That was then, this is now, January 21 edition

For my birthday, Yana constructed/bought me a book of NYT front pages for all of the January 21sts from the year I was born to the current day.  It is fun to read through these, here are a few headlines of note:

1962: Robert Kennedy Gets Invitation to Visit Moscow

[Shelby Cullom] Davis Family Gives Princeton $5 Million

1963: Turks Agree to U.S. Removal of Some Missiles

1964: Johnson Foresees Boom, But Warns of Inflation, Advisers Urge Price Cuts

Productivity Said to Cost Two Million Jobs Yearly [this one is a real howler]

1966: First front-page mention of the Vietnam War in the lot

1967: Price Rise Rate is Seen Slowing After Sharp Gain

1968 offers this disorienting number citation: $8.9 Billion Rise for U.S. Spending in 1969 Projected

1969: Soviet Tells U.S. That It Is Ready for Missile Talks

1970: Democrats React to Redistricting; Legal Moves are Hinted, but G.O.P. Lines Appear Final

Again, all of those headlines are from various January 21 dates from those years.  I will continue reading!  But so far my overall impressions, reading up through the early 1970s, are these: It is still recognizably the same world.  There is less about both race and Vietnam than a naive observer from 2022 might expect.  The “elites” from back then do not look so overwhelmingly wonderful.  Every single NYT headline is at least pretending to be super-serious and of great global or national import.  Presidents are indeed inaugurated on January 20, every four years.

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