Were 1960s exemplary? Brokaw answers

Former NBC newsman speaks with Monmouth College class

Saturday, November 3, 2007

By CIGI ROSS

The Register-Mail

MONMOUTH - Monmouth College first-year students taking a class about the 1960s had a unique opportunity to speak to an expert on the decade Friday during a teleconference with former NBC TV news anchor and author Tom Brokaw.

The students are in an "Introduction to Liberal Arts" class taught by Marjorie Bond, associate professor of mathematics and computer science. The course aims to have students decide whether or not the '60s was an exemplary decade.

Bond said she originally asked fellow Monmouth College professor Joe Angotti, who teaches communications and media courses, to speak to the class. Angotti, a former executive producer for NBC Nightly News, suggested Brokaw.

Brokaw witnessed important events of the '60s first-hand as a TV newsman and recently authored the book, "Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today" which will be released in hardcover Tuesday.

The 16-member class had a list of questions ready for Brokaw when the telephone in Hewes Library's electronic classroom rang at 11:05 a.m. Friday. The class was seated in rows of chairs in front of a large projected photo of Brokaw.

"We've been studying the 1960s and whether the 1960s were exemplary," Bonds told Brokaw after a short introduction. The questions began immediately, and Brokaw told the students about his experiences living in and reporting on the decade. Several students jotted notes as Brokaw spoke.

"The '60s, for me, began on what I believe was a terribly violent note - the assassination of John F. Kennedy," Brokaw said. That event, he said, shattered the innocence of the nation and triggered a series of events during the decade. "It wasn't as violent at the beginning as it was towards the end, but the roots of violence were certainly there."

Brokaw said his dual role as reporter and citizen was interesting.

"I had really traditional ambitions about being a network correspondent," Brokaw said. "I was a product of the 1950s, so I was interested in what was going on as a citizen and culturally as a reporter. My idea was to not get too romanced by it, not get too swept away by it."

The students asked Brokaw for the most significant event of the '60s. He said escalation of the war in Vietnam had separated the baby-boomer generation from their parents. He later gave the students - most born in 1989 - an idea of what that was like: parents who had come of age in the 1940s and '50s sitting across the table from a daughter not wearing a brassiere, probably living with her boyfriend, and a son who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of a swastika over an American flag talking about moving to Canada to avoid the draft. The students were startled by the description.

"We were trying to explain to an older generation what was going on," Brokaw said. "And then, within the counter-culture movement we were trying to determine what was real from what was pure fear.

"A lot of things were done for dramatic effect rather than for political impact. ...We had to sort out what was real, what was not, what would have lasting effect and what was simply there because it was so unusual."

Brokaw also told the students he thought the media had failed to tell the whole story of what was happening in the '60s, especially about the "silent majority," a Republican underground of people who Brokaw said helped win the next six of eight presidential elections.

"We (the media) were there just because that's what was going on," Brokaw said. "We didn't work hard enough. ...We didn't get behind the scenes on the left or the right enough. In a way, we were so startled about the changes."

One student asked Brokaw if he thought he'd "ever make it out of the '60s hole."

"It was in 1968," Brokaw said. "I remember saying on the air, 'It seems like this year has been going on forever and it's only halfway through.' "

Brokaw said a lesson from the '60s is that America is "an extraordinarily resilient country. People were determined to hold on to their idea of the American dream."

The nation is, Brokaw said, still working its way through the '60s.

"Much of who we are now was determined then," Brokaw said. He said the decade divided the nation ideologically with many not willing to compromise. Common ground will be an issue again in the 2008 election, he said.

Students also asked Brokaw about parallels between Vietnam and the war in Iraq.

"Both wars are against insurgents, not conventional armies," Brokaw said. "Both are small countries where the enemy doesn't wear uniforms and we don't speak the language.

"The largest issue of all is what are we doing there. Why is it our responsibility and not the Iraqis to rebuild their own country?"

Bond wanted to know if Brokaw thought the '60s were exemplary.

He defined the term as more good than bad things happening, more progress.

"It's hard at any time to say that something is exemplary in a blanket sense," he said. "Exemplary to me means more good than bad, more progress than retreat. It's complex. There were certainly gains for African-Americans and more opportunities for Hispanics and for women. The decade was very progressive in that sense. But we also saw the polarization of a country, with no compromise or common ground.

"It was a complex time," he said. "When you all think of the '60s, you think of Bob Dylan and Haight-Ashbury, of smoking dope and Woodstock. But there was much more to it. There was division between families. And rather than liberalizing the nation, it made the country become more conservative."

The call ended after 40 minutes. Afterwards students reflected and said the call was very informative.

"It was nice to hear the viewpoint of someone who was all over the country (at the time)," said student Andy Owens. "It's really neat to hear somebody from that era talk about it, rather than listening to us try to tell our viewpoints. He's had actual experience."