(Robert McNamara - forever the voice of doom)
July 20th also came on a Tuesday in 1965. 45 years ago we were still dealing with an about-to-become-endless war, still dealing with politics, still dealing with Civil Rights, still dealing with Spy planes, launching spy satellites and worried about who else was going to join the Nuclear Club. It was still July 20th. Robert McNamara was wrapping up a fact-finding mission to Vietnam and arriving home with more dire scenarios and more promises of troop increases.
No change, right? Only the names. Well . . .that, and the fact that there was more information and the dose of "happy news" was relegated to the last two or three minutes - as opposed to the other way around now.
So here is the news of the day from WCBS in New York, the morning of Tuesday July 20th 1965.