The Comforting Presence of the U.S. Seventh Fleet

Hong Kong, 1920

On a warm October day in 1987, while standing with my family along the railing of an old, green-and-white Star Ferry chugging over to Kowloon, we took particular notice of the U.S.S. Gridley, one of several U.S. warships moored in Hong Kong harbor that day. (Bobbing serenely amidst the usual swarm of fishing boats, tugboats, and barges, we were unaware that the guided missile cruiser had just returned from the Persian Gulf where it conducted retaliatory strikes against Iranian oil platforms.) Overhearing our conversation, a nearby American naval officer invited us to visit the Gridley. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to board one of the ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

The Price of Fried Chicken in Old Florida

Winter Haven, 1949-1952

When Cypress Gardens opened near Winter Haven, Florida in 1936, it was billed as the state’s first commercial theme park. Carved out of a swamp, the botanical gardens later added water-skiing shows and other attractions like their hoop-skirted “Southern belles” who strolled through the grounds, chatting with guests and posing for photographs—a little like Mickey Mouse, but prettier. The park was also the filming location for a number of travelogue romances in the 1940s, including the musical comedy “Moon over Miami,” starring Betty Grable and Don Ameche, and a string of movies showcasing aquatic-actress Esther Williams.1 During the 1950s and 1960s, the gardens were used as an exotic backdrop for television specials and print advertisements.

Summer of Love

Glassboro, New Jersey
1967

Diplomatic contact between the United States and the Soviet Union increased sharply after the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states began on June 5, 1967. During this period of the Cold War, the two superpowers eased strained relations at such critical moments by engaging in détente, an on-going process marked by summit meetings and treaties. Accordingly, President Lyndon Johnson proposed to meet with his counterpart, Chairman Aleksei Kosygin of the Soviet Union, who was planning to address the United Nations in New York. In addition to the Middle East, there were other pressing issues to discuss like nuclear arms control and disarmament. (China announced the explosion of its first hydrogen bomb on June 17.) There was also Vietnam. With the U.S. gradually losing ground in the Vietnam War, Johnson was looking for other solutions to the conflict, having pledged to “seek peace, any time, any place.” Indeed, the first issue that needed to be resolved was where to hold the summit. Kosygin wanted it in New York; Johnson, wary of encountering protesters against the war, preferred Washington. They finally agreed to meet at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) in Glassboro, New Jersey, a small town roughly equidistant between the two cities.

Wake-Up Special

Atlantic City, 1964

Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson, 1965

The press and the White House have had an adversarial relationship for many years. Some believe that it all started with Watergate, the political scandal that led to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974. However, the relationship had already begun to change during the 1960s when the term “credibility gap,” describing skepticism over the veracity of the Johnson administration’s public assessments of the Vietnam War, came into widespread use. It may be impossible to pinpoint an exact date, but signs of strain surfaced sometime after the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade landed at Da Nang in March 1965, marking the first large-scale deployment of the war.