Good Times oral history collection, 1971-1972

Biographical Note

Peter T. Joseph started this collection of interviews as part of his thesis at Princeton University. Joseph ultimately traveled some 15,000 miles as he collected interviews from individuals around the United States. The interviews ultimately served as the basis for Joseph's monograph "Good Times: An Oral History of America in the Nineteen Sixties," published by Charterhouse in 1973. Joseph was inspired by Studs Terkel's book "Hard Times," and "Good Times" shares the form of using short vignettes to illuminate broader social trends

Scope and Contents

The collection is comprised of interviews taken by Peter T. Joseph for his senior thesis and subsequent monograph "Good Times: An Oral History of America in the Nineteen Sixties." Interviews are short, and document cultural and political trends that Joseph felt defined the decade. Some narrators are among the decade's prominent figures in politics, science, music, culture, and art, while others represent the experiences of "everyday Americans." All interviews have audio, and some have accompanying transcripts. The character of transcripts varies considerably: some mirror an interviewee's content in "Good Times," others are heavily marked-up drafts, and others contain material not found in the book. The collection's narrators are: George Abbey; Sister Jane Abell; Muhammad Ali; Saul Alinsky; Ivan Allen; James Allen; Ruth Applewhite and Dr. Applewhite; Ken Babbs; Joseph Barbera; Nancy Bardacke; Ross R. Barnett; Carol Bates; Howard Baugh; Eugene Carson Blake; Geo Blechta; Julian Bond; Wilson Boswell, Ted Priester, and Sherry Strasser; Leonard Boudin; the Boulware family; Jimmy Breslin; Kingman Brewster; David Brinkley; Paul Brown; Sam Brown; Ron Brutoco; Art Buchwald; William F. Buckley; Thomas S. Buechner; McGeorge Bundy; Nancy F. Bush; Michael Butler; Warner Buxton; Joseph Califano; Hodding Carter III; Frank Castora; Chubby Checker; Sharon Cleveland; Clark M. Clifford; Stuart Cohen; Sheldon Coleman; Slip Conley; Pete Conrad; Howard Cosell; Avery Craven; Jesse Curry; Charlotte Curtis; Paul Davis; Michael DeBakey; Paul Delisle; Robert L. Dennison; Clarence Didonato; John Doar; Carol Doda; James Dougherty; Susan Drake; Clifford J. Durr; Virginia Durr; Richard Falk; Don Ferguson; Ruth Figgs; Adrian S. Fisher; Bobby Flash; Louise Fleming; Richard Fleming; Wayne Fleming; Malcolm Forbes; Fred Fox; Henrietta Franklin; Hull Franklin; William Franklin; Allen Funt; George Gallup; Jerry Garcia; Owen K. Garriott; Roswell Garst; Jean Garvey; Mrs. Stuart L. Gates; Rudi Gernreich; Ken Gibson; Warren Giles; John J. Gilligan; Robert Francis Goheen; Barry Goldwater; Al Golin; Albert Gore; Loyal Gould; Bill Graham; Robert Greenblatt; Bernard Gunther; Duane L. Hall; Jack Hanson; Michael Harrington; Connie Heekin; Connie Hestle; Dustin Hoffman; Bruce K. Holloway; J.J. Hooker, Jr.; Thomas Hoving; Richard J. and Betty Hughes; Walter Hyman; Graham Jackson; Ted Jacobs; Marriane Jelin; Peter Johanovich; Francis Johnson; John Johnson; Frederick Kappel; Allan Kaprow; S.C. Kendricks; Clark Kerr; James Kerry; Ken Kesey; Peter Kircheimer; Ann Klein; Craig Kreutz; Ervin Krueger; Howard Leary; Toni Lemay; James Ling; Sol Myron Linowitz; Robert Love; Lester Maddox; Robert Magee; Stu Magee; Bill Mahoney; Floyd Mann; Richard Manning; Rollo May; John McCarthy; Lily McCullough and her children; Bob McDonald; Myron McLellan; Pat and Mufti McNassar; Margaret Mead; George Meany; Bob Miles; E. Moore; Paul Morrissey; Moe Moskowitz; Norman Mott; Anson Mount; Luther Munford; Christopher Nahas; James Nichols; Sgt. Nieta; E.D. Nixon; Lawrence O'Brien; Ken Olsen; Eugene O'Neill; Gabrielle Oppenheim-Errera; Arnold Palmer; Pat Paulsen; Gilberto Perez; George Plimpton; Sam Powell; Mario A. Proccacino; George Reedy; Paul Robillard; James Roche; William J. Ronan; Frank T. and Musette Rose; James Rouse; Arthur Rubaloff; Dean Rusk; Bayard Rustin; Rene Saagar; James Sackellson; Jonas Salk; Morris Samuel; Morris Jr. and Jlyn Samuel; John Satterfield; Rufus Saturday; Stuart Saunders; William Saxbe; Edith Schuler; Jamey Schuler; Charles Schulz; Robert Scull; Glenn Seaborg; James Seff; Sister Sharon; William A. Shea; Robert Shelton; Sam Shemtob; Julie Shepard; Sara Sill; Pat Simpson; Tom Sinclair; Bruce Smith; E.L. Smith; H. Edward Smith; Lou Smith; Tom Smothers; Benjamin Spock; Chris Stansell; Ulli Steltzer; Richard Stimson; Andy Stricker; B. Strittholt; Robert Stuart; Erika Taylor; Michael Tigar; Frank Turner; Jesse Unruh; Elmer Valentine; Hillaire Valiquette; Abigail Van Buren; Cyrus Vance; Carolina Vasquez; Wernher Von Braun; Barbara Walters; Lula Belle Weathersby; Robert Weaver; Tom Wicker; Charles Wiggins; Les Wilson; Tom Wolfe; Nancy Wood; Phyllis Wooden; Mercy Wright; Paul Ylvisaker; Quentin Young; Morris Zaidins; Zodiac; Rose Zwan; and William Zwecker

Subjects

• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• United States--Civilization--1945-