For those of us who were actually there, it seems quite puzzling that fifty years – half a century? – have gone by since we sat eagerly down to watch that very first episode of “Star Trek.” Most of us weren’t TOO badly disappointed, though we all agreed it could have been better. And over the next three years it GOT better, though never reaching quite the heights we’d hoped for. Still… space travel in prime time, and we didn’t need to be ashamed of it.
*From its original moderate success, “Star Trek” has swelled into a phenomenon… last weekend, I even bought “Star Trek” stamps at the Post Office. Those square computer discs have come and gone… those flip-lid clamshell communicators look an awful lot like our phones.
*Then we looked forward, now we look back. What were our lives like the night “Star Trek” premiered, back in 1966?
*Lyndon B. Johnson was our president, and Nelson Rockefeller was our governor. Our senators were Jake Javits and Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy was 41. He would never be 43.
*“Cadillac” Bill Smith was a state senator from Big Flats, three years into his 24-year service. He initially grabbed the voters’ attention by campaigning in a Cadillac that he bought with subsidies for not growing crops, and condemning government waste.
*Steuben County was still governed by a Board of Supervisors, rather than an elected legislature. The state legislature was just finishing a chaotic reapportionment on the “one man, one vote” principal, which broke an undemocratic stranglehold by rural Upstate counties.
*Down in Georgia, though, the assembly overwhelmingly blocked duly-elected Julian Bond from taking his seat. (They insisted it was because he opposed the Vietnam War, not because he was black – the Supreme Court ordered him seated later in 1966.) Civil rights worker Vernon Dahmer was burned to death in Mississippi. Robert Weaver became the first African American cabinet secretary. Riots exploded in Watts. Ed Brooke became the first African American senator since Reconstruction.
*“The Dick Van Dyke Show” ended, and “Dark Shadows” began. Mr. Ed made his last snide remarks. Doctor Who regenerated for the first time. Walt Disney died.
*“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” got its very first airing. A New York City TV station made the first yule log broadcast. Kwanzaa had its first celebration.
*A midair collision in Spain caused three H-bombs to be dropped and lost. Several Gemini space missions took place. A Russian probe made a soft landing on the moon. Johnson sent more troops to Vietnam, and demonstrations against the war began in ernest. The Supreme Court issued its Miranda ruling. The Freedom of Information Act became law.
*A sniper with an undiagnosed brain tumor killed 14 people from a tower at the University of Texas. Albert Speer finished his 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity.
*Twenty-eight original members founded the National Organization for Women. A merger formed the United Farm Workers, under an earlier name. The Black Panther Party was formed.
*Barack Obama was five, and probably wasn’t allowed to stay up for “Star Trek.” Andrew Cuomo was almost nine. Hilary Clinton was a sophomore at Wellesley. Donald Trump had just finished two years at Fordham, and was switching to Wharton.
*Corning and Hornell were busy industrial cities. Home computers and portable phones were nothing but dreams. Vaccines were available for measles, but not for mumps, rubella, or chicken pox. If gasoline prices ever rose as high as a quarter a gallon, people were horrified. The second stage of the Watergate Hotel was just opening. No one had ever spoken the name of Hurricane Agnes.
*Technology has advanced since 1966, but “Star Trek” envisioned a social future too. A future in which African Americans could be president. A future in which women could be president. A future in which people of different backgrounds could live, work, and play together.
*Mission accomplished? No, but mission advanced anyway. Even so, for all the ground we’ve travelled nativism and xenophobia are powerful forces in this election… even the Ku Klux Klan is a factor in this election, just as it was in 1966. So there’s a lot of journey still to go. Still climbin’. But we won’t sit down.