This Week In '66 - Ballad of the Green Berets

 

With Lynn Peril

SHOW NOTES

In addition to the usual space race, civil rights, and topless-bottomless mayhem, this is the second week in 1966 that “The Ballad of the Green Berets” spent at the top of the music charts, a position it would hold for the rest of the month and beyond. The song was wildly popular, which struck me as somewhat odd for an era so strongly associated with the peace movement. So this week, I took a closer look at the Ballad, as well as its singer-songwriter, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. 

“20 at U. of Minnesota Fight Broadcasting of War Song,” New York Times, March 2, 1966, 47. 

Andrews, Jim, “Out of Order? Not Really! How a Couple of Ex-nuns Came to Crossville,” The Tennesseean (Nashville, TN), October 15, 1967, 163.

“Barry Sadler, 49, Balladeer, Dies,” The New York Times, November 6, 1989, 

“Bottomless Dancer, Boss Held Guilty,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1966, 16.

Bruckner, D.J.R., “Integration Pledged in Waukegan; Cross-burning at Negro Home Spurs Mayor,” Los Angeles Times, March 15, 1966, 4.

Buckley, Tom, “Green Berets Try to Shed Reputation as Derring-Do Unit,” The New York Times, January 23, 1967. 

Calta, Louis, “Wounded Veteran Writes Song on Vietnam War,” The New York Times, February 1, 1966, 27. 

Cox, Billy, “The Ballad of Barry Sadler,” Florida Today (Cocoa, Florida), July 5, 1983, 1D. 

“Family Wails in Protest; Convicted Saigon Profiteer Executed by Firing Squad,” Los Angeles Times, March 14, 1966, 1. 

Goodman, Ellen, “Vatican Bars Nun from Play,” Detroit Free Press, March 16, 1966, 1.  

Miles, Marvin, “Gemini Makes Emergency Splashdown After Docking,” The Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1966, 1. 

“Nun Turns Actress, Director,” Battle Creek Enquirer, January 29, 1966, 3. 

“Southland,” The Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1966, 2. 

“Soviet Space Dogs Land Safely After Flight of 22 Days,” The Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1966, 1. 

“Space Dogs Found Well, Soviets Say,”  The Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1966, 10. 

Wilson, Amy, “Activists Design a New Kind of Retirement,” Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia), July 25, 2006, 4. 

“Younger Vows Marijuana Fight,” Los Angeles Times, March 15, 1966, 28.