1968 versus 1944

thoughts on a particular date

6 June is a day of momentous U.S. memories of events in different places almost a quarter century apart. Two of those events represent, with different outcomes, the sentiments of this country.

Seventy-nine years ago on 6 June 160 thousand young American, Canadian and British troops went ashore at Normandy to take the war directly against the heart of occupied France. Tom Hanks’ 1998 gripping scene early in Saving Private Ryan offers the fear, the challenges, and the grit those confronted in approaching the beaches on small landing crafts, then struggling against fierce German fire to cross an exposed beach to ascend on the enemy’s entrenched locations. I remain awed by the courage these men, often not old enough to get a legal drink in the United States today, summoned. The young men piloting the 7,000 landing crafts were hardly older. If you have not seen Hanks’ movie, you should. It reminds us all of the reality of war as well showing a taste of the fog and friction that each soldier, airman, Marine, or sailor confronts when at war, regardless of the enemy.

We look back on the D Day invasion as if it were the end of World War II. It was an emotional turning point as the Allies invasion surprised the Axis but the conflict in Europe alone lasted another 48 weeks, many of them such as the German assault known as the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ were similarly tenacious.

Additionally, the Allies, especially the United States, was fighting a similarly bloody conflict half a world away. Indeed, we were preparing for a massive invasion of Saipan in the Pacific theater a mere ten days later. The military-industrial demands on the United States and its armed forces were huge yet carried out in a methodical manner because we had a strong national vision of the world we wanted to see after a victory in both theaters.

We saw that victory with war ending with defeating the Germans and Italians in May and the Japanese three months later in 1945. That war remains perhaps the most recognised apogee for the United States in its role to do good against a distinct evil in a world where much bad can occur. The U.S.-led effort between 1941 and 1945 had its original skeptics but by the end united the entire nation in a metaphoric kiss commemorated in the famous Times Square photograph of the kiss of a nurse and a sailor. The efforts of 6 June 1944 were absolutely foundational to that national pride.

Twenty-four years later on 6 June, Senator Robert Kennedy succumbed to gunshot wounds he received early the prior morning in the kitchen of Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel as he departed a victory celebration following the California presidential primary. Kennedy was the third brother in the family to die, second lost to an assassin.

1968 had already proven a year of turmoil and fury. The shock of the Tet Offensive attack on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in early February proved the war to ‘protect democratic South Vietnam’ was not closer to supposed victory over the North Vietnamese. The nation focused on U.S. Marines at Khe Sanh because of their relative isolation, reminding many of the less successful French stand at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, April murder in Memphis unleashed violence which incinerated several urban areas, ironic considering King’s commitment to non-violence.

Bobby’s decision to pursue the presidency followed his brother’s path from eight years earlier. The ideals of JFK’s thousand day term were even more powerfully articulated in the initial stops along the presidential primary road. Kennedy’s vision led many to see a nation soaring towards social justice issues appealing to both the young and those more experienced yet craving sustained change.

A Palestinian immigrant shot the candidate after his California victory speech, though Kennedy lingered overnight. Dreams of hope, reconciliation and achieving our proclaimed national aspirations died for many, particularly the young, on 6 June 1968 when the Kennedy era died for many along with Bobby. The country recoiled at another prominent assassination yet failed still to conclude the year without further national trauma. Kennedy’s voice did not ring out three months later at the Chicago Democratic National Convention but the warring factions within the Party and the country poured into the streets and the aisles of the convention center in Chicago.

For one remembering the shock of 1968, it is hard to imagine that was less than a quarter century after D Day; in ‘68, the country felt so fractured. Our recounting of 1944, be it in the ‘60s or today, recounts the unity and the sense of national purpose. While various political factions existed across the country in ‘68, each recognised it was a single view of America’s future rather than the unified single approach. We have never found that singularity of purpose, except perhaps in late 2001, since the end of World War II.

These are only two well-known events occurring on 6 June with implications for the country and much of the world. Each of us has other joys, sorrows, and events to commemorate or comment upon on 6 June this year or any other. I personally find the difference in national unity on this date twenty-four years apart a reminder we cannot predict with absolute assurance how history will unfold. We can’t be sure that trends will persist for long either poorly or joyfully. Humans as individuals and as a collective, interject incredible twists moment by moment by moment. Worth remembering rather than being so certain we are clairvoyants.FIN