Tom Brokaw looks back at tumultuous '60s
Television journalist and author Tom Brokaw recounts the tumultuous years from 1963 to 1974 in his new book "Boom! Voices of the Sixties." Brokaw writes that the aftershocks of the decade still are felt today.
Known for his global travels, Brokaw probes the music, popular culture, politics, feminism, Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War to make his case. He effectively uses then and now photos to package any gaps in recall.
"One minute it was Ike and the man in the gray flannel suit and the lonely crowd … and the next minute it was time to 'Turn on, tune in, drop out,' " Brokaw writes. "Few institutions escaped some kind of assault or change. Nothing was beyond question, and there were far fewer answers than before."
In his book, the journalist weaves together places, people and their ideas and positions on the issues. He includes minutiae such as Gloria Steinem studying in India for two years, and that Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, were high school homecoming king and queen in Casper, Wyo.
Brokaw came into the '60s a "typical crew-cut apostle of the Boy Scouts" from a family of three boys in South Dakota. This year, he celebrated his 45th wedding anniversary, is the father of three daughters and the grandfather of three granddaughters.
The 86-plus voices Brokaw draws upon tell their part of the story as a virtual reunion of individuals, famous and ordinary, who came of age in the '60s. He suggests 1968 was the pinnacle of change and seizes its approaching 40th anniversary as a time to learn from the past.
"Now look back and see what we can build on and what we should leave behind," Brokaw wrote.
Q. Your book reads as a reunion of sorts at which you are the returning class president. Who among your supporting cast is the returning class clown? Homecoming queen? Most likely to succeed? Most changed?
A. He is a serious class clown, but it is Tommy Smothers; the homecoming queen is Jane Pauley; the most likely to succeed, Bill Clinton; and the most changed, Ouida Barnet Atkins, who's the daughter of Mississippi's 1968 segregationist governor (Ross Barnett) and now teaches at an all-black high school.
Q. Were you writing to document this astonishing group of people so others could assess the '60s?
A. Yes. Also I wanted to get '60s participants to evaluate the effect of their actions.
Q. Of all the people you interviewed for the book, whom would you have grasped as a mentor and why?
A. My mentors came from the "Greatest Generation." I was too close to the baby boomers to adopt one of them as a mentor.
Q. What is the most enduring legacy of the '60s?
A. We are a much more tolerant society -- with much greater racial equality, the rise of feminism and the emergence of the gay movement -- than we were before.
Q. Who was a newsmaker in the '60s that people seem to forget but shouldn't? Why?
A. It is the rank-and-file civil rights worker in Martin Luther King's crusade. They forced America to confront its hypocrisy on race.
Q. What personal attributes do you credit to growing up in mid-America?
A. I learned that you have to earn your way by working hard and by being open to new ideas.
Q. Each generation seems to have a defining moment when we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing, for example Pearl Harbor, Kennedy's assassination, the Challenger explosion and Sept. 11. Why isn't the dismantling of the Berlin Wall such a milestone?
A. It was a milestone, but it came later in a series of events, notably the rise of Gorbachev and the beginning of the unraveling of the Soviet empire.
(Brokaw was the only anchor on the scene the night the Berlin Wall fell. He conducted the first exclusive one-on-one interview with Mikhail Gorbachev.)
Q. Could you share a secret of the trade; something you found out after years of reporting?
A. If I did, it would no longer be a secret.
Q. How do you fit writing a book into your busy schedule?
A. I do it by giving up sleep and leisure activities.
Q. Why write about the '60s at this time?
A. It is 40 years later and we're still dealing with many of the issues.
-- Joan Broz
If you go
What: Tom Brokaw discusses his book "Boom! Voices of the Sixties"
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville
Tickets: $35; available at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville
Details: Ticket includes admission and one signed copy of the book; with full-price ticket, a $10 event ticket may be purchased and comes with coupon for $5 off Brokaw's book
Info: (630) 355-2665 or andersonsbookshop.com