The focus for the SIR American Century Experience (ACE) is to register recent significant U.S. cultural events during this century. Without focusing on fads, fashions, or disasters, always popular topics, the intent here is to identify those events or people whose impact has been enduring for large numbers of people. In other words, these events are, with few noteworthy and interesting exceptions, milestones that have had extreme, often unrecognized consequences for our culture, and thus impact our lives in permanent and significant ways. Notwithstanding that locus, any list must reflect the perspective of its authors, and that precept is granted. This list will inform us where we, as a Nation, have moved forward and done things right, as well as where we have gone astray. When informed and reasoned readers review the list, they should be able to state which items have made enduring and positive contributions to the betterment of this Nation and its citizenry, and which, however seemingly appropriate at the time, have not. Upon study and reflection, you may notice trends or themes---some beneficial to the common good---others not. To ignore either the brilliant and courageous or those corrupt and immoral yet recurring themes exemplified herein invites continued failure as a society, and we, each of us, must learn from the past in order to participate wisely in the present for the benefit of the future. In that regard, no generation is exempt.
But first, before you review this ledger, close your eyes and try to imagine what life must have been like about one-hundred and fifty years ago. Is that a long time? Yes, and no. But it was then that the early wagon trains crossed this wide wide Nation. At that time, for example, hundreds of thousands of people left Independence, Missouri to ride along the Oregon Trail optimistic about their fates and fortunes in the far West. And it was oxen, more often than not, that pulled the wagons. Those pioneers traveled mostly on blind faith because they had never seen, in picture or in person, where they were heading. And, at times the buffalo were so thick on the plains that progress of the wagon trains stopped for two or three days.
Consider also, at that time (prior to 1900) we were a Nation of mostly farmers and live-in servants, and that there was no aspirin, vaccines, canned or frozen foods, Band-Aids, Disneyland, frozen cheesecake, penicillin, permanent press clothes or electric irons, cars, CDs or records, gas stations, highways, Lifebuoy soap, stereos, radios, TV, airplanes, hair dryers, toilets or toilet paper, InterNet, credit cards, supermarkets, computers, copy or fax machines, flashlights, videos, and on and on. And for all practical purposes, there were no viruses, chromosomes, Vitamin C, planet Pluto, blood types, water pollution, etc. These things simply did not exist in the minds of the people.
Yet, each night after the sun set, under thousands of stars, and in the almost ghostly quiet that we cannot imagine today, these pioneers would fix their wagon wheels and tell stories, a curious mixture of truth and imagination, by the crackling fire light. Today, you can take that same trip in a wagon, but with many more comforts and much more security. But more importantly, you should take the mental journey from that time until now, and along the way review the events and themes that shaped this Nation. This SIR ACE was designed to assist you in that journey.
Consider also that heroes and villains are not new. We often call the former role models now. The first recorded heroes in western tradition derive from Homer's Iliad. But until the advent of radio, movies, and television, almost all of our heroes, and thus role models, came from books, periodicals (newspapers and magazines), and stories. But wireless mass communication changed all of that. The year 1920 signals a debut for broadcast radio, and in that year the Pittsburgh radio station KDKA broadcast the presidential election results. Imagine, before that people had to wait days or even weeks to learn by print who had been elected, and thus who would be given the power to control their lives. Two years later there would be about 500 broadcast stations in this Nation. Likewise, in 1920 there were no more than 5,000 radios in the world. But then their use exploded. On January 1, 1924, there were more than 2.5 million radios in U.S. homes alone. By 1940, 30 million homes would have at least one radio. And each evening families would huddle around that radio and listen to reports about The War, trying to imagine what was happening to their children or brothers. On January first, 1993, the U.S. had 11,334 authorized broadcast stations (4,961 AM and 6,373 FM). Yet the potential of this new sightless medium was no more evident than way back on October 30, 1938 when Orson Welles directed the "War of the Worlds" play which generated widespread panic in several eastern states. Later the graphic medium of TV would capture a larger audience. In one year, 1966, 11 million TV sets would be sold, half of them color. By September, 1991, the U.S. would have 91.8 million TV households, and 61 percent of them would have content access by cable. Unfortunately, the typical U.S. child will have viewed approximately 26,000 murders on TV by his or her 18th birthday. Technology has changed our lives in ways that no one either predicted or even could imagine.
If technology exemplifies one significant trend, what are the others? For most of us, those decisions are a personal matter. But at SIR we believe that the significant people and events related to government and politics, sports and entertainment, gender and race, science and technology, and business and commerce, among a few others, have been pivotal to the lives of every living citizen in this Nation, and thus should be read, examined, discussed, and then used to foster a better life, both personally and in your community. For example, the behaviors we would associate with honor and courage have been rare yet eternal events. The two thousand year old slow but steady advancement of democracy and its spirit required that a few individuals possess and employ the courage to oppose the misguided or uninformed, and that the majority will eventually understand and support the honorable thing. Most baseball fans recognize the major contribution that Jackie Robinson made to baseball, but he could not have done it alone. It was Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who deserves equal credit for integrating professional baseball. At that time, 15 out of the 16 club owners opposed integrated baseball, a reflection of Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball's commissioner for a quarter of a century, who "had done all he could to keep it white." Without Branch Rickey, the integration of baseball would have taken place much later, and perhaps under worse circumstances. Why was that fateful day in 1947 so important. Because David Halberstam, author of Summer of 49 and October 1964 talks about Joe DiMaggio and others who many of us saw in mystical ways. These dozens of heroes (Robinson included), these baseball players, who we imagined on radio or saw on TV, represented the best of our collective aspirations. We knew that we would never stand at the plate in Ebbits field, or in New York, yet we also learned that the World was fair and that rules mattered. Baseball, especially in the innumerable small towns, is where many learned the alternatives to deceit, crime, and dishonesty that was appearing in the pages of the daily newspapers.
As you explore the content of this centennial multimedia experience, either alone or as a small group, you may seek to understand how and why certain issues and topics recur time after time. Why, for example, can we predict with all but certainty that within the next decade in these United States of America there will be major assaults on truth involving cover-ups, censorship, and lies, in government, industry, sports, etc., that there will be gross human rights violations, in addition to advancements in technology and medicine that will improve all our lives, conspicuous consumption as well as generosity and charity that spans the range of human spirit, and most of all, more outstanding examples of duty and service by a few of our leaders juxtaposed to self-interest in the majority of our politicians, in addition to growing dependencies among the population including alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling, etc., tolerance and intolerance, censorship and greed, business fraud and scams---all amplified by the newest technologies. Then consider, how can we, individually and in many small groups, modify and mold this Nation to produce better leaders and many more followers who recognize that the individual good is equal to and prerequisite to the collective good, and that everyone, absolutely everyone, who is able is needed for that task. George Santayana was only half correct when he said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," because much of what has been done is good---good for the individual, good for the community, and good for our Country---and that must be repeated. If this SIR ACE serves even a few in that regard, we will have met our objective.
Finally, the continuing design, construction, and maintenance of this community service will benefit from your financial support. If you can afford to contribute in some way to this effort, please contact SIR at the address below.
Cordially yours, George Edw. Seymour, Ph.D.
