I recall, I really don't know life at all

[wasupaloopa]

110. I am going to see Joni Mitchel and Steven Stills in May

in San Louis Obispo

[Marthe48]

120. Enjoy!

I usually check in more often, but it has been a hectic week

[raven mad]

104. I still do.

Oh, and song above is a forever favorite, originally on radio (my little transistor in 1966) as "For What It's Worth". Once a damn liberal, always a damn liberal!

[shenmue]

11. You didn't stop the war

[rurallib]

43. thank you for saying that

[JDC]

13. Didn't you have Joy, Fun and Seasons in the Sun?

[Tom Rinaldo]

15. We didn't stop the war in 1969. We resisted it. It continued. Nixon was reelected in 1972

We had Woodstock, but Altamont also. And prefaded bell bottom jeans with cute butterflies sewn onto them were being mass marketed at J.C. Pennies in Oklahoma.

I'm very proud of what we accomplished back then, but I never liked rose colored lenses much. We didn't have cell phones in 1969, but they didn't have Cambridge Analytica either. Every generation faces unique circumstances. How well it rises to the occasion becomes "The Acid Test"

[WhiteTara]

25. all my jeans were embroidered by me

and being crafty, I added in my own bell bottoms. Also, I knew we had been co-opted when those came out on the market because until then, that was sort of a signal, we are the same tribe.

I lived in Berkeley and a neighborhood priest was beaten by the cops at the end of our block, banks were being bombed, people walking down the streets whispering, "grass, hash, acid"; it was definitely an alternate world.

[Scruffy1]

77. Exactly.

Last edited Sat Mar 31, 2018, 07:09 PM - Edit history (1)

All the protesting didn't stop the war. It finally wound down when the trops would no longer fight. Protests don't actually fix problems, they can only bring them to public attention. Today we are dealing with a much more organzied oligarchy and unless we find a way to overcome the power of the media, which they own and control, we are in deep shit. The election of 1980 marked a turning point and we've been going down hill every since. I've been protesting for over 50 tears and we got Trump.

[llmart]

16. I beg to differ...

We had a car, phone, enough money to pay our bills and no more and a TV. We did not have a computer, of course.

The TV was a portable black and white, the wall phone had a dial and cost $9 a month but no long distance, and the car was a beat up old VW Beetle with flower decals on the hood and no window defrost and barely any heat in the winter.

"Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end....."

[jodymarie aimee]

20. Lucky you

I lived in Berkeley and had 50cents to eat with each day. And we hitched everywhere. We were too busy to watch the 2 channels on the TV !!

[Tipperary]

24. 50 cents? Oh come on.

[jodymarie aimee]

49. folks made $1.20 an hr then...our parents made $6Grand a year...yes 50cents a day for eats and happy

as clams......how old ARE you? You sound very removed from history.

[Shrike47]

84. I was making over 3 dollars an hour, myself. Not living at home.

[k8conant]

60. I remember precisely paying 52 for a burger and milk at McDonald's in 1974...

in 1971 gasoline was 19.9¢ to 21.9¢ a gallon: I could fill up my VW Beetle for $2.

[llmart]

73. I have clear memories of the budget book I kept.

I was married and for the two of us it cost about $20 a week for groceries. I never went over that amount and sometimes could go under. If it were one person I would guess $10 a week would work. Divide that by 7 days and your average is about $1.43 a day. Maybe someone could get by on $.50 for breakfast but not for an entire day.

[FarCenter]

74. In the '60s I kept a ledger of every cent I spent in college and the first years working

I doubt that anyone does that anymore.

[llmart]

94. I still do.

Now that I'm retired and on a fixed income and live alone, I keep track of every penny I spend. However, I have always been very frugal and anti-shopping, so it's not really that difficult to do.

Do you remember those little red plastic gadgets they used to have where you could add up how much you were spending as you went along in the grocery store? I think it had three white buttons in the top and fit in the palm of your hand. We were on a very tight budget for a few years and I used to take that to the grocery store with me.

I agree with you that I highly doubt any young person keeps track of what they spend nowadays.

[dhol82]

105. I had one of those!

Took it with me to the supermarket just to track my total.
The max was $19.99 and that was enough for major grocery shopping.
My first job (1964) was for $60/week. $10 went for taxes. I was able to have my own studio apartment, my VW Beetle, take a two week vacation every year and buy really nice clothes on layaway.
Ah, good times.
Oh, and I had a savings account.

[llmart]

108. I still do have a savings account.

We had a passbook savings account back then too. I would put every single extra dollar in it that we had left over at the end of a month, even if it was only a dollar. After five years we had enough to put 30% down payment on an older house in a nice subdivision plus have $2K left over to buy appliances.

I was making $325/month gross.

[dhol82]

109. Yup, costs were significantly less relative to salaries back in the day

My gross of $240/month allowed me a comfortable life.
When I moved to NYC in 1966 my salary went up to a whopping $90/week. Of course the rent went up but I was still able to save money for the things I wanted. Did my first European trip in 1969 - had $500 and that paid for plane fare and two weeks of wandering from Luxembourg to Athens and the Greek islands and back. Came back with money left over. Of course, it was not luxury travel.

[Chipper Chat]

113. I kept one my 1st yr in college (1958-59)

My grand total was $1352.00. For everything. It helped that I had a scholarship and I lived rent free with an uncle..

[FarCenter]

114. That would be about $11,600 in current dollars.

https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1352&year1=195901&year2=201802

[FarCenter]

76. Around '64 a classmate lived on MacDonald's which were IIRC 15 cents for the standard gut bomb.

[LeftInTX]

101. I remember them being 15 cents back in 64

By 74 they were 25 or 35 cents. (I was paying for my own back by then)

But I do remember the 15 cent thing....just didn't pay attention to any incremental price increases in between.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. Uh huh. Walked uphill both ways in a blizzard to school, too, I bet.

[safeinOhio]

19. In 1969 I had a lot of friends that were POWs

Prisioners in the War On Drugs.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. What planet were you living on in 1969?

I didn't have a car, because I sold my VW in September 1968 to move across the country, and used only public transportation for the next seven years. I had a phone, although no TV. I read a lot of books. I had a full time job, not a lot of money, but I could afford my own apartment. I didn't have my own computer, but I used one every day in my job.

And has already been pointed out, we didn't stop a war that year.

[JI7]

23. People did have cars. Tv, and money. Plus people were probably more likely to personally interact

with each other because they didn't have the computers and smartphones and social media.

[jodymarie aimee]

52. you are describing our parents

I was 18 and left home for Berkeley the minute I turned 18...my brother the next year.

[JI7]

53. What does that have to do with anything ?

[mr_lebowski]

89. Because the discussion is about the protesters, not 'the public at large' ... duh ...

[pnwmom]

96. I remember watching protests on TV. The difference is we didn't have 24 hr. cable.

And we didn't have cell phones, but we did have phones.

[murielm99]

26. We boomers are soon bad.

We are responsible for all the ills of today.

[Freddie]

27. In 1969 I was in 7th grade

Watching all this stuff on TV in the safety of my parents’ suburban home. I honestly think Nixon won in 68 because people like my parents did not want “that stuff” (hippies, riots) coming anywhere near their nice suburban neighborhoods.

[samnsara]

28. i recently came across a 1968 article in the Seattle Times....

...that was written to the Graduating class of 1968 (mine!)..altho not in Seattle. Anyway the letter was a plea for us to fix the world..the divided racist world. OMG we failed Im afraid. I will try to find the newspaper next time i go to my parents house. I sent an mail to the Seattle Times asking if they could reprint it.

[RandomAccess]

33. It's one of the great mysteries of life to me --

how THAT MANY people knew about Woodstock in that short a time. AMAZING.

[regnaD kciN]

42. You mean before the event...?

If so, I agree. Granted, I was an early teen in Boston at the time, but I don't recall much publicity about it until after it started. From what I understand, there was a lot of radio advertising in the NYC area, and I'm guessing that's where most of the attendees came from.

Of course, once the festival began, the story started getting coverage on all three networks and, since that was from where almost everyone got their news in those days, it's understandable the story started spreading like wildfire.

[RandomAccess]

54. Yes, so that that many people showed up

I was living in St. Louis at the time and never heard a word about it. Don't even recall seeing any news (tho that might be my failing since I wasn't a news watcher until years lager).

[SeattleVet]

72. There were large ads for it in the Village Voice, EVO, and other alternative papers.

They were running for several months before.

http://streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com/2010/06/1969-ads-woodstock-and-other-festivals.html

Several magazines also carried ads (Ramparts, etc.)

One of the other biggest 'ads' for the concert was the local town of Wallkill (where it was planned to happen) banning it a few weeks before the event (after several attempts). That made the news, and also made a lot more people aware that something big was about to happen.

[RandomAccess]

87. Thanks!

[loyalsister]

117. It wasn't the first

It was the east coast answer to Monterey.

[pnwmom]

34. We didn't really stop a war. There were years of protests -- 50,000 deaths of American soldiers --

and the war finally ended because Nixon was too busy with Watergate.

[Paladin]

35. For all the wretched excesses, 1969 was a more positive time than 2018.

And wide-scale protests against the war did in fact hasten its conclusion. If it had been up to LBJ and Nixon, that monument in D.C. would have an extra 100,000 names on it. Those of you trying to minimize the effect of the anti-war movement can go piss up a rope......

[OhZone]

37. The war would have been over around then -

if Nixon hadn't committed treason and interfered with Johnson's Peace Talks in 1968.

As per my Uncle Nick.

Long before my time, but it seems to follow the GOP pattern of treason.

Oh well.

[deurbano]

38. Is this a reference to something in the news I missed? About 1969?

[regnaD kciN]

39. While I'd like to say "we stopped a war"...

...I really don't think that's accurate. We did a lot to TRY to stop it, to the point where some of us were being shot dead by the National Guard on college campuses, but the war went on. It only ended after the 1972 election, when Nixon, who had built his reputation on attacking anti-war protesters and was just re-elected by a landslide, decided he'd kept it going long enough to proclaim his "peace with honor" -- long after the protests had petered-off into nothing.



In fact, for those younger people nowadays who castigate baby-boomers as "failures," "the worst generation," or "a generation of sociopaths," I would observe that much of what happened to us grew out of the rude awakening we received when we came to realize that, despite all our efforts, despite all our "toil, tears, sweat, and (even literal) blood," nothing really changed until those in authority decided it would. I think the fallout from that realization fueled much of the cynicism that haunted our generation for the rest of its existence. I wonder what will happen when the current young generation (who resemble us so much even while condemning us as The Problem) has a similar experience of having their ideals run smack into "the way the world works." I hope, for their sake, it never happens, but history wouldn't suggest optimism about that.

[PatrickforO]

79. I think we backed off too soon.

WE could have forced permanent changes, but maybe we got tired. Agents provocateur. COINTELPRO. The Panthers.

We got divided and conquered.

[fierywoman]

45. We also put a man on the moon.

[paleotn]

47. We had a TV...

It qualified as a piece of furniture and a bitch to move when mom wanted to rearrange the den furniture. In July of 69, I was planted not more than a foot in front of it to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Thoughtful they planned that for my birthday. I'm been a NASA fan ever since.

[FarCenter]

56. 68 was the year I registered as a Democrat in order to vote for Gene McCarthy

But once Gene had some momentum and Lyndon was forced out of the race, that opportunist Bobby Kennedy jumped in. After he was assassinated, things went from bad to worse and that asshole Humphrey was nominated, leading to Nixon's reelection.

[k8conant]

63. Nixon was elected NOT Reelected in 1968---I campaigned for Gene McCarthy

but was only 19 so I couldn't vote then.

[FarCenter]

71. I stand corrected. Even worse. The Democratic Party screwed up big time in '68

[k8conant]

82. Indeed! The Convention in Chicago was a strong indicator of that.

[Honeycombe8]

57. People had cars in 1969. A lot of people went to Woodstock in cars. ???

They also had tvs, homes, money. Was your family homeless?

[MrScorpio]

66. The North Vietnamese kinda helped

There's a little credit for them in there somewhere.

[k8conant]

67. I think the OP's first line is describing 1929.

[slumcamper]

69. A bit hyperbolic. What is your point?

Is it to implicitly diminish the force and effect of current resistance efforts, or insinuate that that the boomers of the 60s youth generation achieved more with less?

In spite of the litany of gizmos you mention, I would point out that much of what was achieved during that period occurred as a result of institutions of government and elsewhere actually FUNCTIONING--albeit slowly--in response to civic unrest. This is not the case today. Dysfunction prevails, and intentionally so.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

92. I took it to mean that it was *possible* to create and sustain a movement

with the more primitive resources that were available at the time. But there's no question that social media have made it much faster and efficient and capable of reaching many more people. I wouldn't say, however, that the institutions of government were functioning all that well in those days - police brutality is not a new thing, and demonstrators were routinely arrested and beaten by the police, without recourse. The 1968 Chicago convention was a good example of a public institution not functioning.

And for all the praise we're hearing about GOP politicians turning against Nixon after the Watergate hearings, the reality was that the articles of impeachment presented to the House Judiciary Committee were approved along party lines. 11 Republicans voted against the obstruction of justice article even after they heard the "smoking gun" tape. Had Democrats not controlled that committee 21-17, those articles wouldn't have gone anywhere and Nixon probably wouldn't have felt compelled to resign. You could say the system functioned, but just barely.

[RandomAccess]

93. I think he was just reminiscing

or that's how I read it.

No need to spoil for a fight.

[LakeArenal]

70. Vintage VW Buses? Princess phones? Lots of concerts.....

Henry's hamburgers 13 for $1.....

I had a blast.. Got tear gassed in 1970 on Bascomb Hill... Good times..

[gladium et scutum]

78. In 1969

Lived in a small apartment going to college. Had a car (1930 Model A) a Western Electric telephone, a black and white portable TV. Worked as a part time janitor for the University for $1.25 an hour. During the school breaks and summer, set chokers for International Paper for $2.10 an hour.

[RandomAccess]

90. Oh! You forgot --

though Woodstock touches on it: We had the best music -- so good it's still listened to, still loved, and the concerts are still attended. It was the best.

[pnwmom]

97. This is from 1968. We did have TV and it did cover protests.

We just didn't have 24 hour cable news.

Here is Dan Rather getting roughed up -- in full color -- by "security" at the Chicago Convention in 1968.

And another protest in 1968:

[Stuart G]

98. One of the things we didn't have is a video tape machine.

I remember seeing my first one in the 70s some time. The video tape machine and the children of that idea, (DVDs. etc.) have changed the entertainment industry in ways no one could have imagined. One movie that I was cautious about seeing, because of the nature of the film, I waited till it came out on video tape. Then the parts I didn't like, I fast forwarded through..But there are so many other aspects to the idea.

[Raine]

103. HUH??? We had cars, phones, TVs

anyway I had all of those things or did you mean 1869...

[Sancho]

107. I was 1A in the draft, but my number never came up...

but to me, the 18 year old vote was a big deal!!

http://blog.legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/legal-research/today-in-1971-26th-amendment-gives-18-year-olds-the-right-to-vote/

In 1969, Congress introduced 50 resolutions to lower the voting age, but none made it into law.
- Old enough to fight, old enough to vote

In 1970, 18-year-olds had the right to vote in 35 nations.

Much of the credit for passage of the 26th Amendment has been given to peaceful protests and letter-writing campaigns by young men and women on college campuses and elsewhere.

The slogan “old enough to fight, old enough to vote” is usually associated with the Vietnam War, but it actually originated during World War II, when two states – Georgia and Kentucky – became the first to lower their voting ages to 18.

[treestar]

118. There were cars, phones and TVs, though if you were in college

you perhaps did not have access to them?

We had phones in our college dorm rooms by the late 1970s. You could hook up a small TV and there was one in the lounge. Some students had cars.

To this day, a lot of campuses don't allow freshman to have cars. But the kids have TVs, and of course each one has a phone and a laptop.

[colsohlibgal]

119. Different World Then

There was no Fox News, no Sinclair right wing media empire, crazy right wing talk was relegated to AM radio nuts like Joe Pyne.

Since then once the Fainess Doctrine was done away with it has gotten worse and worse to where supposedly sane everyday citizens believed the Clintons were running a child sex ring out of a Pizza Shop....and an evil idiot legacy clown got elected president....actually he lost by 3 million votes but.....only in America can someone lose by millions and still be...installed.