My mother, Lynn Yaple, grew up in a family typical of the 1950's. Mostly from her father's influence, she grew up with strong political emphasis and focus, as well as a pride that her veteran-father, a Marine, instilled in her. She learned civics in a good New Jersey public education, so she understood the boring logistics of government- the executive, judiciary, and congressional branches etc.- early on. Like most any other American of that time, she had unwavering pride, trust, and took American democracy and stability as granted.
What I heard from my mother in an interview on America's turmoil in the 60s, 70s, and 80s included the shock and the following confusion and instances of craze. I learned how in the 1970s the government's action only built as boomer activists, who had been born into a trusty and safe American system, protested: outraged at the recurring instances where the government strayed from good decisions/ tradition. At the same time they faced questions within themselves. Everything was changed and no one quite knew what to make of his or her future. Events from 1960 to 1970, including major ones like the Kennedy assassinations and King's assassination, government lies from Pentagon papers and Watergate, and moral corruption at home and overseas- all questioned the fundaments of environment and of authority that the boomer generation grew up to believe in.
It seemed that with every social-topic, every spiritual and moral sense, in a legal sense, and in every context that existed soundly/coherently as "American" before the Vietnam war and Watergate, were now tossed into chaos and question. Life was backwards and unstable. The impact that the 60s and 70s had on America still shows now. It was the first time ever that Americans felt questioned or challenged by what they believed in. It was the first time where it was obvious, in the rebellion against the war and moral corruption alone, that maybe American society had ought to question their sense of pride and confidence in action. People born in generations after this receive, somehow, an automatic sense that one cannot always trust the government, not even/ especially not the President, and that the US is probably corrupt in some way.... and that we are living with it.
On this note, I learned about what started in the 1980s when Reagan became President. American society had just gone through an impossible amount of change and corruption, mistrust and mayhem. As my Mom, Lynn, put it, everyone was just "burnt out". No one wanted to deal with it anymore. During the 80s as she raised my older sister, she felt a sense of "greed" grow in society as Reagan seemed to "be more like an actor” than a President as he told the US they could basically be proud of what "American" is (or was) again. This perhaps impacts society now in the way that people do not feel as responsible for their country and its government and morals as they did previously (before the 80s). Lynn also mentioned he inspired a lot of hope economically. She never trusted him or liked him, surprisingly. She says she was aware of his “act” at the time. She also mentions in the interview and when she speaks to me how different it was to be a mother in 1983 than she had thought it would be in the 1950’s and 60s. These are just a few things I have learned from my mother’s experience as a Boomer.
