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Madison in the Sixties

Topical tales of Madison's influential people and critical events from long ago.

Madison, January 20, 1961 – JFK and Madison

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Madison in the Sixties – January 20, 1961 In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy didn’t carry Madison in the Democratic presidential primary or Wisconsin in the general election. But his candidacy still had a profound local impact. His primary campaign against Sen. Hubert Humphrey created enough Badgerland bitterness to last for years, even damaging the […]

Madison, the second week of January, 1968

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Madison in the Sixties – the second week of January, 1968 On the morning of the eighth, the Wisconsin State Journal publishes an editorial about the thirty or so families of Hispanic migrant workers who have arrived here from Texas and Mexico since last fall, calling on the Madison community to give them financial, emotional […]

Madison in the Sixties – In Memoriam, Pt 2 – Business Lead...

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Madison in the Sixties – In Memoriam, part 2 –  business leaders Madison native Thomas E. Brittingham Jr., son of the great lumberman/philanthropist, and a  founding trustee of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, suffers a fatal heart attack at age sixty- one while driving near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, on April 16, 1960. A […]

Madison in the Sixties – In Memoriam, University of Wisconsin

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Madison in the Sixties – In Memoriam, University of Wisconsin The namesakes of two of the three South East dorms passed away this decade. Economics professor emeritus Edwin E. Witte, former department chair and namesake of the second southeast dorm, died May 20, 1960 at age seventy- three. Witte began his UW career as a […]

Madison, December 1963 – Madison Makes Civil Rights History

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Madison in the Sixties – December, 1963 – Shirley Abrahamson helps Madison make civil rights history. In 1963, racial discrimination in housing was perfectly legal in Wisconsin, and very real; only about 27% of the city’s rental units, and 12% of the houses for-sale, were available to nonwhites. The city didn’t even have a meaningful […]

Madison, December 1969

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Madison in the Sixties – December, 1969 December 2— A massive urban renewal project for the Miffland neighborhood runs into trouble at the Plan Commission, as area alderman Paul Soglin challenges plans for high-rise condo units. Soglin wants to rehab the existing housing stock through renovation and cooperatives rather than build new. December 6–7— About […]

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