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Madison in the Sixties

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

Madison in the Sixties – the death of Otis Redding

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Madison December 10 1967 Otis Redding was one of the breakout stars at the Monterey Pop Festival in June, and in October dethroned Elvis Presley as the year’s top male vocalist in a poll by the British music magazine Melody Maker. Now he’s coming to Madison for his first Wisconsin appearance – two shows at Ken […]

Madison, November 1967

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1967    November 13[EAW1] [SL2] —A University Forum discussion of the CIA among Chancellor William Sewell; professors Anatole Beck, Frank Remington, and Kenneth Dolbeare; a representative of the pro-CIA interview Committee to Defend Individual Rights; and former WSA Senator Paul Soglin ends when Soglin declares the discussion a “dialogue of the absurd” and leads a walkout of about […]

Madison, November 1969

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Madison, November 1969 November 2—The Sears, Roebuck and Company on East Washington Avenue is among the company stores nationwide to start a two-month test of opening on Sundays. Stores won’t open until noon, so workers can attend church, and close at 5 p.m.[i] November 6—In his first budget Mayor William Dyke seeks to lay off […]

Madison, fourth week of October – Kennedys come calling

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Oct. 23, 1960 –  Democratic presidential nominee Senator John F Kennedy gets a rock star welcome on his only Madison campaign appearance, the third of four stops on a whirlwind day in Wisconsin. He steps out of his twin-engine Corvair to a cheering crowd of several thousand at municipal airport, and steps into an open […]

Madison, third week of October, 1969

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Madison, the third week of October, 1969. Anti-war protest, and anti-protester repression. Racial progress, personal tragedy. The legislature’s Joint Committee to Study Disruptions, formed during the Black Studies Strike in February, issues a blistering, and very one-sided report denouncing UW administrators and endorsing the bill to close the UW security office and put Madison Police […]

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