(Quiz Show Scandals of 1959 - chipping away at our great National Naivety)
Coming to the end of the 1950s. 1959, just fifty years ago, the world was starting to come unglued. The eternal Cold War was slogging along with the extra added bonus of the Space Race being solidly in the Soviet Unions corner by the end of the decade. Berlin and U2 just around the corner. Scandals took a bite out of our collective innocence with rigged Quiz shows and teary-eyed confessions of wrong doing plastered across most newspaper headlines.
All in all, it was a year of transition - a preview of coming attractions for the 1960s. The decade when all social mores were kicked to the side and independence was rife throughout the world. But that was to come.
1959 was a curious look back with an apprehensive look ahead. This look back came from CBS News, narrated by Walter Cronkite.
speaking of looks . . .
