# 1950, USA - which is more believeable; Apollo 11 or Obama 08? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085 "2013-11-04T19:27:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/41 "2013-11-05T22:04:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Jokes aside, James Earl Jones was _The Man_ in '72, as per the '64 novel. > But, as mentioned upthread, folks didn’t exactly need fiction in 1950 to note that UCLA valedictorian Ralph Bunche had followed up his PhD with a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Middle East and was teaching at Harvard; it was in the papers. Would most Americans have known who Ralph Bunche was? Remember that 1950 was not the media world we live in now. Most people didn’t have TVs. The evening news would have been, what, a 30-minute program on the radio? There were newspapers, but would there have been biographical sketches about Ralph Bunche or any other person in the president’s administration. People were probably doing good if they knew who the vice-president was. The OP is an amazing query because it illustrates just how fast the world can change. As backwards as 1950 seems to me, it really wasn’t that long ago. Both of my parents were alive then, and they are on the youngish side for Baby Boomers. So within a single lifetime, we’ve gone from a society where almost no one had television sets and multiple households shared phone lines to one where almost everyone can watch TV shows and movies almost anywhere, _on their phones_. Flying cars aside, we _are_ the Jetson’s. It makes me wonder what the Apollo/Obama-type question in 2053 will be. I can’t wait! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/42 "2013-11-05T22:20:29Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > There were newspapers, but would there have been biographical sketches about Ralph Bunche or any other person in the president’s administration. I’m trying to imagine how sketchy a newspaper article would be on the day in 1950 when Bunche was awarded the Nobel Prize. > [@](#): > > Flying cars aside, we _are_ the Jetson’s. It makes me wonder what the Apollo/Obama-type question in 2053 will be. I can’t wait! Heck, imagine doing it backwards from 1950; in 1892, folks would be asking _which is more likely: that a plane will land on an aircraft carrier within 19 years, or that we’ll have split the atom to nuke city after city within 58 years?_ (“Uh . . . what?”) ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/43 "2013-11-05T22:40:57Z")
Hell, lots of Americans _today_ don’t think a black man is president. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/44 "2013-11-05T22:54:46Z")
So, I suppose this might make for an interesting set of questions phrased as follows: In the next fifty years, which one of these events will occur first: Event A or Event B. Possible answers would be A, B or neither. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/45 "2013-11-05T23:15:50Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > So, I suppose this might make for an interesting set of questions phrased as follows: > > In the next fifty years, which one of these events will occur first: > Event A or Event B. > > Possible answers would be A, B or neither. We can make predictions and then come back 50 years later to see who hit the mark the closest. Of course, by then we’ll be too busy flying around in cars in shiny form-fitting clothes to care about ancient message board threads. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/46 "2013-11-05T23:22:08Z")
I went 80/20 Apollo. There were rockets in 1950. The advancement of technology and engineering had helped the country win WWII so the future looked bright for scientific engineering. Science fiction was gaining a hold on peoples imagination. I gave 20% on Obama just because a lot of smart, talented black entertainers were emerging. Many were popular among whites even if they didn’t admit it. So it wasn’t totally inconceivable that a black politician would emerge but the chances were nonetheless quite slim. The poll is somewhat skewed because the moon landing was in 1969 and it was 39 years later for a black president to get elected. The odds of electing a black president in 1969 were far, far less than the chances of landing on the moon by 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/47 "2013-11-05T23:36:53Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Of course, by then we’ll be too busy flying around in cars in shiny form-fitting clothes to care about ancient message board threads. Why a flying car is wearing form-fitting clothes I’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/48 "2013-11-05T23:51:45Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I couldn’t begin to guess. > > Sputnik 1 didn’t launch until 57. That’s how I feel about this question. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/49 "2013-11-05T23:51:54Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Why a flying car is wearing form-fitting clothes I’ll never know. In the future, cars will be sentient beings who care about showing off their hot bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/50 "2013-11-06T02:39:27Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > In the future, cars will be sentient beings who care about showing off their hot bodies. Christine will be fashion leader, so fender skirts and Dagmars will be de rigueur once again. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/51 "2013-11-06T04:56:19Z")
My initial thought was 100-0 Apollo over the black president. But then I thought no poll is ever \*completely \*one-sided. So I went with 90-10. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/52 "2013-11-06T06:26:09Z")
I turned 5 in 1950. All through my childhood, there were rockets, and Sputnik was launched when I was 12. So it’s not too much of a stretch to think people would someday go to the moon. But I also remember thinking that all “negroes” lived in the slums, since there weren’t any in the suburbs at that tiime. The concept of an African American President was unthinkable. It just wasn’t something anyone could have predicted back then. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085/53 "2013-11-06T14:37:04Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > In 1950 there were few to zero movies or books about black people being anything bigger than maids and janitors. Except for “The Birth of a Nation”. Well, there was [this movie](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1079708-no_way_out/) about a black doctor in 1950, which got nominated for an Oscar and launched Sidney Poitier’s career. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950-usa-which-is-more-believeable-apollo-11-or-obama-08/673085.md?page=2)