Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis celebrates 90th birthday
BOSTON - Michael Dukakis is 90?
That's got to make local baby-boomers feel old. Many of us hold vivid memories of the three-term Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee: on TV in those cable-knit sweaters guiding us through the Blizzard of '78, hosting those high-minded panel discussions on Channel 2's "The Advocates" during his 1980's exile from Beacon Hill, and on the rostrum in Atlanta accepting his party's nomination by shamelessly lifting the "can do" branding of his hated rival Ed King.
Dukakis evokes mixed feelings among those who recall the late '70's and 1980s around here. Admirers will recall his sense of purpose and humility, riding the T to work and picking up trash off the sidewalk. Detractors point to the busted state budget of his final years in office, and the condescension that often hovered over his treatment of dissent.
But comparison with some of the political "leaders" of today casts Dukakis in a favorable light. And he stands as a laudable symbol of what the Silent Generation - those born between 1928 and 1945 - brought to our political life.
The Silents were well-named. Born during the Great Depression, they experienced their parents' struggles, and watched as the Greatest Generation fought and won World War II. Baby-boomers think we have the market cornered on cataclysmic experiences (the Kennedy and King assassinations, Vietnam, Watergate), but Dukakis's early years included the nuclear bomb and the rise and fall of Nazism and Communism.
And most of all, the Silents are famous for being... quiet. Unassuming. Frugal. And conformist. All of which describe Dukakis to some extent. Then again, like fellow Silents born in 1933 Louis Farrakhan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Yoko Ono and James Brown, Dukakis did have something to say and wasn't shy about sharing it.
Perhaps if and when he reads this, Dukakis will see something inaccurate and tell us, as he did a few times when governor, to "get your facts straight." OK governor, here's one we think you'll agree is nothing but the truth - you've lived a life devoted to community, country and family, and done it well.
What better gift to give a good man on his 90th than a hearty Happy Birthday and congratulations on a job well done.
