I'm watching this movie right now and it brings back so many memories, including the responses from others to your question. I was 12 yrs old at the time and absolutely scared sh*tless. One distinct memory I have is of me standing in our house, looking out the window at the trees, green grass, sky, sun, clouds, etc.and wondering if I'd ever see them again. It was the very first real and gripping fear I'd ever known.
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Yet another huge fan of "Alas Babylon". I remember the Civil Defense drills in school too. We had to crouch in the hallway against the wall in preparation for the "Nuclear Holocaust". And Mrs. Vitese remined us that there was "NO TALKING DURING A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST"!
Greetings, "Alas, Babylon" fans.
I'm glad to have run across this thread. "Alas, Babylon" was the first adult book - you know what I mean - I read. I don't know how old I was, but I'm guessing around 9. It was in the 1960s, not too long after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I found a worn paperback copy somewhere and just started reading it. I couldn't put it down and read it over a weekend, I think.
I was aware to some degree of the threat of nuclear war, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. With that background, the story greatly affected me. And it still holds a big place in my psyche. I can see some of the scenes very clearly in my mind. And the quote earlier in the thread really brought back a memory.
I still have the paperback, by the way, and re-read it occasionally. I've often thought it would make a good movie.
Okay. Nostalgic rambling over. Resume your normal activities.
Oh, how I wish I could believe or understand that.
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I was growing up in the military at the time. My dad was stationed at a bomber base. But I do not remember any disruption. We were probably on alert but my dad was at the base on alert so much of the time that we did not notice much. And being near a base that probably would have been obliterated at the first strike, we just went on as normal. We were that way all the time. If my parents were worried we did not hear about it and we had great faith that JFK would solve it.
i read Alas Babylon a few years later. it was good.
If my parents were scared they sure didn’t show it. As with others we did both under the desk duck and cover and behind a wall in the school’s basement duck and cover. The gov’t. had most of the population of the time believing that a nuclear war was survivable. My dad so believed in that “fact” that he took me down past the local international airport so that I could see all the loaded and ready to go SAC bombers on the line.
shareI remember being concerned but mostly because my older brother was in US Army and stationed in West Germany.
After watching this movie I guess I should have been a very scared 13 year old.
I was only a baby during that time but I once asked my mom about it. She remembered being terrified and calling my grandfather for reassurance. My grandfather, who was a died-in-the-wool Republican, told her not to worry and that JFK would see that nothing bad would happen.
It still amazes me that my family, who would never have voted for Kennedy, had such tremendous faith and trust in his leadership at such a frightening time. And they were right.
I've always had the scary thought that, if Nixon had been elected in 1960, we might not be here today.
Not in defense of Nixon, but had he been POTUS at that time instead of JFK the Soviets wouldn't have likely felt they could test him by introducing those missiles in the first place as they did with JFK, the guy that they thought might be Obama I.
shareNot in defense of Nixon, but had he been POTUS at that time instead of JFK the Soviets wouldn't have likely felt they could test him by introducing those missiles in the first place as they did with JFK, the guy that they thought might be Obama I.?
Werewolves Ate My Platoon!share
I agree. Khrushchev really started to respect Kennedy and his abilities in dealing with him after their rough first meaning. I think Khrushchev realized that Kennedy was no pushover.
Frank: Just a man.
Harmonica: An ancient race.
i wasn't born until 1972 & my parents, in their late 20's, were still living in *ahem* cuba during the crisis. preparations were already well underway to leave, they finally got authorization in 1964 when my mother was approaching her 6th month in her pregnancy, they went to spain and arrived in the US in March 1965 for what they thought was temporary exile. i have asked my parents on more than one occasion about their lives during the missile crisis in cuba. they don't remember seeing any military movement, and they were not living anywhere near the missile sights. they saw & heard everything on the tv like everyone else. my dad kept telling me the missiles never made it to cuba(not true). he claims he was never worried at all.
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