Witness to 80 years of US History

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was watching Deadwood on DVD and got to thinking that some figures of the “Wild West” were young before the Civil War and died around 1920. Then, I got to thinking about the changing face of the US during that time.

Imagine being young, maybe about 12 years old, in 1848 and dying in about 1929. As a kid, Polk is President, slavery is legal, the US just expanded to take Mexico, the California Gold Rush begins, the West is Wild, and the US is fighting with Native Americans over the “frontier.”

Then, Perhaps you vote for James Buchanan in your first Presidential election and maybe Lincoln after that. California becomes a state, the telegraph comes in, the transcontinental railroad is built, the Civil War is fought, and the West is settled. Then, telephones and automobiles take over, people take flight in airplanes, the nation is paved with highways, electricity and indoor plumbing become common, and radio comes in.

You then live through the first World War and witness the start of the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover is president. Good time to die, I guess.

I can’t imagine a more dynamic change to the US from a person’s childhood to death. It’s hard to imagine some of these old gunslingers being alive in 1930 and having dinner conversations about Howard Hughes.

Maybe the gunslingers’ kids bitched about how there were no good movies coming out of Hollywood in 1929. I’m sure the old-timers grumbled and said, “You kids have it so easy these days. When I was a kid, we didn’t even have a California.”

Anyway, I think living to see the changes from 1848-1929 would have been amazing. Somehow, I don’t think 1928-2008 seems as dynamic, but maybe I take modern technology for granted. We still have cars and planes and phones, but they just work better. I guess refrigerators, air conditioning, television, spacecraft, satellites, computers, and certain medical breakthroughs are nice.

Maybe you have a different 80-year window you like to think about. Other thoughts?

2

I think that you’ve picked a great era; I also think that 1910-1990 give or take would be pretty amazing. Old enough to fight in WWI, and watch America emerge as the largest industrial and military power in the world. Witness the rise of suburbia, the fall of agriculture as a way of life, and the advent of computers, the internet, and the middle class.

I mean I think about the world my grandparents (my grandfather is, um, 91 I think this year) were born into, and the one in which they live now. It really is completely different in many ways.

3

I think you mean WWII. If you were born in 1910, you’d be eight years old at the close of WWI. Difficult to find fatigues in your size at that age, I imagine :smiley:

4

Footage from the 75th Anniversary of Gettysburg (1938, FDR on hand with old Civil War veterans)

5

As Eonwe said.

My grandmum was born in the early 20’s. She went from horse riding 2 days to visit her grandma (no roads), and no electricity, right through to watching man land on the moon and email. She died in 2004, the last 10 or so years of her life she flew to Australia every year for a 3 month holiday. Her mum died in the early 1990’s.

I can’t see society, life and just plain living changing for me, in the same amount as for either of those two woman. (Well unless oil runs out, without any viable alternative)

6

That is a seriously amazing and beautiful video. Thanks very much for the link, Bearflag70.

7

You don’t need an 80 year window–25 years is enough. The biggest change was between about 1925 and 1950. And it wasnt just a technological change–it was a revolution in our most basic psychology and attitudes about human life: the world stopped being dangerous, and instead became stable and dependable.

Before the 1920’s, most people expected one of their children to die of disease. By the 50’s people expected to live, and tragic deaths were rare.

Before the 1920’s, most people went to bed a little bit hungry every night (without complaining*), because of the hassle of preparing food and the lack of a refrigerator to keep it in. By the 50’s, people expected to have food available immediately.

Until the 1920’s, people just accepted the fact that you can’t be sure of anything in life, and you may die tomorrow. But by the 50’s, we learned to expect full satisfaction of all our desires in life.

*(by “hunger” , I don’t mean starvation. I mean that little rumbling in your tummy of ‘gee it would be nice to have something to munch on’. Our grandparents lived with that feeling and ignored it. We can’t.)

8

If you go back just a bit further, to about 1812, and take it through the first world war, you have historical pageant on a worldwide scale that has no real equal. European monarchies were intermarrying at an amazing pace, major turf battles and alliances were developed, Napolean, America was expanding westward at a rapid clip with wagon trains, then transcontinental railroads being built, Russia’s monarchy collapsing, it’s last-ditch effort to save itself by engaging in a war it couldn’t win, and the rise of Lenin; the amazing strides in industry. There is a wealth of material to study.

9

My grandmother, who is 103, has voted in 20 straight presidential elections. God willing, this November she will vote in her 21st. If she had been able to vote at the age of eighteen, it would be one more election.

She was born on the first anniversary of the Wright brother’s flight at Kitty Hawk, and when men landed on the moon I was with her. She and my grandfather concealed their marriage for a year, because grandma would have had to quit her teaching job. Talk about changing times!

Except for friends that have passed she likes it now, as she says there was no such thing as “the good old days”. That meant outhouses, no air conditioning or electric appliances, and being too poor, during the Depression, to get her kids all the dental care they needed.

She is a person who holds in living memory Civil War veterans, her grandfather and great grandfather.

10

I’ll expand on this a bit, and state that the biggest change was between 1880 and 1940.

Someone of my grandma’s generation (she’s 91) saw tons of change, but after a certain point it didn’t affect her much. Cars were still cars, just different models. The phone and radio, and later TV, worked the same, and newspapers didn’t change in any fundamental way.

Things like the Internet and computer technology she was largely able to opt out of, as has my mom - who was born in 1945 and has never sent an email.

But my great-grandparents would have seen the introduction of everything from plumbing to electricity to telephones to automobiles to modern appliances directly into their lives, and would have had to adjust to these not only to provide a good life for themselves and their family but also to gain employment.

This era had the most rapid technological change for most people - what we’re going through today is a fraction of this.

11

I dont wanna be too much of a spoilsport, but I’m gonna argue just a little. Between 1880 and 1920, there wasnt much change as from 1920-1940 (or 1950)

In 1920, like 1880, most people still felt comfortable around a horse.Even if they didn’t ride one as often as in 1880, they saw horse-drawn wagons every day, and there was horse manure on every street. By 1940/50—streets were clean.

In 1920, like 1880,most people had used an outhouse to shit,just like in 1880, (although most had also used a toilet). By 1940/50–no outhouses.

In 1920, like 1880, most woman still gave birth at home, and most elderly invalids died at home. By 1940/50–hospitals were the place for births and deaths.

The changes in those 3 decades from 1920-50 were greater than any other time before or since.

If a young person in 1920 (who had no memory of previous decades) could have travelled back in time to 1880, he would still be able to seem normal and fit into society. If a young person in 1950 travelled back to 1920, he would be disgusted and unable to function socially.

12

I too, am fascinated by history. My late grandfather (born 1889, died in 1977) saw a lot of it. I think how life changed depended on where you lived-for a city dweller in 1920, provided you had an upper middle calss income, you did pretty well. But rural people (especially in isolated areas), life didn’t get better till the 1950’s. What I find amazing today is how easy it is to travle-you can travel to any point on the globe today-whereas up to 1956 or so, , travel to europe or asia was via a very slow boat!
The other thing that amazes me…how conservative people are! You look at the Bauhaus designs of the 1920’s (or a Frank lloyd Wright house from the 1930’s0-and you can’t believe how modern they look-yet (where i live0 people WANT houses that look like they were built in AD 1600!