1968

by Mark Kurlansky

39 “and stay in the news.” Gene Roberts, interviewed September 2002.

  39 “Your role is to photograph what is happening to us.” Flip Schulke, Witness to Our Times: My Life as a Photojournalist (Chicago: Cricket Books, 2003), xvi. Also witnessed by Gene Roberts, interviewed September 2002.

  Sheriff Clark swinging his billy club at a helpless woman. Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 381.

  40 “the pen is still mightier than the sword.” Mary King, Freedom Song: A Personal Story of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement (New York: William Morrow, 1987), 248.

  40 “seems to me somebody foreign to me.” Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 289.

  40 King statement should be no more than sixty seconds. David Halberstam, The Children (New York: Fawcett Books, 1999), 433.

  40 create fundamental changes—a slow, off-camera process. Mary King, Freedom Song, 480.

  41 “you couldn’t shoot two hours.” Daniel Schorr, interviewed April 2001.

  41 “attention by doing that.” Ibid.

  41 “I’m afraid I did.” Daniel Schorr, Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism (New York: Pocket Books, 2001), 205.

  42 enough time to formulate his response. Ibid., 157.

  42 “a lot of crap! But it was live.” Daniel Schorr, interviewed April 2001.

  42 and playing it that night. Ibid.

  43 “tides of rage must be loose in America?” Norman Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968 (New York: World Publishing Company, 1968), 51.

  43 potential supporters of the antiwar cause. Dellinger, From Yale to Jail, 260–62.

  44“white people and their attitude.” Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 573.

  44 “could really sink us next fall.” Time magazine, January 26, 1968.

  44 and economist Milton Friedman. The New York Times, January 12, 1968.

  45 Tet as the next chance for peace. Ibid., January 2, 1968.

  46 “self-determination in Southeast Asia.” Ibid., January 13, 1968.

  47 McCarthy by a margin of 5 to 1. Ibid., January 15, 1968.

  48 Time magazine version, Time magazine, January 26, 1968.

  49 “what people really feel.” United Press International, January 19, 1968, ran in The New York Times, January 20, 1968.

  50 IR8 rice story. Gene Roberts, interviewed September 2002.

  51 film could be quickly shipped. Don Oberdorfer, Tet!: The Turning Point in the Vietnam War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 5.

  52 killed in an American bombing, Ibid., 42–44.

  52 to win a public relations victory. The New York Times, February 1, 1968.

  52 more than ten million homes. Oberdorfer, Tet!, 240.

  52 “could be incomplete.” The New York Times, February 5, 1968.

  53 “stupid,” false,” and “unspeakable.” Ibid., June 20, 1968.

  53 “the good offices of the mass media.” Life magazine, July 7, 1968.

  54 brought the young man back to life. The New York Times, March 12, 1968.

  56 “the blind, and the female.” Ibid., February 17, 1968.

  56 weekly casualties, with 543 American soldiers killed. The New York Times, February 23, 1968.

  57 surprise on Christmas Eve 1944. Oberdorfer, Tet!, 71.

  57 “thousands of people around the country.” Ibid., 247.

  58 heads never trusted a word from the generals. Conversation with David Halberstam, May 2003.

  59 it seemed to Cronkite and Salant, Walter Cronkite, interviewed June 2002.

  60 Viet Cong attack. The New York Times, February 12, 1968.

  60 another forty-five wounded. Ibid., February 16, 1968.

  63 “and for CBS to permit me to do.” Walter Cronkite, interviewed June 2002.

  CHAPTER 4: To Breathe in a Polish Ear

  66 “a very large, unlimited ego.” Marian Turski, interviewed July 1992.

  67 he was meeting with Gomułka and other leaders. Dariusz Stola, historian at Istitut Studiów Politycznych, interviewed June 2001.

  70 “but there was no other.” Jacek Kuroń, interviewed June 2001.

  70 “noble human beings I have met in my life.” Jan Nowak, interviewed May 2002.

  71 “He was boyish . . .” Ibid.

  72 “anti-Semites call me a Jew,” Adam Michnik, interviewed June 2001.

  75 “nude and full, as it were, face.” The New York Times, April 30, 1968.

  75 from the bathtub in Brook’s production. Paris Match, June 29, 1968.

  76 “Really stirring,” Michnik, interviewed May 2002.

  76 “to attack Mickiewicz.” Ibid.

  76 “We decided to lay flowers” Ibid.

  76 “against students in Poland,” Ibid.

  77 “an extremely dangerous man.” Ibid.

  CHAPTER 5: On the Gears of an Odious Machine

  82 “where most of the seniors are headed.” The New York Times, March 19, 1968.

  83 “It suddenly occurred to me.” Cronkite, interviewed June 2002.

  84 Seeger had turned into a civil rights song when sit-ins began in 1960. King, Freedom Song, 95–96.

  84 at the counter until they were served. Register, North Carolina A&T, February 5, 1960.

  85 “Tennessee and involved fifteen cities.” The New York Times, February 15, 1960.

  85 “civil rights organizations completely by surprise,” King, Freedom Song, 69.

  85 “identification with their courage and conviction deepened.” Tom Hayden, Reunion: A Memoir (New York: Collier, 1988), 32.

  87 completely unaware of it. Tom Hayden, conversation May 2003.

  87 “the South was beckoning,” Hayden, Reunion, 47.

  87 “beating to beating, jail to jail,” Ibid., 73.

  88 in green suitcases to the Naked . . . Allen Ginsberg, “Kral Majales,” Planet News: 1961–1967 (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1968), 89–91.

  88 “compelled to enforce federal law.” Isserman and Kazin, America Divided, 34.

  88 from a bus here Saturday morning. Montgomery Advertiser, May 21, 1961.

  88 Parchman Penitentiary. King, Freedom Song, 70.

  89 with twenty thousand people arrested. Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 129.

  89 North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, King, Freedom Song, 407.

  91 “(I had no idea what that was anyway)?” Mario Savio, “Thirty Years Later: Reflections on the FSM,” 65. In Robert Chen and Reginald E. Zelnik, eds., The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).

  95 their own California party. King, Freedom Song, 490–91.

  95 wearing only bathing suits. Jonah Raskin, For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 64–65.

  96 more than 20 percent white, King, Freedom Song, 502.

  97 “might feel bad if you didn’t share it.” Ibid., 406.

  97 “bread by some dark skinned sharpie.” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 77.

  98 “wrapped around induction centers,” Ibid., 96.

  98 “sweep-in” was “a goof.” Ibid., 102.

  99 to say it stood for Youth International Party. Ibid., 129.

  99 SDS was more than half Jewish. Paul Berman, A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968 (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1997), 44.

  102 “what a reporter could do to a president, do you?” Langguth, Our Vietnam, 49.

  102 “an epidemic around the world.” Walter Cronkite, interviewed June 2002.

  CHAPTER 6: Heroes

  103 had labeled “a conundrum.” Life, February 9, 1968.

  105 “America was falling apart at the seams.” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 137.

  105 “should activate the politician within him.” The Times (London), March 14, 1968.

  105 primary inducement. The New York Times, April 1, 1968.

  106 said British economist Joh
n Vaizey. Time, March 22, 1968.

  106 The houses were all burned. Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1988), 689.

  108 become a student activist. Hayden, Reunion, 76.

  108 “myth is the definitive revolution.” Raskin, For the Hell of It, 129.

  108 “the most important philosopher alive.” The New York Times, October 27, 1968.

  109 Marx, Mao, and Marcuse. Time, March 22, 1968.

  109 to mention “the philosophers of destruction.” Elena Poniatowska, La Noche de Tlatelolco (Mexico City: Biblioteca Era, 1993), 38. This and other translations from Spanish, unless otherwise indicated, are by the author.

  110 “the outstanding characteristic of our generation.” David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1986), 54.

  111 by a ratio of eight to seven did. The New York Times, July 3, 1968.

  111 who was willing to use them. Hugh Pearson, The Shadow of a Panther (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1994), 149–50.

  112 “shoot to maim” any looters. Time, April 26, 1968.

  112 “Huey had the good sense to defend himself.” Pearson, The Shadow of a Panther, 149.

  113 “find any other in the place.” The New York Times, July 24, 1968.

  114 “de Lawd” Dellinger, From Yale to Jail, 263.

  114 they had gone off to different schools. Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 33.

  114 “intellectual jive.” Ibid., 45.

  114 more mature than he was. Ibid., 53.

  114 “give them leadership.” Ibid., 84.

  115 “Fucking’s a form of anxiety reduction.” Ibid., 375.

  115 said political activist Michael Harrington. Ibid.

  115 only solution was for him to take his own life. David J. Garrow, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.: From “Solo” to Memphis (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1981), 125–26.

  115 “but I’m afraid it will fall on deaf ears.” Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 557.

  115 “Maybe it will heed the voice of violence.” Ibid., 612.

  116 “end this nonviolence bullshit.” Isserman and Kazin, America Divided, 227.

  CHAPTER 7: A Polish Categorical Imperative

  119 “one of the boys. Just like Dad.” Konstanty Gebert, interviewed July 1992.

  120 shouted, “Long live the workers of Poznan,” The New York Times, March 17, 1968.

  121 “children of the elite.” Jacek Kuroń, interviewed June 2001.

  121 “We didn’t understand each other.” Eugeniusz Smolar, interviewed June 2001.

  121 “a kind of excitement.” Joanne Szczesna, interviewed June 2001.

  123 “violence was another surprise.” Nina Smolar, interviewed June 2001.

  125 a Jew and a political adversary of Moczar. The New York Times, March 19, 1968.

  128 “wait for this capital to bear fruit.” Trybuna Ludu, March 26, 1968.

  CHAPTER 8: Poetry, Politics, and a Tough Second Act

  129 with new arrivals and he had to read it again. Life, September 6, 1968.

  131 Louis got him to remove the lines. Michael Schumacher, Dharma Lion: A Critical Biography of Allen Ginsberg (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992).

  131 safely back in the East Village. Ibid., xiv–xv.

  132 each Ginsberg had his cheerers. The New York Times, January 18, 1968.

  132 “I’m a stringer of words.” Life, February 9, 1968.

  132 “an amplified poet in black leather pants.” Ibid., April 12, 1968.

  133 “Wallace Stevens. That’s poetry.” The New York Times Magazine, October 13, 1968.

  133 would have walked out of the room. Schumacher, Dharma Lion, 489.

  134 “no importance here in Russia to us.” Ibid., 434.

  134 “a big man on campus.” Life, October 18, 1968.

  135 “So do we.” The New York Times, August 31, 1968.

  135 “Robert Lowell is traveling with the candidate.” Life, April 12, 1968.

  135 Lowenstein’s first choice, one last time. Witcover, The Year the Dream Died, 149.

  135 peasant uprising in 1381. Life, February 9, 1968.

  137 if tongue was the organ to be manifested. Mailer, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, 119.

  137 “That’s kind of Greek, isn’t it?” Life, April 12, 1968.

  137 had gotten him the job. Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life and Times (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 65.

  138 “A paratrooper.” Ibid., 19.

  139 such as Robert Lowell, Ibid., 304.

  139 “Viva all of you.” Time, March 22, 1968.

  139 “Run for the bus.” Life, June 21, 1968.

  140 Hayden cited for its similarity to the Port Huron Statement: Hayden, Reunion, 264.

  CHAPTER 9: Sons and Daughters of the New Fatherland

  145 two more rounds of appeals. Time, February 2, 1968.

  145 “that is the worst.” Paris Match, March 16, 1968.

  145 ruling out retirement or resignation. The New York Times, February 28, 1968.

  145 “every paper I signed.” Ibid., March 2, 1968.

  146 knowing anything about killing Jews. Ibid., July 5, 1968.

  147 “a relationship to the past.” Barbara Heimannsberg and Christoph J. Schmidt, eds., The Collective Silence: German Identity and the Legacy of Shame (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993), 67.

  147 West Germans were crossing to East Germany every year. The New York Times, March 21, 1968.

  148 For the last two hundred years. Mammon. Tariq Ali and Susan Watkins, 1968: Marching in the Streets (New York: Free Press, 1998), 32.

  150 “was new to me and the other French.” Alain Krivine, interviewed June 2002.

  150 chairman for 1968, to speak to students in France. Ronald Fraser, ed., 1968: A Student Generation in Revolt (New York: Pantheon Books, 1988), 180.

  153 “the biggest anti-American rally ever staged in the city.” The New York Times, February 19, 1968.

  153 Tariq Ali did not believe this was possible. Fraser, 1968, 186.

  155 boycott his papers. The New York Times, April 13, 1968.

  156 they opposed the student violence. Peter Demetz, After the Fires: Recent Writing in the Germanies, Austria and Switzerland (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986), 63–64.

  156 students were outspokenly opposed to the violence. Time, April 26, 1986.

  157 “at the age of twenty will never make a good social democrat.” Paris Match, April 27, 1968.

  CHAPTER 10: Wagnerian Overtones of a Hip and Bearded Revolution

  158 “Then the war will end.” Mark Rudd, interviewed April 2002.

  160 “well born, well-to-do daredevil of 29.” Van Gosse, Where the Boys Are: Cuba, Cold War America and the Making of a New Left (London: Verso, 1993), 68.

  161 SLATE, which was the beginning of activism on that campus. Ibid., 90.

  162 to charm her into staying. Hugh Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (New York: Harper & Row, 1971) 1,202–03.

  162 “on the direct line of the French Revolution of 1789.” Herbert L. Matthews, The Cuban Story (New York: George Braziller, 1961), 89.

  163 lost a great deal of support in the first six months of 1959. Gosse, Where the Boys Are, 114.

  164 “the foreign menace felt in anguish.” Thomas, Cuba, 1,269.

  165 “muscle against a very small country.” Gosse, Where the Boys Are, 205.

  165 “wasn’t as good as 250,000 Cubans.” Douglas Brinkley, Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years 1953–1971 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).

  166 “without understanding its music.” The New York Times, April 22, 1961.

  168 who were in Cuban prisons in the mid-1960s. Tad Szulc, Fidel: A Critical Portrait (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1986), 54.

  169 his lack of political commitment. Gosse, Where the Boys Are, 185.

  170 the FBI, remained skeptical. Michael Schumacher, Dhar
ma Lion, 419–20.

  170 “to the revolution.” Ibid., 422.

  171 labeled in May 1966 by student radicals at Qinghua University. J. A. G. Roberts, A Concise History of China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999), 279.

  171 and the students from bourgeois backgrounds. Ibid., 280.

  171 signs of food shortages, The New York Times, March 5, 1968.

  172 shown much progress since. Ibid., August 25, 1968.

  172 capable of hitting Los Angeles and Seattle, The New York Times Magazine, July 14, 1968.

  172 resign from government and move on to another revolution. Szulc, Fidel, 597–98.

  173 950 bars were to be closed. The New York Times, March 14, 1968.

  173 The crowd shouted and applauded its approval. Szulc, Fidel, 609.

  173 the year of the “new man.” Thomas, Cuba, 1,446.

  174 Federal Aviation Administration’s recommendation. Time, March 22, 1968.

  175 “tougher than trying to stop them.” The New York Times, July 21, 1968.

  175 “to fight communism in this manner.” Ibid., December 14, 1968.

  175 “in apologies; it wasn’t going to happen to me.” Gitlin, The Sixties, 274.

  176 Havana-bound flights to record the Mexicans on board. Some of these lists of Cubans and American Havana-bound passengers can be found in newly released Mexican government archives in Lecumberri.

  176 “likes and trusts its government.” Ali, 1968, 24.

  177 “both mobilized and relaxed.” Gitlin, The Sixties, 275.

  CHAPTER 11: April Motherfuckers

  178 “slightly irrelevant in his presence.” Hayden, Reunion, 275.

  179 “changing clothes or engaging in sterile debate.” Ibid.

  181 The Bride Got Farblundjet, Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 227.

  181 70 percent of the professional concert activities, The New York Times, January 15, 1968.

  181 These trends continued in 1968. Gitlin, The Sixties, 120.

  181 transmits sound waves into nerve impulses. The New York Times, August 20, 1968.

  182 “age of instant communication.” Life, June 28, 1968.

  182 “music today,” said Townshend. Ibid., June 2, 1968.

  182 “drummer who can really keep time.” Time, August 30, 1968.

  183 “have a good time.” Ibid., August 9, 1968.