50 years ago today – a watershed year

If you are at the older end of the baby boomer generation like I am, then you probably remember 1968 as a watershed year in American history. It was the pivotal year in which the public’s overall attitude quickly shifted from optimism to confusion. After struggling to make sense of the battle for Hue in Vietnam early in the year and listening to the Beatles’ “White Album” months later, the gap between my parents’ WWII generation and my own was widening by the day. Despite the fact that half a century has elapsed, we still seem to be struggling with many of the same issues today. For example:

Fifty years ago today, North Korea captured the Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo. The ship was monitoring North Korea from the Tsushima Strait, an ocean channel dividing Korea and Japan. The Navy insisted its ship was operating in international waters, but North Korea said the Pueblo had entered its territory, and dispatched warships and aircraft to intercept it. 

Accounts differ on both sides as to what really happened. Eventually, there was an exchange of gunfire and one American was killed. The North Korean military boarded the Pueblo, captured its crew and brought the ship to port. The Pueblo’s 82 surviving crewmembers reported they were routinely tortured and starved while in captivity. It took 11 months to resolve the incident but set the stage for continued tensions between the two nations. Today, as it continues to develop its nuclear capabilities, the U.S. considers North Korea one of its most challenging problems.

Time marches on is a constant in our lives. Every so often, it pays to look back. I think the Pueblo incident is one of those times.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach