Two people I spoke with last week mentioned the year 1963. The first was Perrin Jones, the retired newspaperman and former Arkansas legislator. I was telling Perrin of my daughter’s recent trip to Europe and he recalled being in Berlin, in 1963behind the Iron Curtain and the relatively new Berlin Wall. He was there with dozens of reporters from around the United States, covering the Cold War.
I didn’t ask him if he was there on June 26, when JFK gave his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in West Berlin. It means, or was supposed to mean, “I am a Berliner.”
Kennedy orated, “Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!”However, according to William J. Miller in his New York Times column, it means something a little different –
“It’s worth recalling, again, President John F. Kennedy’s use of a German phrase while standing before the Berlin Wall. It would be great, his wordsmiths thought, for him to declare himself a symbolic citizen of Berlin. Hence, Ich bin ein Berliner. What they did not know, but could easily have found out, was that such citizens never refer to themselves as ‘Berliners.’ They reserve that term for a favorite confection often munched at breakfast. So, while they understood and appreciated the sentiments behind the President’s impassioned declaration, the residents tittered among themselves when he exclaimed, literally, ‘I am a jelly-filled doughnut.’” – William J. Miller, I Am a Jelly-Filled Doughnut, The New York Times April 30, 1988. Elvis would have been proud.
I mentioned there were two people who recalled the year 1963 to me last week, however, being born a few years before that time, you would understand that I don’t remember who the other person was. Trying to recall, I looked up other events from ’63.
It was the year that the president’s younger brother Robert F., in a function as attorney general, closed down the infamous prison Alcatraz. My wife and I took a trip to the city by the bay four years ago and took the tour of the island. It was the highlight of my trip. When you get out there, and start the tour, moving slowly through the old abandoned cellblocks, it is more than a strange feeling that comes over you. Be sure and go if afforded the chance.
The day after Alcatraz closed, The Beatles, released their first album. It would not be there last as the foursome from Liverpool would never be labeled, “one-hit wonders.”
There were two other notable introductions that year, ZIP codes and Tab, the world’s first diet drink. I was in the first decade of life in 1963, probably the second grade. I don’t remember the school I attended in Sioux City, Iowa, but my best memory resembles the big old brick building in “A Christmas Story.” That may have even been the first year that I tried the tongue on the cold metal pole trick, except now that I think of it, it was the tongue on the freezer shelf trick – same bloody results but at least there were no witnesses like with, “poor Flick.”
In television land in ’63, CBS Evening News extended from 15 minutes to a half hour; NBC and ABC soon followed suit. It was also the year when the first murder was ever witnessed live, when viewers tuned in to NBC saw Jack Ruby gun down Lee Harvey Oswald. On the lighter side, most people preferred “The Beverly Hillbillies,” but I think my favorite was “Bonanza.” However, looking back now, it seems weird that all those sons grew up and still chose to live at home with Pa, without any women around. Come on guys; get a job and girl for gosh sakes.
I think Pa was the only one who was ever married. Three times in fact because Adam, Hoss and Little Joe all had different moms. All who died mysteriously. If a woman saw Ben Cartwright coming her way she needed to walk quickly in the other direction.
At least Adam finally moved out. But it upset him so much he lost all his hair. Some guy named Candy took his place on the Ponderosa. Ah, the Wild West. In the 1963 World Series the LA Dodgers beat the Yankees (4-0); the Celtics won it all by beating the Lakers (4-2); in the NCAA Basketball Championship Loyola-IL d. Cincinnati (60-58 in OT).
And the NCAA Football Champions of 1963 were the Texas Longhorns. THAT’S IT! The other guy who mentioned 1963 to me last week was a Longhorn fan reliving past glories. No wonder I forgot.