48 years ago, New Year’s, 1969, I reflected on the year
just past which I then believed, and still believe today, we survived the
greatest internal threat to our system of representative government since the
Civil War, 1861-1865.
Those of us around in 1968 lived through the assassination
of the preeminent civil rights leader (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and a
presidential candidate (Robert F. Kennedy).
We were in the midst of a very unpopular war in Viet Nam, and had
witnessed the Tet Offensive that spring.
There was civil unrest in the inner cities. The Democratic National Convention that year
in Chicago was filled with riots, protests and conflicts between protesters and
the Chicago Police Department. That
preceded another hotly contested and very close race for President of the
United States. Richard Nixon easily
carried the Electoral College, but won the popular vote by only 1.1 percent, or
about 812,000 votes out of over 70 million votes cast.[1] Antiwar and civil rights protests dominated
the news cycles back then.
But 1968 also was the year of the Apollo 8 was the first
manned vehicle to orbit the moon and left us the first “Earthrise” photo, and a
memorable Christmas Eve message.[2] That photo allowed the inhabitants of Earth,
for the first time, to see our planet in one photo. How very small and beautiful it looks! How fragile.
Our Nation survived the trauma of 1968, but it took years,
ending the Viet Nam War and the resignation of a President. Many would maintain that our society still
struggles with residual issues from that dark time.
The lesson I have taken from 1968 is that our system of
governing is resilient. We can “Take a
licking and keep on ticking” as that watch commercial from the 1960’s used to
say.[3]
But, to say that we survived 1968 is NOT to say that we
will always overcome obstacles to our system.
We must be ever vigilant. We must
jealously guard the rights of each resident of our great nation as provided in
the Constitution.
For me, tolerance of another’s point of view means to stand
with that person who respectfully and lawfully maintains his or her
position.
Our Country has survived crises in the past. We can again today and in the future. But we cannot delegate our responsibility to
others. In large ways and small, we must
each stand together as one people.
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