One experience common for Baby Boomers when we were kids was air raid drills at school, where we were taught to dive under our desks and shield our heads in the case of a nuclear attack.
If this was supposed to instill confidence about our future prospects, well, Bob Dylan had something to say about that in Talkin’ World War III Blues.
Martin Scorsese’s “No Direction Home” recognized those drills as a decisive influence in the poet’s formative years, and used footage from them to drive the point home. Dylan confirmed it in interviews.
We may have been kids, but we knew it was absurd. Just like Disney’s “Our Friend the Atom,” a pro-nuclear-power episode shown to us twice in 1957.
Almost as soon as he arrived in Greenwich Village and started singing in nightclubs, Dylan was mixing his recurrent nightmares about World War III into his songs.
These were the early days of the anti-war movement, which — though focused on the Vietnam War — always reflected elements of anti-nuke sentiment as well.
As youngsters, we intuited but were never actually told by our government how close we had repeatedly come to nuclear war until the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. But based on declassified documents, my historian son, who just happens to be named Dylan, documented that Eisenhower threatened to drop the bomb on China on more than one occasion in the fifties.
Meanwhile, in Bob Dylan’s main song on the topic the key generational line is “I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.”
While older people tagged us as the“Me Generation,” I always have preferred the “We Generation,” because we know we are all in this together.
Let’s hope that during this awful season of Trumpism, that is at least one insight we cam pass on to our heirs.
Recommended by Bruce Koon::
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HEADLINES:
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Both sides in Iran war ratchet up attacks on energy facilities, as oil prices surge (AP)
The Lesson of Tulsi Gabbard’s Flip-Flop (Atlantic)
Federal Reserve Maintains Rates and Watches Risks From Iran War (NYT)
Hezbollah ignites blowback from supporters as over 1 million flee war with Israel (WP)
Trump’s Next Decision: Whether to Retrieve Iran’s Nuclear Fuel, Whatever the Risk (NYT)
Cesar Chavez allegations jolt California’s labor movement (Politico)
Dolores Huerta accuses César Chávez of sexual abuse amid wider claims (Axios)
Juliana Stratton wins Illinois Democratic primary for US Senate (BBC)
Attorney General Pam Bondi subpoenaed to answer questions about the Epstein files (AP)
The voting bill Trump says will secure victory could backfire (WP)
The Supreme Court Just Heeded One of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Sharpest Dissents (Slate)
What Pete Hegseth’s Spiritual Mentor Wants for America (Bulwark)
Journalist arrested by ICE doesn’t have First Amendment rights, according to Trump’s DOJ (Independent)
China Ramps Up Scrutiny of a Meta A.I. Deal (NYT)
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Why Tech Giants Are Ditching the Power Grid (NYT)
After wild dance goes viral, South Bay restaurant robot returns to its tame routine (SJMN)
The Cost of the A.I. Boom: A Trade Deficit the President Detests (NYT)
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