re: 1968 Flu Pandemic

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I was born in '52, and was a junior in HS in'68. So let me frame my answer this way.

My dad was 17 years old in '29 when the Great Depression started, and he was still sharing stories with us of how bad things had been.

The Korean War ended the year after I was born and the memories of WWII hadn't left people's minds just yet.

The polio epidemic reached it's peak in 1952.

I was packing can goods to school and watching neighbors build bomb shelters in their back yards during the Cuban missle crisis in '62. I also lost my mom to cancer that same year, and unlike today, there was little they could do to fight it at the time. Practically a death sentence when diagnosed.

Our president was assassinated in '63.

The Vietnam war was raging in '68. American losses in '68 were the highest of any year of the war and would reach a total of 30K+ by the end of that year.

So to answer your question, I remember there was a flu epidemic around that time, but I couldn't have told you the exact year. And frick no the reaction to the flu was not the same as the Covid 19 reaction of today. Our minds were conditioned differently. We were somewhat hardened by the times we lived in. It would be like asking someone from the Middle Ages if their reaction to the Black Death was the same as our reaction to the polio epidemic. I'm sure they would have laughed at polio.

To be clear, I believe we are doing the right thing by trying to reduce the number of deaths.

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Amen, was coming here to post something similar. Two additional things I would add:

1. Anyone over 25 would have experienced the US of WWII era.

2. The social unrest of the 60s with civil rights, Nam protests, assassinations, etc.

Was a much different world in those days with a limited access to information and people hardened by 40 years trials and tribulation.