What was the recreational thrust in the 1960

It devised procedures to stagger the sale of bonds over several years to stay below the debt ceilings. And it judged the willingness of the voters to assent to increases in their property taxes. Backers of Forward Thrust placed many advertisements of the type pictured below in Seattle newspapers in an effort to build support for the program. The Forward Thrust executive board, along with the chairs and cochairs of the seven subcommittees—about 50 individuals in all—made up the second gatekeeper, the Planning and Action Committee PAC.

The PAC judged which projects were appropriate for general obligation bond funding, decided what was most likely to pass, and established a balance among the proposals. To someone following the entire process, it would have appeared that the PAC was compelled less by the subcommittee reports than by its own preconceptions about what projects the region needed most.

Page was afraid that the PAC members would not read the committee reports, much less pore through the supporting materials. Because many on the PAC had not participated on any of the subcommittees, Page worried, they might have little sympathy or understanding of the work leading up to the reports.

Finally, Page—noting the composition of the PAC—was apprehensive that a preference for transportation and storm sewers would overwhelm community renewal projects and parks. Rapid transit topped the list. Though Ellis was quite serious in his request for a broad and coordinated program of public works, this was the initiative dearest to his heart. Seattle traffic had been increasing by 4 percent a year. Traffic congestion was growing acute during the morning and afternoon commutes.

The plan that would be offered to voters was only in outline form, with maps of rail lines radiating out from downtown Seattle northeast to Shoreline, northwest to Greenwood, and southeast to Renton but with just a dedicated bus lane to West Seattle.

One extension crossed Lake Washington to the Eastside. But two-thirds of that could be paid by a federal grant available through the Urban Mass Transportation Act of a grant that many insiders were confident Senator Magnuson could help secure for Seattle. Ellis knew from the beginning that including a multipurpose stadium in the Forward Thrust package would draw voters to the polls.

A stadium issue had been submitted twice before in the s, but had lost. The Parks and Recreation Committee expressed fervor for open space to ameliorate urban sprawl—a hallmark of the quality-of-life liberal agenda. Though it was criticized for neglecting social programs, Forward Thrust gave attention to bricks-and-mortar assistance to underserved communities. The Forward Thrust Health, Safety, and Welfare Committee determined that federal grants from the Great Society were addressing a number of the needs it found among the urban poor; and, in any case, it did not receive many requests for Forward Thrust assistance.

Nevertheless, the subcommittee came up with a number of suggestions that did not pass muster with the PAC, proposing, for example, that Forward Thrust provide ongoing coordination for publicly provided social services. Kindly but firmly, Donahue reiterated that Forward Thrust would no longer exist after the election. Both made the final list of bond issues. Early on in their deliberations, the Urban Redevelopment Committee determined that local funds had already been set aside for preservation efforts at Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square and matched by a federal grant, so Forward Thrust sidestepped a potential disagreement over whether the two historic sites should be restored or remodeled.

The proceeds from the sale to builders would replenish the fund. Forward Thrust did not neglect basic infrastructure needs. The Economic Analysis Committee had pared the total down as much as it could, but Forward Thrust officials were aware that it challenged the debt capacity of the governments and the willingness of the voters to pay higher property taxes. Part of the argument for Forward Thrust was that the local economy was strong and growing.

Homeowners would be able to pay off the debt with increasing ease. As it turned out, the Puget Sound area in the s would experience one of the toughest economic downturns since the Great Depression. Economists estimated that King County and Seattle would be stretched to about 85 percent of their newly increased bonding capacities; to keep it that low, bonds would have to be issued incrementally and some would require a year maturity period—the new outer limit set by the legislature.

The vote was set for February The campaign started in the fall of , with Forward Thrust making the 12 projects and their costs public. Moreover, local homeowners would still be paying lower property taxes than their peers in similarly sized cities in Oregon, California, Colorado, and Minnesota. And now was the time to spend, because the federal government would add millions to the pot if the local government was willing to provide the ante.

In the end, the final slate of issues was more carefully orchestrated by Ellis, his colleagues, and the politicians than Forward Thrust would have liked to admit. In Progressive style, experts and efficiency prevailed over grassroots imagination and strident critics had no voice.

But when the focus shifts from what might have been done—such as generating social programs aimed at economic redress—to what was actually proposed, Forward Thrust must be rated a dramatic step in urban planning. These projects, at least those that voters approved, really did prepare Puget Sound for an influx of population without destroying the ambience of the region. It was a big project and an expensive one.

It would take a herculean effort to sell it to the voters. The temptation to offer Forward Thrust as a major integrated undertaking to be voted up or down as one piece must have been great, especially for Ellis, who tended to think in terms of coordinated approaches, but it would have been risky.

But if it was half-empty, voters would reject the whole program because they opposed one or two of its elements. When it came to taxes, the more pessimistic assumption was a safer bet. Consequently, the Forward Thrust ballot presented 12 separate funding items. Six were King County issues, five were limited to Seattle voters only, and one was a Metro item.

There was also a nonmonetary administrative issue related to transit. Members of the Committee of were eager to persuade residents to be as selfless as they perceived themselves to be as they constructed the plan. An internal report reveals their hopes:. The opera lovers, swimmers, golfers, boaters, walkers or sit-and-watchers are each a numerical minority of the population.

In recommending a balanced cultural and recreation program, the committee is seeking to create opportunities for fulfillment for all of the people of the county. The achievement of a great community will rest on the willingness of each citizen to consider and support public improvements which will serve the special needs or wants of others. Though rapid transit was the compelling issue for Ellis and most of the top leaders of Forward Thrust, the stadium would be the magnet that pulled people to the voting booth.

In preelection polls, the stadium issue had the sixth-highest yes vote 50 percent but also the highest no vote 36 percent. The American League had promised Seattle an expansion baseball team if an arena was approved. The baseball luminaries Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski came to town to promote the vote, and the American League president Joe Cronin promised local service clubs that with a place to play, Seattle was guaranteed a permanent team.

Realizing the magnitude of their task, advocates spent more money on the campaign than had supporters of any bond vote in the history of Seattle and King County up to that time. The Public Information Committee hired an ad agency to create a two-color, page brochure. Radio and television ads ran the last 10 days before the election. The Face-to-Face Committee organized a speakers bureau and blanketed organizations with letters asking for a chance to present the Forward Thrust program.

More than six hundred groups responded. A speaker was often accompanied by a listener who judged the receptiveness of the audience.

The Mailing Committee sent out different editions of Forward Thrust Facts tailored to the interests of each neighborhood. The Neighborhood Committee recruited 3, doorbell ringers who visited , homes in King County. Rather than bogging down the public in the details of each initiative, speakers, mailings, and solicitors concentrated their message on the problems that Forward Thrust was organized to solve, emphasizing, as always, the need to prepare for the massive influx of people—and cars—into Puget Sound over the next decades.

There was some behind-the-scenes arm-twisting as well. Dorm Braman wrote to the county prosecutor, Charles O. More specifically, the papers emphasized that the stadium was not a subsidy to some future sports team. It would generate revenue and be used for a variety of events. Deflecting a criticism that would emerge more strongly after the election, the Times pointed out that the relatively impoverished Central District would directly benefit from at least five of the proposals, particularly the revolving fund for housing improvement and the construction of a fire station in the neighborhood.

The weekly Argus, always more skeptical, endorsed the issues after a close study convinced the editor that growth was inevitable and that, without Forward Thrust, Seattle would be on its way to becoming another Los Angeles. The Helix, a countercultural newspaper edited by Walt Crowley who would later soften his radicalism and become a pillar of mainstream Seattle politics , simply dismissed Forward Thrust as sugarcoating for a terminally diseased system that needed a complete reorganization.

Governor Evans, Senators Magnuson and Jackson, both congressmen from the region, and 75 percent of the King County delegation to the state legislature supported the measures. Though people who opposed the slate of issues risked censure in the community, there were those who spoke out against it. Jeanette Williams, chair of the King County Democratic Party and later a city council member, was among several who believed that James Ellis would profit from the sale of bonds.

Critics also noted Ellis was legal counsel for Metro, and Metro would run the transit system. Callers wondered just who these Forward Thrust people were. Vic Gould, a real-estate promoter, organized Citizens for Sensible Transit to oppose the Forward Thrust mass transportation proposal, advocating instead high-speed buses traveling on expressways. Joining him in his opposition was the state senator Sam Guess from Spokane, chairman of the senate transportation committee, and members of the state highway commission who believed the transit initiative was 20 years premature.

Opponents of Forward Thrust feared higher taxes, rents, and other costs if the initiatives passed, as evidenced by the bumper sticker pictured above. In , at the nadir of the Great Depression, Washington property owners, fearing they would be unable to pay their property taxes, put a law into place that required a 60 percent approval and a voter turnout of at least 40 percent of the last general election for any significant bond issue.

Though Forward Thrust leaders had decided early on not to present the issues as one, part of the strategy of putting an array of bond measures on the ballot was to bring out a sufficient number of voters. Tuesday, February 13, , was exceptionally balmy, and the voters came out in droves.

It was the largest turnout for a special election in Washington State history—around 50 percent of the eligible voters in King County made their way to the polls. Every one of the measures received more than 50 percent of the vote, but only 7 out of the 12 earned the requisite 60 percent.

The voters approved the youth service center at almost 73 percent. The stadium received 62 percent of the vote. Voters also endorsed the fire protection, parks and recreation, and sewer, arterial highway, and neighborhood improvement measures. The losers included storm water control receiving The biggest disappointment was the centerpiece issue, rapid transit. It was the least popular of all the measures, receiving only A study of voting precincts reveals that high-income neighborhoods most strongly supported Forward Thrust.

Low-income voters were almost as enthusiastic, voting largely in support of the measures. African American areas were more likely to vote yes, exceeding the average vote by anywhere from 2. Among black voters, the widest divergence in favor came on neighborhood improvement which passed and low-income housing which did not. It was among the working middle class—blue-collar voters, a portion of the middle class that the Committee of did not really represent—that Forward Thrust stumbled.

Even though Black support for Forward Thrust was 8. A survey by a civic group called the Central Association revealed that women were twice as likely as men to take the bus, and half as likely to drive downtown.

Jim Ellis Freeway Park remains a great place to go for a walk and ponder why Forward Thrust was a failure. Forward Thrust is dead—long live Forward Thrust! We hope you loved this article. If so, please consider subscribing or donating. The Urbanist is a c 4 nonprofit that depends on donations from readers like you.

Shaun Scott is a writer and historian. His bi-weekly column, Faded Signs, which published in City Arts Magazine, is about popular culture in late capitalism. He is a member of Seattle Democratic Socialists of America. Good series! Revisiting these government efforts with fresh eyes now that some time has passed and many of their unintended consequences have come to light is overdue. Exactly so.

It made a lot of money for connected insiders, all on the backs of those it targeted for its heavy regressive taxing. Now we have wealth-based discrimination. Disproportionately-heavy impacts do fall on disfavored racial groups, but they are mere collateral damage. The 43rd and 46th legislative districts looked much different in the 60s than they do today. They came nowhere near Fremont, Ballard, etc. One reason turnout was low in both Forward Thrust elections is that they were special elections held in February and May.

Broadly-based tax reform to foster job-making and growth-making investment for modernization and expansion, including realistic incentive depreciation schedules. Relating wage and other payments in production to productivity—except when necessary to correct inequalities—in order to help us stay competitive at home and abroad.

Spurring the economy by advancing the successful Eisenhower-Nixon program fostering new and small business, by continued active enforcement of the anti-trust laws, by protecting consumers and investors against the hazard and economic waste of fraudulent and criminal practices in the market place, and by keeping the federal government from unjustly competing with private enterprise upon which Americans mainly depend for their livelihood.

Continued improvement of our vital transportation network, carrying forward rapidly the vast Eisenhower-Nixon national highway program and promoting safe, efficient, competitive and integrated transport by air, road, rail and water under equitable, impartial and minimal regulation directed to those ends.

Carrying forward, under the Trade Agreements Act, the policy of gradual selective—and truly reciprocal—reduction of unjustifiable barriers to trade among free nations.

We advocate effective administration of the Act's escape clause and peril point provisions to safeguard American jobs and domestic industries against serious injury. In support of our national trade policy we should continue the Eisenhower-Nixon program of using this government's negotiating powers to open markets abroad and to eliminate remaining discrimination against our goods.

We should also encourage the development of fair labor standards in exporting countries in the interest of fair competition in international trade. We should, too, expand the Administration's export drive, encourage tourists to come from abroad, and protect U. Through these and other constructive policies, we will better our international balance of payments. Discharge by government of responsibility for those activities which the private sector cannot do or cannot so well do, such as constructive federal-local action to aid areas of chronic high unemployment, a sensible farm policy, development and wise use of natural resources, suitable support of education and research, and equality of job opportunity for all Americans.

Action on these fronts, designed to release the strongest productive force in human affairs—the spirit of individual enterprise-can contribute greatly to our goal of a steady, strongly growing economy. America's growth cannot be compartmentalized. Labor and management cannot prosper without each other. They cannot ignore their mutual public obligation. Industrial harmony, expressing these mutual interests, can best be achieved in a climate of free collective bargaining, with minimal government intervention except by mediation and conciliation.

Even in dealing with emergency situations imperiling the national safety, ways of solution must be found to enhance and not impede the processes of free collective bargaining—carefully considered ways that are in keeping with the policies of national labor relations legislation and with the need to strengthen the hand of the President in dealing with such emergencies. In the same spirit, Republican leadership will continue to encourage discussions, away from the bargaining table, between labor and management to consider the mutual interest of all Americans in maintaining industrial peace.

Republican policy firmly supports the right of employers and unions freely to enter into agreements providing for the union shop and other forms of union security as authorized by the Labor-Management Relations Act of the Taft-Hartley Act.

Republican-sponsored legislation has supported the right of union members to full participation in the affairs of their union and their right to freedom from racketeering and gangster interference whether by labor or management in labor-management relations. Republican action has given to millions of American working men and women new or expanded protection and benefits, such as: Increased federal minimum wage;. Extended coverage of unemployment insurance and the payment of additional temporary benefits provided in ;.

Legislative assurance of safety standards for longshore and harbor workers and for the transportation of migratory workers;. Seven past years of accomplishments, however, are but a base to build upon in fostering, promoting and improving the welfare of America's working men and women, both organized and unorganized. We pledge, therefore, action on these constructive lines:. Diligent administration of the amended Labor-Management Relations Act of Taft-Hartley Act and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of Landrum-Griffin Act with recommendations for improvements which experience shows are needed to make them more effective or remove any inequities.

Correction of defects in the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act to protect employees' and beneficiaries' interests. Upward revision in amount and extended coverage of the minimum wage to several million more workers. Improvement of the eight-hour laws relating to hours and overtime compensation on federal and federally-assisted construction, and continued vigorous enforcement and improvement of minimum wage laws for federal supply and construction contracts.

Continued improvement of manpower skills and training to meet a new era of challenges, including action programs to aid older workers, women, youth, and the physically handicapped. Encouragement of training programs by labor, industry and government to aid in finding new jobs for persons dislocated by automation or other economic changes.

Assurance of equal pay for equal work regardless of sex; encouragement of programs to insure on-the-job safety, and encouragement of the States to improve their labor standards legislation, and to improve veterans' employment rights and benefits.

Encouragement abroad of free democratic institutions, higher living standards and higher wages through such agencies as the International Labor Organization, and cooperation with the free trade union movement in strengthening free labor throughout the world. Americans are the best-fed and the best-clothed people in the world. Our challenge fortunately is one of dealing with abundance, not overcoming shortage. The fullness of our fields, forests and grazing lands is an important advantage in our struggle against worldwide tyranny and our crusade against poverty.

Our farmers have provided us with a powerful weapon in the ideological and economic struggle in which we are now engaged. Yet, far too many of our farm families, the source of this strength, have not received a fair return for their labors. For too long, Democratic-controlled Congresses have stalemated progress by clinging to obsolete programs conceived for different times and different problems.

Promises of specific levels of price support or a single type of program for all agriculture are cruel deceptions based upon the pessimistic pretense that only with rigid controls can farm families be aided.

The Republican Party will provide within the framework of individual freedom a greater bargaining power to assure an equitable return for the work and capital supplied by farmers. The Republican Party pledges itself to develop new programs to improve and stabilize farm family income. It recognizes two main challenges: the immediate one of utilizing income-depressing surpluses, and the long-range one of steady balanced growth and development with a minimum of federal interference and control.

To utilize immediately surpluses in an orderly manner, with a minimum impact on domestic and foreign markets, we pledge:. Intensification of the Food for Peace program, including new cooperative efforts among food-surplus nations to assist the hungry peoples in less favored areas of the world.

Creation of a Strategic Food Reserve properly dispersed in forms which can be preserved for long periods against the contingency of grave national emergency. Strengthened efforts to distribute surpluses to schools and low-income and needy citizens of our own country. A reorganization of Commodity Credit Corporation's inventory management operations to reduce competition with the marketings of farmers. Use of price supports at levels best fitted to specific commodities, in order to widen markets, ease production controls, and help achieve increased farm family income.

Acceleration of production adjustments, including a large scale land conservation reserve program on a voluntary and equitable rental basis, with full consideration of the impact on local communities.

Use of marketing agreements and orders, and other marketing devices, when approved by producers, to assist in the orderly marketing of crops, thus enabling farmers to strengthen their bargaining power. Strengthening of the educational programs of the U. Department of Agriculture and the Land-Grant institutions. Encouragement of farmer owned and operated cooperatives including rural electric and telephone facilities. Expansion of the Rural Development Program to help low-income farm families not only through better farming methods, but also through opportunities for vocational training, more effective employment services, and creation of job opportunities through encouragement of local industrialization.

Legislative action for programs now scheduled to expire for the school milk program, wool, and sugar, including increased sugar acreage to domestic areas. Free movement in interstate commerce of agricultural commodities meeting federal health standards. To select an official committee of farmers and ranchers, on a regional basis, broadly representative of American agriculture, whose function will be to recommend to the President guidelines for improving the operation of government farm programs.

A strong and growing economy requires vigorous and persistent attention to wise conservation and sound development of all our resources. Teamwork between federal, state and private entities is essential and should be continued. It has resulted in sustained conservation and resource development programs on a scale unmatched in our history. The past seven years of Republican leadership have seen the development of more power capacity, flood control, irrigation, fish and wildlife projects, recreational facilities, and associated multi-purpose benefits than during any previous administration in history.

The proof is visible in the forests and waters of the land and in Republican initiation of and support for the Upper Watershed Program and the Small Reclamation Projects Act. It is clear, also, in the results of continuing administration-encouraged forest management practices which have brought, for the first time, a favorable balance between the growth and cutting of America's trees.

Our objective is for further growth, greater strength, and increased utilization in each great area of resource use and development. Use of the community watershed as the basic natural unit through which water resource, soil, and forest management programs may best be developed, with interstate compacts encouraged to handle regional aspects without federal domination.

Support of the historic policy of Congress in preserving the integrity of the several States to govern water rights. Continued federal support for Republican-initiated research and demonstration projects which will supply fresh water from salt and brackish water sources.

Continued forestry conservation with appropriate sustained yield harvesting, thus increasing jobs for people and increasing revenue. Completion of the "Mission 66" for the improvement of National Park areas as well as sponsorship of a new "Mission 76" program to encourage establishment and rehabilitation of local, state, and regional parks, to provide adequate recreational facilities for our expanding population.

Establishment of a citizens board of conservation, resource and land management experts to inventory those federal lands now set aside for a particular purpose; to study the future needs of the nation for parks, seashores, and wildlife and other recreational areas; and to study the possibility of restoring lands not needed for a federal program.

Minerals, metals, fuels, also call for carefully considered actions in view of the repeated failure of Democratic-controlled Congresses to enact any long-range minerals legislation.

Republicans, therefore, pledge:. Assistance to mining industries in bridging the gap between peak defense demands and anticipated peacetime demands. Continued support for federal financial assistance and incentives under our tax laws to encourage exploration for domestic sources of minerals and metals, with reasonable depletion allowances.

Legislation to authorize exchange of lands between state and federal governments to adapt programs to changing uses and habits.

To build a better America with broad national purposes such as high employment, vigorous and steady economic growth, and a dependable currency, responsible management of our federal finances is essential. Even more important, a sound economy is vital to national security. While leading Democrats charge us with a "budget balancing" mentality, their taunts really reflect their frustration over the people's recognition that as a nation we must live within our means.

Government that is careless with the money of its citizens is careless with their future. Because we are concerned about the well-being of people, we are concerned about protecting the value of their money. To this end, we Republicans believe that:. Every government expenditure must be tested by its contribution to the general welfare, not to any narrow interest group. We must work persistently to reduce, not to increase, the national debt, which imposes a heavy economic burden on every citizen.

Our tax structure should be improved to provide greater incentives to economic progress, to make it fair and equitable, and to maintain and deserve public acceptance. We must resist assaults upon the independence of the Federal Reserve System; we must strengthen, not weaken, the ability of the Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department to exercise effective control over money and credit in order better to combat both deflation and inflation that retard economic growth and shrink people's savings and earnings.

In order of priority, federal revenues should be used: first, to meet the needs of national security; second, to fulfill the legitimate and urgent needs of the nation that cannot be met by the States, local governments or private action; third, to pay down on the national debt in good times; finally, to improve our tax structure. National security and other essential needs will continue to make enormous demands upon public revenues. It is therefore imperative that we weigh carefully each demand for a new federal expenditure.

The federal government should undertake not the most things nor the least things, but the right things. That Congress, in acting on new spending bills, have figures before it showing the cumulative effect of its actions on the total budget.

That spending commitments for future years be clearly listed in each budget, so that the effect of built-in expenditure programs may be recognized and evaluated. That the President be empowered to veto individual items in authorization and appropriation bills. That increasing efforts be made to extend business-like methods to government operations, particularly in purchasing and supply activities, and in personnel.

The challenges of our time test the very organization of democracy. They put on trial the capacity of free government to act quickly, wisely, resolutely. To meet these challenges:. The President must continue to be able to reorganize and streamline executive operations to keep the executive branch capable of responding effectively to rapidly changing conditions in both foreign and domestic fields.

Two top positions should be established to assist the President in, 1 the entire field of National Security and international Affairs, and, 2 Governmental Planning and Management, particularly in domestic affairs. We must undertake further reorganization of the Defense Department to achieve the most effective unification of defense planning and command. Improved conflict-of-interest laws should be enacted for vigilant protection of the public interest and to remove deterrents to governmental service by our most able citizens.

The federal government must constantly strengthen its career service and must be truly progressive as an employer. Government employment must be a vocation deserving of high public respect.

Common sense demands continued improvements in employment, training and promotion practices based on merit, effective procedures for dealing with employment grievances, and salaries which are comparable to those offered by private employers. As already practiced by the Republican membership, responsible Policy Committees should be elected by each party in each house of Congress.

This would provide a mechanism for meetings of party Congressional leaders with the President when circumstances demand. Needed federal judgeships, appointed on the basis of the highest qualifications and without limitation to a single political party, should be created to expedite administration of justice in federal courts.

The Post Office must be continually improved and placed on a self-sustaining basis. Progressive Republican policies of the past seven years have resulted in reduced costs, decentralization of postal operations, liberal pay, fringe benefits, improved working conditions, streamlined management, and improved service. Vigorous state and local governments are a vital part of our federal union. The federal government should leave to state and local governments those programs and problems which they can best handle and tax sources adequate to finance them.

We must continue to improve liaison between federal, state and local governments. We believe that the federal government, when appropriate, should render significant assistance in dealing with our urgent problems of urban growth and change. No vast new bureaucracy is needed to achieve this objective. We favor a change in the Electoral College system to give every voter a fair voice in presidential elections.

We condemn bigotry, smear and other unfair tactics in political campaigns. We favor realistic and effective safeguards against diverting non-political funds to partisan political purposes. Republicans will continue to work for Congressional representation and self-government for the District of Columbia and also support the constitutional amendment granting suffrage in national elections. We support the right of the Puerto Rican people to achieve statehood, whenever they freely so determine.

We support the right of the people of the Virgin Islands to an elected Governor, national representation and suffrage, looking toward eventual statehood, when qualified. We also support the right of the people of Guam to an elected Governor and national representation. These pledges are meaningful from the Republican leadership under which Alaska and Hawaii have newly entered the Union.

The rapid pace of international developments serves to re-emphasize dramatically the challenge which generations of Americans will face in the years ahead. We are reminded daily of the crucial importance of strengthening our system of education to prepare our youth for understanding and shaping the powerful emerging forces of the modern world and to permit the fullest possible development of individual capacities and potentialities.

We express our gratefulness and we praise the countless thousands of teachers who have devoted themselves in an inspired way towards the development of our greatest heritage—our own children—the youth of the country. Education is not a luxury, nor a gift to be bestowed upon ourselves and our children. Education is an investment; our schools cannot become second best.

Each person possesses the right to education—it is his birthright in a free Republic. Primary responsibility for education must remain with the local community and state. The federal government should assist selectively in strengthening education without interfering with full local control of schools.

One objective of such federal assistance should be to help equalize educational opportunities. Television was the medium of communication. Also introduced are all different kinds of sports especially through the Olympic Games of the 's. Families bonded by watching TV together. They watched news, presidential debates, progress of the civil rights movement and original dramas and comedies.

But also sports were important. During the 's baseball became really popular. Families went to games together or played baseball in their neighborhoods.