Former NBC newsman speaks with Monmouth College class

Monmouth College first-year students taking a class about

the 1960s had a unique opportunity to speak to an expert on the

decade Friday during a teleconference with former NBC TV news anchor

and author Tom Brokaw.

The students are in an "Introduction to Liberal Arts" class taught

by Marjorie Bond, associate professor of mathematics and computer

science. The course aims to have students decide whether or not the

'60s was an exemplary decade.

Bond said she originally asked fellow Monmouth College professor Joe

Angotti, who teaches communications and media courses, to speak to

the class. Angotti, a former executive producer for NBC Nightly News,

suggested Brokaw.

Brokaw witnessed important events of the '60s first-hand as a TV

newsman and recently authored the book, "Boom!: Voices of the

Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today" which will be

released in hardcover Tuesday.

The 16-member class had a list of questions ready for Brokaw when the

telephone in Hewes Library's electronic classroom rang at 11:05 a.m.

Friday. The class was seated in rows of chairs in front of a large

projected photo of Brokaw.

"We've been studying the 1960s and whether the 1960s were

exemplary," Bonds told Brokaw after a short introduction. The

questions began immediately, and Brokaw told the students about his

experiences living in and reporting on the decade. Several students

jotted notes as Brokaw spoke.

"The '60s, for me, began on what I believe was a terribly violent

note c-the assassination of John F. Kennedy," Brokaw said. That

event, he said, shattered the innocence of the nation and triggered a

series of events during the decade. "It wasn't as violent at the

beginning as it was towards the end, but the roots of violence were

certainly there."

Brokaw said his dual role as reporter and citizen was interesting.

"I had really traditional ambitions about being a network

correspondent," Brokaw said. "I was a product of the 1950s, so I

was interested in what was going on as a citizen and culturally as a

reporter. My idea was to not get too romanced by it, not get too

swept away by it."

The students asked Brokaw for the most significant event of the

'60s. He said escalation of the war in Vietnam had separated the

baby-boomer generation from their parents. He later gave the students

- most born in 1989 - an idea of what that was like: parents who

had come of age in the 1940s and '50s sitting across the table from

a daughter not wearing a brassiere, probably living with her

boyfriend, and a son who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of a

swastika over an American flag talking about moving to Canada to

avoid the draft. The students were startled by the description.

"We were trying to explain to an older generation what was going

on," Brokaw said. "And then, within the counter-culture movement

we were trying to determine what was real from what was pure fear.

"A lot of things were done for dramatic effect rather than for

political impact. ...We had to sort out what was real, what was not,

what would have lasting effect and what was simply there because it

was so unusual."

Brokaw also told the students he thought the media had failed to tell

the whole story of what was happening in the '60s, especially about

the "silent majority," a Republican underground of people who

Brokaw said helped win the next six of eight presidential elections.

"We (the media) were there just because that's what was going

on," Brokaw said. "We didn't work hard enough. ...We didn't

get behind the scenes on the left or the right enough. In a way, we

were so startled about the changes."

One student asked Brokaw if he thought he'd "ever make it out of

the '60s hole."

"It was in 1968," Brokaw said. "I remember saying on the air,

'It seems like this year has been going on forever and it's only

halfway through.' "

Brokaw said a lesson from the '60s is that America is "an

extraordinarily resilient country. People were determined to hold on

to their idea of the American dream."

The nation is, Brokaw said, still working its way through the '60s.

"Much of who we are now was determined then," Brokaw said. He said

the decade divided the nation ideologically with many not willing to

compromise. Common ground will be an issue again in the 2008

election, he said.

Students also asked Brokaw about parallels between Vietnam and the

war in Iraq.

"Both wars are against insurgents, not conventional armies,"

Brokaw said. "Both are small countries where the enemy doesn't

wear uniforms and we don't speak the language.

"The largest issue of all is what are we doing there. Why is it our

responsibility and not the Iraqis to rebuild their own country?"

Bond wanted to know if Brokaw thought the '60s were exemplary.

He defined the term as more good than bad things happening, more

progress.

"It's hard at any time to say that something is exemplary in a

blanket sense," he said. "Exemplary to me means more good than

bad, more progress than retreat. It's complex. There were certainly

gains for African-Americans and more opportunities for Hispanics and

for women. The decade was very progressive in that sense. But we also

saw the polarization of a country, with no compromise or common ground.

"It was a complex time," he said. "When you all think of the

'60s, you think of Bob Dylan and Haight-Ashbury, of smoking dope and

Woodstock. But there was much more to it. There was division between

families. And rather than liberalizing the nation, it made the

country become more conservative."

The call ended after 40 minutes. Afterwards students reflected and

said the call was very informative.

"It was nice to hear the viewpoint of someone who was all over the

country (at the time)," said student Andy Owens. "It's really

neat to hear somebody from that era talk about it, rather than

listening to us try to tell our viewpoints. He's had actual

experience."