Sixty-five years ago, on this day, August 22nd, 1960, Life Magazine published a story about the coming presidential election.
When Life asked both presidential candidates in 1960 to define the national purpose, only John Kennedy mentioned environmental problems. “The good life falls short as an indicator of national purpose unless it goes hand in hand with the good society,” Kennedy wrote. “Even in material terms, prosperity is not enough when there is no equal opportunity to share in it; when economic progress means overcrowded cities, abandoned farms, technological unemployment, polluted air and water, and littered parks and countrysides; when those too young to earn are denied their chance to learn; when those no longer earning live out their lives in lonely degradation.”15 ;
John F. Kennedy, “We Must Climb to the Hilltop,” Life, Aug. 22, 1960, pp. 70B–77, esp. 75 cited in Adam Rome 2
“We Must Climb to the Hilltop,” Life Magazine, 22 August 1960 | JFK Library
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 316ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that although Silent Spring was still to be published, there were incipient worries – about the spread of car culture, of litter, of the Thanksgiving berries being
The specific context was there was a tight Presidential election going on, and candidates will say whatever will help them get the votes…
What I think we can learn from this – politicians will say whatever will help them get the votes (though to be fair to JFK, he did then try to make “the environment” an issue, but nobody was paying any attention.
What happened next – JFK won the 1960 election – persistent rumours about his dad having stolen Illinois for him remain…
Kallina, E. 1985. Was the 1960 Presidential Election Stolen? The Case of Illinois. Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 113-118 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27550168
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
August 22, 1987 – “Civilisation and Rapid Climate Change” – a short book
August 22, 1988 – scientists say “Australia, expect #climate refugees”
August 22, 1981 – New York Times front page story costs #climate scientists their jobs.
August 22, 2000 – Minchin kills an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme