First of a few diversions from the 60’s to other times….
My maternal Grandmother was the only grandparent in my life. While I knew her only as a bottomless fount of unconditional love, she was quite a strong woman. Physically, she kept a huge garden of multiple fruits and veggies (including a large vineyard) for 40 years (not weighing much more than 120 pounds). Emotionally, she was given 6 months live in 1960. She fought Hodgkin’s for 8 years after the diagnosis.
Every year I sit on her grave and recite Leonard Cohen to her. Life long debts.
She spoke fluent German. Her parents were immigrants. In the 1930’s American radio aired Hitler’s speeches live.
Let’s stop here to explain a few things. There was a brief flowering of American Nazi-ism during this time, enough to fill Madison Square Garden. On the floor of our Congress, leaders worried about all those Jews leaving Germany to come here; this could be a BIG problem. Finally, think about this: no TV. Your news for years is from a newspaper–news that is a half day old. Suddenly, this new media of radio allows you to hear events as they happened–not just in the US, but across the oceans. Whatever else you could say about this monster in Germany, he was NEWS. People wanted to hear what this madman was saying.
My grandmother listened all the time. My 10-11 year old mother recounted seeing her at the radio, head bowed, occasionally shaking back and forth. Finally, one day, she asked. “Mom? Who is that?”
“That,” she said, “Is a very very dangerous man. We are all going to be in trouble.”