1960s Interview Research Paper

I chose to interview my step mother’s grandparents for my 1960s interview paper. I interviewed them Saturday, February 13 at their home in Zanesville, Ohio. Her grandfather’s name in Andy and her grandmother’s name is Karen. In 1960, they were both 19 years old. I chose them for this interview because they were alive and well during the 60s and because I believe the 60s were a very impactful time period for them. The most horrific time of the 60s for them was when Russia was going to bring missiles into Cuba and we told them that if they did, that we would blow them out of the water. There was an instant fear of war with Russia and they weren’t backing down and neither were we. It went on for two or three days until finally Russia backed down.
They grew up around black people and didn’t understand why things were the way they were. While working at Armco Steel, Andy didn’t understand why blacks didn’t have the same lunch as him. He finally found out that they weren’t allowed to eat in there. He went to visit his friend in Virginia and had never seen the way the restrooms were set up with black men, black women, white men, and white women. In Zanesville, they didn’t have any issues like that that he remembers. The swimming pool that he owned had a black pool and a white pool, but he didn’t really think anything of it. While talking about segregation, Andy became very emotional. I believe that he was significantly impacted by how different the black people were treated. In conclusion, if these events would have never happened, the US would not be what it is today. I believe that all of these events were huge impacts on the US and our society today. If I had to pick a most important event, I would say that the space program would have to be it. Who knows where we would be today if we would have not been able to discover the moon and space or if Russia would have been the first to land someone on the