Author Topic: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?  (Read 86906 times)

Marge_Innavera

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #60 on: February 16, 2007, 12:02:18 pm »
I always think of the early 1960's as being a continuation of the 1950's. JFK's assassination put an end to that time period and the 1960's really began in earnest.  However, even in 1963,  I gather there were rumblings of upcoming social upheaval as integration was front and center.   1963 is before my time and I'm glad I wasn't around for "Camelot" so to speak.

IMO, much of the 1950s carried over into the early 1960s but it was a transitional era. The big issue at that point, and had been since the late 1950s, was racial integration and getting rid of Jim Crow laws.  If you can find some of the pro-segregationist rhetoric of that time, it's remarkably similar to anti-gay arguments today. The attitudes toward interracial marriage - referred to at that time as "miscegenation" - are very close to identical, right down to the "I'm not bigoted but it would be bad for the children" schtick.

Offline lachlan

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #61 on: February 19, 2007, 06:53:12 am »
I was 15 in 1963 and got my first job then; working on a sheep ranch in the Cascade Mountains (Packwood WA). Just looking after ewes while the lambs had their tails docked. But an over-riding theme for a young man in the 60's was the Draft. It was a major issue for me and for my own clandestine lover; we had a hell of a struggle to keep the Draft board at bay and anytime a policeman saw a lad of our age, he'd check our draft-cards and harrass me for my "1-Y" status. In BBM, in 1963 Jack says, "...if the Army don't get me." and in 1967 Ennis says, "Army didn't get you?" But what about Ennis' status? Was he somehow exempt?
I come upon a bear is what happened!

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #62 on: February 19, 2007, 07:38:28 am »
In BBM, in 1963 Jack says, "...if the Army don't get me." and in 1967 Ennis says, "Army didn't get you?" But what about Ennis' status? Was he somehow exempt?

Ennis was already engaged to Alma in summer 1963, married a few months later and Junior was on the way shortly after the wedding. In my country married men, let alone family fathers were not drafted. I read somewhere that it was the same in the US back in the sixties.

If this was an additional reason for Ennis to get married? To avoid getting drafted?

Offline Brokeback_Dev

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #63 on: February 19, 2007, 09:05:29 am »
Ennis was already engaged to Alma in summer 1963, married a few months later and Junior was on the way shortly after the wedding. In my country married men, let alone family fathers were not drafted. I read somewhere that it was the same in the US back in the sixties.

If this was an additional reason for Ennis to get married? To avoid getting drafted?

I was born in '61 and remember the Vietnam War through my grammer and middle school years, and I never heard that a young man could avoid the draft if he got married.
 
I think if that was the case, there wouldn't have been draft dodgers running off to Canada and what not.  American boys would just get married..   No, that would be too easy a way to avoid the draft.

It is a good question though.  Why didn't Ennis think about being drafted himself?  I have wondered about that too.


Offline lachlan

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #64 on: February 19, 2007, 11:57:02 am »
I knew quite a few married boys who got drafted, although I think the rules changed from year to year, becoming increasingly harder to avoid as the need for more soldiers grew.
I come upon a bear is what happened!

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #65 on: February 19, 2007, 07:26:59 pm »
I knew quite a few married boys who got drafted, although I think the rules changed from year to year, becoming increasingly harder to avoid as the need for more soldiers grew.

This question came up--somewhere--some time ago. I believe married men received a different draft classification from single men.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline fernly

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #66 on: February 19, 2007, 08:46:07 pm »
Short answer - married men were protected from the draft until Oct.1965, after that it was married men with dependent children.
I knew several men who utilized these protections. 

Longer article about draft deferments as seen through the experience of our vice-president is here:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?action=post;msg=130773;topic=6914.0;sesc=5e939b023b99f2cd504ab62903adc652
(points relevant to Jack and Ennis are italicized)
on the mountain flying in the euphoric, bitter air

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #67 on: February 20, 2007, 10:47:13 am »
Short answer - married men were protected from the draft until Oct.1965, after that it was married men with dependent children.
I knew several men who utilized these protections. 

Longer article about draft deferments as seen through the experience of our vice-president is here:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?action=post;msg=130773;topic=6914.0;sesc=5e939b023b99f2cd504ab62903adc652
(points relevant to Jack and Ennis are italicized)

Thanks, Fern! I think we have our answer here.

Ennis married Alma in November (film)/December (story) 1963. Alma, Jr., was born in September 1964 (story). So first Ennis was a married man, and then by the time the rules changed (Oct. 1965), he was a married man with dependent children.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Brokeback_Dev

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #68 on: February 21, 2007, 07:33:18 pm »
The mystery solved, and very a very interesting piece of American history..

Offline Brokeback_Dev

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Re: The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?
« Reply #69 on: February 21, 2007, 07:50:01 pm »
Did anybody else wear a POW bracelet and army jacket besides me? 

I still get teary thinking of our boys over in that hell hole of a place.

First time I ever got high was with a couple Viet Nam vets who musta just got home.  It was back in 1972.

I started my experimentation with drugs early in life.   Goes to show you why I dont do it anymore.