OPINION — Hearts were racing from Connecticut to California and countless places in between. Americans were about to witness something they’d never seen before. It would bring immense relief to many households and deliver dark fear to others.
And it would all unfold right before their very eyes, thanks to the modern miracle of television.
It had been a remarkable year for the young broadcast medium. So far in 1969, viewers had watched live as one president took office (Richard Nixon’s swearing-in); had said goodbye to another (Dwight Eisenhower’s funeral); had seen four Apollo space missions play out (including the first historic moonwalk on July 20); and even heard Sen. Edward Kennedy explain his actions in the Chappaquiddick incident to the nation.
