Post by Barnaby Cuthbert on Sept 10, 2014 12:45:38 GMT -8
It’s Saturday, September 13th, 1962, and the world is on the brink once more.
Yesterday evening President John F. Kennedy told the nation that the United States would go to the moon, “Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” In reality, this move was not a bold declaration of mankind’s steadfastness in leaping into space - it was one of many veiled volleys of a shadow-war with Russia. It was, by and large, the formal declaration of the ‘space race’.
Months earlier, Cuba had fallen to the Communist dictator Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and now a communist power had access to nuclear missiles mere miles from American shores of Florida.
Meanwhile on the opposite edge of the nation, Seattle made ready to host it’s own declaration of readiness for the race - the Century 21 Exposition, or, as known to the public: The World’s Fair. It was a shout to the world that America was not afraid of the Russians continued ability to put capsule after capsule into orbit. Even the largest building in the ‘city of the future’ had the word space in it: The Space Needle.
But that’s tonight. Much has happened before…
The remaining months of 1945 and early 1946 saw many of the atrocities of the second world war come to light. As those in America heard of the concentration camps and the crimes of Hitler’s Germany, many who had taken part in the internment of the Japanese in Washington State felt a sudden pang of regret for their actions - how close had they come to making the same, horrific mistakes? Others saw it as simple vindication for waging atomic war on the Axis powers. Everyone with sense, Kindred or Kine was simply frightened at the wages of modern warfare.
It eventually came out that in a little town called Hanford outside of the Seattle city limits, a radioactive element called plutonium had been enriched to create the two bombs that had fallen on Japan, carried by a plane made at the Boeing. Both the Plane and the bombs had been designed in Seattle’s back yard. There was blood on the city’s hands now, for certain.
By 1947, the golden age of radio was in decline, but Seattle area radio stations were broadcasting a full suite of programs from news, to sports, to old-timey radio plays like The Shadow, about a man with the ability to cloud men’s minds and sneak about in the shadows. At the movies, monsters began to rule, as Bela Legosi played iconic roles as the Mummy and Dracula himself. The public was fascinated with swamp monsters and as technology grew and rockets entered the public consciousness, aliens from outer space became common fodder for the silver screen, and were only given more tinder by a strange incident near Roswell, New Mexico, that many conspiracy theorists swear was the crash of an alien craft.
That same year had Seattle undergo a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which lasted 20 seconds, but resulted in literally years of repairs to the city infrastructure. Someone told a news man that it was as if: “God had taken Seattle out to shake the dust off.”
’47 Also brought Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player to the major leagues, and the American C.I.A. was born. More grim men in black suits with thin ties slipped out into the world to ostensibly defend American interests.
1949 saw the bitter end of the Nuremberg Trials, and the Soviet Union tested it’s first atomic bomb. The cold war was in full swing. The Red Scare was the watchword of every major organization in America. Being a member of the Communist party was tantamount to treason, and it hit home in Washington State. The most publicized example involved six tenured professors at the University of Washington. Seeking to “clear the University’s reputation,” administrators prepared to dismiss seven professors charging them with incompetence, neglect of duty, incapacity, dishonesty or immorality. Hundreds of people were publicly named on Television as being members of the Communist Party and many fearfully motivated arrests were made. In Hollywood, actors associated with the party were blacklisted, and many would never work again.
1950 saw the opening of an entirely new phenomenon started in Seattle: the indoor mall. Northgate was the first in the United States to open, but it wouldn’t be the last. Seafair also began this year.
North Korea invaded the south, starting the Korean War, a member of the U.S. State department was revealed to be a Soviet spy and President Truman was nearly assassinated by two Puerto Rican nationals. The Second Red Scare: McCarthyism, would later become the term to describe "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially of pro-Communist activity" of Senator Joseph McCarthy, began after heightened fears of Communist influence in America.
1952 saw Dwight D. Eisenhower become President.
1953 in Seattle voters agree to annexations that extend Seattle to North 145th Street, the Alaskan Way Viaduct is completed and the Newspaper Guild strikes The Seattle Herald, shutting down the paper for 94 days.
Elsewhere in the U.S., molecular biologists discover the structure of DNA and two spies were executed on suspicion of selling atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The Korean War ended, once again splitting North from South. The C.I.A.’s attempt at an orchestrated coup in Iran fails, returning a brutal dictator to power.
1954 brought Dick’s Drive-In and Boeing’s passenger aircraft to the fore in Seattle. Soon the age of the jet-set would begin, and travel destinations like Las Vegas and Hawaii would come to the fore. The world got considerably smaller.
School segregation laws were declared unconstitutional, ushering in the era of Civil Rights. Senator McCarthy was nationally discredited after failing to provide credible evidence supporting accusations of communist activity in the U.S. government amid the two months of televised hearings. The C.I.A.’s organized overthrow of Guatemala’s democratically elected President succeeds. The first successful kidney transplant occurs.
In 1955 Disneyland opened, the Vietnam War began and Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery Alabama, leading to a 386-day bus boycott led by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The AFL-CIO is born of two smaller labor unions, making it the largest labor union in the US.
1956 heralded the Interstate Highway system - I-5 and I-90 link Seattle to the rest of the country via vast ribbons of pavement. It would take 20 years for this project to be completed nation-wide. President Eisenhower got a second term.
In 1957 the Civil Rights Act is passed, assuring the voting rights of all American citizens. Eisenhower sends the National Guard to schools to assure segregation does not occur in Little Rock, AR. The Soviets launch Sputnik. Everyone in the world can look up and see it in the sky as it passes. For many, the Space Race officially begins. The first commercial nuclear power station goes into service.
1958 in Seattle saw the company Metro established. It’s currently restricted to sewers and water cleanup. NASA is formed and the integrated circuit is invented elsewhere in the U.S.
By 1959 Alaska is admitted to the United States. Seattle is bummed because they thought it belonged to them. The first Grammy awards is held, Hawaii became the 50th State and the first US casualties in the Vietnam war are reported.
In 1960 the Civil Rights movement is in full swing. Sit-ins and civil disobedience is rampant across the south. Laws are enacted to inspect registration and polling places to stop the obstruction of black voters as well as stop segregation on busses. Many Jim Crow laws are struck down. Kidney Dialysis is perfected in Seattle at the UW and the Huskies win the Rose Bowl. John F. Kennedy becomes the youngest President in America’s history to be elected, defeating Richard Nixon.
In 1961 in Seattle, Bill Kirschner (later to form K2 on Vashon Island) invents the fiberglass snow ski. Wing Luke is elected to City Council, the first Chinese American elected to a major public office in the United States. The US drops diplomatic relations with Cuba and begins an embargo. They invade Cuba and botch the job, resulting in the Bay of Pigs invasion that further increases tensions between Cuba and the US. Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.
It’s Saturday, September 13th, 1962, and the world is on the brink once more.
The World’s fair has been open since April and will continue for a total of six months. Influenced by the availability of the Interstate highways and commercial jet travel, travel and 'Vegas style' is sweeping the nation. Elvis and the ‘Rat Pack’ top the charts of American music. It’s the height of the Television Age. Everyone has one, and everyone watches it. Hollywood California and Memphis Tennessee are the entertainment and music meccas of the Western world, and they’ve both sent their best and brightest to Seattle.
But beneath the glitz and glamor of the World of Tomorrow is a cardboard carnival of back-alley deals and desperate expectations. Seattle teeters on the edge of another major ‘bust’; an economic collapse that few can see coming, but many intrinsically feel. Smiles are a little too forced, too bright. Like the bright lights of Vegas and the desperate grasp toward the stars of the U.S., many Kindred are starting to see through the smoke and mirrors as mortal society enters deep into the cold war era and begins to mirror Kindred politics more and more.
The Asian population of the International district is booming, and little Italy, little Russia and a number of alien ethnic influences are infiltrating the city daily by the hundreds and sometimes thousands. With them come old world organizations in stronger numbers than ever before, the Tong, the Triad, the Yakuza, the Mafia and the Russian Organizatia Bravta vie for turf and territory with a new brand of American gang, the motorcycle club. Mexican gangs follow the harvest season north from the plantations of California and bring with them gangs of their own, and the nascent Cartels begin to gain interests in passing drugs from Mexico up to Canada and beyond.
To the south of Seattle, Sabbat forces hammer the west coast in constant battles with the Camarilla and Anarchs of California, thinking the nascent American sect weak. They are wrong. The Anarchs give as good as they get. There is a growing sense of respect from those in the Camarilla on the West Coast who are war-minded and believe the Sabbat to be a real threat to North American interests and consider the fire of the Anarchs useful in their attempts to repel them. The south and eastern seaboard of the U.S. sees them as nothing more than ruffians however. The general feeling in the North American Camarilla is that the glory days of their dominance is at hand, and their Ivory Towers are secure.
It’s Saturday, September 13th, 1962, and it’s time for a party, Vegas style.
