From my point of view (and I lived through it in my early teens), 1964 wasn't as rosy as it was depicted. The middle class of the 50's was rapidly crumbling, the lower class in even worse shape, the nation was still in shock and morning over JFK's assassination, the Cold War was in full swing, and of course the Vietnam War was heating up.

On the positive side, LBJ's Great Society was given life by his landslide victory, and despite Monday Morning Quarterbacking, it did help millions of poor and underprivileged Americans. African Americans made a great stride towards social and economic equality with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and the following year the establishment of Medicare meant that seniors were given at least a minimum level of acceptable health care they could afford, and many were no longer facing the choice between eating, paying the rent, or getting medical attention.

Many of America's long festering injustices were starting to be addressed by 1964, but as with any progress the backlash was strong and not long in coming. Even today we see renewed hopes from the incoming right wing administration to undo social programs like Medicare, primarily for the benefit of the plutocracy. For better or worse, we'll never have another LBJ, but we do need someone in office with the will and the personal power to address and redress the lingering problems, as well as the new ones that one can reasonably expect to emerge as the Trump administration and its pliant Congress tries to roll back the progressivism that started with FDR, reached its zenith with LBJ, and enjoyed an all too brief echo with Obama.

So, yes, it was a fantastic year.