Interview with Ronald Harbin

Interview-Life During the 1960s

Person: Ronald Harbin(Grandfather)               Born: December 3, 1949 

Questions

1. Where did you reside in the 1960’s?

            He lived in and grew up in Stanton, California during the 1960’s. He was a teenager who grew up on a farm in a very small town.

2. What did you think and feel when JFK was assassinated?

            He believed the whole situation to be very bizarre; still remembers JFK’s death like it was yesterday. He was in Junior High, and all schools were sent home early. The event felt like the end of the world, because of JFK’s high popularity and influence of the time. 

3. What did you think of the Hippy movement, and the drugs involved with it?

            He was not involved with the hippie movement, and didn’t really feel he needed to join in it. Believed it started with flower power, and flower child do to the hatred of the Vietnam War. People burned their draft cards, and leaving country to avoid the war. 

4. What was your view on the Vietnam War?

            Although he thought he was too young to understand the war at the time, he was old enough to be drafted, his draft number was 266. He avoided entering the war do to being in college and already having a family. He didn’t want to go Vietnam because he believed he would die. His best-friend went to Vietnam and was sent home two weeks early, he later learned that his whole platoon was killed after he was sent home. 

5. Was your life influenced or affected greatly by the 1960’s?

            His life was influenced by the 1960’s but not greatly, the era made him more aware of the events happening around him. He thought the music of the time was truly amazing, still listens to the Rolling Stones today. One of his greatest memories of the sixties was working countless hours to get the muscle car he dreamed to own.