Professor discusses ups, downs of '69

WAPAKONETA — While the town is buzzing about Neil Armstrong’s stroll on the moon 40 years ago next week, it’s often forgotten the other momentous moments of 1969.

Jerry Holt, professor of American studies at Purdue University North Central, entertained a group of 25 Tuesday evening at the St. Joseph Parish Life Center with all the glories and pitfalls of the 1960s.

Holt’s talk “1969: A Year Like No Other” was part of a weeklong celebration of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

Holt shared with the crowd his strong feelings for Ohio and said he was glad Wapakoneta was having this 40th anniversary celebration.

“The 1960s was a polarized time when people started thinking about serious issues, like the environment and war,” Holt said.

Holt played a montage of video footage from the 1960s to the tune of Neil Young to warm up the crowd. Iconic images of the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe clashed with the hardships of the Vietnam War and the President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations.

“The 1960s were wild warming up to 1969, in all the good ways and all the scary ways,” Holt said.

Holt discussed with the crowd movies like “Midnight Cowboy” and “The Wild Bunch” and events like Woodstock Music & Art Fair and the New York Mets winning the World Series. Holt touched on lighter events like Virginia Slims advertisements claiming to women, “You’ve come a long way, baby” and the “Brady Bunch” phenomenon.

Holt compared football to war saying, “It’s the acquisition of territory through violent means,” which elicited laughs from the crowd.

Holt mentioned various tidbits from 1969, such as the first childproof prescription bottle being released and 20 American Indian tribes attempting to reclaim Alcatraz Island.

Rachel Barber, member of the committee for the celebration of the moon landing, said she contacted the Ohio Humanities Council and it suggested Holt speak because of his expertise on the 1960s.

“We wanted to combine education and entertainment into some activities,” Barber said. “Holt was really interesting and I remembered a lot of things that I had forgotten about from being a little girl.”