Forty years ago: a different world…and not
by Geoff Giglierano, MHC Executive Director

 

Geoff GiglieranoFrom a certain perspective, anniversaries are somewhat odd things. Some people will tell you that the meanings we assign to anniversary dates are somewhat arbitrary and perhaps even artificial. But at the same time, anniversaries offer excellent opportunities to reflect on some event that is important to us: a wedding; a birth; a death; a beginning; an ending; a transition. Acknowledging an anniversary also gives us an opportunity to reflect upon changes that have taken place, as well as what has remained relatively constant over time.

Let’s consider the year 1971. Forty years ago, the world was a far different place from what it is today: it was before 9/11 and the war on Terrorism; before the great economic upheavals; before the end of the Cold War; before the advent of the personal computer and the internet…

We were still in the midst of a decades-long conflict with the Soviet Union, a conflict that manifested itself in many ways, including proxy wars, legions of spies on both sides, and an arms race that in 1971 featured multiple nuclear tests carried out by the U.S., the U.S.S.R. and France. In 1971, we were in the midst of a “hot” manifestation of the Cold War with our participation in a long and hard war in Vietnam. All of this required us to maintain a massive complex of military posts and facilities, and a military force that included a huge contingent of conscripts and well as a dedicated —and often frustrated—cadre of professionals.

1971 was a time of social and political tension, the intensity of which we today sometimes lose sight of. For example, there was racially-based rioting in multiple American cities, which resulted in the National Guard being called out to patrol those communities. There were massive antiwar protests which resulted in thousands of people being arrested. At the same time, it was a year in which creativity flourished, as it always does: among the cultural events of 1971 were the openings of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” on Broadway, the premier of “All in the Family” on television, and the release of John Lennon’s “Imagine” album.

It was a time of curious contradictions. In this same year that operatives of the Nixon administration were breaking into the Watergate in a bizarre expression of executive paranoia, the Nixon administration was making remarkable progress in changing America’s relationship with The Peoples Republic of China, including a visit to that county by Secretary of state Henry Kissinger. Even as some sectors of society worried about the radicalization of young people and the development of a youth sub-culture that had values that substantially differed from those in mainstream, the voting age was lowered to 18.

It was a time of change and, arguably, of progress. In 1971, Amtrak began operations. Samuel L. Gravely Jr. became the first African American to achieve the rank of Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Satchel Page became the first Negro Leagues player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. We were in the midst of our first journeys to stand on the surface of a place other than earth. There were two manned landings on the moon in 1971, Apollo 14 and Apollo 15. With Apollo 15, a wheeled vehicle was used to drive around that alien landscape, and on Apollo 14, Alan Shepherd played the first golf on another world. Other less visible but nonetheless potentially earthshaking developments were taking place as well. The year 1971 saw the introduction of the Intel 4004, which is generally considered the first commercial microprocessor, and a key step towards personal computers eventually becoming reality.

1971 was also the year that the organization that would become MHC was born. It was then that the Missouri State Committee for the Humanities began operating with funding from NEH. For the details of that story, I refer you to the excellent article by Dr. Robert Waldrond that you will find in this issue of Missouri Passages. Again, you can argue that choosing to recognize this 40th anniversary of MHC’s establishment is a somewhat arbitrary decision. However, just as our nation and society in general faces a very different set of circumstances than it did 40 years ago, so too does our organization. Nonetheless, we are still working to fulfill essentially the same goals: to promote and support the humanities in this state and to facilitate the connecting of humanities scholars and experts with diverse public audiences.

We are facing some substantial challenges in carrying out our mission. There is great uncertainty about public funding. MHC has to diversify its sources of support, build new relationships, and seek opportunities to collaborate with other Missouri organizations as quickly as possible. We need to communicate effectively with communities, museums, libraries, government agencies, civic organizations and schools in order to best use our resources for the benefit of the broadest possible range of constituents. These are huge challenges, but then, in reflecting upon it, the challenges that were faced by our predecessors 40 years were not inconsiderable either. Yes, the times are different, but the need for what we do remains.

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