Fifty Years Ago Today [by David Lehman]

BarbraIf every day is the anniversary of something stupid, or evil,
or just a big downer, 
like the day the Surgeon General
declared that cigarettes were bad for you
fifty years ago, then each day is an opportunity
for a documentary about 
who killed Kennedy,
the ascension of Cassius Marcellus Clay to the title,

the arrival of the Beatles, the Gulf of Tonquin Resolution,
and the notorious 
"Daisy" ad, shown only once.
Fifty years ago the boys and girls at Berkeley
said America was a machine that made them
so sick at heart that they 
couldn't take part.
Fifty years ago the future of the Republican Party |

was an old lady in white tennis shoes. Barbra Streisand
sang "People," Carol Channing led the chorus
in "Hello, Dolly," and the Dems played

"Hello, Lyndon." The Cardinals beat the Yanks in the series.
There was no such thing as the Super Bowl.
Everybody Loves Somebody 
Sometime.
In your heart you knew he was right. Fifty years ago.

— February 1, 2014