My mother’s account of the day I was born is that it was very hot. 100 degrees. August 23 was only day that year that Cedar Rapids, Iowa (where I was born) hit 100. Not sure what that may have portended, but it’s a fact nevertheless.
My parents lived in nearby Hiawatha, Iowa in a small trailer with no air conditioning. Putting myself in their place, I imagine some time in an air-conditioned hospital waiting for me would be a welcome relief. I didn’t make them wait for long, though, and after a short labor, I was born at 3:11 a.m.
First child. First grandchild. Born in an auspicious year. (See some of the historic highlights below, from On This Day). I’m 71 this year, an age where more and more I reflect on my life.
I was a television kid for sure. The other day as I was cutting up a paper bag to wrap a parcel, that sound of scissors on heavy paper took me right back to Captain Kangaroo and him showing us how to make something from construction paper. (IYKYK!)
I was also an outdoors kid. I went barefoot all summer. Rode my “trike,” then learned to ride a two-wheeler when I was five. Got in the water as much as I could, whether a little wading pool, a sprinkler, or a hose. Later, I’d beg to go to the city swimming pool. I was a reader, too, from the start. Words and stories, so much a part of who I am now, came to me early on. In school we had Weekly Reader, and I devoured those little “newspapers” for children. In many ways, the fifties and sixties were good decades to be a child.
The 1950s was a decade of change, and some big things emerged in 1955. One tremendous milestone was the polio vaccine. My paternal grandmother had polio as a child and it left her with a lifelong tilt and limp. Nevertheless, she was one of the lucky ones. I know my parents were grateful that I could stand in line at school for my vaccine, a little sugar cube with a pink spot of medicine.
1955’s events sparked the Civil Rights Movement. The nuclear age was burgeoning. There was a rise in technology, especially space technology. Politically, we were in a Cold War. In grade school I was taught to “duck and cover,” and the yellow and black signs indicating Fallout Shelters were everywhere.
As a mid-century baby, I would eventually witness tremendous changes. I am still amazed at the eerie prescience with which science fiction writers of the fifties and sixties foresaw some of the world we live in now. Robots and artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, solar power. I know I sound old when I say I worry about the future, about what life will be like in twenty, thirty, fifty years. We seem to be moving towards a less human existence. If the worst impulses of human nature that seem so out of control right now can be rebuked and constrained, we might evolve as a species. I hope so.
For now, I wonder if children might benefit from a bit more Captain Kangaroo and a lot more time outdoors on their bicycles. Running through the sprinkler and eating Popsicles on a hot day. Building snow forts in the winter. Running wild as much as possible.
Jan 19 “Scrabble” debuts on board game market
Jan 19 First presidential news conference filmed for TV (Eisenhower)
Mar 3 Elvis Presley makes his 1st TV appearance
Mar 16 President Eisenhower upholds the use of atomic weapons in case of war
Apr 12 Polio vaccine tested by Jonas Salk announced to be ‘safe and effective’ and is given full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration
Apr 15 Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald’s Inc. fast food restaurant franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois
Apr 15 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
May 31 US Supreme Court orders school integration “with all deliberate speed”
Jun 30 Variety TV show “The Johnny Carson Show” debuts on CBS TV
Jul 17 Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California
Aug 28 Chicago Black teenager Emmett Till is kidnapped, beaten, and shot dead by white men in Money, Mississippi; his killers are eventually acquitted, but the case helps ignite the US civil rights movement.
Aug 31 First sun-powered automobile is demonstrated in Chicago, Illinois
Oct 3 “The Mickey Mouse Club” television series premieres
Oct 3 Children’s morning program “Captain Kangaroo,” starring Bob Keeshan and famous for its opening line “Good morning, Captain!”, debuts on CBS-TV
Oct 25 Tappan sells the first microwave oven
Nov 2 David Ben-Gurion forms Israeli government
Dec 1 Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus and give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama